Latest / Life. Money. You.® Podcast / S3|E13: Financial Well-Being in BCU's Digital Banking

Transcript

S3|E13: Financial Well-Being in BCU's Digital Banking · Life. Money. You.® Podcast

0:12
SPEAKER_02: Welcome everyone to our podcast live event dedicated to financial well-being and BCU's digital thinking.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: So track, measure, grow is what we titled this one because it's really what we focus on when it comes to measuring financial progress.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: And so with that, I'd love to kick things off by introducing our panel here today.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm Danny Bushik.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm a Life Money You program manager here at Life Money U, the financial well-being program of BCU.
0:39
SPEAKER_02: And I'm super excited to be here today with my team and peers.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: I focus on a lot of the content.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: So you'll hear me here on our podcast live events as well as on our podcast.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: You might receive a newsletter from us in your inbox.
0:53
SPEAKER_02: And as I was just talking about in my free time, I love to be hiking outdoors and just enjoying nature.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: So excited to be here to explore this topic with you all.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: Warren, would you like to go next?
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: So I've been at BC 14 years, it'll be 15 years in July, big outdoors enthusiast.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm also from Oregon, just like uh just like Danny.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: And I got into financial well-being because candidly, I just I've never been great with money.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: And uh just through my own, you know, uh trials and tribulations, I I've learned how to how to be better and to and really utilize financial products to delimit the cost of borrowing money.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's really my passion is teaching people how to use banking products to their advantage.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: And then I'll pass it over to Kim.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: I love that, Warren.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: So hi everyone.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I am Kim Chavez.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: I have been here at BCU a little over 12 years.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: I am a mom of two boys who are 11, almost 12, and eight.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, right now we have a busy household with end of the school year and starting basketball.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: My little ones in Taekwondo.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, aside from that, I'm in San Antonio.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: I love getting out and exploring the city.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: I love looking and finding the newest, trendiest coffee shops or lunch spot.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, aside from that, when I get some time, I like to also pretend to be a sourdough baker on my free time.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I'm really excited to get into the financial well-being content.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: In my time here at BCU, I have had a couple of different hats, with most of my time being on the front line or the people that you talk to most here at the credit union.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I really love that now I get to oversee our coaching program and work closely with our coaches to talk over different things that really just are are heavy and meaningful to you all right now.
2:45
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, that's so well, thank you both.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: And without further ado, we're gonna hop into our agenda for today.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: So, as advertised, we're gonna be talking through the financial well-being tools available to you in digital banking as a BCU member.
3:02
SPEAKER_02: So, for those of you listening, if you're members, woo-hoo, you already have access to all of this at your fingertips.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: For those of you that are not, you're gonna get a little FOMO and we might make you want to sign up and be part of the digital banking experience.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: So, we're going to be sharing with you three different scenarios from each of us that are, we believe, highly relatable and hopefully help you put these financial well-being tools in greater perspective.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: So, we'll explore the spending dashboard as well as our credit score tool, and then some other calculators and resources that will help you get a better idea of your financial well-being and the goals you have set for yourself.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: However, before we get into those scenarios, I'm gonna pass it over to Warren, our product owner and expert, to just talk through all the tools at a whole available to you.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: So, Warren, get into it.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: So, what you're looking at um on your screen right now is a quick screenshot of most of the tools that we have in digital banking.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: And believe it or not, there are even more.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, I mentioned at the beginning of this of this call that I'm not I'm not the best with money.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm just not.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I used to have, and this is no exaggeration, 15 different financial apps.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: I had uh a budgeting app, I had multiple credit score apps, I had literally everything under the sun.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: But then I but then BCU, they came out with a new digital banking system about two and a half years ago.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: And then since then, they've been adding more and more financial well-being tools.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: And as they've done that, I've been able to get rid of almost all my financial, my financial apps so that BCU really is the only one that I use.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: It can do everything and anything that all those standalone apps used to do.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: So just going through the screen here, we've got a spending analysis that's pretty self-explanatory.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: It breaks your spending into categories.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: And but before I uh before I continue, I should say that to get the most value out of these tools, you really want to link all of your external accounts.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: All of these tools, they just they naturally look at all your BCU data.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: But if you hook up your other credit cards or other banks, then the system can really help you get to the nitty-gritty, really help you zoom in to where you're spending too much money and maybe show you where you could find some savings.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, but going back to this screen, we also have a net worth tool.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: You can link up your different um debt savings and property, and it'll show you, it'll do the math to show you how much you are worth today.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, we also have a cash flow tool that shows you how much money you made and how much money you spent every month.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the most powerful tools to me because it it it's just an easy way to see, hey, this month I spent way more money than I spent last month.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Why is that?
5:40
SPEAKER_00: What was the big change?
5:42
SPEAKER_00: Or vice versa, it can show you, hey, I really saved a lot of money this month.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Well, like what was the change?
5:48
SPEAKER_00: What did I do differently?
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Did I go out to restaurants less?
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
5:51
SPEAKER_00: But it it just it allows you to see at a high level that that detail.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, we also have an AI budget creator.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: This saves you the time of creating a budget.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: It looks at your past spending and then makes recommendations on what you think and what it thinks uh your budget should be for the coming month.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: We also have a home value tracker.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: You can put any property you have in there and it'll show you day by day um what it estimates that property to be.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: We have a savings goal tool, pretty self-explanatory.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: You set an amount that you want to save and a time that you want to save it by.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: It'll give you recommendations on how to get there and also encourage you to put more money away every month.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: We also have a spending forecast tool.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: This uses AI as well to look at your past spending.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: And that way it'll just give you recommendations and say, hey, you need to have at least$500 in your account on this date, otherwise, you won't be able to make this bill.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Our most popular tool is our credit score tool, but I'm gonna talk more about that a little bit later.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: And then we also created something the plan called the plan and grow dashboard.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we have all these tools, over 20 tools in our digital banking platform, but we wanted to make them easy for our for all of our members to find.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: So that's why we created the plan and grow dashboard.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: It puts everything in one easy-to-find place.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: And then on the next slide, please.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: And this is just a quick overview of the plan and grow dashboard.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: It um it's very long.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: You have to you have to scroll through it.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: So we've cut it up into a couple different screens here, but it just kind of shows you how things are organized so that you can find the different tools that you want um on the dashboard easily.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: And the next slide, please.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, so the three of us are each going to go through a different scenario.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: These are all real scenarios for our life.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, my scenario was for buying a car.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: This all started about a year ago.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna walk you through the exact process that I went through.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and let me just give you a little more background, too.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: So I needed a car.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, I, you know, I mentioned the beginning of the call.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: I I tend to live pay paycheck to paycheck.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, my current minivan is paid off, but it it's old.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: It's it's about 20 years old.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: It's leaking oil, it it needs roughly$500 to$1,000 of repairs every like six to nine months.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: That's just kind of the routine that I've been on.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Um so I I want to just at least see, can I can I afford a new car?
