A group of educators, health care workers and retirees joined in on a conversation at Southwestern Community College in Creston. The focus of the conversation weighed heavily on education and prevention with regard to health care and financial security.

One woman announced that she wanted to SCREAM at young people not to depend on Social Security and to save their money. The group agreed that Social Security was not meant for people to live on, but remains as an important guarantee for retirees.

There were many ideas thrown around about how to emphasize financial education for Americans. Participants said that this education had to start at a young age and come from school and home. There were suggestions to replace unnecessary curriculum (which was up for debate) or extend the school hours to make time for financial education. One woman told us that she had opened a checking account for her daughter and gave it to her for her birthday. She hoped that this checking account would help her daughter learn about the value of money by extending real responsibilities to her to pay for her own clothes, entertainment and gas.

The group agreed the recent generations were not as focused on saving because they did not live through the Great Depression. This was illustrated when one man told the group he has to “beg and plead” for employees at his organization to pay into their 401K program, when only about one-in-five employees currently do.