Bank of America hosted 50 individuals at the company’s one-of-a-kind Better Money Habits Retreat at the Freehand Hotel in Miami, Florida, September 27-29. The experience brought together young adults navigating their financial paths and empowered them to identify their financial goals – and the necessary steps to reach them – while they candidly shared their financial stories and connected with like-minded peers.
In the age of social media, peer comparison is inevitable and can exacerbate the financial anxieties young adults face. The Better Money Habits Retreat flipped this “comparison trap” on its head. Attendees were empowered to embrace positive peer connections as they took steps to identify and focus on reaching the goals that matter most to them. Through a series of peer-to-peer conversations, individual and group sessions, and expert advice, the Better Money Habits Retreat provided participants with a range of motivating personal finance advice and tools to help them plan for the future. Topics included buying a home, saving for a child’s education, being debt-free and investing in the future.
Highlights included:
- BuzzFeed influencer Devin Lytle kicked-off the event with a motivating keynote, inspiring attendees with stories collected from other participants and her own personal financial journey.
- In two empowering sessions, Tonya Rapley, a financial coach and founder of My Fab Finance, focused attendees on defining their personal “North Star” and helped them to develop a personalized blueprint for reaching their financial goals.
- A panel featuring representatives from Bank of America connected the North Star concept with how Bank of America helps customers approach their finances by thinking about their life priorities, like family, work, health and giving.
- Attendees joined smaller breakout sessions led by Bank of America Miami market partners and outside experts, where they dug deeper into topics such as starting a business, couples and family, investing and home-buying.
- As the Retreat drew to a close, Wait But Why founder Tim Urban delivered an inspiring TED-style talk encouraging participants to fight procrastination tendencies and put their financial plans into action.
- Throughout the weekend, attendees opened up to share their personal financial stories and future paths forward. Participants discussed how they plan to apply the learnings from the Retreat to work toward goals such as buying a home, reducing debt and managing key milestones as a couple.
Beyond starting to advance their goals, the 50 attendees forged strong connections with one another, and the Retreat laid the groundwork for a lasting support group. The participants plan to continue to share financial successes, exchange motivating tips, and hold each other accountable as they progress on their financial journeys.
