MoneyWi$e financial education for the military

Outreach staff members Mikael Wagner and Linda Williams are featured in a video segment about Consumer Action's MoneyWi$e partnership with Capital One and how important financial literacy is to military families. (See link to video at the bottom of this article.)

As Williams points out in the video, many of the soldiers entering the armed forces are just out of high school and may not have the knowledge and skills to manage the unique financial challenges of military life—frequent moves and long term tours on active duty.

"Our military men and women are very young, a lot of them are joining the military straight out of high school with no college education, just a high school education," notes Williams. "So they come into the military not understanding the credit system, not understanding how to build wealth, not understanding about a savings account. So it’s imperative that, as advocates, we reach out to them and try and educate them so that they can avoid some of the pitfalls that they’re falling into."

Wagner points out, "We’re teaching people how to manage their money, how to set up spending plans, how to do some basic banking as well as how to clean up their credit and to stay on track.”

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.