August 20, 2024 • 29 mins
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Learning how to budget, or what causes your credit score to increase or decrease, or even just the process of applying for a credit card, all fall under the category of financial literacy. Are we ever truly financially literate? How would you measure it? On this episode of Bank Chats, Drew and Jeff chat with Emma King from Banzai, a company with a mission to share financial literacy, on the topic.
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An AmeriServ Financial, Inc. Production
Music by Rattlesnake, Millo, and Andrey Kalitkin
Hosted by Drew Thomas
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This podcast focuses on having valuable conversations on various topics related to banking and financial health. The podcast is grounded in having open conversations with professionals and experts, with the goal of helping to take some of the mystery out of financial and related topics; as learning about financial products and services can help you make more informed financial decisions. Please keep in mind that the information contained within this podcast, and any resources available for download from our website or other resources relating to Bank Chats is not intended, and should not be understood or interpreted to be, financial advice. The host, guests, and production staff of Bank Chats expressly recommend that you seek advice from a trusted financial professional before making financial decisions. The host of Bank Chats is not an attorney, accountant, or financial advisor, and the program is simply intended as one source of information. The podcast is not a substitute for a financial professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. AmeriServ Presents: Bank Chats is produced and distributed by AmeriServ Financial, Incorporated.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Drew Thomas (00:03):
Fast fact, according to the Financial
Educators Council, Americanslost over $1,506 in 2023 due to
financial illiteracy. Losingmoney to fraud, overspending and
unnecessary fees. I'm DrewThomas, and you're listening to
Bank Chats.
(00:44):
So, on today's episode of BankChats, you know, I always say
today's episode, but quitefrankly, you could be listening
at night or in the morning, ormaybe, I don't know wherever you
happen to be. But I am of courseyour host Drew Thomas, with me
is my producer, Jeff Matevish,and co-host, and 2 Cents
partner, and I don't know, youwear so many hats, Jeff, I don't
know.
Jeff Matevish (01:04):
Hey, Drew.
Drew Thomas (01:05):
I wear one hat, he wears like seven. So, we're
going to talk a little bit todayabout financial literacy. And
really, the whole point of thepodcast, really, is financial
education and financialliteracy, right? We want to try
to provide everybody that'slistening to the show, some
general information andeducation about banking and
(01:25):
financial health, right? That'sthe whole point of Bank Chats.
And we at AmeriServ, we actuallyhave a fantastic partner that we
have worked with now for, Ithink it's been about two years
or so, and it is BanzaiIncorporated. They do a
fantastic job of working, notonly with online education, so
there's articles and coachingsessions and things like that on
(01:47):
the web, but also with schooldistricts teaching children and
doing financial educationthrough scholastic and teaching
and so forth. So, it's, they'rea really fantastic company. And
with that in mind, our guesttoday is from Banzai. Her name
is Emma King, hi, Emma. How areyou?
Emma King (02:04):
Hey, how's it going?
Happy to be here.
Drew Thomas (02:05):
We're doing fantastic. And it's, it's a very
hot day here. I gotta tell you,it's like, it's like in the 90s,
and that is really unusual forus. I don't know what it's like
where you are, but.
Emma King (02:14):
I'm in Utah, and it, we're having some freak
windstorms right now. So, it'sa, it's a little weird. I wish
it was warmer. I'm from Texas,so I'm ready for like 100
degrees. But here I am.
Drew Thomas (02:29):
Yeah, 100 degrees around here, we're from
Pennsylvania, so 100 degreeshere is like living in a swamp.
Jeff Matevish (02:34):
Yeah, we'll switch, you.
Emma King (02:35):
Oh, that's fair. It's humid, huh?
Drew Thomas (02:38):
Yeah, it's, it's very humid. 100 degrees and 15%
humidity, I'll take over even 90degrees and 60% humidity. It's,
It's terrible. It's terrible.
Emma King (02:48):
That's fair. Humidity is not a good match.
Drew Thomas (02:51):
Yeah, so anyway, tell us a little bit about
yourself and how you, how yougot working with Banzai, and
what it is that you do.
Emma King (02:59):
Yeah, of course. So, I've been with Banzai for about
two years now. At the time ofthe airing of this, you know,
depending when you're watchingit, it might vary. Maybe it'll
be 10 years at this point. It'sactually kind of crazy how I
ended up here. I was in themedical field before I came over
to Banzai, and I was justlooking around, you know, and I
(03:19):
ran into Banzai, looked up itsmission, which is sharing
financial literacy. You know, wewant to make financial resources
or tools accessible to everyone.
You know, whether you're eightyears old or you're 80 years
old, there's something to learn.
And so I heard the mission, andI just related to it. I think
financial literacy is somethingthat's so easy to be passionate
(03:42):
about, because it affects everysingle one of us, you know, in
one way or another. So, Istarted here, and I loved it.
Drew Thomas (03:50):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that I make the
joke often, it's one of mystaples that, you know, people
go through high school and they,they take calculus, and there's
like, one out of 100 people thatgo on after high school to use
calculus, but nobody teachesfinancial literacy, and
everybody has to learn how tobudget, right? So, the focus is
sometimes a little, a littleoff.
Emma King (04:11):
Yeah, no, it's crazy.
I remember in high school wewatched financial literacy just
videos, and we would like takenotes on what we learned. And I
learned great stuff, but I can'tsay too much of it stuck.
Jeff Matevish (04:23):
You had more exposure than we did, yeah.
Drew Thomas (04:25):
That's true. I was, I was doing some reading here
prior to us having thisdiscussion, and I was reading
that data from 2024 index, thisis according to the World
Economic Forum, financialliteracy in the United States
has hovered around 50% for thelast eight consecutive years and
a 2% drop in the last two years.
So, right now, statistically,less than half of the country is
(04:46):
what would, would be consideredfinancially literate. Does that
sound about right to you, basedon what you guys see at Banzai?
Emma King (04:54):
Yeah, I'd say that's, that's beyond, right. It's, it's
insane, you know, the number ofpeople, you know, myself
included for a while, thatdidn't even know, you know how
to open a credit card, howcredit works, how these simple
things that affect your everydaylife, you know, affect you. And
so we really just want to makeresources free, and, you know,
partnering with AmeriServ, youhave it right there on your
(05:17):
website, like, just go check itout. Go learn. You know, we, we
want people to be able to know,you know, these things that are
going to affect their life.
Drew Thomas (05:25):
Absolutely. So how would you define financial
literacy? I think that maybethat's kind of a broad term that
gets sort of thrown around. Buthow would you define being
financially literate? Does thatmean knowing the difference
between a 20 [bill] and a 10[bill], or is there more to it
than that?
Emma King (05:41):
No, that's a great question. I think it involves,
you know, a few things. It'shaving skills, you know, it's
having knowledge on financialtopics, you know, understanding
what a budget is or whatinvesting is. And it's hard to
say that anyone's financiallyliterate, because there's always
(06:02):
more to learn, you know, andthings are changing. You know, a
budget 20 years ago wouldn'twork today, so we've got to
adapt. So, I feel like financialliteracy is just learning about
these topics and making informeddecisions based on that.
