AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Financial educator demystifies economics
Karen Ho takes
her message on
managing money out
among the people
A year ago, I was retired from a banking career that involved being out in public and informing the customer of banking needs.
The prospect of retiring was appealing but my passion was in meeting and helping people. When I came across an ad in the newspaper for something called a financial educator at the Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, I applied.
A year after accepting the position I have helped developed a financial education program for Hawaii State Federal Credit Union that provides free seminars to high school and college students and working adults. Our seminars take some of the mystery out of buying a new car or home, starting a small business, managing the use of credit cards and budgeting.
In the past year, we've done 112 presentations, mostly to high school students with the hopes of educating them about managing money.
Teachers have really embraced us. We are reinforcing what they are saying about economics, personal finance and responsibility. We are a new voice coming from a real world perspective. This is evident when a lot of students come up to us after class asking about money matters, especially how to make more.
This year, we have given seminars to incoming freshman at the University of Hawaii and at Chaminade University.
Presentations to college students on the dangers of credit card misuse have given us the most satisfaction.
We hear how excited they are about having a lot of money at their disposal, yet they don't understand the concept of credit.
Sadly, many become so far in debt in their first few years of college, that the pursuit of an education becomes jeopardized.
We teach them about avoiding unnecessary debt by understanding credit.
Our presentations are casual, but informative. We realize most people are busy and don't have the time to do consumer research, so we provide them with the facts, tips and guidance to help them with their own decisions.
