The Double Toddler Day

Last week we agreed to watch our friends’ toddler while her day care was closed. We have a toddler of our own almost exactly the same age, so we agreed it would be fun for everyone. “Why not? Two toddlers can’t take that much more work,” we thought foolishly. To no one’s surprise but ours…

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Monster Quality

Five things I believe about Quality in CU marketing

The benefits of high Quality and the pitfalls of low Quality are obvious for things like airplanes and motorcycles. Without Quality in materials, design, craftsmanship, and maintenance, people die. Although the risks aren’t quite as immediate or dire, Quality is just as important in our corner of the world, credit union marketing. Quality – and…

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Can younger members see themselves?

Nurture young leaders to get more young credit union members

One of the most common long-term strategic challenges facing credit unions is the member aging monster. It’s a topic we’ve covered quite a bit right here in this very blog. Of course, there’s no one magic bullet for attracting and retaining younger members, but there are a lot of possible ways to give younger members…

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Three more ways credit unions can help new homeowners

The first few months as new homeowners feel incredibly busy. There’s just so much to do. You feel like you’re learning something new about homeownership every day, and some of the things you learn aren’t exactly fun. I previously shared my experience with online mortgage loan tools, and then the budgeting difficulties new homeowners might…

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ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 7.30.25

The word on new legislation, why your members are concerned about money, how to improve a board of directors and a potential new Turing test. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it: Bill to support new CUs Some interesting CU news from congress. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) announced the introduction of H.R. 4544,…

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Home Buying with Sam(PART 2 – CLOSING)

New home buyers need a budgeting coach

A couple of months ago (wait… really? Two whole months?) I shared my experience at the beginning of the home buying process and the ups and downs of online mortgage tools. Now that I’m past the buying process and into the owning process–which is both way better and way scarier, by the way– I can…

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ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 3.12.25

Credit union stability, member-confusing tech, cannabis banking, starting new credit unions, weird St. Patrick’s Day traditions, and how Americans spend their money. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it: CUs as a “Beacon of Stability” Spotted on CUInsight, this article from Jim Holt of CU Student Choice highlights one of the most vital…

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Start Credit Unions to Save Credit Unions

The CU De Novo Collective is a band of volunteers with two closely linked missions: help new credit unions get started, and help smaller credit unions survive and thrive. How did this get started, and how did we get to the point where the CU De Novo Collective Foundation is actually raising capital to start…

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There's no denying the power of cute

4 marketing tips from a 4-month-old

As mentioned in a recent blog post, I became a father pretty recently. And, well, this baby has been growing and changing quite a bit in the past few months. It turns out that I’ve learned a lot about babies that resonates with what I know about credit union marketing, and members. I’m definitely not…

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