Public Awareness

By Omega Hartman, CFP®
Public Awareness Director

FPA is the community that fosters the value of financial planning…and the New Jersey Chapter has been doing it year-round in all different venues. 

The Public Awareness Committee has partnered with community organizations, educational institutions, military, non-profit organizations, corporations, religious entities, and consumer groups to advance awareness of the value of financial planning in today’s economic and financial environment.   Financial empowerment is the hoped for byproduct of implementing the financial planning process.

We have heard the mantra repeated many times that FPA is “the heart of financial planning.”  FPA prides itself in being “the heart of financial planning.”  But we as an organization have also   acknowledged that financial planning is at the heart of financial literacy and financial planning is for everyone.  With our community outreach and financial literacy programs our Public Awareness Committee has confirmed and affirmed it repeatedly.   In the process, our volunteers have thrived on the responses of our diverse audiences, from kindergarten to college students, to seniors and military! 

Sometimes the very positive experiences have come as a welcome surprise to our volunteers. One volunteer, who holds both the CFP® & CPA designation, was a first-time JA Day instructor with elementary school children at a school in Trenton.   As Jay Mehta entered the school that morning “he was wondering what he was doing there!”  By the end of the day, he couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about the experience and has volunteered again and again.   Another planner, Milind Shah, has described the experience as “exhilarating, exciting & fulfilling!”  Just as important, the students have always been just as enthusiastic, if not more so, since these programs represent the only exposure to financial matters they received in the schools.  (Note: this will be changing in NJ since financial education has now become mandatory.)

At Finance Park earlier this month, our volunteers helped middle & high school students make financial decisions during the day based on the profile each was assigned upon arrival.  One volunteer’s comments were:  “It was AWESOME!  These kids are super smart.  My favorite part was the end when they had to submit their budgets to the counselors and if they were over budget what choices they had to make to make the budgets work.  Fantastic!  Thank you for the opportunity.”   These young students got an early lesson on making choices and the difference between needs vs. wants!

Our military outreach has helped soldiers deploying to combat zones deal with financial matters and then helped them in their reintegration program during demobilization.  Military families have a unique set of financial issues and, unfortunately, have become targets for unscrupulous con artists and scams.  FPANJ’s volunteer financial planners provide sound professional objective advice to these men and women, Pro-Bono.

Other programs our volunteers are working with are Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) coalitions in Newark and Trenton where our volunteers provide financial literacy programs, tax-preparation and FAFSA counseling.

For the second year in a row during America Saves Week we are on call at the Newark Financial Helpline.   During the week of February 22nd FPANJ is partnering with the City of Newark, Mayor Booker’s office, Newark Now and BCDC, to provide free financial advice and referrals via the  Financial Helpline originating at the Newark non-emergency call center.  The Helpline is providing a lifeline to individuals and families affected by the severe downturn of the past few years.   On the first day of the Helpline our volunteers were pleasantly surprised when Mayor Booker took to the phones and answered citizens’ questions coming in on the Helpline!

These are just a few of the activities we’ve been working on and there are many others on the planning board.  Could one of these be your 1-Thing this year?