Georgia joins the movement to mandate High School Financial Literacy

From classroom mandates to daily budgeting, here's expert advice on taking control of your hard earned money.

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Georgia has joined the the list of states equipping teens with real world money skills. Its the 13th state in the nation to guarantee financial education to high school students.

I sat down with the President and CEO of Community Bankers Association of Georgia, John McNair, and he shared some great money saving tips on how to make our money work harder for us during this strained economic time. John shared he's seen all the economic cycles out there so he wants Georgians to make smarter financial decisions to help ease the pressure during this time.

A few stand out tips John shared are easy tricks everyone can do without needing to be a financial guru. He shared that while it ultimately boils down to being a math equation, these are easy to accomplish steps to manage your money better:

-Audit recurring subscriptions and monthly fees: John shared that these recurring payments are silent killers on our finances because most of the time people don't remember all the subscriptions they have, and the fact of the matter is when you get down to the bottom line, most of them don't really matter.

-Pay yourself first: Once you understand what your net income is, what your necessary monthly expenses are, you need to add one more key line item to the list: paying yourself. Take $5, $10, even $25 per week to put into your rainy day fund. It may not seem like much in the beginning, but that number grows and it's the safety net you need to feel secure.

-Pay down your credit card debt: John shared this is the most dangerous type of debt you can have. Those high interest rates on credit cards for not paying what you owe month to month rack up quickly, and that's when falling behind in your finances turns into a slippery slope.

-Take advantage of the FREE resources: What a lot of people don't realize is local banks offer financial literacy and educational classes to their communities. Through a simple search you can find out when that next financial workshop is to start taking control of your finances. However one of the fastest and most accessible ways to start gaining traction with good financial help is using the ai tools readily available in our pockets, John shared using ai can help with teaching each individual how to manage their budget, build the spreadsheet and start working towards financial health.

To find your local bank, what resources and classes might be available to you visit Community Bankers Associate of Georgia. John shared that 3/4 of banks across the state offer these services and it's the best way to more information about what your local bank can do for you.