Vacations are important for your physical and mental well-being, and you may be planning the perfect summer vacation. But how are you going to get around the price tag on your getaway?

“April showers bring May flowers,” goes the old saying. It’s also a great lesson about the importance of saving – where weathering some light showers can pay dividends during the nicer days that are to come.

April is Financial Literacy Month, and a great time to think about some important lessons everyone can learn about finances. Whether you’re a parent looking to make talking money with your kids easier or a professional looking for a few tips, there’s always something to learn. Here are some fun activities you can do to expand your financial knowledge.

Opening your first credit card is one of the rites of passage into genuine adulthood, but with so much conflicting information, it can all get confusing fast!

Let us walk you through the process to help you build a strong credit score and credit history that will serve you well throughout your life.

Q: What should be on my financial to-do list this spring?

A: It’s wonderful that you’re using the season to clean up your finances. Let’s review some ways you can improve your money management this time of year.

De-clutter your finances

As you sift through the junk in your home, do the same for your finances. Review your budget to cut extra expenses that are cluttering it up, like subscriptions you don’t use or upgraded apps you don’t need.

Spring is here! Time to roll up your sleeves and whip your home into shape.
Use these cleaning hacks to help banish those dust bunnies without spending a fortune on cleaning solutions and organizers.

Schedule Smart

Create a physical list of every part of your home you plan on attacking. Next, divide the chores according to the amount of time you estimate it will take to clean them. Make smaller sub-lists of 3-hour jobs, 1-hour jobs and 15-minute jobs. Post your lists in a place you’ll often see. This way, when you have spare time, you can find the right big or small job to tackle at a glance.

Congrats—you’re ready to purchase your first real car!
The process can be daunting but will walk you through it. Follow our guidelines for a stress-free ride!

If you lost your job or were furloughed this year, we are so sorry. If you were lucky, your company may have paid you furlough or severance. Either way, you likely applied for unemployment benefits, once you could get through on the busy, busy phone lines. And now, with tax time approaching, you may wonder if you owe taxes on the money you received, and if so, when and how you need to pay the tax.

Is my furlough pay or severance taxable?

We will be collecting items all month for the Humane Society to supplement the Walk For The Animals.

You can make a monetary donation and place a Paw on the wall or you can donate physical items at any of the branches.

Items that the Humane Society is always in need of are:

Congratulations! You’ve expecting a baby and you’re breathless with excitement — and nerves. A baby means big changes, and a part of those changes is lots of new expenses. How will you pay for it all?

We’ve got the tips you need to prepare financially for a new baby.

Pay down debt

Don’t let your debt grow along with the baby bump. It’s best to get your finances in order to make it easier to manage all new expenses and prepare for your child’s future. Make a plan today to kick that debt for good!

Adjust your monthly budget

Our Card Management Service is available to all of our members to make managing your account quick, easy and accessible.

The service allows you to:

• Block / Unblock Card  -  Place a temporary block onto your card 
• Update Registration  -  Choose how / if you wish to receive communications 
• Authorization Alerts  -  Receive alerts when your card is authorized
• Replacement Options  -  Order a new card if your card is lost or stolen
• Travel Notices  -  Provide us with your plans to prevent potential card interruption
• Enable Foreign Transactions  -  Allows card transactions to be processed outside of the U.S.
• Contact Customer Service  -  Reach a member of the customer service team
   

It Finally Pays To Learn About Finance. Literally!

That is why We Florida Financial has partnered with Zogo, a gamified mobile app, to help our members learn the basics of personal finance. The best part? You get paid to use it.

Everyone knows how important it is to regularly put money into savings, but research shows that 25% of Americans have no emergency savings at all.

Don’t let this be you! If you’re ready to start saving, but you don’t know where to begin, We Florida Financial can help. Here are seven simple steps that can get you on the fast track to building your nest egg today:

January is prime time to get into shape.

This year, in particular, many Americans are struggling to shed the “quarantine 15,” or the pounds packed on during all those months when life happened over Zoom and nobody saw what you were wearing below the waist. In fact, the snack company that brings us Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers reports that sales have increased by more than 16% since 2019. And hard as it may be to believe, at some point in the future, it will no longer be socially acceptable to attend a business meeting, a friend’s formal dinner party, or your sister’s wedding while wearing sweatpants.

Unfortunately, scammers know this as well as anyone, and they are out in full force, trying to scam consumers with bogus weight-loss products, miracle drugs, and more. Gyms aren’t far behind, with many of them offering misleading contracts that are impossible to get out of once they’re signed.

Don’t get scammed! Lose the pounds you’re looking to shed this winter — not your money.

Here’s what you need to know about weight-loss scams and how to avoid them.

Free weekly reports can help you maintain credit health during COVID.

The three major credit bureaus in the U.S. have collectively agreed to offer free weekly credit reports to consumers. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion will all provide weekly reports through annualcreditreport.com at no charge through April 2021. The goal is to make it easier for Americans to manage their credit during the pandemic and resulting recession.

In the past, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandated that people could check their credit for free once per year. You could download a copy of each credit bureau’s report through annualcreditreport.com every twelve months.

The dramatic increase in free credit reports attests to just how unique the situation with the U.S. economy is during this pandemic. There is a range of potential reporting issues that could result in credit damage.

Q: Every December, you draw up a list of New Year’s resolutions that look depressingly similar to the ones you wrote last year. How can you make things different this year?

A: It’s fairly easy to dream of change, but it’s another thing entirely to actually make it happen. In fact, research shows that only 8 percent of people achieve their annual resolutions. However, with careful planning and the right approach, it is doable.

Wrap up this holiday season by going green with gifting.

No, we don’t mean wrapping your gifts in recycled paper. But before putting away all the holiday gifts you recently received, think of a few people on your list who can use something you already have but don’t need.

It may be an unopened present you got from someone this year that you have no use for – but this person would love. It might be a promotional item you received from work or a business you frequent. It can be an unused gift card that’s just sitting in your wallet. Look around and you’ll be amazed at how much you can find – and how much money you can save in advance of next year’s season!

Did you know: Text messaging has come under attack as one of the most vulnerable media for identity theft and more. Here’s what you need to know about an SMS message-based scam called “smishing.”

How it works

Smishing scams use text messages to establish contact with the intended victim to later access their personal information.