Empowering Students to Plan for their Financial Future

Congratulations to the Class of 2025! We’re celebrating the end of another school year, and graduating seniors will soon embark on the next stages of their lives. Whether going off to college, entering the workforce or taking a gap year, it’s important to provide effective tools and resources as the next generation takes the first steps in navigating their educational and career journeys.

For the past two years the Oconomowoc Area Foundation has been supporting the partnership between Oconomowoc High School and SecureFutures to assist students in building a financial foundation before they graduate. Through annual grants from the OAF, SecureFutures has been able to offer more than 200 OHS students access free of charge to a personalized, technology-based tool called Money Path.

Founded in 2006, SecureFutures is a nonprofit organization based in Milwaukee with a focus to equip teens with money management skills, tools, and mentoring so they can achieve financial capability, reach their goals, and strengthen their communities. SecureFutures is a leader in teen financial literacy with programs that have impacted more than 112,000 students.

“Money Path helps students with planning their future by providing information about the costs of different colleges and career paths so that they can make smart financial decisions,” said Alli Karrels, Senior Development Manager for SecureFutures.

Money Path opens students’ eyes to the reality of how the academic and career choices they make now impact their life and long-term financial wellbeing. The financial tool helps students explore and compare different college and career paths, calculate the related education costs, and learn how to budget and save for long-term goals while reinforcing personal finance concepts for increased confidence and readiness.

“Using this website was very beneficial to see how I could be most successful in my career and how much money I would have to borrow in loans when it comes to college, as well as seeing how much money I could save for my retirement fund. It really prepares you to see how you can be money smart for the future,” said OHS junior, Maiya K.

The Money Path program has been offered in the Career Portfolio program and required Personal Finance class at Oconomowoc High School with the goal that every student have opportunities to use Money Path before graduation.

“We’re so grateful to the Oconomowoc Area Foundation for help with funding this program for our students at OHS. Two of the features we loved about Money Path were the ease of use and implementation, and also the customization available to students. Money Path is great at tying together career and personal finance choices. It truly is an amazing resource for our students,” said Kyla Stefan, School to Career Coordinator at OHS.

Want to help Oconomowoc area students as they embark on the next stages of their lives? Donate to the Oconomowoc Area Foundation!