And good morning, it is time for a little chat with Aaron McCullum. And before we do our
chat, I want to tell everybody Aaron is from Marine Credit Union. He's the community
lead in recene of the certified credit union financial counselor, but forget all that.
There's no meaning right now because you are the father of a brand new son,
Mazelteff. Congratulations. Hold on, hold on there, hold on there. Go ahead now.
Thank you so much, Don. Yeah, I appreciate that. My son, Edward Lewis, Eddie Lou is actually one
week old today. So it's an honor and a funny little coincidence that you had Captain Eddie Williams
on yesterday to talk about his amazing stuff because he's a very inspirational person.
He's not named after Captain Eddie, but yeah, thank you for sharing. Edward Lewis is doing good
and getting growing steady Eddie. You got a big family that makes you a foster children as well.
Yes, I have three foster kiddos. I'm in the process. We're in the process of adopting. We have a
three-year-old, a four-year-old, and an eight-year-old. So McCullum party is six coming soon.
I told him that's the writing of a hallmark movie. I don't know what the name of it will be,
but definitely my next Christmas, we could have another hallmark movie on with your family.
That sounds wonderful. Well, that is just great. Congratulations. Nothing matters
beside that. I mean, everything else comes and goes, but family is family. And they're always
number one. Well, congratulations to your wife. Do what's your first name? Her name is Patricia.
Patricia, congratulations. These are super hero and I've had a lot of different titles in my life,
but being a dad is certainly my favorite one. And it's just a blessing to serve in different
ways and serve our community. My daughter's going to be 46 next month. And I look at her and I say,
46, where does this time go by so fast? 40. She said, yeah, I'm looking at retiring, retiring.
Yeah, putting stuff again. And we're going to talk about that retirement because
people do it. You don't think you're going to retire, but everybody's got to retire someday.
I mean, it just happens. Boy, get to that. Let's talk about the past year now.
Marine Community Credit Union is involved in a ton of community stuff. And that's your
department there. You're the community lead. Let's talk about the year year and review.
Some of the things that have been done. Absolutely. Like you said, time really flies. And it's crazy
how fast this year has gone. You know, this is awesome because the community engagement,
my team has only been around for about a year and a half now, March of 24. And so this year
was my first full calendar year in the role, which is really exciting. We've done over a hundred
different community events. So different community events, whether that's at festival hall and
the amazing things that they do, just awesome community events, loving kindness. And so
so many more we are very big on financial education and financial empowerment. So in my role,
I get to serve as a financial educator. And so we've done over a hundred different financial
education opportunities, whether that's in group settings, like the library or other workshops
or one-on-one. And so it's been really great to serve and meet the needs of our community in that
way. One of my favorite parts of my job, wherein different hats, is the opportunity to directly
give back to our community with our time and our talent. And hey, treasure is nice too and
sharing the talk. And so we're very much a core pillar of ours is giving back to the communities
that we serve and that goes back to our mission. And so we've actually given through our Marine
Credit Union foundation over $166,000 back into the communities that we serve. And so that's been
really exciting. And some of my favorite areas that we give back into our financial education,
financial well-being for family programs, youth programs, as well as human services. And so
it's been great to meet a lot of awesome nonprofits doing amazing work in our communities. And
yeah, that's just one of my deep passions long before I was even in this role.
Now, if someone goes to college, college is expensive. It was expensive when I went.
When I went, it was $105 a credit. That was back in the early 70s. Our bumper stickers at
Hoff's University said, after a land of tuition, because it just was money. That's all it was.
And I went up hanging off at $47.72 a month for 10 years. That's what I had to pay it off.
And the day I got out of college, the book was a coupon book back then. A coupon book is
written by hand by the bank. And they gave me a said, start paying it off $47.72 a month. And I did
but nowadays it's a different story. You want to go to college, you want to go to medical school,
you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yeah. You guys deal with that? Absolutely.
You know, I've I've coached individuals who are in medical school and paying over $125,000
a semester. I've also coached individuals who are working to get their high school diploma
or get their GED and understanding where they're at and the resources that are involved in
in their communities. So whether that scholarship opportunities, work, job opportunities,
each person's needs are quite different. And so that's one of my favorite parts of the role as well.
That's scary. $125,000 per semester. Now you multiply that two semesters a year times,
what, four years at a medical school. How do you get out of that? How do you get out of debt?
You've got to, I don't know how you do it. Well, I think those people who are going in those
very prestigious roles and that's a lot of education, right? You know, eight plus years. And
you know, like you said, it's a lot of money, but they're certainly valuable to the community,
especially after, you know, experiencing firsthand with my son being born a little earlier than
anticipated. All those doctors and nurses are rock stars. Oh, yeah. I'm telling you,
we talked about my heart surgery. And this guy's worth a billion dollars to me.
