Does your credit history start when you graduate from high school? Or even before? Is the love of money the root of all evil? Money is a good thing, but only after you figure out how to handle your credit.
ETC staff writer Jeff Dixon recently chatted with Art Canales who will be presenting a workshop at the 2009 Diocesan Youth Convention titled “Money’s A Good Thing, But …”
Canales is a public speaker and president of Cornerstone Financial Education, a not-for-profit company in Austin that provides traditional credit counseling services, debt management programs, and preventative financial education to older teens and young adults.
The convention is sponsored by the Office of Youth Ministry which is funded in part by the Catholic faithful of Southeast Texas through the Bishop’s Faith Appeal.
What’s the biggest challenge facing teens and money management?
I talk about subjects and education that they’re not getting in school. Very few public or even private schools have basic finance or budgeting classes.
What’s the biggest misconception that teens have about finance?
I’ve talked to thousands of teens all over the country and the biggest misconception is that they think they’re all going to make between $100,000 and $200,000 a year. Really only 5 percent of the U.S. makes over $100,000 a year. They also feel that credit cards equal free money. They don’t really understand the debt they can get in and how fast they can get in it. They equate credit with cash.
What’s the biggest mistake that teenagers make as far as money management?
It’s both student loans and credit cards. The average student is coming out of a four-year degree with $35,000 in student loan debt. They’re also coming out with seven or eight thousand in credit card debt. The most unwise thing is that kids are getting credit cards in college and not paying them off. They’re not making any money to pay it off so it builds. We don’t have a savings mentality. We pay for it with plastic and say to ourselves, “I’ll pay for it later.”
Do you find that bringing the faith aspect into it makes it more relatable for teens?
I wish I could say yes but the bottom line is they really want to focus on the money. How do I make money? How do I avoid trouble? Those are the questions they’re asking. I find that when I talk to the guys in the audience they relate more to the tangible things, and when I talk to girls they want to hear statistics and numbers. They will listen to the Stewardship aspects, but they’re waiting to get to the real world money issues.
What is your talk at the youth convention going to focus on?
I’m going to start with Stewardship and talk about the pillars of financial stewardship which are money, credit, credit score and savings. I’ll also be focusing on defining Stewardship with the four T’s; time, talent, treasure and tradition. Then we’ll move on to what credit means and how credit can be a good thing and how you need to keep up with your credit score. Then we’ll move on to budgeting and how to prioritize and set goals.
What do you hope the teenagers take away from this workshop?
The most important thing is to avoid debt. The second thing is that credit is not a bad thing; credit is good, and banks are our friends because they insure our money. The third thing I hope they come away with is an understanding of the material things and examples that I’m going to give. I just hope they take it all in and process it.
What made you decide to start focusing on youth and teens?
As a nonprofit company we have to do so much outreach. We were doing a lot of work in conjunction with the youth office in the Diocese of Austin and it just came about through that. We look at it as preventative education if you will. We talk about stewardship, finance and budgeting. Really simple things like what is stewardship to how to avoid debt. I’ve gone to about 20 dioceses this year so far at various youth conventions and workshops.
How long have you been talking to youth about this subject?
About two years. I’ve been involved in youth ministry for 25 years. A buddy of mine from Miami, who is also in youth ministry, started this company while I was the diocesan director of youth ministry in Austin. He brought me on board, and the whole idea was to promote Stewardship, financial responsibility and sound money management to Catholics.
