CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A weeklong campaign designed to help people better manage their money is underway.
State AARP officials are holding their sixth annual “Money Smart Week,” this week. The campaign will include 75 different events and educational sessions throughout West Virginia.
“For more than 50 years, AARP has been educating people. We launched the Financial Watch Network,” Gaylene Miller, state director of AARP West Virginia, said during a Tuesday press conference.
State Auditor Glen Gainer said financial awareness should be promoted throughout the year through programs like Money Smart Week.
“We also should begin financial discussions with our kids, helping them learn to look for predators seeking to separate us from our dollars every day,” Gainer said.
State Treasurer John Perdue said he liked a quote from Benjamin Franklin on a poster at AARP’s press conference in Charleston — “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Perdue said, “AARP pulls this together for the whole state. Education is the key.”
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant said her office maintains a list of all charities authorized to raise money in the state.
“West Virginians are very generous. But we want to make sure people give to their money to charities that meet our standards,” Tennant said.
A key event near Charleston is “Fight Fraud. Shred Instead…