By Alyson Luskey/reporter
South Campus students learned April 1 the importance of building wealth and saving money.
Financial coach Paul Baccus from Family Pathfinders, a nonprofit organization that helps families on their way to economic self-sufficiency, said his goal was to help the students with “financial independence, financial building and financial sustainability.”
“How do you build wealth?” he asked.
When one student gave an idea on setting a goal, Baccus agreed and began writing the acronym SMART on the whiteboard.
“Is your goal specific? Can it be measured? Is it attainable? Is the goal realistic? And do you have a time frame?” he said.
Baccus described the acronym as “one element for defining a goal” and continuously referred to it throughout the session.
One of Baccus’ plans was what he called “three times.” He defined it as the necessity to have a minimum of three months working wages in a savings account at all times in case of any sort of an emergency.
While Baccus’ main focus was on that of saving money and building wealth, he also touched briefly on retirement plans and credit debt. He discussed pensions and saving at a young age to help for the future. Baccus also discussed getting control of debt, saying goals and budgets are necessary.
Distributing a handout with a “financial coaching wheel,” he asked the class to define what item on the wheel was most important. Options included income earnings, retirement, budgeting and support services. The end goal was the same: being smart.
“Knowledge is power,” Baccus repeatedly said. “Knowledge is power in building wealth. And if you don’t plan to succeed with a goal, you plan to fail.”
Protecting wealth is just as important, Baccus said.
“The strategy to build wealth should always change,” he said. “Where there is risk [in building wealth], there is reward.”
