Financial literacy doesn’t need to be daunting!

ImOn Communications knows how important financial literacy is when it comes to budgeting and planning for the future. It’s one of the reasons why we offer our customers affordable monthly service rates and reliable customer service in the area. Since April is financial literacy month, we decided to open up the toolbox to share ways you can take control of your finances and fix the taboos surrounding the question “How do I become financially literate?”

Below are some of the tools that can make budgeting, planning for the future or even getting out of debt easier and more convenient.

Apps to help create and keep your budget on track -

• NerdWallet: Learn what credit cards and banks are best for YOU. Dive into the world of investing and tailor the insights you want to receive regarding your money goals. NerdWallet is a one-stop-shop for any and all money questions you have and money goals you want to accomplish.
  
  
• Zeta: Having a budgeting or financial planning conversation with your significant other or spouse isn’t always an easy subject to broach, but Zeta makes it simpler. Zeta is built to help make couples’ relationships and money goals thrive. This app offers joint banking and free money managing tools to help couples achieve their goals together.
  
  
• Intuit Mint: As the #1 most downloaded personal finance app, Intuit Mint offers free budget planning, credit monitoring and spending tracking tools, as well as personalized insights from experts.
  
  
• PocketGuard: PocketGuard makes it easy to know how much spending money you have after covering your bills and other expenditures. You can add guidelines for saving goals into your budgets and keep track of where you are spending all of your money. The platform also makes it easy to see all of your bank accounts and credit card accounts in one platform.

Podcasts to add to your listening rotation -

• Planet Money - NPR: This podcast helps break down the economy in easy-to-understand ways for everyday people. It also provides examples of what not to do with your money in certain situations and provides explanations for good and beneficial investing habits. It’s the easiest way to bring the economy into your everyday conversations with friends, family and colleagues!
  
  
• Paychecks and Balances: Join in some fun yet informative conversations with this award-winning podcast, hosted by Rich Jones and Marcus Garrett, which is dedicated to helping millennials reach their financial goals and get out of debt.
  
  
• Brown Ambition: Personal finance expert, Tiffany Aliche and former editor at Business Insider, Mandi Woodruff team up to talk about news, relationships and everything else revolving around finances.
  
  
• The Ramsey Show: Infamous finance author, Dave Ramsey, takes callers and listeners through the topics of everyday finances, getting out of debt, saving and investing and just about anything else that comes up in the world of financial conversations. In 2020 it was reported The Ramsey Show was a top 5 most-listened-to radio show in America!

Need to digitally transfer your money? -

Sending checks in the mail has become less safe and can’t always be done quickly. Transferring cash via money order or wire transfer just isn’t convenient anymore. Online transfers are the most convenient way to quickly transfer money or to make and collect payments. Below are a couple of the safest platforms to do just that.

• Venmo: Venmo is a platform that connects directly to your bank account and allows you to pay others or collect payments easily and effectively. All you need to do is find the username of the party you’re paying, enter the amount and what the payment is for and hit send. Venmo even sends you monthly logs of outgoing and incoming payments so you can keep track of your money.
  
  
• PayPal: PayPal is a platform used to transfer money online in a matter of seconds, and it’s often used for purchases from online retailers and personal sellers around the world. You can keep track of all incoming and outgoing payments through your PayPal account.

Audiobooks are good on rainy days too -

• Start Late, Finish Rich: A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age by David Bach: As a #1 best-seller, this book has helped millions of people who procrastinated planning for their future, forgot to save, ran into unfortunate expenses and everything in-between.
  
  
• Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules by Jeremy C. Miller: Compiled for the first time, this book takes a look at all Warren Buffett’s letters sent to his partners between 1956 and 1970. Within the letters lie the perfect set of ground rules for investing. These rules are still relevant to this day and can be used as an effective guideline to your investing and financial planning strategies.
  
  Check out more financial audiobook options in the Audible and Google Play Books apps.