8:12
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm I'm losing money on the car that I have right now.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: So to find out if I can afford a car, first I need to see how much do cars cost these days.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: And so just everyone that's uh that's an attending right now, if you could just put in the chat, what do you think the average new car costs today?
8:26
SPEAKER_00: And Danny, while uh while people are are putting that in the chat, what do you think the new average car costs?
8:36
SPEAKER_02: Maybe like 30 or 40.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Kim, what do you think?
8:41
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say about 35, yeah.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Especially if we're thinking new, like it almost feels like gone are the days of us just saying, like, I'll just get a quick$5,000 call and move on, right?
8:52
SPEAKER_00: Like so I I've I've seen a couple of people in the chat get it right.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: Believe it or not,$50,000 is roughly the average price of a new car today, which is crazy.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, my my uh my first new car, um I think it was it was was well under$20,000.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: And that was like a brand new Honda Civic.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: And I I want to say that was maybe like only 10 years before COVID.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: So to think that today$50,000 is the average new price, that that's just it's it's crazy.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: But I I wanted to do a little bit more research than just saying, you know, what the average price is.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: So I went to bcu.org and I went to our auto buying service.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: You can put in the make and model of the car that you want plus the zip code that you live in, and it will give you a list of all of the car dealers with all of their guaranteed MSRPs, um, which is the the manufacturer guaranteed or the the the listed price for the car.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: That way you can see about how much the car that you want is before you ever go talk to a dealer.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: And so now, next slide, please.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: Real quick, Warren.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: What I also really love is like when we do pre-approvals, you can also put like, show me all the vehicles that are less than 50,000 or yes, 1000%.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm I'm gonna really quick next show you.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot to say.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: So after I did all the research and and looked at the different cars, I I really like minivans.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: So I decided to get another, I decided I needed another minivan.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: The minivan that I'm looking for, best case scenario, it's gonna be around$40,000.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm still gonna purchase new, but it's gonna be under that$50,000 new um new average price.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: So now I need to see, can I afford that?
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Like it can I afford a fifth uh$40,000 loan and how much is that gonna be in monthly payments every month?
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, the that that's what's gonna affect my budget is how much am I gonna have to pay every month for that car?
10:42
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go into our digital banking.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: At the top of the screen, you see that arrow pointing to plan and grow.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: That's how we get to all those financial well-being tools in the plan and grow dashboard.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And then in the middle of the screen, you'll see the blue arrow for viewful report.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is how you get into view our our credit score tool.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Our credit score tool, by the way, shameless plug, it is the best, the best tool that we have by far.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'm sure many people on this call right now, they uh have been a user of Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, one of those big credit names.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um our tool works as better, or I would say better than those big guys.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: And the difference between us and them is they're trying to make money off of you.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: They they present you with credit cards and loans.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: They're hoping that you take out one of those credit cards and loans, and then those big names, credit karma, credit sesame, they get a kickback for selling you those loans.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: That is not how our credit score tool works.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: We are not here to make money off of you.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: We are here to help you save money.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: That is the point of us giving you your credit score, is so that you can work on improving your credit score, thereby lowering the interest rate on borrowing, on borrowing loans.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: So that if you want to purchase a home, if you want to purchase a car, if if maybe you just need a car like you're in my situation, because you know you need to get to work.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: We want you to have the lowest interest rate possible.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: And the easiest way for us to help you do that is to help you improve your credit score and get it as high as possible.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: So now getting back into the tool, the the blue arrow at the top of the screen, you click offers, and then you click auto loans after that.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, the reason that I'm doing this is because again, I I'm just trying to figure out how much my monthly payment is going to be.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: I need to see if I can fit this in my monthly budget.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: So, next slide, please.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: So here you can play around with the loan terms.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, you like I I need to pick a new car because that's that's what I decided to do, but you can also click used just so you can see how this would affect your interest rate.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: And I should say what this system does here, it's pulling in your specific credit score data, and then it's it's applying it to BCU's lending guidelines.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: That way, the the monthly payments that it's presenting to you over there on the right lower hand side of the screen, that is an estimate of what your what your monthly payment would be using your credit score data and BCU's lending guidelines.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: Now it's not a guaranteed promise of what your price would be, but it is a rough estimate of what of what your monthly payment would be before any add-ons, et cetera.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, next slide, please.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Next thing you want to play around with is the loan amount.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, you want to play around with this so that you can get a good uh a good spectrum of what you think your payment would be.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Because you know, a lot of times you'll get to the dealer and you'll you'll find out maybe, hey, maybe this car is a little, it's a little more than what I need.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I can actually afford something even cheaper.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why it's it's good to look and see how much the loan would amount would be if you you know go a little bit lower.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: But it's also good to go a little bit higher because you know, sometimes you get to the dealer and it's you want that extra bell and whistle.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a little safety feature like antilock breaks.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: That's worth the extra money.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: Last thing you want to play around with is the loan terms, right?
13:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, the average auto loan used to be five years, but as interest rates have creeped up and car prices have creeped up, the the the average loan term has also crept up.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: So we're getting closer to the to the six-year mark, being being closer to the average loan term.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: But that that really doesn't matter.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: What really matters is that your monthly payment fits in your budget.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: It does not make sense to take out a car payment if you can't afford it.
14:13
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so after I played with all these screens, I figured out that my monthly car payment is gonna be around$500 a month.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: So I need to go in now and I need to see can I afford$500 a month in my budget?
14:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, I told you at the beginning of the call, I live paycheck to paycheck.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's just take some exploring.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go into that spending analysis tool.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: This is this just shows me how much I spent last month.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Now I need to see, because I don't have any savings because I live paycheck to paycheck, can I squeeze money out of my budget to put towards a paycheck?
14:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, to put towards a car payment.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: And so when I look at my food expenses, I can see, whoa, I spent way more than that$500 car payment on restaurants last month.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: And so I know that, hey, all I have to do is spend less on restaurants and I can probably afford this car payment.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Before I uh before I go and do that though, I want to make sure that last month I want to make sure this is a monthly thing and that last month wasn't an anonym anomaly.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: And so, sorry, one slide forward.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: So here you can see two months ago I spent$700 on restaurants or sorry,$500 on restaurants as well.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: And so I can see that month over month, there is lots of wiggle room in my restaurant budget to save money on, to save money to put towards this car loan.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: But I've got some bad news, everybody.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: I after I did all the math, I decided I just couldn't really fit it into my budget.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: I did have that wiggle room with the restaurants, but I just realistically, I didn't think I'd be able to just out of nowhere start paying$500 a month towards a car payment.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: So what I did instead is I set up a savings goal.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm giving myself one year to save a$5,000 down payment.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: And the idea is that this is going to help train me to put$500 a month every way, every month towards a savings account.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Because if I can do that every month, then I know that next year I can afford that$500 a month car payment.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Now I know this was a lot of steps and a lot of information, but I really recommend that you go through all these steps whenever you're making any big purchase.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Really, really do the homework and do the math.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: See, can you afford it?
16:19
SPEAKER_00: Find out like the the high end of what your monthly payment is going to be, and find out what the low end of your monthly payment is gonna be.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: That way when you go to purchase a home or a car, you're not surprised.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: And and you can be sure that it fits in your budget.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: Because again, if something doesn't fit in your monthly budget, there's no point in purchasing it because you're just setting yourself up for more financial problems in the future.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, I know I've talked a lot, but I'm very happy to answer questions.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: So if anyone has any questions about any of this, please put it in the chat and I'll be happy to answer as Danny and Kim go through their scenarios.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: But I've done a lot of talking.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to say thank you, everyone, and uh thanks for your time.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, Warren.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: And I love the habit behind creating those savings goals.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: We talk to members all the time about establishing that habit ahead of time.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: Doing it in a savings goal is the perfect avenue and path to begin before jumping into like going in and getting the vehicle, not even knowing how much your payment's gonna be at the end of it and all the planning that went in with that.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: This is awesome.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Kim, it looks like we also have a hand raised in the chat here.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna go ahead and let Adrian ask a question.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: Adrian, you can come off mute now.
17:41
SPEAKER_02: So it looks like Adrian might have some trouble coming off mute, and that is totally okay.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: But we did have a chat here just come through.
17:49
SPEAKER_02: So it said I had just joined BCU in the fall and bought a used car and got a$250 bonus.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: I wish I had explored everything.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: I didn't realize this was there and I'm now looking for a different car.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: My payment is only$250, but just don't want a car payment or very minimal one.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: This will help immensely.
18:06
SPEAKER_02: Apologies.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: Great comment.
18:07
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much and happy I read it through, but it was not a question.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, so with that, I am going to ask Adrienne, please put your um question in the chat here so we can uh answer it for you because it seems that the muting feature is not working.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: So, Kim, go ahead and get into scenario number two.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: So today I'm going to be talking to you all about how parents use the spending visibility and savings goals to plan ahead.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: So let's start with a situation that parents in this group will probably recognize.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Imagine it's a regular week in your household.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Groceries were more than you were anticipating.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: You forgot that you also recently loaded lunch money into your kids' school accounts, and their taekwondo testing fee is coming up tomorrow.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, but then somehow another subscription charge came out and you don't even remember signing up for that.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Now, none of these things feel heavy on their own, right?
19:04
SPEAKER_01: But together they add up.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: And what most parents tell us is that the hardest part isn't the spending.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: It's feeling like the money is always moving, but you're never fully sure of where it's going.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: That's where having one clear view of your spending can make a big difference.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: When I open up my online banking, and this is something that I personally do all the time as a mom and an overseer of my household expenses, under the plan and grow tab, the spending analysis pulls everything together in one place.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: So here you'll see your groceries, your gas, dining out, child care, school costs, subscriptions.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Instead of guessing or mentally tracking your expenses, you can actually see your real spending patterns, just like Warren was showing us, but like a little bit deeper into the personal things that we look at also.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: And this clarity is powerful because it separates the things that are fixed versus what's flexible.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Now, what do I mean when I say that?
20:06
SPEAKER_01: So fixed expenses are the things that you think of like your rent or mortgage, your childcare, your insurance, the bills or items that you know aren't really changing month over month.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: But then there's the flexible spending, the things that when we look at tying loose ends or really trying to like strengthen our savings, it's these other things like what Warren looked at with his dining out.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: It's our dining out, our convenience purchases, maybe it's the multiple streaming services or those we're too busy tonight, let's just grab something real quick moment.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: And that happens often and without judgment, you know, as parents, we realize I didn't think that we were spending that much there.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, I was looking at my spending analysis also, and I quickly had a conversation with my husband, and I was like, hey, we really got to shave up some things in here.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: And that awareness is really where the turning point happens, right?
