Resources to Help You Build Wealth with Confidence

Use these resources to gain practical knowledge on investing, retirement, and sustainable saving. In each course library, explore curated insights and expert-led education built to support smarter wealth-building.

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Building a nest egg. Getting started with investing. Planning for retirement. Generating wealth for my family. Investing in the stock market. Taking an early retirement. Living off my retirement plan.

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Wealth Management Course Library

Wherever you are in your financial journey, there’s a course library for you. Start with the basics in Wealth & Saving 101, explore growth strategies in Investing, or plan confidently for the future with Retirement. Each path offers clear, expert-backed guidance to help you make smart money moves with confidence.

Wealth & Saving 101 If you’re just getting started, these resources will teach you the fundamentals and help build your confidence. 7 Topics

Investing Master the market with these courses and articles on investing. 7 Topics

Retirement Build financial confidence with these courses designed to help you succeed in every stage of retirement. 15 Topics

Articles to Expand Your Financial Knowledge

Browse articles that break down key topics in saving, investing, and retirement.

Am I Eligible for FEMA Relief? Here’s What You Need to Know Who Qualifies for Assistance? Federal disaster aid is available for residents and business owners in the following counties: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey. Not sure if you’re eligible? You can verify your eligibility and apply directly on FEMA’s website: DisasterAssistance.gov. What Assistance Does FEMA Offer? FEMA provides a range of relief programs aimed at helping individuals and businesses recover from disasters. Here’s a closer look at what you may be eligible to receive: 1. Housing Assistance This aid helps you secure safe shelter while your home is being repaired or rebuilt. FEMA can provide funds for: Rental Assistance: Financial support to rent a temporary residence if your home is uninhabitable due to disaster-related damage. Lodging Expense Reimbursement: If you had to stay in a hotel or motel, FEMA can reimburse you for these expenses. This is especially helpful if you were unable to find immediate rental options. Home Repair or Replacement: Grants are available to help repair or replace your home and address disaster-specific damages, such as water damage or mold. FEMA may also cover hazard mitigation measures that reduce the risk of future damage. Accessibility Needs: If you or someone in your household has a disability, FEMA can provide funds to make your home accessible. This might include ramps, grab bars, and other necessary modifications, even if these were not originally present before the disaster. Privately-Owned Roads, Bridges, and Docks: If the only access to your home has been damaged, FEMA can help cover repair costs for private infrastructure like roads and bridges. 2. Other Needs Assistance This program helps with essential expenses and serious needs beyond housing. Covered expenses include: Serious Needs: Grants to cover immediate necessities like food, water, first aid, prescriptions, and personal hygiene items, ensuring you have access to essentials during recovery. Displacement: If your home is uninhabitable, FEMA can help cover the cost of staying with family, friends, or in a hotel while you search for a more permanent solution. Personal Property: Financial assistance to repair or replace items essential to daily life, such as appliances, furniture, and work or school-related items like computers and tools. This can also include uniforms, books, and equipment needed for self-employment. Medical and Dental Expenses: If the disaster caused injury or damaged medical or dental equipment, FEMA can help cover the costs for treatment, equipment replacement, and prescribed medications. Funeral Costs: In the unfortunate event that the disaster resulted in a loss of life, FEMA offers support to cover funeral or reburial expenses. Child Care: For families facing increased child care costs due to the disaster, FEMA can provide funds to help cover these additional expenses. Assistance for Miscellaneous Items: Reimbursement for items like generators, dehumidifiers, and chainsaws that were purchased or rented to aid in the recovery process. Transportation: If your vehicle was damaged and you don’t have an alternative mode of transportation, FEMA may help cover the repair or replacement costs to ensure you have a way to get to work, school, or other essential places. Moving and Storage Expenses: FEMA can help with costs associated with moving and storing personal property, especially if it needs to be relocated temporarily during home repairs or if you need to move to a new residence. Each of these programs is designed to provide immediate and practical support, so you can focus on the well-being of your family and community as you rebuild after the disaster. How Do I Apply for FEMA Assistance? Applying for FEMA relief is straightforward. Here are the steps to get started: Apply Online: Visit DisasterAssistance.gov to apply for assistance. You can also download the FEMA App or call FEMA’s toll-free number at 1-800-621-3362. Register for an Account: If you’re applying online, you’ll need to create an account on Login.gov. This will allow you to save your application, upload documents, and check your status. Prepare Your Information: You’ll need details like your home and mailing address, Social Security number, insurance info, and bank details for direct deposit. Submit Your Application: Once you’ve completed the application, review it, make any necessary changes, and submit it. Be sure to save your application ID as you’ll need it for future communication with FEMA. What Happens After You Apply? After applying, FEMA will review your application and may contact you for additional information or to schedule an inspection. You can always log into your account on DisasterAssistance.gov to check your application status and receive updates. If approved, FEMA will disburse funds via direct deposit or a mailed check, based on your preference. For more information or to begin the application process, visit DisasterAssistance.gov, call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362, or use the FEMA App. Recovering from Disaster with FEMA’s Support If you’re affected by Hurricane Helene, you don’t have to face it alone. FEMA offers a range of programs designed to help you get back on your feet. Take advantage of these resources to help ease the journey to recovery. 5 min read

