Learn How to Secure your Financial Future

Learn How to Secure your Financial Future
Laura Ashby
BYU Newsnet
02/24/09

BYU’s Finance Society is providing a way for students to learn how to secure their financial future at the Utah Saves event Thursday night.

Utah Saves has partnered with the BYU Finance Society and the Utah State University Extension to present an opportunity for students to learn strategies to raise their credit scores and save money as presented by Al Bingham, the author of “The Drive to 850.”

Bingham is a certified instructor for the Utah Department of Real Estate and a national mortgage adviser to the American Legislative Exchange Council. He has presented on the topic of improving credit scores at Education Week and other Utah Saves events.

The event will be held Thursday, at 6 p.m. in 151 TNRB.

In addition to Bingham’s presentation, the event will include light refreshments and prizes.

“This is a great chance for students who aren’t finance majors to be able to learn about credit scores, how important they are and that they can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the years,” said Anthony Hardy, vice president of the BYU Finance Society, and a senior from Foster City, Calif., studying finance.

In his personal finance class, Hardy said he learned that a credit score is like a financial GPA. Credit scores are what banks and investors look at when determining whether to give someone a loan, he said.

America is a nation of spenders and most people accumulate debt, said Jana Darrington, a family consumer science agent in Utah County. Most people do not have an emergency fund to fall back on in times of financial crisis, she said.

“What we’re doing with Utah Saves is we’re trying to help people understand that even though they may not make very much, or they don’t think they make very much, they can still find ways to save,” Darrington said.

Utah Saves is a statewide coalition of nonprofit, corporate and government groups giving individuals and families tools to reach their financial goals. Utah Saves was modeled after the nationwide initiative America Saves. Students can learn more on how to become financially independent on the Utah Saves Web site at www.utahsaves.org.

“Financial security is something that we think is really important, especially given the current state of the economy,” said Nathan Johnson, president of BYU’s Finance Society, and a senior from Clinton, N.J., studying finance. “Al Bingham is instructing us so we can be wise financial stewards of that which we have.”