Let's talk about you and your money. We're talking to the folks from Marine Credit Union.
They're dealing money every single day. Aaron McCollum is here. He's the community lead
and financial advisor. We've got the CEO, Tom Kenelty. Am I saying that right, Tom?
Absolutely perfect. I don't want the CEO. You don't want to screw up his name.
These are the big guys. So we did a coin flip. The CEO is going to get the first question.
Actually, no. So Marine Credit Union has been around and I found this out just now.
WRJN has been around for 99 years. You guys are pretty close to that. 94 years.
Yeah, we started in 1931. A group of postal workers up in O'Claire, Wisconsin, got together and
pulled their money to lend back into the community. And that was the origin of our credit union.
And later it became a teachers credit union across a bunch of educators.
Then through a merger, we teamed up with the Mercury Marine, which was known as Marine
Credit Union over in Fondelac in the mid 90s. They moved to lacrosse, but we took their name,
and we've been Marine Credit Union ever since and it serves us well. But yeah, 94 years and counting.
And I heard that because our alderman, Jen's Jorgensen told me his dad worked for Mercury Marine,
and he said, that's where it came from. Yeah, we still have over 3,000 members that
are employed or were employed at Mercury Marine. So it's our legacy.
It was really interesting. I found out that back in the early days of this country,
banks and so forth, they printed their own money. When you went to get your money out of the
bank, they printed it. They again, you were like, was legal. And maybe some states wouldn't accept it,
maybe some would. But could you imagine printing your own money? That's great.
You need some of your printing. And it was legal. This is back in the beginning of our country,
obviously. You guys don't do that anymore, do you? Yeah, we don't go back that far and we certainly
don't print our own money today. Because people might be interested and I just want to make sure
we're on the up and up here today. All right, let's talk about a few things here. Christmas is
coming up. End of year is coming up. And we hear these stories every year about January comes
and people just got themselves so into debt. They're buying Christmas presents. They're just
monies flowing. They feel good. They're giving up money to everybody. And then when everything
comes down in January, they got to pay the piper. I always thought it was easier and cheaper to get
a loan than pay off a credit card with 20 some percent interest. Because you, 20, how
important didn't even charge 27 percent. But now that's credit cards doing people get into debt
and it's very difficult to get out of debt like that. Is it cheaper just to get a loan?
Well, I think there's really a, you know, a bigger issue here about spending for the holidays.
And I always tell people to think about three things. Start with a really detailed budget,
with a list of people and keep track of who you're buying and what you're buying and what you
expected to pay for each of the gifts for each of the people. So that's step one. And step two's
keep an eye on the debt like, like you say, credit cards are high interest. I suggest you either
use cash or a debit card so that you are more aware of the money you're spending. And really
think twice about all of the, you know, buy now paid later programs out there. As you said,
you know, February and March come along and I'll send your swamped and debt. So the last piece
is really starting that dedicated Christmas savings account where maybe you put $5, $10, $20
a month in there for a few months and use that for your Christmas spending so that
January, February, the world's around. You're feeling good about your Christmas spending and you
feel good about the gifts you made rather than feeling shameful or underwater and under debt.
You know, I was going to mention that because when I was a young whipper snapper and I got my
first account and my financial institution, I opened up a Christmas club account at the beginning
of the year where you put whatever $5, $10 in and the end of the year, they make the last payment.
So instead of making 12 payments, you make 11 payment wherever it was and they make the last
payment for you, which to me, wow, they're going to make the last payment and you get a check at the
end. And that was what I bought presents with. They still have those Christmas clubs. Yeah,
there's still Christmas accounts all over the place, especially in credit unions and community
banks. I were kind of known for our dedicated savings plans and people use them, especially
the grandmas at the end of the year. Here's the money. Here's my money. I'm going to buy
presents with and when it's gone, it's gone. But that's not a bad idea. Now I did speak to someone
a while ago and they said, well, we don't pay the last payment anymore. We give more of an
interest rate. And that's how we do it now. But to me, it was like, I'm getting a free payment.
