Driven to serve others by educating them to become financially capable, Marcy Reyes has found several ways to accomplish this mission. She teaches at Rhode Island College while also leading a non-profit that she founded to support high school students. Oh, all this while holding down a full-time job with a health insurer. She is clearly someone motivated to serve others by teaching them valuable skills about managing their money. In this podcast, you will hear Marcy share her story and the reasons why she is so passionate about  financial education, the path from the vision to the reality of starting a non-profit and where she wants to take the FLY organization in the future. With Marcy at the helm, they are sure to soar!! Enjoy! 

Details:

• 0:00~1:23  Introduction
• 1:23~4:22 Growing up and learning about money
• 4:22~10:04 Deciding to go to college
• 10:04~14:45 Working with consumer credit
• 14:45~17:14 From banking to healthcare to a non-profit
• 17:14~20:11 From a dream to reality
• 20:11~23:03 What does FLY do?
• 23:03~25:01 Answering the question “why?”
• 25:01~25:31 A word from NGPF
• 25:31~27:45 What it means to be culturally responsive
• 27:45~30:54 Experimental activities
• 30:54~35:48 Getting parents involved
• 35:48~38:53 The future of FLY
• 38:53~46:47 Lightning round!
• 46:47~49:02 Conclusion

Resources Mentioned:

• Financial Literacy Youth (FLY) Initiative
• NGPF Online Bank Simulator
• Jump$tart
• Rhode Island Student Loan Authority

Quotes:

• “I dreamt up this program that would provide financial literacy education through a holistic approach, a multi-generational approach that creates real systemic change not just in a teach and talk environment but a place where young students can take away real-life lessons to change their future.”
• “We give them the ‘why’ first because most kids want to know ‘why am I doing this?’, ‘why should I pay attention?’, and ‘why is it important?’ and then we go to the ‘how.'

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.