This week marks the 14th annual America Saves Week, a week dedicated to financial education—particularly saving money. This national observance focuses on topics like emergency funds, savings goals, reducing debt, retirement, and helping Americans do a “gut check” on their financial behaviors and wellness. Merrillville-based Centier Bank, Indiana’s largest private, family-owned bank, strives to provide free financial education and financial tools to not only its clients, but to the public at large.
“The past year in particular has been a gigantic wake up call for all of us,” Lauren Zurbriggen, Financial Education and Community Outreach Coordinator at Centier Bank said. “There’s definitely been a heightened importance of emergency savings during the pandemic, we’ve had people struggle to pay their bills, work steadily, and maintain their savings.”
America Saves Week has served as a call to action for everyday people to commit to saving responsibly. Having a “rainy-day fund” or emergency savings is what experts say is crucial with the chaos left in the COVID-19 pandemic’s wake. That little nest-egg has proven to be the difference between being nervous, to being in a full-blown panic due to the uncertainty of their income.
“Just having that little bit of cushion goes a long way in easing a lot of the anxieties that we’ve seen over the past year,” Zurbriggen said. “We offer free online courses to the public through Centier To You, which helps consumers learn how to save. As a community bank, we want to provide that education. Just having that information easily accessible for people to use is a great way to make sure they’re learning everything they need in order to develop those savings habits.”
Centier Bank has been committed to helping their clients with any questions they may have when it comes to their finances. Centier has received many awards and accolades for its top-notch customer service to ensure customer satisfaction. The organization’s commitment to financial wellness and education is why they support America Saves Week.
The best part about the e-courses is the convenient nature of it all. If you simply head to https://www.centier.com/about-us/financial-education/, you will be taken to various courses on any aspect of finances you could think of. Savings in particular has multiple courses to make sure all the bases of saving are covered.
“We want this information to be as easily accessible as possible,” Zurbriggen said. “Sometimes, saving money can seem impossible when you’re struggling to pay bills or pay down debt—but there are resources and information that can help people so they’re not alone.”
America Saves Week is from February 22-26, with Centier To You’s Online Financial Education Series e-courses available on Centier Bank’s website at centier.com/financial-education.