I can't believe how do they make money at this bank? There was SARS. And it was really good.
And I did it for years, a Christmas club account and they gave me a coupon book. We said
that computers then. So you got a coupon you pulled out. Yeah, I don't know if any banks or
credit unions that still make that last payment or have these coupon books. But it usually is one
of the higher interest rate savings accounts. Yeah, short term. It's only a year. So let's talk
about some of the things for the community. And I have people from the received library in
here all the time. Melissa Donaldson, I got Shade King and a whole bunch of people in from the
library. You know, I want to get from the library. Our Miss Wisconsin works at the library.
Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, she's going to be in the Miss America pageant. And she
worked to the library and I said, let's get her in here before she, you know, takes off,
becomes Miss America. And then I can't speak to her anymore. Let's get her whilst she's
Miss Wisconsin. So she works at the library. You can see her check out and everything. That's
kind of neat. But you're involved with some of the programs at the library, right, Aaron?
Absolutely. We love our libraries and we're so grateful for the Racine Library. We do a series
of financial empowerment workshops where each session we're diving into applicable real life
topics and we have great conversation and provide safe and fun environment to have meaningful
conversation and good resources to follow. And do you have any programs going on at this time of
year? The actual Christmas time? Absolutely. So we have two coming up here in December. We just had
our last one in November last week. But on December 2nd, that's a Tuesday from four to six. We
have a workshop where we're going to be diving into understanding credit and building your
financial foundation. And then on Tuesday, December 16th, we're going to continue that conversation
of charting your course to success in the new years. So tying into that not just new years
resolutions, but an action plan to your new year's goals, not just financially, but in all areas
of wellness. That's great. That quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about more of
your money, some new products and services for the year and some things that Tom brought up.
You wanted to talk about Tom Canotheus here, the CEO of Marine Credit Union and Aaron McCullum,
who's a community lead and financial counselor at Marine Credit Union. We want to thank them for
sponsoring the morning show too, because every morning is sponsored by Marine Credit Union,
chart your course with Marine Credit Union, proudly supporting the community.
One step at a time. We're talking to the folks from Marine Credit Union, Aaron McCullum,
who's a community lead and financial counselor and CEO Tom Canotheus here as well.
When we get some of these other topics, I want to make sure I get this one in because this one
affected me personally. And my mother had an account and she passed away. Now I was what they
call the POD payable on death. Some people don't have these things set up and you've got to get your
life ready because someday you're not going to be here. You've got to make, you know, go through
your accounts. When something happens to you, who do you want to have the money? Because, you know,
you can, anybody can die in a moment's notice and, you know, we don't have the date only
our God has the date. I don't have the date. So you never know. So my mother was very good at this
and she did a POD payable on death. So when she did pass away, everything was taken care of with
the bank. They went in there. I gave them the death certificate. They gave me the check and
it was real clean. A lot of people won't do that. And if somebody passes away, it's not that easy
to clean up the mess after which financially. So what do you recommend people do?
That's a really good way to plan in a state, especially if it's, you know, not a huge multi-million
dollar state. We do payable on death accounts for all types of bank accounts and you can do it with
your checking savings accounts. It's a simple form. Now it's all electronic, of course. And
when somebody passes away, all you need to do is bring in the death certificate, prove that
you are the beneficiary and it's paid directly to you in real time, right away. And you can name
multiple beneficiaries. If somebody's a minor that you want to do, you want to take care of that
through another form that allows somebody to be a trustee for that minor. But it's a great way to
pass on wealth without the hassles of creating a bigger state with, uh, probatin and attorney.
Yeah, I practice law for many years, both in California and Wisconsin and represent a lot of people
with messia states where they didn't bother to do the planning. So take the time. Now's a good time
at the end of the year. Reflect on your life and start doing some planning for the new year.
And you can always change the beneficiary. That's not a big deal because my daughter got married.
We had to change the name. All they said, um, really, you don't have to because that's her
maiden name. We know who she is. And but I did it anyway. I don't want any problems after.
