August 21, 2003
Cleveland Plain Dealer
by Ken Baka

Can't save money? Can't pay off your credit card? Take a tip from Betty McNear.

McNear, of Garfield Heights, is among 3,800 people who are recovering spendthrifts participating in Cleveland Saves.

Saving is key, said McNear, a self-employed day care center operator. It not only offers stability, but peace of mind.

Peace of mind was with her during much of her adult working years. She and her husband had good jobs. They paid for everything but cars with cash.

Then came divorce, a few layoffs, a child going to college, a grandson and paying bills for her brother and mother.

I was a money pit, she said about giving money to family members.

Her credit woes hit hard when she changed careers from being an electronic assembler of printed circuit boards to running a day care.

That career shift sent her about $7,000 into debt. Much of it stemmed from high-interest cash advances to buy cribs and other items needed for the business and to improve her home to meet county inspection standards.

She ran up the debt in a brief four months.

Her use of cash advances made her feel depressed, she said. Problems mounted when a car went on the fritz. She prayed. After a while, the depression waned.

In April she learned about Cleveland Saves at workshops the county offers to day care operators. She learned she is one among many.

I'm just beginning to save _ where you could put it away and not have to bother it, McNear, in her late 40s, said.

Cleveland Saves is a nonprofit group of more than 100 employers, unions, religious groups, financial institutions and others. The program targets low- and middle-income people.

Banks help by forgiving fees for minimum balances. Coaches hold hands. Financial planners give a free half-hour of answers to questions.

To date, participants have saved or reduced debt amounting to $2.5 million. By the end of the year, the program wants 5,000 participants.

Cleveland Saves, 1228 Euclid Ave., was set up in 2001 with help from the Cleveland, Ford and Gund foundations as a pilot for a national program. The program has since been mimicked by 25 other communities nationwide.

Sponsors are Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Northeast Ohio and the nonprofit Working for Empowerment through Community Organizing.

Research suggests 53 percent of U.S. households live paycheck to paycheck. The percentage increases to 64 percent for households with incomes between $20,000-$50,000 a year.

Consumer Federation of America said a chief reason why families were strapped was because they had no financial plan. Research also showed that people did not save because their subcultures put a low value on saving.

McNear grew up in an opposite subculture. Her parents were sharecroppers in Alabama who had to be frugal. Newborns received so-called bow dollar coins as omens for wealth.

For a while we weren't allowed to know we had them, she said.

When she began working at age 12, she gave money to her mother, who for years raised six children on $24 a week, McNear said.

But she was taught to keep some for herself. That went with the saying that kids should always have money in their pockets, and how you start is how you end, she said.

She moved to Cleveland in 1968, married, had savings and checking accounts and two or three cars. She made as much as $14 an hour. But then her employer, Northrop Grumman Corp., downsized in the early 1990s. She took a cut a pay. After the factory closed, she took a job at a spin-off company in Mentor, supplementing her income by working at Gund Arena.

The commute to Mentor and the effort to manage two jobs grated on her. Her daughter persuaded her to open a day care because she was good at it and because of demand for the business.

After she opened My Nanny Too, she learned it was cheaper to live than to work and commute.

She gave up taking cruises. She gave up buying collectible books, paintings and glassware. And she's saving $75 a month as an emergency fund for her business and $400 a month for personal use.

To join Cleveland Saves, call (216) 781-809 or visit the Web site at www.clevelandsaves.org.

© 2003 Sun Newspapers. Used with permission.