Holiday 2021 - Newsletter

All of us at Michigan Jump$tart Coalition would like to wish you a wonderful holiday season. We know it has been a challenging year teaching financial education with so much uncertainty dealing with the pandemic. One thing we are excited to share is that the Jump$tart National Educator Conference was recently held and wanted to share the experiences from a Michigan teacher that was able to attend. During the past year, we had 70 students apply for our annual scholarship and award four students a total of $2,000! We look forward to offering this scholarship program again in 2022 so keep your eyes open in our newsletters in the New Year. We are also excited that State of Michigan legislators are discussing financial literacy as a high school requirement. We will continue to share updates as they are made available in future newsletters. You can read more from Michigan Radio to learn more about House Bill 5190. We would like to thank you for all the work you are doing to help educate young people all across the State of Michigan during 2021 and your continued support in the coming year. Before we close out the year, we would like to share some tips to help you this holiday season to stay on budget with your finances along with some professional development ideas that could help you personally and professionally.

Holiday Saving Tips Giving during the holiday season can add up, but planning and budgeting can help you with shopping. Creating a budget for the holiday gifts is the first step while sticking to it is the second. When thinking about your list, don't forget about to include costs like shipping and taxes. When possible, using cash, rather than plastic, helps avoid overspending. Using a cash budget for holiday gifts using an envelope system to keep your spending in check. Most importantly, giving comes from the heart so you don't have to break the bank by something nice like baking to making homemade crafts that give it that personal touch. Here are some holiday saving tips: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). FDIC has created Money Smart for Adults, which is an instructor-led curriculum consisting of 11-training modules. They cover basic financial topics like spending/saving plans, how to obtain/use credit, and how to use a checking account. Michigan Schools & Government Credit Union (MSGU). Has created 8 tips to relieve money stress this holiday season along with ideas for next year. Practical Money Skills for Life. They have various resources focused on managing seasonal budgeting throughout the year, including the holiday season.

Teacher Highlight: Educator Conference Teachers from across the country met in Washington D.C. on November 6-8, 2021 for the National Jump$tart Educator Conference. The theme of the event was to return, reset, and recommit to financial education. One Michigan teacher that attended the event was Jennifer Rubin. She shared that the conference is invaluable. She said "it is one of the few times that I'm able to connect with, share ideas, and collaborate with other Personal Finance teachers, vendors, and experts in the field of personal finance." Some of the ideas she wanted to highlight include: Behavioral finance. Our behavior as it relates to finance is challenging every day. We have many distractions, behaviors, and products that pull us in strange and new directions. We can always bring it back to "you can have anything you want, but you can't have everything you want" Budgeting. In order to keep your finances in check, a PLAN is super important Investing. Understanding the time value of money and combining that with the importance of this combination can build wealth. Cryptocurrency. This topic is the future so understanding what decentralized finance is all about along with blockchain, non-fungible tokens, and other decentralized finances. Networking. Was able to connect with other educators, including a woman that started Stash101 that offer lesson plans on areas like Cryptocurrency where she can start having conversations with her students who have an interest and questions about this new crypto world. Please keep your eyes open in our newsletters for future conferences. We offer scholarships and sponsor teachers like Jennifer to help pay the travel cost to attend these in-person events. You can contact us at info.mijumpstart@gmail.com.

Professional Development Opportunities We are building a calendar of professional development opportunities and other events. Please let us know if you have information to add. DECEMBER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Oakland County Michigan Works!: This organization has launched a series of financial wellness workshops to help learn about different financial opportunities. Each month they have a variety of topics covered that could include budgeting, investing, paying for college, and many more that focus on real world application. Click here to check the schedule of upcoming virtual workshops, which does include learning on how to save money on buying groceries to helping save for higher education costs. Below you will find several virtual opportunities throughout the month of September and into the fall by the following organizations:

NGPF Jump$tart Financial Foundations for Educators

MI DIFS MSU Extension

MI MCEE MI Financial Wellness

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