By Elisabeth George | Reporter

The Teachers Insurance Annuity Association of America (TIAA) held a lecture on Wednesday for Baylor employees titled “Inside Money.”

TIAA provides financial products and services to support individuals in academic, medical, government, cultural and nonprofit fields.

Lori Cathey, a Director of Financial Consulting for the organization, led the lecture. Cathey’s presentation covered the basics of cash flow, budgeting, debt, savings and retirement planning.

Part of Cathey’s advice was based on awareness and organization.

“Get organized. This is a great time of year, whether it’s your New Year’s resolution or you’re just trying to gather all your tax statements, but it’s really important to know ‘what is my whole entire financial picture,” Cathey said.

Cathey promoted being aware of personal cash flow, building a budget and using a financial organizer, a notebook like a day planner, detailing all of your financial information.

She said these things help build a better understanding of personal finances as well as providing peace of mind in the event of an emergency.

Cathey said people usually run into credit card debit because of emergencies. After graduating from college, Cathey worked as a counselor for a consumer credit counseling service.

Throughout her career, Cathey said she saw “appointment after appointment with people just head over their heels in credit card debt. But I would say 99% of the time these people were not just going out and purposely spending, it was a big financial emergency.”

Cathey also talked about large expenses that require planning, one of those being retirement.

“Retirement is not here to put a damper on your lifestyle, but it is your future lifestyle. That cross off the bucket list vacation you’ve worked for a lifetime to earn. So start putting a little away right now, early in your career… the sooner the better,” Cathey said.

Christina Hebert, budget assistant for the school of music, attended the lecture. She said she had heard most of the advice before.

“But it was a good reminder how important it is to have that emergency fund and to make sure that you know where your money is going. So I’ll probably head home and do my cash flow worksheet and create a budget,” Hebert said.

Referencing her job Hebert said, “I’m good at budgeting other people’s money; we’ll see how I do with my own.”