Alva Review-Courier -

A free six-week series to help local citizens better manage their money and plan their financial future kicks off Monday, March 25, at 6 p.m. in the Alva Public Library auditorium. Registered participants will meet for 90 minutes each week during the financial fitness program to explore budgeting, borrowing, saving and investing money wisely. A free dinner will also be provided to participants during the evening program.

Week 1: Your Fiscal Strength

This session will cover how participants were raised, examine their money attitudes, and explore how experiences and even gender can affect our relationship with money. Participants will be encouraged to consider how they can improve their relationship with money and make it a less emotionally charged issue. Tracking will also be introduced during this session.

Week 2: Booyah for Your Budget

This class will cover in detail how to set up a budget, plan for periodic and variable expenses, why tracking is necessary and how to learn from it, how to start saving money and why, how to pay bills on-time, electronic bill pay, calendar method, and the importance of goal setting.

Week 3: Credit Crunches

This session will cover reading credit reports, credit scoring, how actions affect credit scores, how to dispute incorrect items, and why good credit is important (interest rates, insurance, employment, etc.), and protecting yourself against identity theft.

Week 4: Basic Training for Borrowing

This class will cover things that participants need to know when borrowing money, how to get the best deal, types of loans, differences in credit cards, mortgages and pitfalls such as payday loans, rent to own, and overdraft fees.

Week 5: Debt Drills

This session will cover ways to pay down debt and an overview of the different options to do including self-repayment plans, debt management plans, debt settlement, debt consolidation (including personal loans, home equity loans and borrowing from retirement) and bankruptcy. Pros and cons of each option will be discussed.

Week 6: Staying Fiscally Fit

This session will talk about looking ahead to the future, saving long-term (money market, CDs, bonds), college savings, retirement, investments, and advantages to participating in your employer’s 401k/403b plan.

Charlotte Hadwiger, business and industry services director with Northwest Technology Center, will be facilitating the program. The library is pleased to announce that Northwest Technology Center is partnering with the Alva Public Library on this program and the goal is to partner together in the future to present financial fitness programs for teens and seniors.

The grant also provided funds to help the library expand its financial literacy collection. Over 45 new financial books will be available for checkout. The books include information for children, teens, young adults, wage earners and seniors about money resource management. Partners in the grant have also identified electronic resources to help citizens with their financial planning.

The program is made possible by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association Smart Investing at your library initiative. The statewide, non-profit Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma (FOLIO) secured the grant for Oklahoma and is working with libraries in the state to host Financial Fitness programs.

To reserve your place for the Financial Fitness series in Alva, contact the library at 580-327-1833 or come by the library at 504 Seventh St. to register. Participants should plan to attend all six classes.