By Stephanie Jones Have you ever avoided going to the doctor about an ache or pain simply because you were afraid of what the diagnosis might be? That happens with finances too. In fact, that was totally me three years ago. While my husband was in law school, I knew our debt was mounting, but…

By Bobbi Dempsey Growing up in severe poverty, smart financial skills aren’t something you learn. I say that from personal experience. Survival is the main goal, and you do anything necessary just to get your hands on enough food to make it through the day. You have a very negative view of — and relationship with — money, as…

What does financial health mean to me? If only I were presented with that question eighteen years ago when I was a young man entering the United States Army, maybe I wouldn’t have made some of the mistakes I have made in the area of my finances.

By Joshua Sledge, Director, Financial Health Network After a relaxing Labor Day weekend, I settled back into work last Tuesday morning by scanning for industry news. Everywhere I looked — my Twitter feed, the company Slack channel, Google News — I kept seeing the same article pop up with a thought-provoking headline: “Sex ed is required. Why isn’t financial…

By Tai Stewart Ever since I can remember, my dad was always the financial manager in our household. He knew how to support 8 kids and a wife on less than $40,000, and we didn’t lack any basic necessities. As the eldest child, I was the recipient of most of the financial lessons since I…

How to Value the True Cost of a Loan How should we measure the true value of a loan on consumers’ lives? Lower blood pressure, for the anxiety and stress saved? The dollar amount of an additional payday, because someone could afford to repair the car and get to work? The quality of life achieved…

By Amanda K. Lettmann Disability comes quickly and very unexpectedly. One moment you are healthy, another moment you are having open heart surgery — at least that’s what happened to me. In the early 1990’s, I learned dearly the importance of having sound financial health. At the time I was 29, an avid runner, cyclist, and fitness…

All children are “our” children. Financial shocks affect millions of children’s lives. Over 48 million children live in financially struggling households; 38% of these families don’t have savings habits. Financial Health Network has been dedicated to raising awareness around America’s children, publishing research to support the efforts. And this summer, we invited Bob Putnam, author…

By Jeffrey Riecke, Communications Specialist, CFI This morning I had the luxury of splitting an Uber with my girlfriend for our to-work transportation. Neither she nor I are affluent by United States standards, but I would say we’re relatively financially healthy. Most months, our expenses like rent, food, medical bills, and student loans are low…

By Eric Patrick, BlackMarketExchange Spring 2011. That’s when I graduated from Howard University’s pharmacy school. I felt like I hit the lotto. No more waiting on refund checks, which at the time felt like a million dollars. I was now going to be a licensed pharmacist with a paycheck that was sure to prevent me…

By Nancy Castillo This Spring, Financial Health Networker Nancy Castillo spent 12 weeks at Oportun’s headquarters in Redwood City, CA. Castillo was there as part of a Fellowship program offered by Financial Health Network to its staff, the goal of which was twofold: to provide professional development and exposure to an emerging Financial Health Network…

By Financial Health Network Consulting Putting Low-Income Consumers First With the Help of Financial Health Network’s Knowledge More than 68 million low-income Americans don’t get the financial services they need. It’s this market gap that prompted the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a network of community development financial institutions to turn to the Center for Financial…