21:02
SPEAKER_01: Instead of cutting everything out or feeling like you have to make big sacrifices, families can really talk through a few small adjustments together.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's one less takeout night a week.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's planning a couple of easy, low-stress meals, maybe it's pausing a subscription that really isn't being used.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, when we were talking about this, I was thinking about our Six Flags subscription that we have.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: So I'm in San Antonio, we pay$65 a month to have access to Six Flags for all four of us to go in whenever we want.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: And it's a really great subscription to have in these months now when we can enjoy swimming or plan a full day around it.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: But in those winter months, and forgive me, I mean, I know y'all know I'm in San Antonio, so it doesn't get too cold over here like it does where you guys are.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: But we're also not going to be out in our cold, you know, riding roller coasters or things like that.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: So in those months when I know that we're not going to be using six flags as or going to Six flags as often, we'll pause that subscription until we get to around now when school's about to be out.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: I need to entertain my kids.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: $65 a month to go in however many times a week we want, say less.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: And again, so these aren't big sacrifices, but collectively they can free up money each month.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And for my family specifically, this is where it really clicks.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: So as a mom of two, one thing that's also really active in our planning stages right now is summer camp.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: And if you've looked into that recently, if anybody here has little ones going to summer camp or you're trying to figure out what your littles are going to do for the summer, you know it adds up quickly.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Just a fun fact for here in Texas, on average, summer camps range anywhere from about$176 to$528 per week per child, depending on the type of camp.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: And in San Antonio specifically, many camps average around$180 to$200 per week.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
23:00
SPEAKER_01: The Chavez kids like to do it big in San Antonio.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: So my littles don't want to just do the regular summer camps.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: They are talking, my oldest, who's about to be 12, he's been really into basketball.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: He recently came across a Spurs summer camp.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: So Spurs summer camp themed camps, and they're only a week-long camp.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: And those average$350 a week.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: So for a family with two kids like mine, even just a few weeks of camp can easily become$1,500 to over$5,000 a month, or excuse me, over the summer collectively.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: I also have a little one who's in Taekwondo.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: Taekwondo summer camp is not as pricey as First Camp, but because he's so little, I want to keep him entertained and he gets to go to summer camp all summer long.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: So that's not something that we want to just kind of scramble with at the last minute.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: So this is where I personally revisit our budget.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: So under the Plan and Grow dashboard, there's an option of creating a budget.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: With creating a budget, instead of guessing, I can go into the budget tool and look at what we've spent over the last few months.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Like Warren mentioned, it is AI generated, but everything is editable.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: So you can go in and take these facts and think to myself, like$400 for restaurants and dining, uh, maybe we'll switch that to$500 because it's a summer.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: I know maybe we'll get out a little bit more.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: You can customize these and edit them as you see fit.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: But in here, you also can identify areas where you might be able to scale back a little bit.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: And also what we like to do, we have to gamify everything in this house.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: So we really gamify and challenge ourselves to spend a little bit less month over month.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: And then intentionally redirecting those dollars somewhere where it's more meaningful.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: And in our case, this year, actually since last year, it's been summer camp and experiences for our kids.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Once you reach that point in finding and discovering these areas where there are pockets of money that you can push or allocate somewhere else, now you get to really consider and think or ask yourself, like, now what do we want to do with this money for us?
25:15
SPEAKER_01: And that's where the savings goals come in.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: So instead of just hoping that we'll have enough money, we actually create a plan.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: So again, under the plan and grow dashboard, that's our favorite dashboard.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: I know we're biased, but that's where we like to go.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: In that tab, you'll see the area where it says set up life goals like emergency savings, et cetera.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: For example, in my household, we set a goal specifically for summer camp.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: We picked a target amount, we set a timeline, and could clearly see how much we needed, how much we needed to save each month, and how close we were getting to that.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: And what I love about this is that it removes all of the stress and guesswork because I don't want to have to worry about how much money do I need, how much money is in there, can Danny go to one week of camp or can he go to two weeks of camp?
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, the beauty of savings goals is that they turn these vague intentions into real clear, manageable plans.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: And for families, especially like mine, that's a real game changer.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: The other game changer that I want to mention though is automation.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: Because again, let's be honest, Kim does not want to need to be looking at our accounts week over week and making sure that that money is going into the account.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: So we automate everything.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: We've set up automatic transfers.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: What you see here is just a scheduled transfer that we have that's ongoing, where we move money into our savings goal each paycheck.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: We use these dollars that are freed up from those small spending changes.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: So every now and then, what we'll do, especially because we like to make a game out of things, when we've got the itch to go somewhere, like it's Taco Tuesday today, right?
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Mom really wants to go get tacos, but instead of going to get tacos, we're gonna go to the grocery store and we're gonna make tacos at home.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the times what I do is I try to accelerate our savings on those days, and I'll move an extra$50 into that savings goal with a special note that says, like, would have been Taco Tuesday outing.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: You know, something along those lines that really just kind of fuels my intention around not going and spending the money.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: This also keeps us consistent without having to think about it.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: It's simple.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: I know it sounds like it's simple, but I promise you it works.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And what we've seen, both personally and from working with different families on the coaching side, is that with this combination of spending visibility, budgeting clarity, savings goals, and automation, this helps money feel less reactive and more intentional.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: You move from feeling like you're just keeping up to actually planning ahead for what matters the most.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: And for us, this planning is already paying off because at the end of the day, Danny gets to go to Spurs camp for two weeks this summer.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: And Benji, my youngest, is going to be at camp all summer long.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and that's for us what it's really about.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: Not just tracking money, not just, you know, having the knowledge of what we've got in here, but using that to our advantage and creating these experiences and opportunities for our family.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: So with that, I will pass it over to Danny.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Again, if there's any questions, um, like we said with the last scenario, feel free to drop them in the chat and we will make sure to respond to them as we go.
28:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you guys are a quiet group.
28:38
SPEAKER_02: We've had you know a lot of engagement in past.
28:40
SPEAKER_02: So don't be strangers, ask all your questions here.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: This is what these live events are for is to be a community with our coaches here, ready to answer your questions related to this topic, which is our tools within digital banking to help empower your financial well-being.
28:56
SPEAKER_02: And as Ken said, I will be closing out our scenarios with my personal experience, which is I'm engaged.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: So I am currently planning a wedding.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: And oh my goodness, what I've heard from everyone who has already been married is just coming more to life.
29:13
SPEAKER_02: And I totally have empathy for the sticker shock and the stress and the just trying to make the best of everything right now.
29:20
SPEAKER_02: So my goal is I want to save money for my wedding.
29:24
SPEAKER_02: And so I am going to go to our trusted plan and grow tab in digital banking and look at all of the financial well-being tools available to me.
29:33
SPEAKER_02: The one that makes the most sense for my situation right now is exploring the calculators available.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to go to that piggy bank that says savings goal.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: And I want to create a savings goal for myself for the wedding.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: And so when I go there, I'm just going to play with some of these fields, similar to what Warren and Kim have shared.
