Wescom Credit Union helps families find their financial comfort zones

Money matters seemed simple — before kids

Before we had kids, I was pretty sure my husband and I had our financial ducks in an impressive row. Of course our ducks were bolstered by a double income household, a starter home mortgage and one partner who finds spreadsheets, budgets and the stock market to be interesting pastimes.

Having kids complicated matters.

We didn’t start our family without thinking about the financial aspect of it, at least a little bit. Maybe we thought about it a lot, since both of us are planners. Reading about the potential costs of raising kids gave us an idea of how things would change, but reading about something and living it are totally different things.

How kids changed our financial planning strategy

We were prepared for the increase in food costs, but we hadn’t thought too much about how much more important organic food would become to us once our little ones started eating. We’d thought about college funds, but extracurricular activities began to add up more quickly than we thought.

You can calculate the cost of diapers, but it’s hard to figure out how to budget for the mid-week take-out you finally ordered because your potty-training toddler went through sixteen pairs of underwear and your favorite rug in a single day. All of a sudden, what we thought we knew about budgeting, saving and planning for our financial future seemed a little hazy.

Financial education with Wescom Credit Union

Thankfully, we came across Wescom Credit Union and we were happy to find some great tools to help families take charge of their finances. The Southern California Credit Union is approaching finances from different angles than that of traditional banks, including mobile banking events, complimentary financial consulting and even a newly launched Did You Know? Financial Education Portal on their site with helpful information for everyone from millennials to boomers.

The Big Blue Mobile Branch might be in your Southern California neighborhood soon, simplifying the banking world one person at a time. Wescom is committed to taking the intimidation out of banking and helping people in all stages of life find their own comfort zone with their finances. Learning banking basics has lifelong benefits, and it’s never too late — or early! — to become money-smart.

Wescom helps families plan for their futures

In addition to increased take-out orders, having kids changed our parenting finances in a way we hadn’t anticipated. As a middle school teacher, we calculated my family leave and thought about formula costs in case pumping didn’t work for me. However, after having our daughter and planning for our second child, we talked about the possibility of me staying home with our kids for a while.

Wescom has a tool that would have helped us quickly see how our finances would look without my income. Though I’ve already made that particular decision, there are several resources on their website, including budget tools like this Household Cash Flow Tracker, savings resources and a retirement section.

Families obviously aren’t the only ones who can benefit from learning about budgeting, saving and how to manage debt, and Wescom has something for everyone!

How did having kids change your financial comfort zone?

Meet the Author | Angela Amman

Angela Amman is a short story and essay writer. Collecting her family's stories is a gift-in-progress for her daughter and son, and she blogs at Playing with Words, capturing the craziness and beauty that weave together to create something extraordinary. As the co-director of Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit, Angela is thrilled to bring others' stories to the stage and to celebrate the magic of words, storytelling, and the courage to share that magic with an audience. When she should be sleeping, she works on her latest short story collection. Her writing has been featured on Mamalode, Peacock Journal, and Scary Mommy. Her personal essays and short stories have appeared in her collection, Nothing Goes Away, and various anthologies.