LBS Financial Credit Union Hosts Financial Education Events for Nearly 300 High School Students in Long Beach
Long Beach, CA – December 30, 2024 – LBS Financial Credit Union hosted a Bite of Reality financial education event for nearly 300 Millikan High School seniors on November 4, 2024. Thirty-five LBS Financial Credit Union employees volunteered to staff this interactive learning event.
Bite of Reality is a financial education program, provided by the Richard Myles Johnson (RMJ) Foundation, that educates teens on making financial choices while enhancing their understanding of budgeting and tracking daily spending habits. Each student is assigned a fictional job, salary, credit score, and may have a spouse, child, student loan debt, credit card debt, and medical insurance payments. They then navigate different stations using an app to help calculate their purchases as they “buy” essentials like housing, transportation, food, and clothing. LBS Financial Credit Union employee volunteers were tasked to sell the students cars, household furnishings, and other items to spend on the budget assigned to them. The program includes a credit union station designed to assist with financial needs and to help participants manage their purchases toward the end of the simulation, ensuring they remain within their budget. The RMJ Foundation provides the Bite of Reality app and tools for credit unions to host at local schools.
“During our interactions, we were assigned to discuss clothing for different job types, how expenses dictate what they wear and the quality of personal items and how that translates in the real world,” said LBS Financial employee and volunteer Alyssa Yonko. “Allowing them to make their own decisions was the objective to gaining an understanding of the item value and costs that comes with their choices.”
Millikan High School is in Long Beach Unified School District. LBS Financial Credit Union was originally chartered by Long Beach Unified School District school employees and Long Beach City College in 1935 to serve school employees. Today, the Credit Union continues to support local school and college employees as well as students and the local community with their financial needs.
About LBS Financial Credit Union
LBS Financial, founded in 1935 as the Long Beach School District Employees Federal Credit Union, is a member-owned cooperative providing savings, checking, money market accounts, share certificates, IRA, insurance and investment services. LBS Financial also offers credit cards, personal, vehicle, boat and home loans. Their field of membership encompasses fifty cities surrounding the greater Long Beach area, as well as Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego Counties. They serve over 140,000 members with eight branch office locations, convenient electronic access (ATMs, online banking and mobile banking) and are part of the CO-OP ATM and Shared Branching Networks. LBS Financial Credit Union has $2 billion in total assets.
About the Richard Myles Johnson Foundation
The Richard Myles Johnson Foundation, established in 1958 as the California Filene Foundation, provides financial education resources for credit unions in California and Nevada.
Never has there been more of a need to reach young people with vital financial decision-making information than now. The RMJ Foundation’s hallmark program, Bite of Reality®, targets teenagers ages 15 to 18 with much needed information and context. Bite of Reality® provides solid financial education, such as car buying, home buying, and budgeting, using experiential learning.
Funding financial education programs is a positive public advocacy tool and helps credit unions fulfill their mission of serving their community. The Foundation is able to fund these vital programs because of the generous donations from credit unions and credit union organizations.
For information about the RMJ Foundation, or to make a donation, please contact Tena Lozano at 909.212.6057.