Drew Thomas (06:17):
So, Banzai has a number of different ways that
you guys go about doing that.
So, let's talk a little bit,since we already sort of touched
on the subject of not gettingeducated in schools whenever we
were younger, let's talk alittle bit about the scholastic
aspect of Banzai. How does thatwork? You work with teachers,
right? You work with schooldistricts?
Emma King (06:36):
Yeah, yeah. The school aspect is really cool
because teachers are able to goto bansai.org, they can decide,
okay, I want to offer thesecourses to my students. And the
courses are gamified versions oflife, you know, where students
can be running a lemonade stand,saving, you know, money to buy a
(06:56):
hoverboard or a bike, or it canbe they're saving up for
college. You know, learning softskills, there's a wide range,
but the teachers go in anddecide, you know, okay, I want
to offer this. I want to givethis to my students, something
that maybe they didn't have. AndI think another big thing is
state standards are changing.
It's becoming more necessary inevery state. I don't remember
(07:18):
where it's at in Pennsylvaniaright now, but I'm sure you know
it's becoming more necessarythere.
Drew Thomas (07:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
In the state of Pennsylvaniaright now, there's an, there's a
recommendation to offerfinancial literacy in our school
districts. But I believe thatstarting in the 2026 school
year, it's going to be mandatorythat there be a dedicated
financial education part of thecurriculum, not just something
that you throw in at the lastminute on, on day 179 out of
(07:47):
180.
Emma King (07:53):
Funny, that's when we saw a lot of peak in Banzai in
the past, was the end of theyear, because teachers are like,
oh yeah, that's really goodstuff. Yeah, let me put that in
there.
Drew Thomas (08:03):
And I'm out of a lesson plan. So, you know what?
It's really...
Jeff Matevish (08:05):
That filler, yeah.
Emma King (08:06):
They're like, here, do this game.
Drew Thomas (08:10):
I do like the idea that it's gamified, though. I
think that's very interactive.
Yeah.
Emma King (08:14):
Yeah, no, I love that. I went through when I
started at Banzai, and evendoing, we have one for
elementary age. It was so funrunning the lemonade stand. And
I was like, oh, yeah, I forgotthat that's the definition, you
know, whatever word it was. Iwas like, oh, it's good to
relearn these things.
Drew and Jeff (08:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Jeff and I were out and aboutlast week at an event, and we
saw you said you saw twolemonade stands, yeah? Like, out
in the neighborhood, yeah, yeah.
So, it's nice to know kids arestill doing that, which is
great, but yeah, I mean...
Jeff Matevish (08:45):
Times have changed. They're not taking cash
anymore. They're taking Venmo,that peer-to-peer payment.
Emma King (08:53):
...and the girl is selling her cup with the
lemonade, and so you're mainlypaying for a cup. Like, Oh,
that's a new take on lemonadestands.
Drew Thomas (09:03):
I like the idea that not only are you learning
about financial literacy, in away, you're learning how to make
change and do the basics, likewhen you're a kid, like that,
but you're also learning sales,yeah, a little bit. You're
learning how to sell yourself.
Jeff Matevish (09:16):
People skills.
Drew Thomas (09:16):
Yeah, you know how to be confident. And I think
that's a big part of financialliteracy too, is, I think a lot
of people are, and it's really,in some ways, no fault of their
own, or little fault of theirown, that they're not quote,
unquote, financially literate,but they feel embarrassed to
admit that, and so they don'tseek out ways to try to learn.
And I think that that's anotherreason why the other aspect of
(09:39):
Banzai, which is the onlinecomponent, being able to do self
paced education, read articles,do coaching sessions. I think
that's also really nice, becauseyou can do it in the privacy of
your own home. Nobody has toknow that you're doing it. You
don't have to, you know, walkinto a classroom somewhere and
admit that you don't know how todo the interest rate on your
account or something like that.
Mm, hmm. So, talk a little bitEmma about that aspect. When did
(10:01):
banzai start offering the onlinecomponent of the financial
literacy?
Emma King (10:08):
Yeah, we started, so we started with schools back in,
I think it was '07 and so wewere just mainly focused on
offering it to students, youknow, people that are just
barely getting into finances.
But I want to say, about fiveyears back, we started this
community wellness because werealized, you know, the students
(10:28):
need it, the youth need it, butus adults, we're, we're planning
for retirement, you know, we, weneed to learn these topics as
well. And so we came out with,like you said, a plethora of
resources. You know, we havearticles that range from NFTs
and cryptocurrency to the basicsof budgeting. One of my favorite
(10:49):
resources is actually ourcoaching sessions, which I think
you'd mentioned, and that's justbecause it allows users to go in
and say, this is where I'm at.
And the coaching session willgive you some recommendations.
You know, let's say you're doingthe budgeting coach, they'll
(11:10):
say, hey, based off of what youtold me, you know, here are some
recommendations that might helpyou. Or here's your graph of
your budget. And with the Banzairesources, we never try to tell
you, you know, this is exactlywhat you have to do, because
everyone's going to be a littledifferent. You know, we just try
to give those resources for youto make the best decision for
(11:33):
yourself. You know, to have allthis knowledge.
Jeff Matevish (11:37):
Right, right.
Hey, Emma, so in these coursesand these coaching sessions,
what, what are some of the morepopular topics that students are
learning about with yourplatform?
Emma King (11:49):
Yeah, no, great question. I'd say the most
popular ones are probably thebudgeting ones, because that's,
you know, a great place to getstarted for anyone is learning
how to budget. Another reallypopular thing right now is
digital wellness. You know howto be safe online right now,
there are a lot of scams goingaround that you've got to be
(12:11):
safe about, and so we have tonsof articles and coaching
sessions on that.
Drew Thomas (12:15):
Yeah, that totally makes sense. And I think that
too, we're starting to becomeless and less of a cash based
society. So much of this stuffis done electronically. You make
your payments to your billselectronically, you get direct
deposit into your account. Thereare times when you never have to
touch $1 bill for an entiremonth if you didn't want to,
because you could pay with adebit card or a credit card. So,
(12:38):
you know, knowing how thosethings work and how to use them
safely has to be a key componentas well, I would think.
Emma King (12:45):
Exactly and cash, for me personally, cash is
dangerous. I'm a victim of girlmath and I'm like, cash is free.
I can't mess with cash.
Jeff Matevish (12:54):
We're opposite, then. I'm only cash.
Emma King (12:58):
That works. You know, I love that, that's what's so
cool about it. But for me, Ijust be like, man, I have 1000s
of dollars that I can go spendon whatever.
Drew Thomas (13:08):
It's already out of my account I can spend whatever.
Emma King (13:11):
It's so bad my husband hates it.
Drew Thomas (13:13):
So, I guess one of the things that is important to
note too about this is thatfinancial literacy is not just
about saying that you, I guessthe point of being financial
literate is, it has real lifeimpact on you, right? If you
don't understand how to create abudget, you could end up in
(13:34):
bankruptcy, which really affectsyour life. It could affect your
housing. It could affect yourability to buy a car. It could
be it can sometimes even affectyour ability to get hired, uh,
from certain organizations. Iknow that as a bank, like we, we
do credit checks, right, becausewe want to make sure that people
are financially stable before weput them around a bunch of cash,
(13:55):
right? That doesn't belong tothem, right? So, you know. So, I
think that Banzai is performinga fantastic service, not only
just because financial literacyitself is a, an important thing,
but it has real life impact onpeople, right?
