Latest / Despite Impossible / Eliminating Financial Fear: Removing the Jump Scares for Women

Transcript

Eliminating Financial Fear: Removing the Jump Scares for Women · Despite Impossible

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Eliminating financial fear, removing the jump scares for women.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Subscribe to our curiously driven podcast to listen to this piece while putting out your favorite pumpkin-scented candle, driving to a corn maze, hanging spiderwebs in a corner, or selecting which delicious candy to hide from the trick or treaters so you can enjoy it later.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: My memories of October 31 range from my grandma Edith's pride in the headcount of trick-or-treaters and how much she enjoyed seeing all the kids in their costumes.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: To my very last time personally trick-or-treating with my childhood best friend Amy, when we had at least two houses share full-size candy bars.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: To Mackenzie trick-or-treating as the Lorax and quietly telling the adults at each house, I am the Lorax.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I speak for the trees.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Each year, I look forward to decorating our house with playful pumpkins, baking ghoulishly tasty treats, heading to the pumpkin patch, watching Scream, and taking Mackenzie and her friends to the haunted hayride and haunted houses at Wired's.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: As October wanes, I long for one more week and one more spooky adventure.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Fear permeates Halloween.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: The difference is that on Halloween, we largely control the number and intensity of jump scares we experience.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: For example, when I take Mackenzie and her friends to Wired's, I stick to the mildly frightening haunted hayride.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I avoid the haunted houses and spend my evening perusing baked fall treats in the adjacent store and singing a song or two at the karaoke station nestled between two haunted houses on the property.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Life does not offer that luxury.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: We cannot predict or control when and how fear seeps into our lives.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Fear creeps up in places we least expect.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: On a work trip to Texas, I went for an early morning run and a van with several men began following me.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: I changed course at least three times.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: The van kept tailing me.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: I ran onto the porch of a nearby home and hid until I spotted a woman in a minivan and asked her for help.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: She was a runner too, and with boundless kindness, she knew I'd want to finish my workout.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: She followed me all the way back to my hotel.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Last week, I recorded our Despite Impossible podcast with our guest, Addison Bounds, co-founder of Avaya.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: She and Kiera Roboch are designing jewelry that can detect spiked drinks.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: They are committed to creating a future that is safer and less frightening for women.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of Despite Impossible, we record reflections from the conversation.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Addison talked about how important it is to create space for women to live the life they wish without bending their behavior around the threat of harm from others.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine a world where women live with less fear.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: On that morning, years ago in Texas, a woman in a minivan was a best friend to a stranger on a run.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: She helped me stay safe.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: At Orsa Credit Union, the fourth pillar of our strategy is to be a best friend to women and those who love them.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: We want to be that woman in the minivan for their financial lives.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: We envision a time when women have the financial tools and resources to bring their impossible dreams to life and to insulate them from the nightmares and truly frightening experiences like domestic and sexual violence.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Financial abuse occurs in 99% of domestic violence cases, according to the National Network to end domestic violence.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And without financial options and a cushion, many women stay in marriages or relationships that are grounded in fear and intimidation.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: At ORSA Credit Union, our future of URSA strategy is our commitment to students and their bright financial futures.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: This includes partnerships with 40 schools across the state of Michigan.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: We've invested heavily in improving our curriculum, and the timing of those enhancements is crucial.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Starting with the class of 2028, Michigan will require every high school graduate to complete at least a half credit of personal finance.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: That requirement matters even more for young women.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: According to the 2026 TIAA Institute GFLEC Personal Finance Index, women scored six percentage points lower than men on average on financial literacy questions.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: One way to make adult women's financial futures less scary is to invest in the financial enablement of young women.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: While the tools and actions that bring this to life may be less visible than the jewelry the team at Avaya is designing, both have the potential for long-term impact.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Consider five early steps parents and young women can take to forge an even brighter path and keep the financial boogeyman at bay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: 1.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Bundle of Joy.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Orsa Credit Union is partnering with hospitals to support new parents in opening a high-yield savings account in the first couple of weeks after a newborn joins the world.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: While those first few weeks with a new baby are incredibly intense, starting to save early can make the future for their baby brighter.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: In a 2023 study, researcher William Elliott found that children with even a small amount saved for school, under$500, were about three times more likely to enroll in college and two and a half times more likely to graduate than children with no account.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Two, 52-week savings challenge.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Starting early matters.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Making it a habit matters more.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: So by the end of the year, the saver will have just under$1,400.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Through feedback in our schools, we heard that for some,$1 to start might be out of reach.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: The challenge can begin with as little as 10 cents, which still adds up to just under$140 by year's end.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Repeat the challenge year after year, and saving becomes automatic.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: When it starts early, the habit becomes part of a young woman's life and the savings compound, creating more resources for the long term.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: 3.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Spend.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Most financial literacy programs focus solely on discipline, restriction, and growing savings.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Those are critical.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just as critical is enjoying spending money.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: As with any hard commitment in life, when we demand such rigor of ourselves and do not infuse joy, the likelihood of maintaining that rigor and discipline is low.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And a healthy relationship with money must include positive experiences with spending.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Our financial literacy content includes a focus on celebrating spending, especially when a young woman has saved for something she really wanted to purchase.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: 4.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Credit as a tool.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, ECOA passed in 1974, lenders in the United States could deny a woman credit because of her sex or marital status, and many required a husband to cosign.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Obtaining credit is an important part of the complete financial picture for women.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: For young women, a low-limit credit card used well can help establish a positive credit score.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: It teaches a young woman how credit works and how it widens her choices and builds a foundation of financial health.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: 5.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Growing confidence over time.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Confidence matters, and women feel less confident about money than men.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: A 2020 report from the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center found that women are more likely to answer I don't know to financial literacy questions.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: That points to a confidence gap and it starts early.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Research, including the 2014 T Row Price Parents, Kids, and Money Survey, has long found that parents are more likely to talk about money with boys than with girls.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: In that same survey, 45% of boys said they were very or extremely smart about money compared with 38% of girls.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Talking about money builds knowledge.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Practicing it builds confidence.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the best time to practice is while parents are still close enough to guide the choices.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Across a lifetime, we will all have our own frightening moments with money.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: An investment in young women's money experiences and habits can position a generation of women to face those moments with less fear and more choices, protected from the monsters that steal agency and compound damage.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: What steps might you take to help make the financial future of women a bit less frightening?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: This concludes today's reading.