By Bobby “Trae” Trousdale

“Financial Literacy” may very well bore you enough to skim or skip this piece. Please do not! I’ll attempt to make this fun and sexy enough to be worth your time and energy. When we think about what we’re supposed to do with our finances, giants of literacy and education may jet to mind. Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, or your richest relative all provide amazing insight and have storied histories about what has worked for them and benchmarks that you “have to check out.” If room for improvement isn’t the largest room in the world, then it surely must be the room between theory and practice.

For the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation (CPCDC), this room is our entire field. We’re honored to be humble guides and cheerleaders as you make your way through it. We offer these services year-round, but we believe April is a great time to start given its national designation as Financial Literacy Month. Plus, by this point in the year, unsustainable new year’s resolutions have fallen off, and dusty Pelotons may be haunting reminders of excitement without strategy. We’re aiming to ensure those expensive drying racks aren’t the fate your bank accounts and financial future are headed towards.

A resource we provide to our commercial clients is a “10 Steps to Starting a Business” sheet that oversimplifies the steps needed to get started. This is a big hit and one we can’t seem to stock enough of. My hope is to provide a shortened consumer version of that for you below.

  1. Check. Personal budgets are the bedrock of understanding and being able to set financial goals. Don’t change a thing yet, simply check and see where your money is going. If you don’t like it, that’s okay! Let that discomfort fuel your hate fire and think critically about your wants versus needs.
  2. Partner. Find a friend that will be tackling finances alongside you. You aren’t alone and people aren’t meant to thrive in silos. You need someone in your corner to strategize with, to dream with, and to hold you accountable.
  3. Celebrate. This is a critical step when starting something new and/or sustaining momentum. Honor yourself thus far and add checkpoints going forward. Don’t let finances get too boring. If I stay under my weekly budget, I get Starbucks on Friday or if my partner and I are paying off a debt, then we get a bottle of champagne. Make it your own!
  4. Deploy. Act on your plan, your strategy, and pursue your celebrations! Use the tools available to you to save money, minimize debt, and diversify what you’re doing in the fight for your finances. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Keep reading, keep learning, and keep mastering your own game of personal finance.
  5. Communicate. While you’re in it and when you eventually reach your goals, talk about it. Model financial literacy for your children, nieces, and nephews. Share your planning process and the pathways that work for you with friends. Our people are relationship-based. Financial literacy does not belong to the colonizer. Own it.

See? Financial literacy can be as approachable as simply remembering C-P-C-D-C. Whether you are searching for a partner, needing an emergency alternative to a payday loan, or are ready to embark on the challenging work of taming your personal finances, 75% of our staff is trained, certified, and willing to help in ways that work for you. Visit our offices, our website, or follow us on social media for more information. Happy Financial Literacy Month!