Emma King (14:11):
Yeah, 1,000%. I mean, there are so many things that I
had no idea about, you know,until recently, you know. We
were buying a house, and we hadto know our DTI, you know, our
debt-to-income ratio. And I waslike, I had no idea that these
things impacted, you know, howmuch money I make and whether I
(14:31):
have a car loan, whether I havea house loan, you know, I, you
just think, I have money in thebank. Okay, I can, I can do
whatever I want, but it doesn'twork that way. You know, there's
so many different aspects, andso we really just try to provide
all of that information so youcan know, okay, what is DTI? All
(14:54):
of those out, all of those outthere that don't know, I highly
recommend looking into it. Butgoing and just knowing to
prepare for your future and foryour children's future. I mean,
there are a lot of things youcan do now to help your kids
out.
Drew Thomas (15:08):
And I guess that leads into another question that
Jeff and I were talking aboutahead of time, because you were
asking about what age?
Jeff Matevish (15:15):
Yeah, what's a common age for a student to
start learning about financialliteracy through your platform?
Is it set up for, like, middleschool students or high school
students? Is there something forboth age groups?
Emma King (15:28):
Yeah, we have something for all age groups.
You know, starting inelementary. I'd say kindergarten
and first grade it's not toopopular yet. You know, they're
still learning basic math.
They're not quite ready to run alemonade stand, but the most
popular age group, I'd probablysay, is high school, just
because they, it's getting realfor them, you know, they're
(15:49):
about to go to college, youknow, preparing for opening
their first credit cards. But,you know, we also want to cater
to the elementary age wherethey're just opening their first
checking account, you know,because that's going to set you
up for your life and your futuretoo.
Jeff Matevish (16:05):
And I'm sure the parents are benefiting too. I'm
sure they're, you know, thesestudents are going home and
telling their parents what theylearned today. So that's a,
Emma King (16:12):
Yeah, exactly. And that's one of the big reasons we
that's a plus.
came out with the CommunityWellness Center, is because the
kids were going home and saying,hey, like I went through this
course, I learned these amazingtopics, and the parents want to
learn too, you know, they wantto learn for themselves as well
as to know, what is my childlearning? You know, what, what
(16:32):
do they know?
Drew Thomas (16:34):
Yeah, that, that totally makes sense to me, even
whenever you said you see,probably your largest dedicated
group being high schoolstudents, you know, I think that
high school students, theysometimes are put in a position,
especially with things likecollege loans, their first
credit cards, their first carloan, maybe things like that.
Where they are, I don't want tosay blindly, but they're,
(16:56):
they're naive to how much moneythey're actually borrowing, and
they're naive to how much that'sgoing to impact their life, to
pay it back in the long term.
And so I think understandingthat more particularly with a
generation now that is almostexpected to go to college, and
almost expected to go to collegein a time when college is the
most expensive it has ever been,I think that understanding how
(17:18):
that financially, financiallyimpacts them is important.
Emma King (17:23):
Yeah, and we have resources on getting
scholarships, you know, youmentioned it's the most
expensive, and so we've got tolearn, you know, it might be the
most expensive, but how can Iwork with that? You know, with
what I'm given, maybe filling upFAFSA, you know, is the best
bet. You know gettingscholarships. There's so many
ways to make it more accessibleand to set yourself up or your
(17:47):
child up for their future.
Drew Thomas (17:49):
Absolutely. So, whenever it comes to the
coaching sessions that Banzaihas, is that sort of like the
lemonade stand for adults? Isthat a fair comparison, or are
they different?
Emma King (17:59):
I love that analogy.
I'm going to start using that.
You know, the coaching sessions,unfortunately, I wish they were
as fun as the courses. You know,the, the lemonade stand, it's a
picture, you know, that pops upand you run your lemonade stand,
the coaches are more so like,it's similar to AI, I would say,
(18:20):
where you go in and you're like,chatting with somebody. Okay, so
you go in and it'll say, hey,I'm going to start with the
financial wellness one, becauseit's my favorite. And this is
one that any listeners out therego check out the financial
wellness assessment. But you getstarted and it'll say, hey,
(18:40):
like, let's know your strengthsand weaknesses and take a step
towards your financial wellness.
And so it'll ask you questionslike, how old are you? You know,
are you married? Do you have anykids? Do you have any debt? You
know, maybe of credit debt orcollege debt. What's your credit
score? You know, it'll take allof this information in, and then
(19:01):
at the end, you can download asheet that'll say, like, hey,
you're doing good here, butmaybe we can improve a bit on
your credit score, or let's paydown your debts a little bit,
just by paying 10 more dollars,you know, a month, you can pay
it down faster. And then it'llwork for you. To some articles
(19:21):
that are based on, you know,what you put in there. So, if
you had a low credit score,it'll say, hey, here's an
article on improving that. So,it's very much a conversation
with, you know, Banzai, or withthe coach.
Drew Thomas (19:37):
That, I mean, that totally makes sense to me. I
think that that's a fantastic,and we can put a link directly
to that, even in the descriptionof the show, you know, so that
people can get right to thatone, and then they can, they can
find other stuff there too.
We'll put the links down there.
We always, we always tell peopledon't click on links, but you
can click on these, that's fine.
Emma King (19:57):
You can trust these links. We promise.
Drew Thomas (19:59):
Yeah, if they're in the episode description, you're,
you're pretty much, you'repretty much good for the most
part. I would, I would think, Idon't, I don't, although you
know what that'll be, the nextthing somebody hacks is being
able to, like, mess with anepisode description of a podcast
and start like, yeah, oh don'tsay that. Yeah, don't, yeah.
Please don't do that. Seriously.
Emma King (20:18):
Any hackers listening right now, right?
Drew Thomas (20:21):
We're gonna, we're gonna be listened to by the one
person that's like, that's afantastic idea. And then it's
gonna be my fault.
Emma King (20:27):
He's like, consider it done.
Drew Thomas (20:28):
Yeah really. So, in your experience, you said you've
been with Banzai, how long aboutyou? Said about five?
Emma King (20:35):
Two years.
Drew Thomas (20:36):
Two years. I'm sorry. So, in that time, have
you, have you heard any sort ofstories, or any, any, gotten any
feedback from either a school ora teacher or maybe a partner
that you've worked with that hasresonated with you as like
something that you, you know,where Banzai really helped
somebody to identify an issueand maybe, maybe get better at
it?
Emma King (20:56):
Yeah, no, that's a great question. I actually
recently, I've been taking on aproject where I'm working with
teachers directly, and so I'vebeen reaching out to teachers
and asking them, you know, howhas Banzai helped you? You know,
how have, how has this actuallyimpacted your students? And the
feedback has just been, youknow, phenomenal. Hearing that
(21:18):
they, you know, are able to gothrough, you know, we've been
focusing on the lemonade stand,so we'll take it there, you
know, they'll go through it withtheir students, and they'll say,
hey, like as a class, whatdecision should we make? And so
it's just very memorable. Youknow, I love when teachers are
able to make it, not just hey,you know, do this good luck,
(21:39):
right? It's interactive, youknow. And I think that's
something that's so huge aboutthese topics, is making it fun,
interactive, and not just okay,this is something to get done.