Well, of course, when I'm dead, I won't care. But I don't want any problems. Here's the biggest
problem though. People say, well, I'm only in my 40s. I don't have plenty of time. You never know
when the time is up. I mean, God forbid you can be an accident. God forbid you can get sick. All
of a sudden things happen all the time. So as long as you got the wear with on some spare
time, I would go down to my financial institution and say, if something happens to me, I want the
money split this way. You sign it. Forget it. And it's done. Yeah. And one other thing I would just
suggest is the use of powers of attorney for people that lose their mental capacity before death
rather than having to go through the court system and having someone appointed guardian of
a view to take care of your financial document or financial assets and whatnot have the power
of attorney filed with your bank so that you appoint your son or daughter or somebody to take
care of your finances for you before before somebody has to step into the court system and do it.
And get it done while you're thinking about it. You don't have to be 90 years old to set it up.
You set it up in any age of matter. And just, you know, take care of it. And if you want to change
it, change it. Financial empowerment versus financial literacy. This kind of scares me even thinking
about this stuff. I don't know why I don't know what it means. But you're going to explain it to me.
Yeah. It's not scary at all. Really financial literacy is knowing the financial terms and concepts.
It's kind of a baseline. I think of it as the foundation. And then financial empowerment,
or sometimes we call it financial capability, is really having the confidence to take actions and
get things done. I think when I talk about financial empowerment, I think of what I call the
three C's. Clarity, control and confidence. Clarity, meaning you have that financial literacy.
You understand the different financial tools and concepts. Control is taking control of your
situation, taking some action, putting together a budget or taking the steps to change your
accounts around and get them the way that to work best for you. And then confidence is just that.
It's having the confidence to ask for help. Lean on somebody else who has the expertise.
Ask questions. And I also think confidence also like when something goes wrong, people who are
confident in their finances have a more resilient attitude and bounce back quicker. So we like to
move people from financial literacy to financial empowerment and Aaron and his team do this all the
time for us. That's great. You know, you get it. It's I know people don't want to say I know what is
worry about money all the time. We don't have to worry about money all the time. Take care of it and
let the financial institution worry about your money. I'm going to worry about this and worry about
me. Okay. There's something before we get to new product and services. I wanted to ask you and
I don't write it down. Oh, checks. My last payers person in the world uses checks. I talk to
everyone that you're paying in check. Remember at the supermarket, we used to go to the supermarket
and just before they told them their amount, the data pay, there was some person, I'll pull out my
check and they had to start writing at that point. I'm going to pay pick and save. I don't see
anybody paying in check anymore except me. Am I the last person? Last guy alive writing with checks?
Well, you're right. There's definitely a decline in the usage of checks, but we still have a lot
of checks come through our system and I don't see him going away anytime soon. So I'm not a dinosaur.
No, I'm not a dinosaur, but Venmo and PayPal and these P2P payment systems are greatly
decreasing the need for checks. My son and daughter said, you're still paying by check. Yes,
and I still use DVDs and CDs. I don't use VHS cassettes anymore. That much anymore. But they
look at me like I just came out of the dinosaur. I just came out of Jurassic Park and using checks,
but now I write four checks a month or four checks a year just to pay my water bill. So that's
the only time I still use a check book and I still have my hands to check. Don't want anybody
dabbling around in my bank accounts. It just makes me nervous and this way I'm not nervous.
But then again, you know, my credit card companies every month send me a thing.