29:53
SPEAKER_02: Play around with these numbers, see where you can get, you know, the results that you're looking for, a manageable amount that you can save for whatever period of time.
30:01
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm trying to get to 12,000.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: That will be enough to cover not just photography and videography, but also florals.
30:08
SPEAKER_02: And so I know that I already have 3,000 saved up and I have about a year longer to contribute to this specific saving goal.
30:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I also am already using our rainy day savings.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: So this is going to be one of those miscellaneous savings goals that will not accrue any interest.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I will be making an automatic transfer from my deposit every other week.
30:30
SPEAKER_02: And so doing that, you can see my calculator has come up with$346 every two weeks necessary to get me to that$12,000 savings goal.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's been mentioned already, but the really cool dynamic part about financial well-being tools within digital banking is that you can customize your dashboard.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: So I can go ahead and pin this savings goal so that upon logging in, I'm reminded right off the bat that I have to save this amount more money to get to my wedding floral and videography savings goal.
31:03
SPEAKER_02: So that is super cool.
31:05
SPEAKER_02: And we highly encourage everyone here to customize their dashboards to their liking so that when you do log into digital banking, it's a relevant experience for you.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: And you're reminded of all of the goals that you have for yourself so that you're on track to achieving them.
31:20
SPEAKER_02: And the other part of this is um that I get to share this goal, right?
31:25
SPEAKER_02: This is not just me marrying myself, which would be interesting, but I am marrying Drew.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: He's my partner, and we both are gonna contribute to this goal.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: So if we proceed to the next slide, I'm gonna go ahead and open that regular savings account.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: And upon clicking that, um, I will be given all of the options of different savings and money market accounts available.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: I already mentioned I have a rainy day savings.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you can see here we have the special for money markets as well as regular money market.
31:54
SPEAKER_02: Holiday savings is relatively new, and we'll talk more about that in our live event later this year as we're approaching holidays.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: My gosh, it's already almost June, and I can't even go there yet, you guys.
32:04
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna click that miscellaneous savings and open now.
32:08
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna start with that transfer of 346.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: But again, I said I'm gonna share that goal with my partner.
32:15
SPEAKER_02: And so as we proceed to the next slide, I wanted to pull a really relevant stat that I continue to think about here as I'm making financial decisions with my partner.
32:24
SPEAKER_02: 43% of married couples reported that they can handle financial disagreements.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: This is from psychology today.
32:32
SPEAKER_02: If you do the math, that means 57% of folks don't feel that they can handle uh financial disagreements.
32:39
SPEAKER_02: And so wanting to set ourselves up for success, we want to be as transparent and um as much of a team as possible here when it comes to our financial goals.
32:49
SPEAKER_02: And so that's why both Drew and I are gonna split that$346 right down the middle, and we're gonna add him as a joint member.
32:56
SPEAKER_02: So as I proceeded to the next slide, you can see this is a simple form.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna fill it out, call my BCU rep and get him added to this account that I created to help contribute to that savings goal.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: And that could even help us get there in half the time.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, depending on what we're able to manage, I could play around with that calculator and see how long it would take to maybe even save more money now that I have him contributing to the goal as well as myself.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna end my scenario by having Warren explain to you a really cool new function we have available within digital banking.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Danny.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: So I'm super excited about this.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: This is a long time coming.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're very excited for this because we we want to help our members save money.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: And the easiest way to save money, believe it or not, is lots of small deposits over a long time.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: And what what what better easy way to do that than to round up your debit card purchases?
33:52
SPEAKER_00: So every time that you go and once you enroll in this, of course, you have to this is uh you have to choose to enroll in this, but once you enroll in this, every time you use your debit card, every purchase will be rounded up to the next whole dollar.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: And that that that small change will be automatically put into a savings account for you.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: So just as an example, you go to you go to the pharmacy, you get a dollar fifty pack of candy, you use your debit card, the the debit cards sends the dollar fifty to pay for that candy, but but then it rounds up the next 50 cents to the next whole dollar, which is two dollars, and it takes that 50 cents and it puts it into the savings account.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, that might not sound like a lot, but if you saved one dollar every day, that is$30 a month, that is well over$350, that's around$350 a year.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's just one dollar a day.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's you know, that's very possible if you used your debit card, let's say twice a day, or maybe maybe even just like 10 times a week, you you could you could probably hit that dollar savings.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: So definitely take a take a look.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is something you have to opt into.
35:01
SPEAKER_00: To opt into it, you go into digital banking, you click on your checking account, uh, click card features, and then you'll you'll follow the prompts from there.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: It's really quick, really simple.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: And the the best part, if it's if it's something that you don't end up liking, it's really, really simple to turn off.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: But if you're like me and you have a a little bit of a problem saving money, definitely check this out and uh enroll.
35:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you, Warren.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: And if we move on to the next slide, we also want to tout a few other tools that we have available to you online right now.
35:32
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're a subscriber or member, all of these are built into digital banking for you as a member.
35:38
SPEAKER_02: And then some require you to subscribe.
35:40
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna start with our in-person events that we're doing just like this.
35:44
SPEAKER_02: We have a calendar on lifemoneyu.com as well as bcu.org slash financial learning.
35:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, so in person, you can sign up for events like this.
35:52
SPEAKER_02: Our next event is July 1st.
35:54
SPEAKER_02: We're going to be covering our mid-year money check-ins.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: So we're going to look back at January when we had Erica Young here talking through all the really cool behavior and goal techniques to help you achieve your financial goals.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: But in addition to this, we also have two more events this year.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: We have another event in uh September and then one in October, where we're actually going to collaborate with our wealth advisors to talk through generational wealth.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: So stay tuned or register for those if they sound interesting to you and learn in these community environments.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: It's a great way to feel um like you're not alone because you really aren't.
36:28
SPEAKER_02: Next we have our pop.
36:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh, go ahead, Warren.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, sorry, and I started to interrupt.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say too, um, speaking of of uh of the events, someone in the chat had also asked if we're if there's a way to review this event again.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: And I just want everyone to know we will be sending out a recording to anyone that registered.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: So even if you're watching it right now, you'll get a recording to see this again.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Warren.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: So true.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: Yep, you won't miss a beat.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: So just check your email.
