Access to Financial Education

Financial Literacy Month is here, and we’re celebrating by diving deep into what financial education really means—for kids, teens, adults, and entire communities.

In this episode, Danielle and Amber sit down with Kelly Flaherty, Senior Manager of Consumer Lending at Affinity Plus and proud Affinity Plus Foundation board member. Together, they explore how financial education shows up at every stage of life—and why empowering people with financial knowledge is one of the most meaningful ways to strengthen communities.

Kelly shares how his passion for financial literacy grew through years of volunteering with Junior Achievement, bringing money concepts to life for learners of all ages. From kindergarten classroom visits to BizTown and Finance Park simulations, he gives us an inside look at how early exposure builds lifelong habits around budgeting, credit, saving, philanthropy, and financial decision‑making.

But financial education isn’t just for youth. The conversation also highlights:

• How the Affinity Plus Foundation supports adult learners through scholarships, housing stability grants, and community partnerships
• The wide‑ranging tools available in the Affinity Plus Financial Education Center, including budgeting modules, career exploration tools, and self‑paced courses
• Real‑life impact stories—like a recent housing success that shows how financial education and community resources can literally open doors
• The emotional side of money, and how learning builds confidence, agency, and empowerment at any age

Whether you're just starting your financial journey or looking to expand your knowledge, this episode will leave you inspired to take your next step—and maybe even get involved in supporting financial education in your community.

🎧 Tune in, learn something new, and feel empowered to take control of your financial future.

Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union - federally insured by the NCUA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the A plus U podcast. I'm your host, Danielle. And I'm your co-host, Amber. It's financial education month. Um, a big month within our institution. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

And just within our industry, sharing knowledge and tidbits across the way.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Um, not only for young people, but at any stage of your financial journey.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Absolutely. And I think we've learned that through the webinars that are being hosted monthly right now, lots of great feedback from folks that have attended and sharing um what they're excited about with learning on our um financial education uh center on the website. Under the learn tab, I have to put my uh presenter head on. Yeah, right. Affinityclub.org under the learn tab. Yeah, you will find our financial education center. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Well, we've got um kind of an exciting episode uh planned for today, uh, talking about financial literacy month, but also kind of bringing back in our foundation as financial education is a key pillar of our foundation. So our guest today is Kelly Flaherty. Did I say that right?

SPEAKER_03 1:09

You said it correctly.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

I'm like, I'm on a roll lately. You are. Um, Kelly, you are a senior manager in consumer lending here at Affinity Plus.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Correct. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

But you also are a foundation board member.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

I am, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

How did you end up in all of these positions?

SPEAKER_03 1:31

I mean, I've been here almost 15 years and excited uh about an opportunity that came a couple years ago for an opening on the foundation board and decided I should throw my name in the hat. Um, I've kind of been involved with different areas of the foundation prior to um the board position opening and worked pretty heavily within our um JA area, junior achievement, and doing some uh presenting in classrooms and working with youth and just talking about finances in general. Um, and that's kind of kind of what brought me.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Awesome. And I guess for your day job, what does the senior manager of consumer lending do?

SPEAKER_03 2:12

What don't we do? Maybe is the better question. Um anything consumer lending related. So uh from underwriting to servicing to operations of it, um, collateral specialists, credit reporting. Um, so kind of tying into the uh financial literacy month.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Look at that. Every time someone comes in, I'm like, what do you do? Tell me more.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

There's so many areas of expertise within the credit union that are not member-facing roles. So it's always it's great to hear about them and um the more you know. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Well, um, we teased, you know, talking about the foundation and everything. Can you kind of give us a little bit of a reminder of, you know, what is the Affinity Plus Foundation? And actually, before we even get into that, Amber, you are also on the foundation board. Kaylee and I have mentioned shirts on today. Unplanned, did not plan it.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Did not.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Well, it should go. I mean, we don't want to minimize your activity on the board as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I'm just on the board and do help with other things. Yeah. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Do more than that.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

I do. I'm our treasurer for the foundation board and um also work on our fundraising subcommittee to help raise funds for our foundation. Um, and also our event um that we host for our vendors and um other credit union partners to come and help raise funds for the foundation um every year. So lots of fun things. Um, I've worked with Kelly his whole time at Affinity Plus um from way back when he started in the contact center. Yes. Go way back. His journey at Affinity Plus is vast. So from member facing to back office now.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

But still member facing at the same point.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Well, look at you two, you little besties. Maybe. Well, um, Kelly, why don't you ground us in the Affinity Plus Foundation a little bit?

