In the words of the great Philosopher-Poet DJ Quik, “If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.”
But for some of us dollars and cents don’t always make sense. And sometimes even when we think we’ve made sense of our dollars and cents, we come to realize that we still can’t make heads or tails of either.
(Quick show of hands from all the English majors.)
There are already budgeting and financing classes available on military installations and in the community. I know this because I’ve seen flyers and notices for them for years, and I’m sure they work well for some people. But I’ve never been tempted to drive on post and listen to a presentation about managing money. Honestly, I’d rather wait in line at the ID card facility. Or even shop in the Commissary on pay day.
Every time I sit down to conquer finances, armed with determination and a venti triple mocha, I fall asleep on page 2, or in the back of a financial planning class. Or I let my fidgety scrolling fingers take me away from that really informative financial planning website and over to an article titled “Famous People Wearing Stuff with Feathers” because … feathers.
Financial planning is boring. And confusing. And tedious. But what if it was — dare I say — fun?
Enter MilCents, a 10-week-long financial literacy program designed to help military families save money, plan for retirement, track credit and avoid financial predators. It starts on Monday, Oct. 12th.
It was created by The Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN), the Better Business Bureau Military and Veterans Initiative, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation and the National Foundation. I serve on the MFAN board of advisors and got to weigh in on the content and design throughout the creation and planning process. So what I’m saying is, MilCents is Math-phobe approved.
It’s an interactive, do-when-it’s-convenient-for-you, entertaining, web-based social learning program created to help military families at every age and level of experience make sense of our finances, and make dollars out of our cents.
(Get it? MilCents?)
It’s financial planning in a format that’s as an engaging as a TED Talk, as fun as a smart phone game and as flexible as … Gumby. Because you knew I was going to say Gumby. Because … Semper Gumby.
MilCents recognizes that we human adults learn best by talking to each other and by having small enough lessons that we can process one thing before having to move on to the next.
By the end of the 10-week session participants will know how to read an LES; find our credit scores and make them better; categorize our spending and saving; create a budget; identify and avoid predatory lenders; and ask questions and share successes with other military family members in the program.
It just makes sense. So join me. Go to the MilCents website and sign up (it’s free to sign up, by the way). Then, on Monday, pour a cup of coffee (or wine) and join me, you won’t regret it.
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