Women's Fund Financial Workshop Series

According to a 2019 survey by Laurel Road, a national online lending company, the lack of basic financial skills is felt more acutely by women. Only 66% of women reported having an emergency fund versus 82% of men, and women were also twice as likely as men to not have any money saved for retirement.

To help provide women with the necessary tools to be in control of their financial well-being, the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation for San Benito County assembled a Financial Health and Well-Being workshop series. This was the second series that the Women’s Fund had done; the first was a successful online event in 2020.

This year, a 3-day workshop was completed in person at the Community Foundation Epicenter. All guests were gifted a binder full of informational worksheets, templates, and other resources to follow along with the series and take home. Each day consisted of a different guest speaker passionate about helping women succeed in their financial journey, and covered a new financial topic. Guest speakers and their topics include:

• Shannon Wilkinson, CPA, on how to budget, important documents to keep, debt management, and more.
• Alexis Winder, Financial Advisor/ Edward Jones. On investing, retirement accounts, and life insurance basics.
• Marla Pleyte, Estate Planning Attorney, on estate planning, family trusts, and asset protection for you and your family.

Twenty-five women attended the morning or evening sessions of the workshop with a majority reporting the time spent was valuable, and all of whom said they felt the speakers were knowledgeable. The workshop series was highly recommended by all of our participants, many of whom stated it was a “good foundation” and “important information for better planning”. One remark was that it was “very helpful – [the workshop] encouraged us to think about what we have in place.”

An additional budgeting-specific workshop taught in Spanish by Laura Garcilazo, CPA, was held at Youth Alliance for 19 people. “Excellent. Very professional, to the point,” “Such good information,” and “I loved the session and would have liked a longer session” are only a few of the many positive comments made about the Spanish workshop.

The Women’s Fund made it a goal to provide a safe and supportive place to learn and ask questions of professionals in the financial field and help women forge a solid financial future with the new skills learned to put into practice.

For more information on the Women’s Fund, email Brenda at [email protected].