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Yeah. So the Affinity Plus Foundation has four different pillars that we kind of focus our areas of expertise in, and it's housing stability, food insecurity, uh, financial literacy, and um access to education. Exactly. So um we try to kind of ground ourselves within those four pillars and um do good within those areas and and promote financial literacy, scholarships, um, you know, housing stability and like what that means within the communities that we serve um across the whole entire state. Um, and try to bring awareness to different issues like food insecurity, um, and kind of bringing those topics to life with with our members and with uh people in the community.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Awesome. Um, um today we are kind of focusing on that financial education pillar, um, being that it is April and it is financial education month. Um can you talk or go maybe in a little bit more depth about that education pillar within um the foundation and what kind of work we're doing?

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Yeah. So I think the financial education piece of it is also kind of built into like housing instability, but a lot of it is grounding um people and individuals just in general about like what are smart financial decisions? What is what are some of the things that you need to know um when you're making big purchases, when you are learning how to run and manage a budget, how to um what does it mean for credit reporting and why is that important? Um, and so uh my passion kind of lies in that area specifically. And so our partnership with junior achievement uh kind of aligns really, really well uh for my own personal interest, but also just because um it's an area where we continue to see that youth maybe don't specifically know enough about finances and when they're out in the real world on their own, um there's a lot of things that they're gonna come across. And so if we can get exposure to them at a younger age and continue to kind of bring that forward, it it certainly helps them um when they're adults and contributing members to our society for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

So Kelly, you just talked a lot about junior achievement. Um, those are for younger um learners in the financial space. What about adult learners?

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Yeah, I mean there's always knowledge to be learned, and um, it's never something to be embarrassed about if you maybe as an adult don't have the financial literacy that you might expect to or that you you think you need to. Um so the Financial Literacy Center on our website is something that anybody can check out. There's topics from you name it, uh it's there, you can find it. And you know, you can step into any of our branches across the state, you can talk to a member consultant, member advisor about certain things that are going on and that you want to learn about and help you there. Um, and also we have certified financial counselors in many of our branch locations as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Well, Kelly, can you go into um junior achievement a little bit? Tell us a little bit about like what they do and um why the foundation has chosen to partner with them kind of outside of just a monetary like contribution.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Yeah, absolutely. So the uh Junior Achievement North that we partner with actually, um, their primary focus and goal is to expose youth to different financial topics that you might run into, uh, but also expose them and put them in like more real life situations so they can learn about something and then have practical um application to what they're learning. Uh so they do a couple different things, um, like Affinity Plus partners with the BizTown Center that they have, which is um it's a city simulation where students they have learned about different things related to financial literacy. They come in and they actually get to practice running a city uh together. And so Affinity Plus has um the philanthropy center that we support there as well. Um, and then they have other, you know, things like the JA finance park, um, where they get to go in and um essentially learn how to realistically apply budgets with um different careers settings, um housing situations, living situations, uh, and really bring what they're learning to real life.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Awesome. So there's multiple opportunities, and I think you were kind of talking about them earlier, like even one about going into classrooms, and that's kind of how you got involved, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Yeah. So when I started with JA, um I got approached to see if I was interested in um going in and speaking to students about um financial literacy, and my first class that I did was a group of kindergartners. Oh my gosh. So very different than what we work with uh on a day-to-day basis, but being able to expose them and be somebody coming in from the community and talking about finances and just money in general at a very basic concept, um, but getting them exposed to that at a young age. And then I worked uh or part participated in a group of fourth graders as well that kind of like drew me in and wanted to keep on going because you get to see their growth and their interest in it and like what how does it operate? What does it work like and um what they can see themselves in doing um with that too?

SPEAKER_01 9:46

So I think it's building habits like at such a young age, like you get to learn about them and then put them into action.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Yeah, absolutely. And it's starting starting young enough that they can um, you know, take those things and apply them for their entire life.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Absolutely. Well, I just think about like, you know, my own children. And you think about like, you know, if you want them to learn something, you start young and you like build upon that and you just like you keep talking about it. And I know when Sarah was here, she kept talking about like bring them along and bring and and you know, bring your family along when you're budgeting, or let them understand like what you're doing and why you're budgeting or why you're only going out to eat once a week, or whatever that looks like for your situation. Um, so I just love that um, you know, we've chosen to partner with somebody that is trying to establish these habits from such a young age. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:37

100%. And really what it's also doing is it's um supporting maybe like gaps in curriculum that they're not getting um, or that you know, they just don't have the financial literacy built in their own home to be able to apply in in life. And so they might even be able to bring some of that back home to their families as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

