By Bob Welty
As students across West Virginia complete another successful fall semester, it is the ideal time to highlight the importance of a subject that Fifth Third Bank is determined to ensure everyone in its communities is learning—financial education.
The need to know about how to manage money starts even before graduating from high school, which is when teens begin to face their first big financial decisions like buying a car, getting a credit card and taking out student loans to pay for college. Without the proper financial education, debt can quickly pile up.
While many Americans have already experienced the burden of financial stress by the time they reach adulthood, basic money mistakes made at a young age can haunt people for years to come. This lack of financial knowledge may even stand in the way of the American dream. According to a recent market study by YouGov commissioned by Fifth Third Bank, financial priorities like paying off debt, saving for an emergency and having a retirement plan are more significant than home ownership.
These findings are why most experts agree that the earlier people learn about money, the better. However, approximately 44 percent of all Americans say they did not take any kind of financial education courses in high school or college. Among those who did, nearly three in five found the information helpful in managing their finances today.
Financial education in school is vitally important. Understanding savings, budgeting and debt relief tactics are essential to preparing for more independent lives in college and first careers, which is why Fifth Third Bank created the Young Bankers Club®. This financial literacy program is delivered by Fifth Third employees who visit schools in West Virginia to teach children about the importance of good education, finances and personal responsibility. The Young Bankers Club is for elementary school students in fifth grade and provides a customized curriculum that meets national educational standards. More than 18,000 students have graduated from the Young Bankers Club since the program’s inception in 2004.
The Young Bankers Club is just one of Fifth Third’s Lives Improved through Financial Empowerment®, or L.I.F.E., programs. For nearly 15 years, these programs have been teaching people to be financially empowered through every stage in life. The bank has focused on developing a variety of L.I.F.E. programs for kids and adults that give them the knowledge and tools needed to make wise financial decisions.
One of the L.I.F.E. programs specifically designed for adults is called EmpowerU®. This program is delivered two ways—directly to business clients as an offering for their employees or through community outreach in partnership with local nonprofit and community development organizations. Taught by experienced Fifth Third professionals, each EmpowerU class is 30 minutes long and covers a specific topic like budgeting and saving, boosting your credit score, strategies to reduce debt, retirement, home ownership, estate planning and more.
Fifth Third is deeply committed to improving financial literacy across West Virginia. The bank’s goal is to provide people in the communities it serves with the tools they need at every step on their journey to financial empowerment.
About the Author
Bob Welty is the market president of Fifth Third Bank and has more than 30 years of financial services experience. In the past he has served as the senior vice president of the bank’s wealth and asset management division, head of Fifth Third Private Bank and in various other senior management positions in the financial services industry. Welty is a graduate of the University of Charleston and has completed numerous financial services designations. He was named to the inaugural class of Sharp Shooters in 2016 by West Virginia Executive magazine, which is made up of top business leaders who make West Virginia a better place to live, work and grow. Welty has served on boards and committees in West Virginia, including the board of directors for MATRIC, St. Mary’s Medical Center Foundation, West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust, Rotary Club of Charleston, West Virginia University College of Business & Economics’ visiting committee, YMCA Spirit of the Valley and First Presbyterian Church of Charleston.
