Advantage One: Youth Accounts

Student Credit Union Program

Click here for more information about Advantage One's Student Credit Union program.

Scholarships

Two $1,000 Scholarships to be awarded in Spring '10!
Each year, we award two $1,000 scholarships to be used for continuing education.
Check back for further details.

A New Trend - Youth Financial Planning Program

Advantage One has been developing new and exciting changes to our youth education program. Currently, we have well-established accounts for youth and teens and we have been sponsoring "Credit Union Days" at local elementary schools where the students make deposits. Now, our focus has spread into developing junior high and high school programs. These two groups seem to be unaware of many financial issues and they are perhaps most in need of this type of knowledge. In a few years they will be heading off to college and will be getting bombarded with offerings from multiple credit card companies who will instantly approve them, and offer them incentives to do so. Teens and young adults need to understand the consequences of running up credit card debt. They need to know how to manage their money efficiently and to budget for upcoming student loan payments. This is where we decided to step in; we want to reach our young adults before it is too late.

Last year we had amazing success at Riverview High School using a financial planning program called the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE). NEFE was designed by the government and its goal is to help young teens and adults have a better understanding of their personal finances. The focus of this newly developed financial program is not to gain member-ship but to help students understand:

What financial planning is
How different careers affect your life
Flow to create and live on a budget
Different ways of saving and investing
The pros and cons of credit, and
Choosing the right kind of insurance

In 2003, we reached approximately 100 students. This year, our goal is to reach 600 students or more! We hope to help students learn how to make good decisions when it comes to their personal finances. and to help them understand that the choices they make today will affect them for the rest of their lives.