Over 100 Gather to Recognize Importance of Financial Literacy for Women and Girls

Despite extreme heavy winds and power outages, 130 women gathered at Baltimore’s American Visionary Arts Museum on April 16th to learn more about economic security and financial literacy for women of all ages.  Headlined by Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, Chief Strategist, Consumer Education for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., the evening was a celebratory event in honor of Jewish Women International’s (JWI) new financial literacy program LIFE$AVINGS™.   

“Discussing money is still taboo in our society,” said Schwab Pomerantz.  “Like sex and drugs, parents don’t talk about this enough with their children.  Fewer than one in three families have frequent conversations about money and investing.”

Educating youth about their financial future was a main focus of Schwab Pomerantz’s talk.  She acknowledged that in today’s society, people are bombarded with more options than ever on how to spend and save their money while they try to navigate increasingly complex services.  Yet teens are not learning about personal finance at school or at home, which jeopardizes their financial security, both now and in the future.  Schwab Pomerantz made the case that becoming financially responsible early-on puts teens and young adults at a financial advantage, giving them more time to save, invest and plan for their retirement.  

Sponsored by Wachovia and The Jewish Women’s Giving Foundation, a program of the Women’s Department of THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, this celebratory event was the culmination of the LIFE$AVINGS™ launch.  Co-Chairs Alyson Meister and Sandy Silberman led the event committee.

LIFE$AVINGS™ empowers young women to start managing their money, early in their careers, with choices that will secure their personal safety for the rest of their lives.  In partnership with Hillel of Greater Baltimore and CHANA: Counseling, Helpline & Aid Network for Abused Women, as well as a variety of campus co-sponsors from Towson University, The Johns Hopkins University, UMBC, Goucher College, and the University of Baltimore, the two-part LIFE$AVINGS™ workshop series piloted at UMBC earlier this spring.  The workshop will be available to college campuses across the country later this year.

For more information on LIFE$AVINGS^TM, contact Rella Kaplowitz at rkaplowitz@jwi.org or 800.343.2823.