Ashley Salinas

6-7 Journal

I really enjoyed listening to Erica Dickerson give a presentation on Financial Literacy. The information that
she imparted to us this morning was a wealth of knowledge that can be utilized from this day forward. Mrs. Erica
Dickerson started her presentation with a quote by Earl G. Graves Sr. “Hold on to your dreams of a better life and
stay committed to striving to realize it.” Then she went on to mention the 10 Wealth for Life Principles. The 10 Wealth
for Life Principles are: 1. I will live within my means. 2. I will maximize my income potential through education and
training. 3. I will effectively manage my budget, credit, debt and tax obligations. 4. I will save at least 10% of my
income. 5. I will use homeownership as a foundation for building wealth. 6. I will devise an investment plan for my
retirement needs and children’s education. 7. I will ensure that my entire family adheres to sensible money
management principles. 8. I will support the creation and growth of minority owned businesses. 9. I will guarantee my
wealth is passed on to future generations through proper insurance and estate planning. 10. I will strengthen my
community through philanthropy.
Erica went on to discuss the financial foundation and what it consists of. The financial foundation consists
of earning and managing money, saving and spending money, credit and borrowing and protect. Next, she went on
to describe the money mindset. Money mindset is your beliefs and attitudes about money. There are two main types
of money mindset: scarcity and abundance. Having a scarcity mindset occurs when you believe that there is never
enough money. On the other hand, having an abundance mindset means that there is enough for everyone.
Erica went on to discuss the importance of goals and how we should make sure whether short-term or long-
term that there are Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Goals are defined as your hopes and
dreams for a future and the plan to achieve them. She went on to mention the most popular industries of technology,
education, health care, financial services, communications, retail and manufacturing.
Next, Erica mentioned the steps in creating a budget: 1) keep track of your spending, 2) identify your income
and expenses, and 3) analyze cash flow and look for ways to increase your income and decrease expenses. She
then discussed the keys to successful budgeting: 1) automate your budget, 2) set short- and long-term goals, 3)
distinguish between wants and needs, and 4) regularly review your budget and make necessary adjustments.
In a monthly budget if the total income earned exceed the total monthly expenses, then you would have
what is called a positive cash flow. The next topic of discussion was the definition of savings, ways to earn more
money, and ways to decrease expenses. In her presentation she mentioned that finding a side hustle, getting a
second job, selling items on Facebook marketplace, selling items on poshmark, selling items on Etsy, and people
streaming the video games on twitch so that others can watch are just a few examples of earning more money.
She ended her presentation talking about the financial shield of protection. The ways in which you can
decrease your expenses are: using coupons, counting your coins, saving your tax refunds/gifts, buying something on
sale, eliminating paying late fees, limiting gift giving, paying bills on time, considering generic over brand name items,
shopping with a list, finding free stuff, shopping around, and waiting 24 hours before you buy somethings.
The saving and spending plan was the next topic of discussion. The saving and spending plan starts out
with utilizing strategies to maintain your plan, then goes to limit spending, then conserve, then do without and lastly
make adjustments. Inflation is the number 1 threat to our savings. She went on to discuss what credit is and what
goes into our credit report. Credit is the ability to borrow money and pay it back later.
The four C’s of credit are character, capacity, capital and collateral. Character is how have you paid your
bills and your debt, capacity is your present and future ability to meet your payments. Capital is the value of your
needs and net worth. Lastly, collateral is the assets that will secure the loan. A credit score is the number based on
information in credit reports. It predicts payment of bills and debts as agreed. People with higher credit scores are
likely to present lower risk to creditors.
The key factors that go into a credit score are payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, credit
mix and new credit. Debt is money you owe. The three most widely used credit reporting bureaus are Experian,
Equifax and TransUnion.
 Ashley Salinas

She concluded the presentation by mentioning the ways that we can utilize the financial shield of protection
against identity theft, data breaches, fraud, phishing and imposter scams. The key takeaway from this presentation is
to always protect our accounts. The ways in which we can protect our accounts are as follows: monitor your account,
sign up for account alerts, change passwords, be cautious on new friend requests on social media, go paperless,
install anti-virus protection software, and lastly be sure to passcode lock your cell phone.
The four question I would like to ask the guest speaker are how have your spending habitats changed?
What is the best means of savings? How safe really is a card with a chip? What is the best way to protect against
hackers?
This afternoon we had a panel of wonderful guest speakers from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Kedra
Lilly the Assistant Director of the Credit Risk Management department is a PVAMU alumni who obtained her BBA in
Accounting and received her MBA from Texas A&M University in Commerce. I found the fact that the FDIC recruited
her to be very interesting. It shows me that although she studied accounting she decided to start and have her career
in the finance industry.
In the Credit Risk Management department coordinates the eleventh district loan activity to ensure that
financial institutions requesting Discount Window funding are provided sufficient liquidity to meet their operational
needs. In addition she supervises the collateral, condition monitoring and payment system risk areas. She indirectly
supervises the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility for Dallas. Kedra chose banking as a career because
the FDIC recruited her at PVAMU.
Next was Sascha Collymore, the Sr. Associate Examiner of Banking Supervision/Community Banking
Organizations (CBOs). CBO are entities with less than $10 billion in total assets. The S&S examiners assess the
health and financial condition of financial institutions, as well as compliance with banking laws and regulations
including Continuous monitoring, and Schedule bank examinations.
The CBO Examiner Commissioning Program consists of Independent learning, Classroom (virtual and In-
person), and On-the-job training. Sascha chose banking as a career because of the growth and development
opportunities and continued professional training. Within the CBO there are opportunities for continued learning,
professional development such as the ACTIVATE Program, Employee Workgroups, extracurricular activities such as
the Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Community involvement.
Next, DaVana Warren who is the Examiner III of the Banking Supervision department received both her
BBA and MBA from Texas A&M University. She chose a banking as a career because she finds banking to be a
challenging field that offers diverse growth opportunities. Regional Bank Organizations (RBO) are responsible for
monitoring and assessing the safety and soundness of Second District firms under $100 billion in assets. Her
supervisory responsibilities include: Central Point-of-Contact, Continuous Monitoring, and Annual Roll-Up Inspection.
Jason Holloway, an examiner in the Consumer Affairs department received a Finance degree. He had
started off as a banker. In his opinion, he found it to be more stressful to be a banker than to be an examiner. His
day-to-day life deals with consumer protection, fair lending, the Community Reinvestment Act and dealing
complaints.
Raja Qasim, a Sr. Risk Examiner in the Bank Supervision/Supervisory Risk and Surveillance chose banking
as a career to support financial literacy and develop expertise in financial operations. He mostly deals with the anti-
money laundering team. He helps enforce the regulations to prevent and detect money laundering, human trafficking,
terrorist financing, and sanctions against bad actors.
Paul Wheeler the Vice President of the Community and Foreign Bank Organizations has been in the
banking industry for 31 years. He introduced the other five panelists. Cheryl Mancha, Tina Gibson, Yaira Velez,
Diane Castillo Lewis, and Robin Williams all talked about their experiences and what advice they would give to a
student who is transitioning from college to a full-time career.
I found the whole panel discussion to be very informative and consider it to be a wealth of
knowledge that was imparted to me today. I look forward to learning more about the Fed on
Wednesday.