Drew Thomas (21:51):
I would agree with you. I think that, and that's
why I said, I really, you know,earlier I said, I really
appreciate the gamified, uh,aspects of, of this, because,
you know, any more people are, Iswear they are born with a
smartphone or a tablet in theirhand. I mean, they're, they're
constantly looking at screens.
Gamified stuff is everywhere,and so it captures your
(22:13):
attention. I think, more thanjust watching a video or
listening to, we've all donethose sort of virtual training
sessions where you just listento a video for 45 minutes and
then you're given a quiz.
Jeff Matevish (22:26):
And attention spans are lower than they've
ever been. You know.
Drew Thomas (22:30):
They have to be, yeah. I mean, you know, we even
know that from a marketingperspective. I mean, you know,
if you don't catch somebody inthe first two or three seconds,
they're gone because there'ssomething else that they could
go focus on. So, being able tohold a student's attention is
very important, and relating itto something also makes it stick
(22:50):
in their mind I think better.
Emma King (22:52):
Yeah, no, that's, that's so huge. We actually just
came out with a new game wherethe students are buying a
headphone, a new pair ofheadphones, and so in the game,
they're going through, and theygo to their mom and asking for
money, you know, which all of usdid, and we asked for $300 and
your mom says, no, you know, notyet. I'm not gonna give you
(23:14):
$300, I wish. And so in thisgame, they're able to go
through, and, you know, theycontrol the budget, and so every
week, if you save $50 in thegrocery budget, you know, you're
able to take that home with you,and you're able to save that
towards your headphones. And soit's a cool way to make it
(23:35):
applicable to youth's life of,hey, I, I also want the new
Apple AirPods. You know, here'show you can get there. And so
it's some cool ideas as well,which not to say it'll work with
everyone's parents, but it'ssome options.
Drew Thomas (23:53):
I do like the fact that you're teaching them to
save the money for the thing andnot just throw it on a credit
card, get the thing and pay itlater. Yeah, I think that's,
that is something that has beenlost on people, I think a lot,
uh, compared to, say, mygrandfather or grandmother's
generation, where, you know,they had the coffee can and
they'd put a few dollars in it,and, you know, eventually, you
(24:15):
know, over time, they would say,okay, well, we've saved up
enough, and we're gonna go buyour new couch, or we're gonna go
buy our TV. Where now, we'rejust so accustomed to throwing
it on a credit card and payinghigh interest. And, you know,
there's something a little moresatisfying, I think about saving
up that money ahead of time andthen buying it out, right? It's
yours. You don't have a bill,you can just enjoy it. I think
that's really cool.
Emma King (24:36):
Yeah, no, I completely agree. I mean, there
are so many things nowadayswhere you can pay something off
over a few months, which I thinkis awesome, but it's so hard not
to get in the habit of, youknow, everything you buy, just
putting it on credit or payingit off over time. And I think
that's where a lot of us do gettrapped, is because we, you
(24:58):
know, we can pay it off later.
But learning to budget, youknow, going back to those basics
is how we're going to be able tocontrol that and set ourselves
up and get those headphones, youknow, straight forward and just
buy them.
Drew Thomas (25:12):
Absolutely. Well, I mean, Emma, I mean, I really
appreciate you taking the timeto talk with us about all of
this and to tell us a little bitabout Banzai and how it is, it
has impacted people, not onlyfrom the students, but also the
teachers and the adults, quitehonestly, that are using it and
just being able to understandthat. I mean, we have, how many
(25:32):
articles are there now?
Jeff Matevish (25:34):
Oh, between articles and coaches, yeah,
there's over 200.
Drew Thomas (25:37):
Yeah. I mean, there's something for everybody
out there, you know, yeah. Andthat's a credit to you and your,
and Banzai's team of people thathave come up with that. I mean,
there's, yeah, that's a lot of,that's a lot of article writing.
Jeff Matevish (25:49):
Yeah. And they let, they let us share it with,
with whoever, I mean, on ourwebsite, yeah.
Drew Thomas (25:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
So, Emma, congratulations on, onmoving from the medical field to
this. That's good, you're stillhelping people. Yep, yep, a good
fit for you.
Emma King (26:03):
That's what I loved about it. I was like, I'm if
life is going to be notsatisfying, if I'm not in the
medical field. But coming here,I was like, oh, life still can
be satisfying. You know, whatwe're putting out there really
does help. You know, we'vereached millions of people at
this point, and it's awesomehearing the feedback. You know,
if anyone has anything they'dlike to say or an article they
(26:25):
want, please let us know. Youknow, we'd love to hear what you
have to say.
Drew Thomas (26:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we can also pass that alongas well, like the, in the, in
the episode description, you canfind links to either you can
either send us a text message,give us some feedback through
the link in the in thedescription for text message
feedback, there's also a link inthe description for sending us
feedback through the website. Wealways appreciate feedback on
the show and on our things thatwe can pass along to our guests,
(26:50):
our experts on the show as well.
If you haven't subscribed to theshow yet, why not? I mean
seriously, we're awesome. Youshould do that. Emma's gonna
subscribe, right?
Emma King (27:03):
Yeah, of course.
Double thumbs up.
Drew Thomas (27:04):
Absolutely, see, we just put her on the spot right
there. She couldn't say no.
Emma, thank you so much.
Emma King (27:11):
Safe links, everyone, that's right, yes.
Drew and Jeff (27:16):
All right. Well, with that, Jeff, I think I will
turn the show over to yourcapable editing hands. Okay,
sounds great. Thank you so muchagain, Emma.
Emma King (27:28):
Yeah, of course, thanks for having me.
Jeff Matevish (27:30):
Thanks, Emma, bye.
Drew Thomas (27:39):
This podcast focuses on having valuable
conversations on various topicsrelated to banking and financial
health. The podcast is groundedin having open conversations
with professionals and expertswith the goal of helping to take
some of the mystery out offinancial and related topics, as
learning about financialproducts and services can help
you make more informed financialdecisions. Please keep in mind
(28:00):
that the information containedwithin this podcast and any
resources available for downloadfrom our website or other
resources relating to Bank Chatsis not intended and should not
be understood or interpreted tobe financial advice. The host,
guests, and production staff ofBank Chats expressly recommend
that you seek advice from atrusted financial professional
before making financialdecisions. The host of Bank
(28:22):
Chats is not an attorney,accountant, or financial
advisor, and the program issimply intended as one source of
information. The podcast is nota substitute for a financial
professional who is aware of thefacts and circumstances of your
individual situation.
(28:46):
Being financially literatereally just means knowing how to
navigate the financiallandscape. Setting budgets,
managing bank accounts,understanding the pros and cons
of taking on debt and planningfor the future. The more you
know, the better you can handlelife's financial challenges.
When only 64% of Americans canpass a basic financial literacy
quiz, that's not an idealsituation for our society. We'd
(29:10):
like to thank Emma King fromBanzai for joining us today to
talk about how they help makeraising that percentage easier.