Deselect if you still want to get paper. No, how about I check it if I still want it? They play
that game with me because well, you didn't deselect it. So we're sending everybody wants to get
me off paper. As you can see in this room here, and you're in that time, you're pretty paper wise
over there too. I can see a lot of paper. Let's talk about some new services and products. You
might be showing us for 2020. I can't believe I'm saying this 2026. Yeah. So we're excited about,
I'll just mention three of our new what we call solutions for our members coming up. We are
just implementing these now, but they'll be in full force in 26. One is a first time auto buyers
program for people that haven't owned a car before and they don't really know about how to go
through the process. So we helped them through the process and we get them the best loan that
suits their needs. And this is really meant for the young folks that are getting into their first
car. So I think that's a great tool. The way it helps to have a good credit rating too. So pay
your bills on time to get a good credit rating. Yeah, absolutely. Another one is a down payment
program for new homeowners that don't have a pile of money sitting around to put down on a house
and we've partnered with the federal home loan bank of Chicago to help people with their down
payment. It's actually a forgivable loan. So over a course of five years, you don't have to pay
it back. It's it's the federal home loan banks way of trying to promote home ownership in the
Midwest. Then the third one is a loan program. It's it's really new and it's really I would say
innovative. I don't think anyone else is doing this and it's what we call a loan rewards program.
So you know, you have rewards for your airline and your credit card and all these things. This
is one if you have a loan with us and you have a checking account with a direct deposit for your
checking account. Every quarter will take 10% of the interest you paid on your loan and put it
right in your checking account for you. So we rebate, give back the interest you paid or at least a
portion of it. So we think that's really cool and it helps, you know, alleviate some of that
stress-related to paying your whether it's a home loan or a car loan. And of course, if you
if you take out enough enough points, you get dinner at Tom's house. That's pretty good.
And we can be air B and B at your house if we could use my points. That's good. Okay,
the remaining two minutes here. What do they miss? Did they miss anything today?
I think you covered it all. I mean, we were founded back in 31 as a place where people help people,
neighbors help people, or each other. And we're still trying to do that today and we're very proud
of it and our 400 employees want to take care of their neighbors. And where's Marine
Credit Union? You've stretched out where now? So we're all over Wisconsin. We have 17 different
what we call financial empowerment centers. We have one down in Des Moines, Iowa, but headquarters
are in La Crosse, but we have good people like Aaron working all over at the state of Wisconsin.
That's where you're from. You say La Crosse, right? I am from La Crosse. So you with the home office
there? Yeah, the home office is about a mile from my house. And Aaron, what do we miss in your
department? Anything? Yeah, just really appreciate the opportunity to be here, but most importantly,
to serve our community. When we talk about financial empowerment, it's a journey. It's not necessarily
a destination. And it comes in waves. Like you mentioned off air, you know, one major life event
really have people turning. And when we talk about my loan rewards, it's great to give 10% back
because, hey, that's a family getting extra groceries or paying for gas in their car. And when we
think about financial empowerment, we're just here to support its people helping people,
putting people over profit. And so when we talk about our mission, it's communities at the heart
and center of it is that we want to take our community from that place of financial need,
whatever you're at, the financial spectrum, and empower you to a life of ownership and giving
back to your communities. And whatever that looks like to you. So if you have a passion for
community or if you want to learn more, please visit us on marinescu.com or check us out on social
media. And if you're at Cuidoba, you guys are right in the same shopping center as Cuidoba.
Yeah, right on Green Bay in Durant. If you're getting some Cuidoba, please swing by, stop by and say
hello and bring some food. Yes, I'm just very listeners who brought in some warm-up with marine
items from the last month's conversation. We're so grateful. We warm-up with marine campaign
raised over 2,500 winter items for our communities. Terrific. Over 400 items here in
the scene. So thank you, team. Terrific. Thank you guys for coming in. You know what, when you
when you talk to people like you two coming in, the money people don't seem so cold because people
think, ah, people banks and credit unions are so cold about them. They're not cold. They're just like
you and me. And they just deal with money and protect your money for you. And keeping it out of
the mattress is not a good idea. So there you go. Hey, thank you guys. Tom Kanofi, who's the CEO,
Marine Credit Union, Aaron McCollum, who is the Community Lead and Financial Counselor. Thank
you guys for coming in. See you next month. Thanks, Tom. Thank you so much. Hey guys,
have a nice Thanksgiving by the way, right? That's you two guys. Well, that's next week, isn't it?
I was just handing out Halloween candy the other day. And here we are again. Thank you guys
for coming and do appreciate it.
