Almost half of Americans couldn't come up with $400 to pay for an emergency. Yes, you read that right – half.

Last year, the Federal Reserve published its Survey of Household Economics and Decision making (SHED Report). The Federal Reserve notes, "To determine individuals' preparedness for a smaller scale financial disruption, respondents are asked how they would pay for a hypothetical emergency expense that would cost $400 … 46% indicate that such an expense would be more challenging to handle and that they either could not pay the expense or would borrow or sell something to do so."

These Americans are your members and potential members. We can't wait any longer to act on this and appropriately, April is National Financial Capability Month. "Financial capability" is kind of a wonky term, so what does it mean, particularly for credit unions?

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