And whoa, yeah, you're absolutely right. So if somebody is planning to go to college,
maybe next September in 2026, start now, start looking for loans, money, waste to get money to
go to college, because most people don't have it sitting in the bank. I mean, they just don't
have it or in their credit union account. They just don't have it. So now's the time to start
thinking about it planning. So when you're absolutely get that acceptance letter, you're ready to go.
Yeah. And it's really cool because there's especially with act 60 in Wisconsin that pretty much
makes it a requirement for any high schooler before they graduate to have get some sort of
financial education, at least a semester. And so our schools have been doing a great job
of promoting that, not just go to college, but opportunities outside of college, whether it's
entering the trades or just being your own boss and entrepreneurship or all sorts of wonderful
things. And so promoting that and, you know, I know some sophomores and freshmen who haven't
even taken their ACTs yet, but they're applying for scholarships or they're researching different
fields and schools. And so you'll be surprised how many opportunities there are for first time
college students or first generation are just different grants and opportunities for our
future leaders. Well, $105 a credit doesn't sound that bad, does it? Yeah, I wish. When I was in
college, I was working six jobs and taken, you know, 12 to 16 credits. I was working too. I was a
janitor at a radio station and they worked midnight to six and then went to college all day.
I feel like you just have more energy when you're in college, you know, if I had the same
energy in college as I did as a parent, oh, that'd be great. I strive on coffee now.
Talking to Aaron McCollum, he is the community lead in recene and assert if I credit union
financial counselor, you know, there are two words I can pronounce, if I say him fast, community is
one of them and Saturday is the other. And every time I have community, I got to stop, think, say it,
right. I just, for some reason, I can't, it comes out community. If I say it, you know,
just without thinking and Saturday comes out like that. So community and Saturday, if something
happens to the community on a Saturday, I'm dead. I don't know what to do. But before we get to
the rest of our topics here, 2026 is coming around. I know you can't be specific because
everybody's, you know, I get a different story. All right, you've got a credit union.
People have to get their finances in order for 2026. Any suggestions for people should do?
For people that don't know, they just have a regular savings account or a checking account.
I mean, what can they do? Absolutely. There's a lot I can go on forever about that. But I think
it just simplifying it as normalizing the conversation with your, with your spouse or your
partner, if you're solo, write down your goals and aspirations for 2026. Not just financially,
but in all areas of wealth, a wellness. And so writing that out and then devising that plan,
whether it is, hey, I'm getting ready for retirement. What does that look like? How much do I feel
like I can comfortably live off of month to month? Speak with your financial institution. Maybe they
have an advisor or someone that they can guide you through. If not, hey, come to marine credit and
be happy to help you. But whether that's like you mentioned, IRAs, retirement accounts or finding
ways to do HSAs or helping increase your income, but also for the long, long haul. And so
putting the pen to paper, right? And don't just say it, but put plans in place to achieve that.
And so we have some workshops coming up that I'll be happy to share about. We got a workshop
today. Today? Yes. Let's talk about that. Absolutely. So shout out to the Racine Public Library. We've
been doing financial wellness workshops throughout the whole year. And we had a great one last week.
And today, we're talking about charting your course to success, a new year, new goals. And that's
from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. So again, not just financial wellness, but all areas of wellness. And not just
making resolutions, but putting that into place for having a successful 2026.
We have Shade King from the Racine Public Library coming in on Thursday, as a matter of fact.
I love that. Yes. And then if you have your calendars out, Mark your calendar for January 8th,
again, at the Racine Public Library from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. That's going to be charting your
course from resolutions to results, right? Tying off of what we're talking about here today
at the workshop. Those are just fun, great times to have great conversation, practical resources.
There are free food and beverages available. So we'll be happy to have you. No reservation
necessary. Come on in a beautiful view at the Racine Public Library. It is right there on the
right, looking at the lake. Yeah, absolutely. And then on Martin Luther King Day, that's coming
out faster than we realize on January 19th. If you are a youth or you know where youth,
we have an awesome program that the youth financial empowerment workshop. This is our second
year doing a financial empowerment workshop on Martin Luther King Day, specifically for the youth
11 to 18 in Racine, Kenoshen, Milwaukee areas. And so huge shout out to the volunteer center of
Racine, as well as educators, community state bank and marine. We're coming together to help put
this on as where students are getting practical resources and a day in the life of what it is
like to be an adult. So that is from 830 to 1230 again, free food for students as well as volunteers.
