Lizbeth Padilla of East Hartford flipped through a book called “Debt Detox” while author Tanu Rishi taught a class on how to be debt free at a Bilingual Financial Literacy Symposium in Hartford Saturday. At the end of class, her 9-year-old daughter got a foldable, build-your-own piggy bank.
“I started working on financial literacy, budgeting, things of that nature about nine years ago when I was pregnant with her,” Padilla said. She wants “to continue to expose my daughter to financial literacy events and to gain information that I did not have the luxury of learning at her age.”
Padilla is one of over 200 people who signed up to attend the symposium. It’s the second of its kind that the City of Hartford’s Treasurer’s Office has put on. The first, in 2023, drew in more than 130 people. This year, they reached full capacity with over 220 registered attendees.
In the debt detox class, Padilla learned techniques in how to manage debt alongside other adults and high schoolers. For example, they learned to prioritize debts with the highest interest rates first, which is oftentimes a credit card.
They also learned to work on building an emergency fund by saving a small manageable amount every day toward a savings goal. One way to do that is with the envelope system. Put a dollar amount between $1 and $25 into an envelope every day until you meet your desired goal. Creating a chart of how much you’ll put in every day can not only help you stay on track; it can be motivating to see your progress.
“This was exactly what I needed, just the information and the jump start to be able to get those tools to kind of push forward what I'm already doing, but with a little bit more language and background,” Padilla said.
Padilla also took the Homeownership Prep course where she learned about assistance programs and the necessary steps needed to purchase a home. For her, the most important lesson from both classes is the same.
“It's possible,” Padilla said. “Debt detox is possible. Home ownership is attainable. It's something that we can do. You don't have to have millions of dollars set aside to be able to do things differently.”
Helping communities find financial stability
Arie Green walked down the main hallway of the Sport and Medical Sciences Academy gathering information from businesses and organizations that were tabling at the symposium.
Green works with the Network Against Domestic Abuse in Enfield. The information she was gathering was for her clients.
“You're dealing with so many individuals with so many different financial situations and so many different forms of financial abuse,” Green said. “You want to educate them more and teach them, like you have freedom now. These are the things that you're able to do, and these are the things that you know you may want to stay away from, because they're kind of starting from zero.”
One important lesson for those starting from scratch: start small, but start now. Set a goal to save a dollar a day until you get to your desired amount, and use that to pay off your debt or to start an emergency fund.
Green said growing up in a Latino household, money felt like a taboo topic of conversation, but now as an adult, it feels like a more popular subject to discuss. She left the symposium feeling excited to share what she learned with her clients.
At one of the tables stood Joshua Riggs, a Hartford native studying to get his certification in financial planning. Financial literacy wasn’t something that was brought to his attention growing up, Riggs said. If it was, he said he would be in a better financial position today.
“It didn't set me back, but I would have been more geared towards it,” he said. “I would have [known] more and I would have fallen into a lot less pitfalls as a young man, especially with credit, I [would] have a way better savings than I already do now if I [had started] younger.”
To help teens and young adults, Riggs founded JNR Stockz, a financial literacy organization that serves underrepresented communities, including the Black community that he identifies with and other minority communities. While at the symposium, he had someone ask about retirement funds.
“I was asked, ‘What is a different version of a 401K?’ Because they're asking like, they don't want their money to be taxed,” he said. “I realized that not a lot of people know what a Roth IRA is.”
Teaching people about their financial options like that, he said, helps folks save money and put the community in a better position overall.
Better money management for future generations
Damaris Rivera volunteered to help out at the symposium along with her daughter. In her Puerto Rican household growing up, money was not something her parents talked about.
“I believe that a lot of times [finances are] taboo because [the older generations] don't really know,” Rivera said. “They learned the hard way.”
Rivera is trying to break the cycle with her own kids.
“I wanted to make sure that while I was raising my children, that I included them in the finances of the home, just so that they can know and understand how it will shape your future,” Rivera said. “I made sure to teach my children as much as I could learn, even though I'm still learning every single day.”
Something she teaches her children is that they can’t be afraid to ask people for help. Once she got over her own fear of asking for help with money management, Rivera said it was an eye-opener for her and her household.
Besides the helpful tips, tools and resources, Rivera said there’s one lesson she hopes everyone left the symposium having learned.
“It’s never too late,” she said. “I really hope that folks are empowered. I hope that they're educated, and I hope that they leave here full of hope, knowing that there is still time to change the generations that are coming up behind us.”
