SALEM — Financial planners, Massachusetts state employees, business executives, bank and credit union employees and more will join Institution for Savings President/CEO Michael Jones, Salem State University President John Keenan and 1,100 North Shore juniors on Thursday at the Newburyport bank’s 15th annual Credit for Life Fair at the O’Keefe Sports Complex at Salem State University.
The Institution for Savings interactive event is the largest of its kind in Massachusetts. One hundred-and-twenty-five community volunteers will join juniors from 12 area high schools, including Amesbury, Newburyport, Triton Regional, Pentucket Regional, Ipswich, Masconomet Regional, Salem, Swampscott, Beverly, Rockport and Gloucester high schools as well as Landmark School in Beverly. The goal is to help students develop personal budgeting skills that they will use throughout their lives.
“The goal of the fair is to help empower students to be proactive about their financial futures by beginning to develop sound personal finance habits,” Jones said. “Each year, we hear from parents and teachers after the event that they wish this had been around when they were in school! We are glad to host this event every year – it is invaluable to these students and information they will use throughout the lives.”
Utilizing the bank’s Credit for Life website (creditforlife.org), students create profiles on their mobile devices and choose professions. Then using the website, they assume the role of 25-year-old adults and visit 12 booths to purchase everything they need to live as adults using their monthly salaries, savings accounts and/or credit cards.
“Financial literacy is a fundamental key to lifelong success, and we believe it should be an integral part of every student’s education,” Keenan said. “Salem State University is proud to collaborate with the Institution for Savings to equip students across the region with essential financial skills. By providing this knowledge early, we empower students to make informed life decisions, laying the foundation for their future success as leaders in Massachusetts. Additionally, as the North Shore’s public comprehensive four-year university, Salem State’s partnership with area high schools sets up an easy transition for the students to consider obtaining a university degree at little to no cost – setting them up for future success in life.”
This innovative program is a collaboration between multiple Massachusetts banks that in addition to Institution for Saving includes Cape Code 5, Rockland Trust, HarborOne Bank, BayCoast Bank, Country Bank, Westfield Bank, The Savings Bank, North Easton Savings Bank and Liberty Bank. Credit for Life has been used by tens of thousands of students throughout Massachusetts and beyond since 2020.
Students will visit booths featuring housing, furniture, utilities, food and nutrition, education and training, planning for the future, fun and several others. Two bonus booths are also included: money smarts, and safety and security.
Money smarts provide students with information about timely teen finance topics check-writing, credit, mobile payment apps and the latest scams and fraud threatening teens and young adults. Safety and security, staffed by local public safety professionals, focuses on important issues to keep young adults safe, such as texting and avoiding substance use while driving, having smoke detectors in living spaces and more.
The event gets high marks annually from the schools, parents and volunteers, many of the latter who come back every year to participate.
“The level to which the bank has taken this event is outstanding and unequaled by any other event I have attended,” said Rodi Adema, a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation field supervisor who has volunteered at the fair for multiple years.