For up-to-date financial tips and tricks and ways to protect your money:   Visit Northwoods Saves’s website at Wisconsin Saves. Like Northwoods Saves on Facebook!

Corrine Michniak , Executive Director, Northwoods Saves Oneida County University of Wisconsin-Extension 3375 Airport Road Box #10 Rhinelander WI 54501  715-365-2752 (office) 1-877-675-4673 (toll-free) 715-365-2760 (fax) nwsaves@yahoo.com (e-mail)

Northwoods Saves is a non-profit financial education and counseling service. We are an affiliate of the national savings campaign, America Saves.    

We provide free one-on-one, confidential finanicial counseling to individuals. We also offer affordable, fee-based seminars on a variety of topics, including:    

• Do-It-Yourself Debt Reduction
• “Pay Yourself First” Spending Plans: money management, budgeting and savings
• Money Management Basics for Young Adults
• Teaching Your Kids About Money
• Understanding, Improving and Repairing Credit
• 30 Habits of Millionaires
• Savings & Investing Basics
• Weathering a Financial Storm
• Successful Home Buying
• “Why Spend More” Classes
• Planning for Retirement
• Preventing ID Theft, Scams & Rip-offs

For more information or to enroll in a seminar, contact Corrine at (715) 365-2752, toll free at 1-877-675-4673, or by e-mail at nwsaves@yahoo.com    

HISTORY/INTRODUCTION

Northwoods Saves, a non-profit organization, was launched in May 2002 and is one of 50 Saves sites, each part of America Saves.    

America Saves was initiated by the Consumer Federation of America after research indicated a severe decline in individual and family savings.    

Much like the social marketing campaign designed to encourage everyone to wear seat belts, America Saves’ goal is national dissemination of its message and creating national awareness, eventually helping with supportive legislation. America Saves has launched savings and financial security initiatives all around the country. Northwoods Saves is the most rural model.    

The campaign is designed to improve the economic stability of local communities by promoting the importance of saving and developing greater financial security among all families.  It is a broad coalition of volunteers, organizations and groups helping people in the Northwoods save and build financial security.Locally we are supported by the UW-Extension, the United Way, Wisconsin Public Service, WJFW-Channel 12 TV Station, and several financial institutions. These institutions also help by offering no-fee/no- or low-minimum balance savings accounts for Northwoods Savers.    

The Governing Board encourages and supports savings practices by creating partnerships between local financial institutions, employers, educators, churches, tribes and community organizations to promote saving and make “paying yourself first” a social norm for Northwoods families. Our local initial structure comes from UW-Extension based support in Oneida (where the office is located), Forest and Vilas Counties.    

Executive Director, Corrine Michniak, develops and oversees the infrastructure of support to assist people in applying the message to save into their daily lives. Northwoods Saves offers workshops, counseling to individuals and families, provides money-saving tips on 93.7 Coyote FM Radio, Wednesday mornings at 9:15 a.m., and coordinates the presenter on “Money Watch” during the Monday, 5 p.m. News segment on WJFW-TV12, an NBC affiliate. Every February during America Saves Weeks, anyone can participate to win contests & prizes by making savings deposits at participating banks and credit unions in Forest, Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas counties.    

Any individual, organization or foundation can help support our efforts in a variety of ways.  Like most non-profit organizations, grants and donations are critical to the success of the program. If you would like to help, please contact Corrine at 715-365-2752, toll free at 1-877-675-4673 or via email at nwsaves@yahoo.com.