Financial Capability: Small Step, Big Difference

By Brando Sencion, Program Coordinator
 
April is Financial Capability Month and it is a time to encourage families to improve their financial futures. Financial capability is the knowledge, skills, and access to manage financial resources effectively.
 
Achieving financial well-being is a journey and it takes time, practice, and patience. The best way to begin that journey is by making minor changes to our financial habits. To determine those behavioral changes, we must examine our personal financial behaviors and habits. For example, we can start by making saving a priority, paying bills on time to avoid late fees, create financial goals, pay down debt, and build an emergency fund. These small steps can make a big difference in a person’s financial well-being and give them the confidence and motivation to continue down the right path.
 
Key steps to improve our financial futures, examine your:

• Existing financial habits
• Relationship with money
• Current financial situation
• Financial goals

 
However, taking these steps can be incredibly hard for many families. According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 78% of U.S. workers are living paycheck to paycheck. These financial difficulties make it harder for money to be set aside for savings, paying down debts, or making bill payments.
 
Families living paycheck to paycheck is the result of many external economic factors that affect our everyday lives. But creating a strategy to improve our financial situations is crucial to improve our finances. Remember financial capability is about improving your knowledge, skills, and resources to mange your financial resources effectively. Those financial resources vary from family to family, but we must use or financial capability to improve to the best of our abilities.
 
Building families’ financial capability is about giving them confidence of knowing where to look, what to look for, what is required to prevent economic vulnerability, and where to go for answers to questions. Below find resources to help you increase your financial capability. 
 
Resources

• Family Financial Plan: https://www.sccvonline.org/family-plan-workplan.html
• Plan for Life Events: https://www.mymoney.gov/lifeevents/Pages/lifeevents.aspx
• Spending, Saving and Investing: https://www.usa.gov/spend-save-invest
• Make a Budget: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-1020-make-budget-worksheet.pdf
• Managing Your Money: https://www.consumer.gov/section/managing-your-money
• Credit Report Example: https://www.experian.com/credit_report_basics/pdf/samplecreditreport.pdf