You can find Banzai-createdcoaching sessions, articles and
calculators, at ameriserv.com.
As always, my thanks to ourproducer and sometimes co-host,
Jeff Matevish, for his hard workand contributions to the show.
If you haven't subscribed yet,please consider doing so.
AmeriServ Presents (29:30):
Bank Chats is produced and distributed by
AmeriServ FinancialIncorporated. Music by
Rattlesnake, Millo, and AndreyKalitkin. You can find all of
our episodes atameriserv.com/bankchats, or by
searching for us on yourfavorite podcast app. For now,
I'm Drew Thomas. So long.
Fast fact, according to the Financial
Educators Council, Americanslost over $1,506 in 2023 due to
financial illiteracy. Losingmoney to fraud, overspending and
unnecessary fees. I'm DrewThomas, and you're listening to
Bank Chats.
(00:44):
So, on today's episode of BankChats, you know, I always say
today's episode, but quitefrankly, you could be listening
at night or in the morning, ormaybe, I don't know wherever you
happen to be. But I am of courseyour host Drew Thomas, with me
is my producer, Jeff Matevish,and co-host, and 2 Cents
partner, and I don't know, youwear so many hats, Jeff, I don't
know.
Jeff Matevish (01:04):
Hey, Drew.
Drew Thomas (01:05):
I wear one hat, he wears like seven. So, we're
going to talk a little bit todayabout financial literacy. And
really, the whole point of thepodcast, really, is financial
education and financialliteracy, right? We want to try
to provide everybody that'slistening to the show, some
general information andeducation about banking and
(01:25):
financial health, right? That'sthe whole point of Bank Chats.
And we at AmeriServ, we actuallyhave a fantastic partner that we
have worked with now for, Ithink it's been about two years
or so, and it is BanzaiIncorporated. They do a
fantastic job of working, notonly with online education, so
there's articles and coachingsessions and things like that on
(01:47):
the web, but also with schooldistricts teaching children and
doing financial educationthrough scholastic and teaching
and so forth. So, it's, they'rea really fantastic company. And
with that in mind, our guesttoday is from Banzai. Her name
is Emma King, hi, Emma. How areyou?
Emma King (02:04):
Hey, how's it going?
Happy to be here.
Drew Thomas (02:05):
We're doing fantastic. And it's, it's a very
hot day here. I gotta tell you,it's like, it's like in the 90s,
and that is really unusual forus. I don't know what it's like
where you are, but.
Emma King (02:14):
I'm in Utah, and it, we're having some freak
windstorms right now. So, it'sa, it's a little weird. I wish
it was warmer. I'm from Texas,so I'm ready for like 100
degrees. But here I am.
Drew Thomas (02:29):
Yeah, 100 degrees around here, we're from
Pennsylvania, so 100 degreeshere is like living in a swamp.
Jeff Matevish (02:34):
Yeah, we'll switch, you.
Emma King (02:35):
Oh, that's fair. It's humid, huh?
Drew Thomas (02:38):
Yeah, it's, it's very humid. 100 degrees and 15%
humidity, I'll take over even 90degrees and 60% humidity. It's,
It's terrible. It's terrible.
Emma King (02:48):
That's fair. Humidity is not a good match.
Drew Thomas (02:51):
Yeah, so anyway, tell us a little bit about
yourself and how you, how yougot working with Banzai, and
what it is that you do.
Emma King (02:59):
Yeah, of course. So, I've been with Banzai for about
two years now. At the time ofthe airing of this, you know,
depending when you're watchingit, it might vary. Maybe it'll
be 10 years at this point. It'sactually kind of crazy how I
ended up here. I was in themedical field before I came over
to Banzai, and I was justlooking around, you know, and I
(03:19):
ran into Banzai, looked up itsmission, which is sharing
financial literacy. You know, wewant to make financial resources
or tools accessible to everyone.
You know, whether you're eightyears old or you're 80 years
old, there's something to learn.
And so I heard the mission, andI just related to it. I think
financial literacy is somethingthat's so easy to be passionate
(03:42):
about, because it affects everysingle one of us, you know, in
one way or another. So, Istarted here, and I loved it.
Drew Thomas (03:50):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that I make the
joke often, it's one of mystaples that, you know, people
go through high school and they,they take calculus, and there's
like, one out of 100 people thatgo on after high school to use
calculus, but nobody teachesfinancial literacy, and
everybody has to learn how tobudget, right? So, the focus is
sometimes a little, a littleoff.
Emma King (04:11):
Yeah, no, it's crazy.
I remember in high school wewatched financial literacy just
videos, and we would like takenotes on what we learned. And I
learned great stuff, but I can'tsay too much of it stuck.
Jeff Matevish (04:23):
You had more exposure than we did, yeah.
Drew Thomas (04:25):
That's true. I was, I was doing some reading here
prior to us having thisdiscussion, and I was reading
that data from 2024 index, thisis according to the World
Economic Forum, financialliteracy in the United States
has hovered around 50% for thelast eight consecutive years and
a 2% drop in the last two years.
So, right now, statistically,less than half of the country is
(04:46):
what would, would be consideredfinancially literate. Does that
sound about right to you, basedon what you guys see at Banzai?
Emma King (04:54):
Yeah, I'd say that's, that's beyond, right. It's, it's
insane, you know, the number ofpeople, you know, myself
included for a while, thatdidn't even know, you know how
to open a credit card, howcredit works, how these simple
things that affect your everydaylife, you know, affect you. And
so we really just want to makeresources free, and, you know,
partnering with AmeriServ, youhave it right there on your
(05:17):
website, like, just go check itout. Go learn. You know, we, we
want people to be able to know,you know, these things that are
going to affect their life.
Drew Thomas (05:25):
Absolutely. So how would you define financial
literacy? I think that maybethat's kind of a broad term that
gets sort of thrown around. Buthow would you define being
financially literate? Does thatmean knowing the difference
between a 20 [bill] and a 10[bill], or is there more to it
than that?
Emma King (05:41):
No, that's a great question. I think it involves,
you know, a few things. It'shaving skills, you know, it's
having knowledge on financialtopics, you know, understanding
what a budget is or whatinvesting is. And it's hard to
say that anyone's financiallyliterate, because there's always
(06:02):
more to learn, you know, andthings are changing. You know, a
budget 20 years ago wouldn'twork today, so we've got to
adapt. So, I feel like financialliteracy is just learning about
these topics and making informeddecisions based on that.
Drew Thomas (06:17):
So, Banzai has a number of different ways that
you guys go about doing that.
So, let's talk a little bit,since we already sort of touched
on the subject of not gettingeducated in schools whenever we
were younger, let's talk alittle bit about the scholastic
aspect of Banzai. How does thatwork? You work with teachers,
right? You work with schooldistricts?
Emma King (06:36):
Yeah, yeah. The school aspect is really cool
because teachers are able to goto bansai.org, they can decide,
okay, I want to offer thesecourses to my students. And the
courses are gamified versions oflife, you know, where students
can be running a lemonade stand,saving, you know, money to buy a
(06:56):
hoverboard or a bike, or it canbe they're saving up for
college. You know, learning softskills, there's a wide range,
but the teachers go in anddecide, you know, okay, I want
to offer this. I want to givethis to my students, something
that maybe they didn't have. AndI think another big thing is
state standards are changing.