36:52
SPEAKER_02: And if you're a podcast person, so I know while I'm driving or working out or walking my dog, I usually have headphones in my ears and I'm usually listening to something like a podcast or music if I'm in the mood.
37:04
SPEAKER_02: But if you do like podcasts, subscribe to Life Money Use Podcast.
37:07
SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of really cool episodes about a lot of different financial well-being topics, and we're getting a little bit more niche.
37:15
SPEAKER_02: Warren came up with the idea to do something on grocery delivery.
37:18
SPEAKER_02: So stay tuned for something like that here in the near future.
37:20
SPEAKER_02: But we want to talk about topics that are hyper-relevant to you and emerging right now and maybe something you should consider to help with your financial well-being strategy.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: We also have on your own learning.
37:31
SPEAKER_02: So we have a virtual library with I could you not just everything and anything you can think of financial related.
37:38
SPEAKER_02: And it's there to help educate you on your time.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: There's an AI bot as well as a search bar where you can type in anything under the sun related to financial wellness, and you are then given not just an article with information to learn, but maybe also a video, maybe a webinar, maybe it's a course or a quiz.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: So you can learn your way on your own time and self-serve with our virtual library.
38:01
SPEAKER_02: We also have one-on-one coaching, which our very own Ken Chavez manages.
38:05
SPEAKER_02: We have a team of over 100 certified financial coaches that are here to help you with building credit, crushing debt, and unleashing your savings potential, which may be trying out a new product.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: We have all these right tools here within digital banking, but maybe one of our loans or one of our credit cards or um right, even the cool pocket change feature might be something that you're interested in taking advantage of.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: And a coach can show you the ropes and help you get acquainted with whatever that tool may be.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: Um and our coaches are free.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: Not sure if I mentioned that, but they're 100% free to you, whether you are a member right here or not.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, but as you may be uh catching on, you get a lot more here with all this experience by becoming a member and opting into everything that we have to offer you right here.
38:51
SPEAKER_02: We also, as a subscriber, deliver a newsletter to your inbox.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: So for those of you listening, if you're a member, you may not be a subscriber to our program.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: So highly recommend visiting lifemoneyu.com and subscribing so that you can receive our newsletter to your inbox.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: And I will say, if not all of y'all are readers, maybe your listeners, we've just translated our newsletter to the podcast.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: So if you're interested in a three to five minute quick listen about whatever that topic is for the month, June is National Home Ownership Awareness Month.
39:20
SPEAKER_02: And so we will be doing a newsletter dedicated to the home buying market here in 2026, which as we know is its own crazy arena, but we're gonna talk about it.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: So highly recommend tuning in and reading that newsletter.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: And last but not least, we are present on social media.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: So feel free to follow Life MoneyU and BCU social media on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: And we also post all of these recordings to YouTube.
39:46
SPEAKER_02: We have a YouTube channel, it's not our main platform of dissemination as you will receive this recording straight to your inbox, but it is another place that you can go to look at previously recorded episodes that have visual pairings.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: And with that, I want to open up the floor.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: We've gotten some decent amount of chatter here, but there has to be more questions.
40:06
SPEAKER_02: And if they're not, we're gonna go ahead and create some for you.
40:09
SPEAKER_02: So Warren, go ahead.
40:11
SPEAKER_02: You look like you want to say something.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there was one question that I didn't get a chance to ask.
40:15
SPEAKER_00: The question was, I budget every month and was doing fine, but then uh what they were doing fine when when both partners uh got paid on the same day, but then it looks like the husband started getting paid on a different day than than the other partner.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: And so they're just their question is, you know, that they don't know why it's it's been harder to budget now now that they don't get paid on the same day.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: And so is there any way to make it easier to budget moving forward?
40:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I can't promise this advice would will work, but I I would pretend like like you still only get paid on one day.
40:48
SPEAKER_00: So like if your if your husband gets paid second, then I would pretend like you don't get paid the day you get paid and then wait till next week to pay to pay all your bills.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: That way you're still functioning as you guys get paid on the same day.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: But but I but but again, that that might not work if you're if you're one of those people that if you have money in your checking account, you spend it, then then maybe set up your direct deposit to go to an account where you can't get to it.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: That way that it just sits and kind of waits until your husband husband gets paid, and then you can you can pay everything on the same day.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, any other questions though from anyone else in the I kind of want to do a PS to that, Warren.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: So I love that advice also.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: In our home, we switched from both getting paid every two weeks to getting paid opposite weeks.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: To now my husband is recently going to getting paid once a month.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Very scary.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: But um, just like Warren said, so envision it in that you're still getting paid.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: Think of it like a checkbook register, right?
41:47
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm still getting this pay, I'm still needing to pay these items.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Even consider opening a separate account from what you already have.
41:56
SPEAKER_01: So here with us, you know, we have many different accounts with BCU, and we have one account where we put all of the money that we need to pay everything out of.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: And again, automation is just it really is a friend when you get into the habit of things.
42:12
SPEAKER_01: Put that money into that account, let these things automatically withdraw from it.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: You can hide these accounts in your app as well.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: So you know, okay, he gets paid.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: I know I need to put$300 towards the car payment from this paycheck.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna set it into the bills account and let it stay there, leave it hidden if you need to, and then make keep going on with what you have in your checking account and run with that as much as you can.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Also, like Danny has said a couple of times, coaching is free.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: Talk to a coach here at the credit union because what we really love is being your accountability buddy.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: So I will absolutely hold your hand and make sure you know, like, hey, we need to set this money aside.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: This is the best practice that we should do.
42:57
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's that we know from this week until next week, when you get paid, we only have$80 to spend on groceries, or maybe we only have to put that towards gas or whatever.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: You can come up with a plan that's tailored to you and your house that we can definitely work with you and hold your hand on to make sure that you get to a place where things are comfortable because I know budget is the dreaded B-word, as we call it every now and then, right?
43:22
SPEAKER_01: Like budget is really challenging, but as you continue to practice, you get into that habit where we all become like Warren when we have these habits that are a little bit tricky, but we know we want to do better.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: So, um, you know, and no two budgets and no two styles are the same.
