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You are never too young to learn the basics of personal finance.
You're never too old, either.
"We're having parents say, 'This is great information for my kids ... and I learned from it too,'" Greylock Federal Credit Union's John Bissell said of the institution's financial literacy outreach.
That effort took a high-profile turn last month when Greylock teamed up with popular children's music performer David Grover and his Big Bear Band for a free concert at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield.
Bissell, GFCU's vice president of marketing and communication, said the concert was big hit, as was the weeklong "Youth Week" that Grover's performance helped kick off.
The week of April 21-25, which coincided with most county schools' spring vacation, Greylock had special teller's windows designated for young savers. The windows were decorated and featured a step stool for smaller visitors, and young savers received a free T-shirt in return for their deposit.
"It's amazing how if you make it fun, kids will want to save," Bissell said. "We had something like $250,000 deposited into Youth Club accounts that week.
"The goal is to make (saving) a habit like all the
The certificates of deposit, called the Youth Club Term Share Certificate, allow young people to start investing with as little as $100. They can then add to the CD in increments of $25, according to Greylock's Web site, greylock.org.
"For any 5-year-old to have a CD, how cool is that?" said Vicky May, Greylock's manager of marketing partnerships and promotions, who helps oversee the financial literacy campaign.
"We've gotten a lot of reaction to that program," Bissell said. "People like the structure of that account, where you can start out with a much smaller minimum. ... For my kids, that's where the birthday money goes."
'A natural fit'
These days, when you talk about Greylock, kids and CDs, you have to clarify whether you are talking about certificates of deposit or compact discs.
At The Colonial concert, audience members were treated to complimentary copies of a three-song CD with original Grover songs that carried financial literacy themes.
Grover and Greylock President Angelo Stracuzzi hatched the plan to combine the folksy, fun sound of the Big Bear Band with the world of high finance, Bissell said.
"David Grover and Angelo have been friends for years," he said. "We've been involved in different ways supporting some of the Big Bear Band shows.
"This collaboration emerged out of a conversation between David Grover and Angelo Stracuzzi. It was such a natural fit."
At The Colonial concert, Grover joked with the audience about the challenges of writing kids' music with money themes. But in a news release announcing the event, he explained how natural a marriage it really is.
"In the process of growing our partnership with Greylock, it became clear that saving and the responsibility of money was completely in tune with learning about self-esteem, music, reading or any of the other projects we've done in the past," Grover said. "Learning to value and appreciate what we care about always has more than one song inside of it. The fact Greylock has chosen music as a vehicle to share about saving is to their great credit. It has given me more ideas than I have time to write them."
The compact discs continue to be distributed by Greylock, and there are plans to make the songs downloadable over the Internet, Bissell said.
May said Grover will do three shows per year as part of his current agreement with GFCU. Not all of those shows will be large as The Colonial performance, which drew an estimated 650 people; some may be in outdoor venues, she said.
Grover also will take his financial literacy tunes into the elementary schools, where Greylock already has a presence, most recently as a local partner in the commonwealth's Savings Makes Sense program.
"We will make monthly or weekly visits to the schools," May said. "There is a whole curriculum involved, covering subjects ranging from balancing your checkbooks to applying for a car loan."
'Teen friendly' credit card
Bissell said Greylock also is working on credit card accounts that are more friendly to teens and young adults.
"If you're talking about credit cards, trial and error is not a way to learn," he said.
A recent national survey by the jobs Web site Monster.com reported that a third of 2007 college graduates admitted to credit card balances of $5,000 or more.
Bissell said it is important to find ways that young people can learn to use credit cards responsibly, establish a credit rating and not run up huge debts.
"There have been some credit card offerings that are not appropriate for teens," he said. "We want to do something more beneficial to them. Kids have to use money to know how it works. I'm a strong believer that they should save their money, but they should also be able to spend some so they have an understanding of value."
Bissell said a "teen friendly" credit card would have lower credit limits, possibly a lower interest rate and more involvement on the part of a parent or guardian who will be able to monitor spending on the card.
A credit card designed to help young people avoid crushing debt - like Greylock's financial literacy initiatives - grows out of the local credit union's commitment to the community, he said.
In that respect, GFCU is like other locally based financial institutions (i.e., local banks) and unlike the big credit card companies that do not have a stake in the lives of their customers, Bissell said.
"If you look at the credit card concerns on college campuses, it's the big national companies who are faceless," he said. "The thing about credit unions is we're inherently local. I think that gives us more of a stake.
"As Berkshire County goes, so goes Greylock. We have to make sure families feel comfortable and know how to manage their money. If not, it's not like we can pick up and go to California and go sell credit cards there."
