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Programs teach smart money management
YOUNGSTOWN
The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County is featuring free programs this month that teach financial literacy.
The programs, segmented by age levels, focus on Money Smart Week, April 23-30, which is a public-awareness campaign created in 2002 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
The campaign goal is to teach consumers ways to better manage their money.
“We recognize that people at all age levels can benefit from learning smart money skills,” said Josephine Nolfi, the library system’s director of youth services and programming.
“If children begin to understand the concepts behind stories that actually are reflective of smart money practices, that will enhance their lives as they transition into actually managing their own money,” she said.
“A lot of people don’t have money-management or money-saving practices,” Nolfi added. “They simply live day-to-day, paycheck to paycheck, and I think that, over the long haul, that makes their lives much harder.”
She acknowledged, however, that some people have no surplus to save.
The campaign is valuable in teaching teens and adults, who may not have much money, the skills to better manage their limited funds, said Janet Loew, the library system’s communications, public relations and marketing director.
For 2- and 3-year-olds, a program of age-appropriate stories and activities will take place at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Poland library branch, 311 S. Main St.
For 4- and 5-year-olds, the program will take place at 6 p.m. April 21, also at Poland library.
In both programs, each child will receive a free piggy bank to encourage money saving. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
“One of the key concepts that we cover in those programs for the youngest children is the difference between wants and needs,” Nolfi said. “That is something that is very easily understood at that age, that has, obviously, very significant implications down the road.”
“With the really small kids, the focus will be: Just what is money? Identifying money. We’ll probably do some counting,” said Vikki Peck, the librarian teaching the programs for young children.
For slightly older children, the program will advance to choices about saving or spending money, she said. The program will use “cute, fun children’s books that illustrate those principles,” she added.
The program will emphasize that money is earned and “the concept that you have money, but when you spend it, it’s gone,” Peck said.
Peck said she hopes the parents who bring children to the programs will reinforce the lessons in the home at an age-appropriate level.
“Smart Money: Every Penny Counts” is the title of a program for teens and adults concerning creative and relatively painless money-saving strategies.
That program will be offered at 6:30 p.m. April 25 at the Canfield library branch, 43 W. Main St.; and at 3 p.m. April 30 at the Sebring library branch, 195 W. Ohio Ave.
In the teens and adult program, themes taught include “how to save so that you have compounded interest, how to manage a checkbook,” and how to manage a budget, Nolfi said.
“When you get into the teen and the adult [program], you actually start getting into money-management skills, as opposed to concepts,” Nolfi said.
Nolfi offered several money-management tips:
Know the difference between wants and needs.
Watch credit-card spending.
Understand compounded interest “both when it works in your favor and when it works to your disadvantage.”
Try not to spend more than you make.