Angela Fowlkes, Financial Aid Specialist and Dr. Amy La, LBCC Mental Health Clinician both teamed up and hosted a virtual workshop on Tuesday, April 20 for students interested in learning about financial wellness.
This financial workshop offered insight on how students can obtain more knowledge on budgeting, saving money, credit loans, credit cards, debt dumping, goal setting and how to meet any financial goals.
La said, “You have to know what your financial goal and plan is. Are you saving for a vacation or bills? Are you planning to save for college? Buying a home, or perhaps a car? Everyone’s financial needs vastly differentiate.”
Whether it is becoming debt free or wanting to travel and go on fabulous and luxurious vacations, your financial goals have to be clear. The way to do that is by deciding if your goal is long term or short term.
“Instructor Grecia Iniquez teaches a non-credit financial literacy class called ‘Let’s talk about Money’ series and LBCC students should take advantage of this awesome class,” said La.
La explained to students about money management in a smart and adequate way, and also gave some tips on how to save your money.
La discussed the Latte effect, a theory that is mainly about small amounts of spending here and there, if we add up the cost of our daily lattes or any other purchases and saved it or invest it instead, we could possibly build wealth faster. The point of the latte effect is to make better decisions about your money by weighing your needs and your wants by focusing on values instead of just spending on unnecessary products.
During the end of the workshop, Angela Fowlkes, a financial aid specialist, was in charge of covering what financial aid is and how to apply for it.
Fowlkes showed a mini presentation that introduced and showed participants what the Free Application Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is, how to fill it out, and information about different grants, scholarships and loans.
“The financial workshops provide LBCC students with the help and resources they need, and I love to help students as best as I can by giving them the correct information so students can become aided for their semesters attending Long Beach City College,” said Fowlkes.
LBCC student Camesha Maxwell attended the workshop and asked a few questions to Fowlkes about financial scholarships, to make sure she had full clarity on the process.
Toward the end of the financial workshop Maxwell showed a feeling of relief, almost like all of her questions were answered, and in a way that she felt like this was a helpful guide.
Other students like Brenda Gertman had been aware of these virtual events and wanted to learn more about money management and investing money instead of saving it.
The main objective for these workshops are to allow students to gain an understanding and to increase awareness in financial literacy skills.