So when you think from a foundation standpoint, like this access to education pillar, it really is from a child and whatever their like concept of money is and their concept of financial literacy to someone who is fully established, retired, and has spent their whole life saving or or managing their money, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:20

Yeah. It it can be any range. It could be, you know, somebody looking at buying their first car. Um, and what does that look like? And what is what is the process? It's could be what do I need to do to prepare myself financially for a big purchase of like buying a house? Um, what if it's I don't know how to manage a budget? What if you know, like I have this income that's coming in, but I don't know what to do with it and how to appropriately use it. Um yeah, there's there's a lot of opportunity there for them to kind of bring that.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Kelly, did you talk about the philanthropy center?

SPEAKER_03 11:53

I mentioned the philanthropy center. All right, tell us a little bit more about it. Yeah, so the philanthropy center at the JA Biz Town is actually it's um a a spot within their city, um, and students get to learn what it is to give back into their communities. And we figured as a foundation, what a great way for us to be able to partner and be that um financial center that um they can come in and learn about what it is to give back into their communities.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

It's another habit to build because it's like it's not just like saving and paying your bills every time. It could be something as small as giving back to a local organization and why it's important um each month or year, whichever is best for you.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Well, and I think as a kid, right, like you're learning just about life in general. And I don't think you understand that some of the things in our community and some of the the ways that the community runs when you think it just happens as a kid, it's because there are organizations giving back, it's because there's funds being raised, it's because people are volunteering with their time and their money both equally, and that also makes your community thrive. It's not just get up, go to work, make your dinner, you know, those type of things that when you're a kid, you just don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

And so what's really cool about BizTone is it really gets to put all of that into action and they get to see it firsthand. So they get to have different jobs and different careers, they get to understand what it's like. Hey, I have to go and deposit money into um into my bank account, and I also have to use an ATM to withdraw money. And what do I have available to use? Um, and how can they become participating members in society and their local economy and what what can they do today? Um, but also again, building those behaviors and those habits for future.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

I love the combination of like going into the classroom, but then also like the opportunity to like stimulate that. My first experience with BizTown was BizTown not in an actual center, it was at different tables with high schoolers, and they were so perplexed with what do you mean this costs money?

SPEAKER_03 14:05

And I'm like, Can't you swipe a card?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I wish I wish the card magically has money on it. Always, yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Infinite funds. Right, right. Well, I think that's a good transition because you know, we're teaching people how to be productive members of society. We're teaching, you know, we're the foundation, you know, is contributing to these great programs and things like that. But then you think about adult learners, right? You kind of transition out of that, and you're an adult now, and whether you've had the other education or you haven't, um, now we have to think about that next adult and what kind of support did they need. So from a foundation lens, like what is the foundation doing to support, I guess, like adult learners?

SPEAKER_03 14:49

For adult learners, um, it could be anything from um, you know, our access to scholarships so that they can be more financially stable. Uh, and then I think about the financial education center that we're bringing forward into our website and uh the tools that are built in there with um anything that you can possibly think of, uh, you name it, it's going to be there. Um, and just providing that because there's so much knowledge and information that is out there, but whether or not it's actually credible, so we can bring a credible source and you have a go-to spot within in our website that will allow you to kind of find that information and know that it's from a trusted knowledgeable source.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

You said there's so much information on there, it's it's crazy. Like you could spend so much time on there, but there's everything from like, you know, there's a budgeting tool, but there's also you were talking about scholarships. There's a there's a college finder, and you can look at your career and what is the potential am I going to earn in this career? And where is this career going in the next 10 years? So there's things like that that aren't just how much do I have to pay for this loan? How much is this car? Like it really is pretty intricate in the information and what you could be looking for and how you can, you know, kind of plan for your future within the financial education center. And it's self-guided.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Like you can take those courses and review it whenever you want. Like you don't have to wait for something.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

At your own base.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah, and it's always there. It's one of those always on kind of things. So when it's convenient for you and when it's a good time for you, it's available to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Kind of meet meet them where they're at, right? It doesn't have to be a certain you have to follow a certain pattern. It's I'm here at this point right now, what's available to me.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

And I think even like from the foundation lens, the other side of it um is the housing grants that we do. A lot of that is providing different financial education courses to those other organizations that are getting that grant so they can continue to do that in their community and help others that are beyond our reach because maybe they're not members or don't know about us yet, but they know of this organization that they trust.

unknown 17:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Fun story.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I love fun stories.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

So uh last year the foundation contributed to its um Three Rivers community action down in Rochester. And we did kind of feature this woman who was at Three Rivers, who um they did a whole, you know, kind of educational piece. They helped her uh apply for down payment assistance. And at the time that we uh met with them and kind of were talking about this um Leticia's story, um, she hadn't found a home yet. They were still kind of looking, they were still kind of waiting on like the paperwork for the down payment assistance and things like that. Um, we read not too long ago that she found a home. And so I saw a picture of her with like the key of like the soul sign and everything like that. So she find a home, she found a home. And that just is like another kind of a success story from like the foundation's impact. And now this woman who has kids can um can teach her children about all these resources, but all these great things, and they have a home to live in now.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Yeah, isn't that super awesome?