43:39
SPEAKER_01: So I know Danny and I, Warren and I have talked about this so many times where what works for the Chavez house might not work for Danny and Drew or for Warren.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: Like everybody has their thing that works best for them.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: It's just a matter of you finding that and understanding it's okay for ours not to look the same, but we need to find something that.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Works best for you.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
44:03
SPEAKER_00: I love that, Kim, too, because I do the same thing for everyone on the call.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know, it's free to have multiple accounts at BCU.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: So I have just like Kim, I have one account that all of my bill payments come out of, and then I have another account that all of my fund money comes out of.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: That way I know when once my once my like discretionary spending money is gone, well, I can't spend any more that month.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: I've got to wait.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: It's it's just a nice little fail-safe feature, and it's free to have that other account.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, another question that came in too was how can BCU help in canceling subscription services?
44:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna open this back up to Danny and Kim too.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: But the only thing that the way that I was thinking that we could help is our spending category tool and our AI budget tool, they both can identify some of those recurring subscription fees for you, just to make them aware to you.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm not aware of any of any way that we can help you actually call call the vendor and cancel the service, but I'll I'll pass it over to Kim just in case I'm wrong.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we don't have an exclusive assistant for that.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: Like I couldn't exclusively say, hey, Orlando, this is what we've got, and you're unable to reach them.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: But I will say many times, especially depending on how comfortable you are, many times I've talked to members and I've said, like, okay, we're gonna get into our subscriptions in our Apple, we're gonna get in here and we're gonna look to see, is it here?
45:21
SPEAKER_01: Or based off of what we can see on your account, is there maybe a phone number listed?
45:26
SPEAKER_01: Shoot, I'll Google search if we need to.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: But you know, if that means that we um just kind of help with giving you additional resources, we can help as much as we possibly can.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, I will say, depending on who it is with subscriptions, um, a lot of the times when you look at your actual transaction history, there's a phone number sometimes associated with these transactions.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: I might start there.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: If you look at your accounts, take a look and see if maybe there's a seven-digit number on there that looks like it might be something, plug it into Google, see if anything comes up.
45:58
SPEAKER_01: Try to give them a call and handle as much as you can on your own.
46:01
SPEAKER_01: But of course, if you need assistance, we can do our very best.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: And if nothing else, then um, sometimes you're able to do like a stop payment or something along those lines on those types of transactions as well.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: And then Peggy, you had just asked, uh, can can you please clarify, does multiple accounts mean we can have more than one checking and savings account?
46:20
SPEAKER_00: That is absolutely correct.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, so for instance, I I have two checking accounts, um, but the uh with with one caveat.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: So the uh the checking accounts they they come with features.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: And to get some of these features, you do have to meet certain requirements.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: What makes us different from a big bank's is that the big banks, if if you don't meet the requirements, they charge you.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: We don't like to charge our members.
46:43
SPEAKER_00: If you don't meet the features of of our checking our savings account, we're not gonna charge you a fee.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: We but but in most instances, we we probably won't give you some of the extra bells and whistles that come with the account.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: So our our checking account, for instance, our PowerPlus checking account, if you have 15 transactions and um and a direct deposit, then we will give you up to 8% interest on that checking account.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: 8% interest is great, especially on a checking account, right?
47:08
SPEAKER_00: So let's say one month you you don't meet those requirements.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: We are not going to charge you a fee.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: We just won't give you that 8% interest on that account.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: So to answer your question, yes, you can absolutely have uh more than one account.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: No, we won't charge any fees, but we might not give you some of those extra bells and whistles.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: For the savings account, this is not an exaggeration.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: I have 15 savings accounts.
47:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm the kind of person where if I see that I have$1,000 in an account in my head, I'm like, oh, that's money to burn.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: So what I do instead, I have my savings broken out into 10 different savings accounts.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: That way, even if I have$1,000 saved, it's only$100 in each one of those savings accounts.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: Now, that is not a method that's going to work for everybody.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: That's just me and I'm I'm kind of meticulous.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: But just to answer your question, Peggy, yes, we can absolutely give you more than one account.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of one of the big benefits of a credit union versus a big bank, is that like our accounts are here, you're you're a part owner of the credit union.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: We're we're we're enabling you to try to achieve financial freedom.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: And with some of the checking accounts, also to Warren's point, with some of them, you might not always get like multiple debit cards.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I always like to tell people like, if you set up that separate checking account where maybe you don't get those bells and whistles, know that that's gonna be your automation account where you can set things up with that checking account number and the routing number.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: So that takes all the headache away and start with something small.
48:31
SPEAKER_01: Start with something small like your insurance or your phone payment and know, like, okay, I'm gonna get into the practice of putting that money there.
48:39
SPEAKER_01: Let's just see how I do.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it's the um, so when we think about subscriptions, our family, we don't do like formal cable anymore.
48:48
SPEAKER_01: We just stream Hulu, right?
48:49
SPEAKER_01: So we just stream that.
48:51
SPEAKER_01: So maybe you start with the streaming service there and get into that practice.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: And then as you feel comfortable, work your way towards all of your bills to be automated into that type of account.
49:02
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: And Liz just had a question: is the 8% interest offered on our checking account only for certain times of the year or is it all year long?
49:10
SPEAKER_00: So the 8% is a limited three month um promotion for when you first open an account and meet those requirements.
49:17
SPEAKER_00: After those first three months, um the interest rates will drop down from 8% to 4%.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, if it, you know, assuming you meet those requirements.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: Um and I also do, I'm I'm just gonna give a sneak preview.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: We also will be launching a new checking account coming soon, and that's gonna have some great perks as well.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, but but more information to come on that.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I sorry, one last thing I wanted to say just because I know we are about to wrap up here.
49:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh Kim said it a few times before.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, she mentioned just make make small steps, and that that's the key to success with with financial wellness is baby steps.
49:51
SPEAKER_00: If you if you just you know rip the rug out from out onto yourself and try to cut a thousand dollars out of your budget in one day, you're you're gonna you're gonna feel that pain.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: That's that's hard.