So if you don't have any youth in your life, but you want to give back to your community,
check out more information at volunteerracine.org slash youth and you can register and maybe be
a volunteer as well. So we'd love to have you there. And you're also connected with the Kenoshen
Kingfish baseball team. Oh, yes, that we love the Kenoshen Kingfish. I'm a big baseball fan. So
that was a little selfish partnership, but they do great work in our community as well. And so
this past year, we sponsored their 5050 Raffle. We called it the community connections. And so
every home game, there was a different nonprofit that would raise money for their mission. And so
over 36 different nonprofit organizations were benefited. And we're looking forward to continuing
that partnership. Hopefully see a championship year coming up. They're great. It's a great time.
If you haven't been to a Kingfish game, come check it out. The season's going to be here before
we know it. You have more fun in mind or league baseball teams. They do the professional baseball
teams. I grew up going to minor league baseball teams. And I remember I was in the James
O'Bloyer area, the boy snapers. Yeah. See in Prince Fielder and Ricky Weeks and Doha.
And they must have fun nights too. They do the promotion to really fun when they go to the
they had, you know, Corey Hart sunglasses at night. I remember going to a game once. And they
want to set the Guinness record for the number of people wearing sunglasses at night like the
Corey Hart song. And everybody brought their sunglasses with them at night. They set the record,
but you know, it was kind of fun stuff to do like that. Good times were had. That's for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I always have good time with the minor league baseball teams. Let's talk
about the also festival hall and local parks. You guys help out with those as well.
Yeah. There's awesome different, like I said, community events coming going on around the parks,
the community centers. So we try to support as many of those as we can as well as our partnership
with festival hall Memorial Hall at the different events. And so they had a great veteran standout
events back in September. And that was a wonderful way to connect with our veterans. And it inspired
us to become members of the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce. So if you haven't heard, it's
it's a revolutionary chamber that helps support veteran owned businesses throughout the whole state.
And so we're really excited to support and be a part of that and to uplift our veterans because
they mean so much to us. Now, if I win the billion dollar lottery coming up now and I bring in a
couple of suitcases full of cash, a billion dollars. You guys take care of that for me.
We will love to help you target course to finance your wellness done. I think what you have a
billion, though, I think you're kind of set. I think you don't have any as much stress as the
kind of throw. If you do when the billion dollars, maybe, you know, give back to your community,
throw to your favorite community. My wife said we give away 80% of it. Just to churches and
animal. We have a lot of animal charities and the DAV, which is Disabled American Vets.
Absolutely. They get all the money. I love that. They get all 80% because how much do you really
need to live on? Right. I mean, I'm doing fine now without a billion dollars. Just a couple of
million would do fine. I can live with that. And it's financial wellness and empowerment. It's
not necessarily that dollar amount. It is that mindset, right? And and putting yourself in that
perspective. If that happens, and I hope it happens to you, I know how much you love your scratch
offs done. But, uh, you know, have that mindset of, hey, I'm going to take care of myself,
my family. And hopefully you have that aspiration to get back to your community and uplift your
community. And none of this matters with regard to what just happened to you. If people just
tuning in the birth of your son Edward Lewis, Edward Lou. Eddie Lou. Eddie Lewis. Yes. Edward
Lewis, birth of your son, your wife Patricia and yourself. And none of this matters. It's all now
centered on your children because you have foster children as well. Yeah. We we serve out of the
overflow and corporate and it's just a blessing to serve as a father. That's like I said, my favorite
role, but as as well as a husband, but you know, doing being a community lead doesn't feel like work,
right? It's it's empowering. It's meaning the needs of our community. I always like to share our
mission and values, right? Our core values as an organization, our commitment, compassion,
courage and collaboration at the heart and soul of that is our community. All everything we do,
those four values funnel into our community, which takes us to our mission, which is supporting
individuals from a place of financial need, whatever that may be, whether it's your billion dollar
or a lot of questions, or hey, maybe you need some help because you've been told no elsewhere,
or you are struggling having a spending plan and executing on some of your financial goals.
We're here to help you with those financial needs and then help you empower you to a place of
ownership and giving back to your communities. So from our mission down to our values,
communities at the heart and soul, and that's why I feel like I'm doing life's greatest work here
at Marine and is like I feel so honored to be in this role because like I said, I was I was
being a community lead far before I had the title here at Marine and I'm grateful for that title.
And thank you very much for supporting WRJ and as well. We do appreciate that.
Aaron McCullough, I'm a community lead for, we're seeing for Marine Credit Union,
also a certified credit union financial counselor. Again,
Mosul, tough to you and your wife. Congratulations. Long, long life for Edward Lewis.
Thank you so much, Dan. Long, long life.
