Independent Banker - January 2019 - 74

CONNECTIONS
Field Notes
Dispatches from community bankers
A return on integrity
I
ntegrity is often defined as closing the gap
between what you know you should do and
what you're actually doing.
As community bankers, we have the privilege
of keeping a constant pulse on the needs of the
communities we serve. Better still, we're often
equipped with the resources to take quick action
to effi ciently meet those needs.
While many community banks still operate with
full integrity, recent headlines are rife with examples
of the opposite. One reason for this lapse in
integrity-driven banking could be that it's diffi cult
to calculate a return on integrity. We seem to have
forgotten over time that community banking is as
much an actionable verb as it is a noun.
When we community bank with integrity, we
spring into action when we spot an individual,
family or community need, quickly closing the
aforementioned integrity gap. We walk the talk
and steward our communities' resources for
their-and our-mutual benefi t.
Most of us are aware that our nation is in the
midst of a fi nancial illiteracy crisis. Student debt
and credit card debt are on the rise, emergency
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and retirement savings are on the decline, and
of the nearly 50 percent of marriages that end in
divorce, many cite money troubles as a contributing
factor. This bleak picture is the new normal
for our average depositor, fi rst-time homebuyer
or hopeful small-business owner. It doesn't take
long to understand how this new reality could
quickly aff ect the communities we serve, as well
as our own balance sheets.
CODY MYERS
is a client
relationship
manager at
Community
Financial
Services Bank
in Benton, Ky.
74 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q January 2019
While our community banks aren't to blame for
these trends, we can contribute to or even spearhead
the solution, one that empowers and protects
communities and institutions alike. Community
bankers must help to educate students, young
families and small-business leaders on the basics
of responsible money management. Whether that
means sponsoring school curricula, hosting workshops,
standardizing new account holder or homebuyer
education programs, or some combination
thereof, contributing to this rising economic tide is
sure to lift all ships and create ripples of prosperity
throughout our collective communities.
At Community Financial Services Bank, we
partner with Ramsey Solutions to promote fi nancial
literacy throughout western Kentucky. We've
trained a dozen fi nancial coaches through Ramsey's
Master Coach program; coordinated nineweek
sections of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace
University; hosted EntreLeadership livestream
events for local small-business leaders; equipped
21 schools with Ramsey Education's Foundations
in Personal Finance curriculum; and counseled
countless individuals, families and student
groups in tailored fi nancial coaching sessions.
These eff orts support the long-term goal of seeing
our region attain economic success and, as Ramsey
says, " fi nancial peace. "
It's time to work toward solutions for fi nancial
illiteracy. For those of us who are able, doing
so exhibits excellence in integrity and clearly
demonstrates why " community " comes fi rst in
" community banking. "
Independent Banker - January 2019

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