Your Weekly Update from Montana's Credit Unions

WEEKLY UPDATE FROM MONTANA'S CREDIT UNIONS | January 3, 2025

Happy New Year!

We're so happy to be back in your inboxes today. We hope you missed us as much as we missed you. If you didn't, what can we do to change that? Would you like to see longer articles, more videos, and our suggestions for further reading? We want this newsletter to be something you look forward to seeing every week, so let us know how we can get there.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

America’s Credit Unions PAC MT Trustee: We are thrilled to announce that Lael Humble with Montana CU has been nominated to represent Montana on the America’s Credit Unions PAC Board of Trustees. With over 16 years of advocacy experience, including serving as MT CUAC Chair for Montana’s state credit union PAC since 2013, Lael’s leadership and dedication make her an ideal choice to drive engagement and growth for America’s Credit Unions PAC. She succeeds Eddie Black of Vocal CU, who served as our MT Trustee since 2019.

Protect your Members During Tax Season: Send your front-line staff to a free Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) webinar (January 8 at 1:00 PM) to help them learn about free tax filing options for consumers.

Coming to a Town Near You? Explore Montana's shifting population trends, generative AI, emerging opportunities, and more will be at the 2025 Economic Outlook Seminar from BBER economists.

FOR YOUR DUES

You're Invited: You have a few more days to register for Montana’s inaugural Hike the Hill on January 15! You won't want to miss this opportunity to join fellow credit union advocates at the Capitol in Helena for lunch with lawmakers, committee hearings, and a deeper dive into advocacy.

Blogs You May Have Missed

A Direct Line: Before the end of 2024, Gerry spent some time reflecting on a year of significant growth and achievements in our three pillars of advocacy, education, and collaboration through the lenses of the rearview mirror, the microscope, and the telescope. Read the full blog to learn the positive impact Montana's credit unions have on the lives of our 467,000 members.

Personal Finance Blog: If you're like some of us, we crammed in college before finals. The final personal finance blog of 2024 was a little like that: a lot to do in not much time. We've grown up a little since then (age but not maturity), and we've realized you don't have to wait until the absolute last minute to prep for something. Reading about the best end-of-year money moves you can make right now will give you lots of time to prepare for the end of 2025. Or just save the blog and read it in mid-December 2025. Either way, we won't judge.

~~FROM~~ FOR OUR PARTNERS

Thank You, Partners! We value our business partners and the quality of service they offer credit unions in Montana. We would like to thank our Strategic Alliances Partners and VIP Partners for their support in 2024. We're looking forward to working with them and seeing them at our events this year.

Also, check out the Tristate Collaborative website for even more strategic partnerships created to benefit your credit union.

PARTING SHOT

Happy New Year! I trust you enjoyed time with family and friends over the Christmas holidays. Hopefully, you had some much-needed downtime, as well. I am really excited for 2025! My friend, Michelle Cummings, Founder and CEO of Personify Leadership and Training Wheels, taught me about the "Word of the Year" many years ago, and I have been doing it ever since. I am excited to share it with you, as well. Each year, over the holidays, I reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m headed. Then, I choose a word that will be my focus for the year. For 2025, I selected “REACH.” This word speaks to me on many levels: reach within, reach higher, reach more people, and reach beyond.

In 2025, I plan to reach within myself. In our busy lives, we seldom take the time to reflect — truly reflect. It’s been a while for me, so I plan to take some time soon to stop and reflect on my own journey and development. What do I need to do to raise the bar on my leadership? In my relationships? In my community?

In 2025, I plan to reach higher. I like to raise the bar high for myself. This year, I plan to learn and apply new skills, teach new programs (like Experiential Facilitation), and set new goals. We plan to explore new opportunities with the Health Insurance Trust, test new products and programs through Tristate Collaborative, and continue to advocate for credit unions amid many headwinds.

In 2025, I plan to reach more people, cooperatively. Credit unions are reaching more Montanans than ever, helping them achieve financial security. Even with this growth, many Montanans are still struggling and need credit unions! How can we work together in new ways to reach more people?

In 2025, I plan to reach beyond. I’m not sure what this means yet — digging deeper, looking farther, seeing across the horizon in our Big Sky state. I look forward to this word — REACH — and seeing where it takes me. I look forward to seeing how this word unfolds throughout the year.

What does your word look like? I challenge you to reflect on your "Word of the Year" and choose a word that will drive you this year. Please share them with me. I would love to see our collective word to see the impact we’ll have across Montana in 2025. I wish you all the best and most impactful year yet.

Cooperatively, Gerry

p.s. The MCU team also spent some time determining their "Word of the Year." They're reflected in the graphic above. (Click to enlarge.)

This is an internal publication of Montana's Credit Unions intended for our affiliated credit unions and their official family.

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