Bank of America’s Better Money Habits Retreat empowers young adults to reach their financial goals

Complicating the matter, in the age of social media, young adults are often stacking up their personal, financial and professional accomplishments to others – and it’s easy for them to think they’re falling behind.

That’s why we sought to flip this “comparison trap” on its head by partnering with BuzzFeed on a unique financial wellness retreat, hosted at the Freehand Hotel in Miami, Florida in late September. We convened 50 young adults across the U.S. navigating their financial paths and empowered them to identify their financial goals – and the necessary steps to reach them – while they candidly shared their financial stories and connected with like-minded peers.

The Better Money Habits Retreat helped young adults take steps to identify and focus on the financial goals that matter most to them – not to somebody else. Through a series of peer-to-peer conversations, individual and group sessions, and expert advice, we provided attendees with a range of personal finance tools and guidance to help them plan for the future. Topics included buying a home, navigating finances as a couple, starting a business, investing in the future, and being debt-free.

Highlights included:

• BuzzFeed influencer Devin Lytle kicked-off the event with a motivating keynote, inspiring attendees with stories from other participants and her own personal financial journey.
• In two empowering sessions, Tonya Rapley, a financial coach and founder of My Fab Finance, focused attendees on defining their personal “North Star” and helped them to develop a personalized blueprint for reaching their financial goals.
• A panel featuring representatives from Bank of America connected the North Star concept with how Bank of America helps customers approach their finances by first thinking about their life priorities – like family, work, health and giving.
• Attendees joined smaller breakout sessions led by Bank of America Miami market partners and outside experts, where they dug deeper into topics such as starting a business, couples and family, investing and home-buying.
• As the Retreat drew to a close, Wait But Why founder Tim Urban delivered an inspiring TED-style talk encouraging participants to fight procrastination tendencies and put their financial plans into action.
• Throughout the weekend, attendees opened up to share their personal financial stories and future paths forward. Participants discussed how they plan to apply the learnings from the Retreat to work toward goals like buying a home, reducing debt and managing big milestones as a couple.
   

The Retreat followed 2018’s Camp Better Money Habits, which brought together 50 young professionals just starting out in the workforce, and making salaries of $50,000 or less, for honest conversations and practical perspectives at the intersection of life and finance.

Just like last year, the 50 attendees at the Better Money Habits Retreat forged strong connections with one another and laid the groundwork for a lasting support group. The group plans to continue to share successes, exchange tips, and hold each other accountable as they progress on their financial journeys.

The Better Money Habits Retreat is just one example of our commitment to setting up young adults for financial success. Through Better Money Habits, we offer relevant financial education resources and tools for young adults on topics like homeownership, budgeting, retirement and more – where and how they like to receive it – so they have the power to learn and take action.

Originally published 10/23/19