Community

Seminars aim to help sharpen money skills

Aug 10, 2010

Central Arizona College’s Small Business Development Center, Consumer Credit Counseling Services and the United Way of Pinal County are teaming up to offer another series of financial planning sessions.

Sharpen Your Money Skills is a series of two-hour, no-cost seminars designed to help members of the community better manage their financial resources.

“The seminars are a response to comments by local bankers that potential business owners and existing business owners were applying for loans and their credit scores were not high enough to qualify,” said Jim Rhodes, the director of the SBDC.

The topics for this fall’s series include identity theft protection, operating on a shoestring budget, budgeting and debt management, as well as understanding credit reports and scores.

The Arizona Small Business Development Center Network and the U.S. Small Business Association also are partnering in the program.

The classes will be held monthly throughout the fall semester at the CAC Corporate Center located at 540 N. Camino Mercado in Casa Grande – just off the I-10 exit at Florence Boulevard on the site of the former Palm Center Outlet.

“We are encouraging parents and high school-aged students to attend,” Rhodes said, indicating the classes can be a real help in starting young people out on the right financial foot.

A light complimentary dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. with class running from 6-7:30 p.m. There is a limit of 25 people per seminar so preregistration is required for each program.

The seminars are as follows:

Tue., Aug. 17 – Operating on a Shoestring: A guide to Frugal Living
Tue, Sept. 21 – Credit Reports & Credit Scores: Getting the Most Mileage from Credit
Tue., Oct. 19 – Budgeting and Debt Management during Difficult Times
Tue., Nov. 16 – Operating on a Shoestring: A guide to Frugal Living
Tue., Dec. 14 – Identity Theft Protection

“The road to financial security presents numerous turning points,” Rhodes stated. “These seminars are designed to help people make informed decisions about their financial planning.”

For more information on the Sharpen Your Money Skills seminar series at Central Arizona College’s Corporate Center, or to preregister, please contact Lorrie Peña by phone at 520-494-6610, or by e-mail at [email protected].

Online registration is available at www.CreditEducation.org.