Recap: Personal Finance Summit 2021

HUECU’s Annual Personal Finance Summit was a hit! With over 500 registrants, our members were eager to gain a deeper knowledge of the best ways to simplify their finances. Our 2021 Summit consisted of four different sessions over four days: Simplifying Financial Goals, Understanding Investing, Student Loan Repayment, and Decoding the Fine Print.

On day one, we welcomed our partners at GreenPath Financial Wellness, Matthew Gage and LaDonna Cook, to guide participants through setting and achieving their financial goals. The presentation included insightful examples from GreenPath’s work with credit union members across the country and Matt and LaDonna pointed to specific money habits and behaviors that can keep us from reaching our goals. The number one tip was having a sound budget that works for your family and prioritizes saving.

Session two featured Shahar Ziv, HUECU board member and Harvard Business School graduate, who presented on the ins and outs of investing. He gave members a good foundation on how to get started in investing, but also how to “stay average” in order to get the best returns. Attendees were interested in learning more about robo-advisors and ETFs, as well as the details of 401k options. Shahar provided a great list of resources available for more research that you can find here, along with recordings and slides from all four presentations.

Jake Northrup, CFP®, CFA, CSLP® and founder of Experience Your Wealth, brought our members information on strategizing their student loan repayment during the third day of the Summit. Not only did he give our members the opportunity to think through repayment options, he also walked them through considering what strategies would best fit each of their lifestyles. The attendees now have the tools to make thoughtful repayment decisions when it comes to their student loans.

To wrap up the Summit, we brought in our own HUECU experts, Katie Armstrong, CFO and Carline Olivier-Guerrier, branch manager, to answer some common questions about banking fine print. Many products at the Credit Union come with pamphlets full of information about each account, so Katie and Carline were able to break down information like APY, APR, and compound interest. Attendees were also given the opportunity to ask questions live so they could better understand the jargon that financial institutions use.

We are grateful for each attendee, presenter, and member that was able to join us throughout the week and are already looking forward to next year’s Summit. If you would like to watch the recordings of our Summit, you can find them on our YouTube page with additional resources, including presentation slides, available at huecu.org/summit. You can also follow @myHUECU on social media for recap videos with helpful tips from each of our presenters at this year’s Summit!