view powerpoint presentation

We make it simple.

Becky Nilsen, CEO

Desert Schools Financial Services

About our Guest Speaker

• 33 years in the CU industry

• Specializes in CUSO start up and operations

• PROCU Board Member

• Director of Kiwanis Club in Phoenix, Arizona

• Previous NACUSO Board Member

Becky Nilsen, CEO Desert Schools

Financial Services

Agenda for Today’s Presentation

• Overview of Desert Schools Federal Credit Union

• Overview of Desert Schools Financial Services

• Building a successful sales and service culture

• Why is financial education important?

• Desert Schools approach 2004-2006

• Benefits of the existing program

• Educated Investor University and plans for the future

• Making Financial Education Relevant to Sr. Management

Desert Schools Federal Credit Union

• $2.9B in Assets

• ~344,000 members

• 59 branch locations

• ~1700 SEGS

• Over 1100 employees

• Offers full range of product and services including business lending, financial services, and much more

Desert Schools Financial Services• Offers insurance, investments and estate planning

• Serve roughly 10,500 members with team of 30 people

• $55M in sales, generating nearly $3M in non-interest income in 2006

• Built on a platform of Strategic Partnership– Linsco Private Ledger

– Estate Preservation Services

– Southwest Business Corporation

– Precision Information, LLC

Building a Sales and Service Culture

• Helping to educate and empower credit union employees to connect members with services they need.

– 2004: 3000 referrals, sales of $20M, GDC of $800K

– 2005: 5500 referrals, sales of $40M, GDC of $1.6M

– 2006, 9500 referrals, sales of $55M, GDC of ~$3M

• Partnership of senior management, training and Precision Information to help achieve key goals.

Why is Financial Education Important

• Vast majority of American’s (and CU employees) don’t understand financial terms and concepts.

– According to Securities Industry Association annual survey over 67% of people say they don’t know enough to make a sound financial decision

• People simply will not recommend or refer products or services they don’t understand. Education is KEY.

• By educating employees DSFS has helped to give them the confidence to provide referrals

Desert Schools Approach 2004-2006

• Starting in 2004, DSFS began to offer a Personal Finance Certificate to employees

• Program offered 18 online courses related to investing basics, retirement and related areas

• Over 600 people have completed one or more course

• Over 110 people completed certificate program

• All graduates go thru “cap and gown” graduation ceremony and receive recognition in front of peers

Benefits of the Program• Educated employees are more comfortable and

confident dealing with financial issues

• Confident employees are more likely to be positive, productive employees (lower turnover, more referrals)

• Availability of Certificate Program from 2004-2006 has raised awareness of investment services even among employees who have not yet completed their degree

• Since launching the program referrals have grown from 3000 in 2004, to 8000 in 2006. Sales have grown from $20M to $55M, and profits increased by 300%.

Plans For the Future Leveraging the NEW Educated Investor University Platform

• The newly released Educated Investor University platform now offers employees access to over 100 online tutorials (more than 500% increase)

• Now able to offer courses in all areas of personal finance, investing basics, retirement and wealth management giving broader usage for entire CU.

• Also offers more robust student management, reporting functionality and pre and post-test options

Plans For the Future Leveraging the NEW Educated Investor University Platform

• In February offered a Retirement Readiness program targeting 500+ branch managers and front line staff

• Over 500 employees have taken pre-test with roughly 482 passing the course so far.

• Pre-test scores averaged 60%. Post test scores of 78% (18% improvement in 2-3 weeks)

• Overall user satisfaction ratings of roughly 85%. Individuals who took course say they are more likely to recommend course / provide referrals

Making Financial Education Relevant to Senior Level Management

• Financial education is important. Not only is integral to the mission of all credit unions, but educating our own employees is critical to helping us serve our members

• Simply put, an educated employee is a better employee. They are more likely to:

– Be more comfortable and confident in their own lives

– Have the knowledge they need to provide sales and service

– Employees will invest their time with organizations that invest in them and their own well-being (higher retention rates)

Shared Experiences, Questions and Peer-to-Peer Learning Opportunity

• Please take a minute to share any ideas, inputs or shared experiences with the group (1-2 minutes each)

• Also feel free to clarify any areas in which you might have questions or want ideas / input from peers

• After the call, we will send out notes clarifying key points covered today, and documenting any questions that we were unable to fully answer today