It's becoming more necessary inevery state. I don't remember
(07:18):
where it's at in Pennsylvaniaright now, but I'm sure you know
it's becoming more necessarythere.
Drew Thomas (07:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
In the state of Pennsylvaniaright now, there's an, there's a
recommendation to offerfinancial literacy in our school
districts. But I believe thatstarting in the 2026 school
year, it's going to be mandatorythat there be a dedicated
financial education part of thecurriculum, not just something
that you throw in at the lastminute on, on day 179 out of
(07:47):
180.
Emma King (07:53):
Funny, that's when we saw a lot of peak in Banzai in
the past, was the end of theyear, because teachers are like,
oh yeah, that's really goodstuff. Yeah, let me put that in
there.
Drew Thomas (08:03):
And I'm out of a lesson plan. So, you know what?
It's really...
Jeff Matevish (08:05):
That filler, yeah.
Emma King (08:06):
They're like, here, do this game.
Drew Thomas (08:10):
I do like the idea that it's gamified, though. I
think that's very interactive.
Yeah.
Emma King (08:14):
Yeah, no, I love that. I went through when I
started at Banzai, and evendoing, we have one for
elementary age. It was so funrunning the lemonade stand. And
I was like, oh, yeah, I forgotthat that's the definition, you
know, whatever word it was. Iwas like, oh, it's good to
relearn these things.
Drew and Jeff (08:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Jeff and I were out and aboutlast week at an event, and we
saw you said you saw twolemonade stands, yeah? Like, out
in the neighborhood, yeah, yeah.
So, it's nice to know kids arestill doing that, which is
great, but yeah, I mean...
Jeff Matevish (08:45):
Times have changed. They're not taking cash
anymore. They're taking Venmo,that peer-to-peer payment.
Emma King (08:53):
...and the girl is selling her cup with the
lemonade, and so you're mainlypaying for a cup. Like, Oh,
that's a new take on lemonadestands.
Drew Thomas (09:03):
I like the idea that not only are you learning
about financial literacy, in away, you're learning how to make
change and do the basics, likewhen you're a kid, like that,
but you're also learning sales,yeah, a little bit. You're
learning how to sell yourself.
Jeff Matevish (09:16):
People skills.
Drew Thomas (09:16):
Yeah, you know how to be confident. And I think
that's a big part of financialliteracy too, is, I think a lot
of people are, and it's really,in some ways, no fault of their
own, or little fault of theirown, that they're not quote,
unquote, financially literate,but they feel embarrassed to
admit that, and so they don'tseek out ways to try to learn.
And I think that that's anotherreason why the other aspect of
(09:39):
Banzai, which is the onlinecomponent, being able to do self
paced education, read articles,do coaching sessions. I think
that's also really nice, becauseyou can do it in the privacy of
your own home. Nobody has toknow that you're doing it. You
don't have to, you know, walkinto a classroom somewhere and
admit that you don't know how todo the interest rate on your
account or something like that.
Mm, hmm. So, talk a little bitEmma about that aspect. When did
(10:01):
banzai start offering the onlinecomponent of the financial
literacy?
Emma King (10:08):
Yeah, we started, so we started with schools back in,
I think it was '07 and so wewere just mainly focused on
offering it to students, youknow, people that are just
barely getting into finances.
But I want to say, about fiveyears back, we started this
community wellness because werealized, you know, the students
(10:28):
need it, the youth need it, butus adults, we're, we're planning
for retirement, you know, we, weneed to learn these topics as
well. And so we came out with,like you said, a plethora of
resources. You know, we havearticles that range from NFTs
and cryptocurrency to the basicsof budgeting. One of my favorite
(10:49):
resources is actually ourcoaching sessions, which I think
you'd mentioned, and that's justbecause it allows users to go in
and say, this is where I'm at.
And the coaching session willgive you some recommendations.
You know, let's say you're doingthe budgeting coach, they'll
(11:10):
say, hey, based off of what youtold me, you know, here are some
recommendations that might helpyou. Or here's your graph of
your budget. And with the Banzairesources, we never try to tell
you, you know, this is exactlywhat you have to do, because
everyone's going to be a littledifferent. You know, we just try
to give those resources for youto make the best decision for
(11:33):
yourself. You know, to have allthis knowledge.
Jeff Matevish (11:37):
Right, right.
Hey, Emma, so in these coursesand these coaching sessions,
what, what are some of the morepopular topics that students are
learning about with yourplatform?
Emma King (11:49):
Yeah, no, great question. I'd say the most
popular ones are probably thebudgeting ones, because that's,
you know, a great place to getstarted for anyone is learning
how to budget. Another reallypopular thing right now is
digital wellness. You know howto be safe online right now,
there are a lot of scams goingaround that you've got to be
(12:11):
safe about, and so we have tonsof articles and coaching
sessions on that.
Drew Thomas (12:15):
Yeah, that totally makes sense. And I think that
too, we're starting to becomeless and less of a cash based
society. So much of this stuffis done electronically. You make
your payments to your billselectronically, you get direct
deposit into your account. Thereare times when you never have to
touch $1 bill for an entiremonth if you didn't want to,
because you could pay with adebit card or a credit card. So,
(12:38):
you know, knowing how thosethings work and how to use them
safely has to be a key componentas well, I would think.
Emma King (12:45):
Exactly and cash, for me personally, cash is
dangerous. I'm a victim of girlmath and I'm like, cash is free.
I can't mess with cash.
Jeff Matevish (12:54):
We're opposite, then. I'm only cash.
Emma King (12:58):
That works. You know, I love that, that's what's so
cool about it. But for me, Ijust be like, man, I have 1000s
of dollars that I can go spendon whatever.
Drew Thomas (13:08):
It's already out of my account I can spend whatever.
Emma King (13:11):
It's so bad my husband hates it.
Drew Thomas (13:13):
So, I guess one of the things that is important to
note too about this is thatfinancial literacy is not just
about saying that you, I guessthe point of being financial
literate is, it has real lifeimpact on you, right? If you
don't understand how to create abudget, you could end up in
(13:34):
bankruptcy, which really affectsyour life. It could affect your
housing. It could affect yourability to buy a car. It could
be it can sometimes even affectyour ability to get hired, uh,
from certain organizations. Iknow that as a bank, like we, we
do credit checks, right, becausewe want to make sure that people
are financially stable before weput them around a bunch of cash,
(13:55):
right? That doesn't belong tothem, right? So, you know. So, I
think that Banzai is performinga fantastic service, not only
just because financial literacyitself is a, an important thing,
but it has real life impact onpeople, right?
Emma King (14:11):
Yeah, 1,000%. I mean, there are so many things that I
had no idea about, you know,until recently, you know. We
were buying a house, and we hadto know our DTI, you know, our
debt-to-income ratio. And I waslike, I had no idea that these
things impacted, you know, howmuch money I make and whether I
(14:31):
have a car loan, whether I havea house loan, you know, I, you
just think, I have money in thebank. Okay, I can, I can do
whatever I want, but it doesn'twork that way. You know, there's
so many different aspects, andso we really just try to provide
all of that information so youcan know, okay, what is DTI? All
(14:54):
of those out, all of those outthere that don't know, I highly
recommend looking into it. Butgoing and just knowing to
prepare for your future and foryour children's future. I mean,
there are a lot of things youcan do now to help your kids
out.