SPEAKER_00 18:02

I love that. It's just a fun story.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

It is, it's it's seeing the results from something that starts as a grant because I do think sometimes it's easy to give money, but you don't maybe see the end result right away.

unknown 18:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

So, Kelly, we've talked a lot about different things here today with JA and adult learning. When you think it is, so it's financial literacy month. Like what does financial literacy month mean to you?

SPEAKER_03 18:30

I think financial literacy month uh to me means more that um you have empowerment to to gain knowledge and um put yourself in a better spot both now and also in the future. It's learning so that you're prepared. It's um I mean, l understanding what debt is and understanding what good debt might be versus bad debt. Um and just helping to build yourself in a better financial position um so that so that you can have maybe like less anxiety about money and um and really understand what it what it what it does and how to use it properly.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

I love the word empowerment. Like we've we've that kind of comes around a lot like when we're kind of sitting here and we're talking to experts and things like that. It's about it's about money being so personal and so emotional, but if you feel empowered by your money, it's a less stressful thing than feeling like it's like owning everything in your life.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

Yeah, absolutely, and uh to have that agency, I think, is also something that um I don't know that everybody gets. And so to be able to provide uh skills and knowledge so that people do have that agency and empowerment, I think is really, really cool. Um, and you get to see roots of your labor in action all the time.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

So and I think that's where it just starts. Like you have to start it at some points just as an individual, but it's you can talk about it with friends, you can talk about um you can come into Affinity Plus or any other your financial if that's um what you would like to do, to sit down and just ask for ways to learn about financial education. Like what is something that maybe you don't know? And is there a resource out there on a website that maybe you were unaware of? So things are coming around all the time. I think that's important to recognize too.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

And I do think, you know, we talked today, we talked about youth and we talked about adult learners, and you know, as with anything else out there, there's no shortage of like learning and and gaining new skills when it comes to finances or when it comes to financial literacy. Um, the learning is not just for our youth. Of course, it starts there, and that's like the really the base of it all, but it's not just for them.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

It it's also continuing on that journey. Like at any age, it doesn't matter. Like you can learn something new and be exposed to something that you never knew about. And it it's not a just a one and done. It it is really like a journey um through any of the things that you run into in your life.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

And I love that about the foundation, that it's not just you know, the pillar of education is not just on a specific age group or a specific like group of people. It is really um, it is really there to cover everything.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Anybody and everybody.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Well, and I think this is where I know you talked about volunteering with junior achievement. Is that something that's only limited to um people that work in the financial industry?

SPEAKER_03 21:33

No, it's not. It's anybody in the community if you have an interest in wanting to kind of um do something different or uh put yourself out there, I would say. Um, anybody in the community, any person, it does not have to be that you have financial ties. In fact, sometimes I think it's even more um interesting for students when it's not just people with financial backgrounds because they're getting to see real life um people with different careers, different stories. Different experiences and getting to kind of see that firsthand.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I love that. I do too. And it's just where you to learn different things from other people. Different voices are it's important to continue to bring in.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

So Kelly, one last question here before we wrap up. If you were listening today to today's podcast, what are takeaways that you would say are the most important to you?

SPEAKER_03 22:27

So we talked a lot about uh financial access to financial literacy and education. Um, but just remembering that that's not all the Affinity Plus Foundation has to offer. And um to learn more about the other pillars that we have and kind of our areas of focus, checking out the Affinity Plus Foundation website. Um, but also put yourself out there. Don't be afraid to get involved. Um, and you'll actually learn more. And I think it's important that you continue to learn, and it's okay that you may not know something.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Well, Kelly, thank you so much for coming in and talking about the foundation and talking about financial literacy month and all that that that kind of entails. Um, we really appreciate your expertise.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

Appreciate you having me.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yeah. Well, um, make sure for anything affinity plus, you're checking out affinityplus.org and the financial education center. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll catch you on the next episode of A plus U.