50:01
SPEAKER_00: You you you can't you can't have can't have your your mornings your morning Starbucks or your morning dunk and donuts every morning and then just suddenly not have it.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: That that's that's a hard adjustment.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: So really try try to make those tiny little steps.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: Just every month make make one little change.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: Like this this sounds silly, but one of the biggest changes for me was I used to go to the gas station every day and I'd get my Coca-Cola.
50:22
SPEAKER_00: And I was spending like three dollars on on one jar of Coca-Cola every day.
50:27
SPEAKER_00: And then I like I went to the grocery store and it was it was like four dollars for a 12-pack of those Cokes.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: And so just that one little thing saved me.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not I'm not exaggerating to say that saved me a thousand dollars a year, just changing where I purchase my Coca-Cola.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: So just try to find those little little changes and make those changes over time.
50:46
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: We've I've had so many conversations with people who didn't even realize that they were paying for subscriptions or things that it was a quick, like, this is an easy$80 a month.
50:57
SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: We've kickstarted that savings.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: And you know, depending on how you feel, but I know every little win for me is so gratifying.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: And if I I say it all the time, like if I could just constantly have confetti cannons, I would.
51:11
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, definitely feel free to reach out to a coach, have somebody here who will be your accountability buddy, and we will absolutely walk you through the journey of wherever it is that you want to get to with your financial goals.
51:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:25
SPEAKER_00: And then there was one last question in the chat.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, they were just asking if if there's if it's possible to get that 8% bonus for an existing member.
51:32
SPEAKER_00: If you don't, if you don't already have our PowerPlus checking account and you're opening our PowerPlus checking account for the first time, you are still eligible for that 8%, regardless if you're if you're a new member or not.
51:43
SPEAKER_00: But again, that's only if you haven't had our checking account before.
51:48
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Warren.
51:49
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Kim.
51:50
SPEAKER_02: I will say I'll let any last questions come through here while I sort of pose one final question.
51:57
SPEAKER_02: I think being so close to all of this, we uh explore our financial well-being tools quite a bit.
52:03
SPEAKER_02: But for someone new, a member who maybe logs in once a day right now, how would you recommend?
52:11
SPEAKER_02: And you sort of already answered it with small steps, but it can be overwhelming to look at all of the different tools that we have available and learn how to use them.
52:18
SPEAKER_02: So, how would you recommend a member walk away with all of this new knowledge and start applying it to their day-to-day and already implemented financial well-being habits?
52:29
SPEAKER_02: I'll let Kim go first.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: So I'll also just kind of say I feel like up until recently I was guilty myself of not or underutilizing all of these tools that we have available.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: So one thing that I would say, I hope that everybody left with something, right?
52:51
SPEAKER_01: From us talking, but my biggest tip and what I tell the coaches all the time is get in there.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: Get in there, click around and see what kind of piques your interest.
53:02
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's savvy money looking at your credit score.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's I'm wanting to eliminate debt and you start there.
53:07
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's I've always had this idea of exploring a budget, but I don't know where to start.
53:12
SPEAKER_01: Go into the budgeting tool.
53:13
SPEAKER_01: Just click around and see or find what works best for you and what really motivates you when you think about what your top goal is for your financial well-being.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: Because I know, like I said earlier, no two thumbprints are the same, no two financial well-being journeys, no two credit scores, no two budgets.
53:30
SPEAKER_01: Like there are no two that are the same.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: And each one of us does them differently.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I would say just get in there, click around and explore, because that's really what's helped us, and that really is what inspired this whole event.
53:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that, Kim.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: And I my my tip would be along the same veins in that I I think first you want to decide what your general goal is.
53:57
SPEAKER_00: And and what I mean by that is you know, for for me, for the longest time, uh my my goal was to stop putting myself further into credit card debt.
54:08
SPEAKER_00: If if if you're a chronic credit card debtor, then you then your first goal should probably be to just go into the spending analysis every day and see like what you're spending, like where you're overspending.
54:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, if if you're the kind of person that you just like you don't ever have any money saved and you're you're you're always like, shoot, I have to use my credit card because I don't have any money in my savings account.
54:29
SPEAKER_00: And I would say your first goal should be go into that savings goal tool.
54:33
SPEAKER_00: Get get get your first emergency savings uh set set up.
54:36
SPEAKER_00: So really I would say try to identify an area of your financial life that you want to improve, whether it's too much debt, not enough savings, etc.
54:46
SPEAKER_00: And and then from that, go in go in and play around with the different tools that we showed you to see to see where you can make a change, a small change.
54:56
SPEAKER_02: I love that so much.
54:58
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna start wrapping us up here with three minutes.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: I think I actually want to mute.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: Can you hear me now?
55:08
SPEAKER_02: All right, I'm just gonna close us up and remind everyone that we're Life Money You, a financial well-being program provided by BCU, a credit union fiercely committed to your financial well-being.
55:17
SPEAKER_02: Again, if you're a member, you have access to everything that we just explained, and we're hoping you take full advantage of all the financial well-being tools available to you within digital banking.
55:26
SPEAKER_02: If you're not a member, this is your call.
55:28
SPEAKER_02: This is your FOMO, this is your chance to join and to take advantage of all the really cool tools that we have available.
55:34
SPEAKER_02: Warren, Kim, any closing thoughts before we let everyone go?
55:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, so just one thing.
55:40
SPEAKER_01: There is one QA that got dropped in there from Gerolyn.
55:44
SPEAKER_01: She they asked, how do you link your external accounts for budgeting?
55:48
SPEAKER_01: There is an option to link your accounts on a couple of different places.
55:52
SPEAKER_01: What I would do is just reach out to us or even put it in the chat.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, excuse me, if you want to drop your email into the chat, I'll make sure that a coach can respond to you so that we can send you the instructions on how to link your external accounts to your BCU account so that you can explore everything here.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, but last final thought, you know, I know I keep saying it and I know I'm biased because I'm the coach of the coaches, but but please schedule time with the coach.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: Our financial coaches are experts on all things every day and come with different styles and different opinions and thoughts as well, which again just makes everything super nice that we all have different ideas that hopefully will help you find the one that works best for you and your financial well-being.
56:42
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining, and we hope you join the next one.
56:45
SPEAKER_02: Until next time.
56:46
SPEAKER_02: Bye everyone.