A Direct Line Blog

by Nolan Glueckert

Many New Year resolutions start with gym memberships and healthy body commitments, but how often do you think about financial health? As a volunteer board member, have you considered the financial health of your credit union staff? If not, it might be time, and we’ve got a great financial wellness program for you to consider. Momentum onUp is a program tailored to each credit union and its needs.

An Important Focus
The 2016 Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that financial stress has a huge impact on the workplace. A lot of employees said personal finances have been a distraction for them at work. As Annamarie DeYoung, president, and CEO of Sky FCU, said “just because someone works at a financial institution, they are not necessarily financially fit.

Help is Here
Momentum onUp is a personal money management approach to financial wellness that starts with personal values. It combines training with smart resources though an online account for each staff member to work on their financial education plan using their own finances and financial goals. As a self-study program, Momentum onUP gives participants the ability to learn, take action, and work toward goals they define.

In the Credit Union
Two Montana credit unions have introduced Momentum onUp to their staff. Last fall, Sky FCU employees completed the program in nine weeks – after a kick-off and a weekly webinar for each of the eight sections before the staff went through the online component. Altana FCU recently kicked off their program and are stretching it out to 21-weeks to give staff two weeks to complete each education section.

Since the program is built around personal values, every step the person takes towards financial confidence is a step towards living a life well spent. The goal of the program is that your credit union staff spend less time worrying about money and more time enjoying the moments that matter most.

Debra Shada, chief operations officer at Sky FCU, described it perfectly when she said, “the program is not going to make us wealthy, but it is going to get us ready for the unexpected, help us recognize we need a financial plan, help us look inside ourselves for what really is important to us.”

More Information
More information is available in this video or by contacting Nolan Glueckert or Karen Smith. We are excited to continue to roll this out to additional Montana credit unions in 2017 and are grateful for the support of the Montana Credit Union League Group Benefits Trust for supporting it financially for our members.