Implementing new ways to help Americans to start saving early on in life was the focus of Atlanta’s roundtable, where Mayor Shirley Franklin, pictured at right, voiced her support for programs similar to the federally-sponsored child saving accounts recently launched in the U.K.
“If there were a way to learn the value of saving at an earlier age, jump-started by a program like those in the U.K., I think we would be able to move our residents a lot quicker and more satisfactorily through the next stages of life – college, technical school, entrepreneurship and ultimately, wealth building and homeownership,” said Mayor Franklin.
Ambassador Andrew Young, Co-Chairman, GoodWorks International, LLC, recalled buying savings stamps at school as a child during World War II and purchasing a mutual fund even before his teenage years, and said those early savings allowed him to purchase a car after college. He stressed the importance of early financial education. “Public schools are a very good opportunity to start people being savings conscious,” he said.
Other key participants at the roundtable were John Bryant, chairman and CEO of Operation Hope, Thomas McInerney, CEO of ING U.S. Financial Services and Aspen IFS Advisory Board member; and Hattie Dorsey, President & CEO, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership.