Drew Thomas (15:08):
And I guess that leads into another question that
Jeff and I were talking aboutahead of time, because you were
asking about what age?
Jeff Matevish (15:15):
Yeah, what's a common age for a student to
start learning about financialliteracy through your platform?
Is it set up for, like, middleschool students or high school
students? Is there something forboth age groups?
Emma King (15:28):
Yeah, we have something for all age groups.
You know, starting inelementary. I'd say kindergarten
and first grade it's not toopopular yet. You know, they're
still learning basic math.
They're not quite ready to run alemonade stand, but the most
popular age group, I'd probablysay, is high school, just
because they, it's getting realfor them, you know, they're
(15:49):
about to go to college, youknow, preparing for opening
their first credit cards. But,you know, we also want to cater
to the elementary age wherethey're just opening their first
checking account, you know,because that's going to set you
up for your life and your futuretoo.
Jeff Matevish (16:05):
And I'm sure the parents are benefiting too. I'm
sure they're, you know, thesestudents are going home and
telling their parents what theylearned today. So that's a,
Emma King (16:12):
Yeah, exactly. And that's one of the big reasons we
that's a plus.
came out with the CommunityWellness Center, is because the
kids were going home and saying,hey, like I went through this
course, I learned these amazingtopics, and the parents want to
learn too, you know, they wantto learn for themselves as well
as to know, what is my childlearning? You know, what, what
(16:32):
do they know?
Drew Thomas (16:34):
Yeah, that, that totally makes sense to me, even
whenever you said you see,probably your largest dedicated
group being high schoolstudents, you know, I think that
high school students, theysometimes are put in a position,
especially with things likecollege loans, their first
credit cards, their first carloan, maybe things like that.
Where they are, I don't want tosay blindly, but they're,
(16:56):
they're naive to how much moneythey're actually borrowing, and
they're naive to how much that'sgoing to impact their life, to
pay it back in the long term.
And so I think understandingthat more particularly with a
generation now that is almostexpected to go to college, and
almost expected to go to collegein a time when college is the
most expensive it has ever been,I think that understanding how
(17:18):
that financially, financiallyimpacts them is important.
Emma King (17:23):
Yeah, and we have resources on getting
scholarships, you know, youmentioned it's the most
expensive, and so we've got tolearn, you know, it might be the
most expensive, but how can Iwork with that? You know, with
what I'm given, maybe filling upFAFSA, you know, is the best
bet. You know gettingscholarships. There's so many
ways to make it more accessibleand to set yourself up or your
(17:47):
child up for their future.
Drew Thomas (17:49):
Absolutely. So, whenever it comes to the
coaching sessions that Banzaihas, is that sort of like the
lemonade stand for adults? Isthat a fair comparison, or are
they different?
Emma King (17:59):
I love that analogy.
I'm going to start using that.
You know, the coaching sessions,unfortunately, I wish they were
as fun as the courses. You know,the, the lemonade stand, it's a
picture, you know, that pops upand you run your lemonade stand,
the coaches are more so like,it's similar to AI, I would say,
(18:20):
where you go in and you're like,chatting with somebody. Okay, so
you go in and it'll say, hey,I'm going to start with the
financial wellness one, becauseit's my favorite. And this is
one that any listeners out therego check out the financial
wellness assessment. But you getstarted and it'll say, hey,
(18:40):
like, let's know your strengthsand weaknesses and take a step
towards your financial wellness.
And so it'll ask you questionslike, how old are you? You know,
are you married? Do you have anykids? Do you have any debt? You
know, maybe of credit debt orcollege debt. What's your credit
score? You know, it'll take allof this information in, and then
(19:01):
at the end, you can download asheet that'll say, like, hey,
you're doing good here, butmaybe we can improve a bit on
your credit score, or let's paydown your debts a little bit,
just by paying 10 more dollars,you know, a month, you can pay
it down faster. And then it'llwork for you. To some articles
(19:21):
that are based on, you know,what you put in there. So, if
you had a low credit score,it'll say, hey, here's an
article on improving that. So,it's very much a conversation
with, you know, Banzai, or withthe coach.
Drew Thomas (19:37):
That, I mean, that totally makes sense to me. I
think that that's a fantastic,and we can put a link directly
to that, even in the descriptionof the show, you know, so that
people can get right to thatone, and then they can, they can
find other stuff there too.
We'll put the links down there.
We always, we always tell peopledon't click on links, but you
can click on these, that's fine.
Emma King (19:57):
You can trust these links. We promise.
Drew Thomas (19:59):
Yeah, if they're in the episode description, you're,
you're pretty much, you'repretty much good for the most
part. I would, I would think, Idon't, I don't, although you
know what that'll be, the nextthing somebody hacks is being
able to, like, mess with anepisode description of a podcast
and start like, yeah, oh don'tsay that. Yeah, don't, yeah.
Please don't do that. Seriously.
Emma King (20:18):
Any hackers listening right now, right?
Drew Thomas (20:21):
We're gonna, we're gonna be listened to by the one
person that's like, that's afantastic idea. And then it's
gonna be my fault.
Emma King (20:27):
He's like, consider it done.
Drew Thomas (20:28):
Yeah really. So, in your experience, you said you've
been with Banzai, how long aboutyou? Said about five?
Emma King (20:35):
Two years.
Drew Thomas (20:36):
Two years. I'm sorry. So, in that time, have
you, have you heard any sort ofstories, or any, any, gotten any
feedback from either a school ora teacher or maybe a partner
that you've worked with that hasresonated with you as like
something that you, you know,where Banzai really helped
somebody to identify an issueand maybe, maybe get better at
it?
Emma King (20:56):
Yeah, no, that's a great question. I actually
recently, I've been taking on aproject where I'm working with
teachers directly, and so I'vebeen reaching out to teachers
and asking them, you know, howhas Banzai helped you? You know,
how have, how has this actuallyimpacted your students? And the
feedback has just been, youknow, phenomenal. Hearing that
(21:18):
they, you know, are able to gothrough, you know, we've been
focusing on the lemonade stand,so we'll take it there, you
know, they'll go through it withtheir students, and they'll say,
hey, like as a class, whatdecision should we make? And so
it's just very memorable. Youknow, I love when teachers are
able to make it, not just hey,you know, do this good luck,
(21:39):
right? It's interactive, youknow. And I think that's
something that's so huge aboutthese topics, is making it fun,
interactive, and not just okay,this is something to get done.
Drew Thomas (21:51):
I would agree with you. I think that, and that's
why I said, I really, you know,earlier I said, I really
appreciate the gamified, uh,aspects of, of this, because,
you know, any more people are, Iswear they are born with a
smartphone or a tablet in theirhand. I mean, they're, they're
constantly looking at screens.
