Self-Help Shares

College is in your rearview mirror, and you’re about to enter the working world. Although snagging a job certainly calls for a celebration or two, it is also time to start tackling the various financial responsibilities that await you, like saving for retirement and improving your credit score. Here’s an overview of where to get started, including several best practices to help you along the way.

Graphic courtesy of National CAPACD

This month is National Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and many people are celebrating the history and culture of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the US. Here we salute a partner that is focused on the financial well-being of these diverse groups. The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (“CAPACD” or “the Coalition”) supports nonprofit organizations working in communities all over the nation to expand economic and educational opportunities for lower-income Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). 

See our annual report here.

To all members, partners and friends:

Last year was one of growth and increased impact for the Self-Help family of credit unions. In all our locations—North Carolina, California, Florida and Chicago—we and our partners continue to demonstrate that families of modest means can build wealth when given the opportunity.

Our annual report highlights just a few of the ordinary people we met in 2016 who do extraordinary things every day. I hope you will take a few minutes to see what we’re accomplishing together.

In the late 1990s, leaders at Self-Help Credit Union began to notice a disturbing trend. While Self-Help was helping lower-wealth families buy their first home, predatory lenders were busy targeting the same families for subprime refinances. Too often these refinances drained the homeowners’ resources until they lost their homes. When a borrower came to us owing more than $47,000 on a house that originally cost $29,000, we knew we had to act. Thus, our affiliate organization the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) was born.*

Today, fifteen years later, CRL continues to stand up for fair loans that build wealth and fight predatory lending practices. On April 25, the organization celebrated its anniversary with a reception in New York City.

Kids may study biology or earth science, but they probably aren’t catching tadpoles, collecting chicken eggs or observing an ecosystem up close—unless they’re lucky enough to visit the Hub Farm.The Hub Farm is a 30-acre educational farm managed by Durham Public Schools. To celebrate Earth Day, two Self-Helpers took an afternoon to volunteer.

Archival picture of the lobby of our branch in Chicago, Second Federal Savings & Loan Association of Chicago 

In 1882, a bank was established in the Little Village community of Chicago, and it has been serving immigrants ever since. In 1974, Kern Central Credit Union formed in Bakersfield, California to serve employees of a refinery and, later, employer groups such as the United Farm Workers of America. A few years later, on the other side of the country, four nuns started a credit union in Apopka, Florida ...

These are just a few of the 21 financial institutions—69 institutions, including all their branches—that have now merged into the Self-Help family.

Recently, Car and Driver’s blog ran an excellent article called “How to Get the Best Rate on an Auto Loan.”  (The post features comments from our own Chris Kukla, a colleague at the Center for Responsible Lending. Go, Chris!)

At Self-Help, we encourage you to talk to us before pursuing a loan with a car dealer. But if you do go with a dealer, a few key tips can help you get the best deal. Test your knowledge here:

A rocking chair looks slightly out of place in the lobby of our Asheville branch, but it won’t be there long. On April 14, one lucky member will win the chair in a special drawing—open to any member who gives us a question about home loans in advance. On that same day Jessica Phelan, our western North Carolina home loan officer, will be in the Asheville branch to answer any questions members have about home-buying. 

A scene from one panel on the Freedom Fighters Monument to be dedicated at the Northside Festival on April 29, 2017. (Photo credit: Jim Wallace)

Later next month, the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Making and Saving History, one of Self-Help’s community partners for the Northside Neighborhood Initiative in Chapel Hill, will host the ninth annual street festival celebrating “the past, present and future of the Northside and Pine Knolls communities.”

Every morning I wait for the elevator in my building, stand in line to order coffee at a cafe, and will the subway to arrive while pacing the platform. Those few-minute blocks of time are all opportunities to master my money game.

That’s because it’s easier to chip away at big financial goals, one by one, if you break them into more manageable chunks. The first task often takes so little time, you can do it on your phone while waiting in line at the supermarket. When you’ve got a few minutes to kill, inch closer to goals like paying off your student loans and saving $1 million for retirement with these quick maneuvers.