Gamified stuff is everywhere,and so it captures your
(22:13):
attention. I think, more thanjust watching a video or
listening to, we've all donethose sort of virtual training
sessions where you just listento a video for 45 minutes and
then you're given a quiz.
Jeff Matevish (22:26):
And attention spans are lower than they've
ever been. You know.
Drew Thomas (22:30):
They have to be, yeah. I mean, you know, we even
know that from a marketingperspective. I mean, you know,
if you don't catch somebody inthe first two or three seconds,
they're gone because there'ssomething else that they could
go focus on. So, being able tohold a student's attention is
very important, and relating itto something also makes it stick
(22:50):
in their mind I think better.
Emma King (22:52):
Yeah, no, that's, that's so huge. We actually just
came out with a new game wherethe students are buying a
headphone, a new pair ofheadphones, and so in the game,
they're going through, and theygo to their mom and asking for
money, you know, which all of usdid, and we asked for $300 and
your mom says, no, you know, notyet. I'm not gonna give you
(23:14):
$300, I wish. And so in thisgame, they're able to go
through, and, you know, theycontrol the budget, and so every
week, if you save $50 in thegrocery budget, you know, you're
able to take that home with you,and you're able to save that
towards your headphones. And soit's a cool way to make it
(23:35):
applicable to youth's life of,hey, I, I also want the new
Apple AirPods. You know, here'show you can get there. And so
it's some cool ideas as well,which not to say it'll work with
everyone's parents, but it'ssome options.
Drew Thomas (23:53):
I do like the fact that you're teaching them to
save the money for the thing andnot just throw it on a credit
card, get the thing and pay itlater. Yeah, I think that's,
that is something that has beenlost on people, I think a lot,
uh, compared to, say, mygrandfather or grandmother's
generation, where, you know,they had the coffee can and
they'd put a few dollars in it,and, you know, eventually, you
(24:15):
know, over time, they would say,okay, well, we've saved up
enough, and we're gonna go buyour new couch, or we're gonna go
buy our TV. Where now, we'rejust so accustomed to throwing
it on a credit card and payinghigh interest. And, you know,
there's something a little moresatisfying, I think about saving
up that money ahead of time andthen buying it out, right? It's
yours. You don't have a bill,you can just enjoy it. I think
that's really cool.
Emma King (24:36):
Yeah, no, I completely agree. I mean, there
are so many things nowadayswhere you can pay something off
over a few months, which I thinkis awesome, but it's so hard not
to get in the habit of, youknow, everything you buy, just
putting it on credit or payingit off over time. And I think
that's where a lot of us do gettrapped, is because we, you
(24:58):
know, we can pay it off later.
But learning to budget, youknow, going back to those basics
is how we're going to be able tocontrol that and set ourselves
up and get those headphones, youknow, straight forward and just
buy them.
Drew Thomas (25:12):
Absolutely. Well, I mean, Emma, I mean, I really
appreciate you taking the timeto talk with us about all of
this and to tell us a little bitabout Banzai and how it is, it
has impacted people, not onlyfrom the students, but also the
teachers and the adults, quitehonestly, that are using it and
just being able to understandthat. I mean, we have, how many
(25:32):
articles are there now?
Jeff Matevish (25:34):
Oh, between articles and coaches, yeah,
there's over 200.
Drew Thomas (25:37):
Yeah. I mean, there's something for everybody
out there, you know, yeah. Andthat's a credit to you and your,
and Banzai's team of people thathave come up with that. I mean,
there's, yeah, that's a lot of,that's a lot of article writing.
Jeff Matevish (25:49):
Yeah. And they let, they let us share it with,
with whoever, I mean, on ourwebsite, yeah.
Drew Thomas (25:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
So, Emma, congratulations on, onmoving from the medical field to
this. That's good, you're stillhelping people. Yep, yep, a good
fit for you.
Emma King (26:03):
That's what I loved about it. I was like, I'm if
life is going to be notsatisfying, if I'm not in the
medical field. But coming here,I was like, oh, life still can
be satisfying. You know, whatwe're putting out there really
does help. You know, we'vereached millions of people at
this point, and it's awesomehearing the feedback. You know,
if anyone has anything they'dlike to say or an article they
(26:25):
want, please let us know. Youknow, we'd love to hear what you
have to say.
Drew Thomas (26:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
And we can also pass that alongas well, like the, in the, in
the episode description, you canfind links to either you can
either send us a text message,give us some feedback through
the link in the in thedescription for text message
feedback, there's also a link inthe description for sending us
feedback through the website. Wealways appreciate feedback on
the show and on our things thatwe can pass along to our guests,
(26:50):
our experts on the show as well.
If you haven't subscribed to theshow yet, why not? I mean
seriously, we're awesome. Youshould do that. Emma's gonna
subscribe, right?
Emma King (27:03):
Yeah, of course.
Double thumbs up.
Drew Thomas (27:04):
Absolutely, see, we just put her on the spot right
there. She couldn't say no.
Emma, thank you so much.
Emma King (27:11):
Safe links, everyone, that's right, yes.
Drew and Jeff (27:16):
All right. Well, with that, Jeff, I think I will
turn the show over to yourcapable editing hands. Okay,
sounds great. Thank you so muchagain, Emma.
Emma King (27:28):
Yeah, of course, thanks for having me.
Jeff Matevish (27:30):
Thanks, Emma, bye.
Drew Thomas (27:39):
This podcast focuses on having valuable
conversations on various topicsrelated to banking and financial
health. The podcast is groundedin having open conversations
with professionals and expertswith the goal of helping to take
some of the mystery out offinancial and related topics, as
learning about financialproducts and services can help
you make more informed financialdecisions. Please keep in mind
(28:00):
that the information containedwithin this podcast and any
resources available for downloadfrom our website or other
resources relating to Bank Chatsis not intended and should not
be understood or interpreted tobe financial advice. The host,
guests, and production staff ofBank Chats expressly recommend
that you seek advice from atrusted financial professional
before making financialdecisions. The host of Bank
(28:22):
Chats is not an attorney,accountant, or financial
advisor, and the program issimply intended as one source of
information. The podcast is nota substitute for a financial
professional who is aware of thefacts and circumstances of your
individual situation.
(28:46):
Being financially literatereally just means knowing how to
navigate the financiallandscape. Setting budgets,
managing bank accounts,understanding the pros and cons
of taking on debt and planningfor the future. The more you
know, the better you can handlelife's financial challenges.
When only 64% of Americans canpass a basic financial literacy
quiz, that's not an idealsituation for our society. We'd
(29:10):
like to thank Emma King fromBanzai for joining us today to
talk about how they help makeraising that percentage easier.
You can find Banzai-createdcoaching sessions, articles and
calculators, at ameriserv.com.
As always, my thanks to ourproducer and sometimes co-host,
Jeff Matevish, for his hard workand contributions to the show.
If you haven't subscribed yet,please consider doing so.
AmeriServ Presents (29:30):
Bank Chats is produced and distributed by
AmeriServ FinancialIncorporated. Music by
Rattlesnake, Millo, and AndreyKalitkin. You can find all of
our episodes atameriserv.com/bankchats, or by
searching for us on yourfavorite podcast app. For now,
I'm Drew Thomas. So long.
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