Tips to Freshen up Your Budget First Bank Clients: Are you using your MyMoney tools in online banking? MyMoney Manage your budget, track your spending, and modify your debt payback plan – all from your First Bank online banking account. Learn how Start with your (e)mail. Do you have a system for keeping your mail organized and sorted? Credit card and loan statements, bank statements, bills, and receipts can pile up quickly. An organized mail area in your home is the first step in keeping track of your bills and expenses. Bring that cleaning momentum into your email inbox and organize your e-statements too. If your email inbox is piling up, it might be time to clean it out. Here are a few email cleaning suggestions. Tally up your monthly expenses. You can use paper and a pencil, a spreadsheet, or budgeting software. Choose a method you are most comfortable with and get started. If you search for budgeting templates in Google, you’ll find a seemingly endless number of options. A template similar to this option from Microsoft is a good starting point for logging your expenses in a spreadsheet. Check in with your automatic and recurring transactions. Many utility providers, subscription services, and credit cards offer automatic payment options. Autopay enrollment is a great way to ensure you won’t miss a payment, but it can become easy to lose track of where your money is being spent. If you like the convenience of automatic payments but want to keep a better eye on those transactions, consider enrolling in Bill Pay. At First Bank, our Bill Pay system allows you to manage all of your payments from one place. Learn more about First Bank Bill Pay here. Predict your variable expenses. Examples of variable expenses are food, gas, clothing, pet care, prescriptions, etc. that change each month. These are more difficult to pin down, but there are a number of ways to do it. You can either look into the past and add up expenses from each spending category, or you can track those expenses moving forward in real time. Whichever your preference, having a strong understanding of how much you should be spending on non-fixed expenses each month will give you a more accurate picture of your discretionary spending. For a list of common personal budgeting categories, click here. Refine your debt repayment and savings goals. It’s hard to choose between prioritizing debt repayment or saving for the future. While you want to avoid paying unnecessary interest and penalties on your debts, it’s also important to have an emergency savings fund so that you’re less likely to incur more debt when unexpected expenses arise. Many experts recommend having enough saved to cover 3-6 months of expenses. First Bank offers a number of savings account options so that you can keep that money separate from your checking account. Did you know that First Bank credit cards offer $0 balance transfer fees? Here is a helpful calculator to see if a First Bank credit card is right for you. If you’re struggling with making your debt payments, you’re not alone. Our bankers understand that circumstances can be tough and everyone has a different financial story. We want you to feel comfortable talking about you finances and confident in creating a successful path forward. Please reach out to your local First Bank and we’ll do what we can to help you get back on track. Use your discretion. With recent cost of living increases, your typical discretionary expenses are most likely also increasing and could be throwing off your budget. Depending on your debt and savings goals, you might want to readjust your discretionary spending to allocate more for debt payments and savings deposits. MyMoney: Your First Bank Advantage If you’re a First Bank client, log in to your online banking account and explore the Financial Tools section (also known as MyMoney). This service will create a budget snapshot for you. To ensure accuracy, you’ll want to link all of your active banking accounts and customize your spending categories. Find MyMoney instructions here. One of our favorite ways to use MyMoney is to select the ‘Trends’ tab and view your monthly trends by category. You’ll have a nice breakdown of each expense category with the amount spent shown per month. 4 min read

Fraud Prevention Checklist Arm yourself with the knowledge to fight back against scammers with our 2024 fraud prevention checklist. Empowering you to be informed, cautious, and proactive in avoiding fraud. 7 min read

Back to Budgeting Basics: Using Digital Tools to Ace Your Finances At First Bank, we have a range of powerful tools and techniques that will empower you to ace your finances. Let’s dive in and discover how these financial tools can help you excel in your journey to achieve financial wellness. It takes time and commitment to create and stick to a budget, but First Bank can help you with: Setting Your Budget Paying Your Bills on Time Staying on Track Setting Your Budget It can be difficult to set your budget if you aren’t keeping track of where you are spending money. Sure, you could be old school and maintain a register book, but we live in the age of technology. Why not find some digital tools to help you? MyMoney is a money management tool that helps you manage your budget, track your spending, and modify your payback plans for debts all in one space. First Bank ensures this tool is automatically integrated into your online banking and allows you to view your transactions by categories so you can easily track your spending and keep your budget organized. You can link accounts you have with other institutions so you have a full snapshot analysis of your financial patterns and have the full picture when you go to set your budget. Total Amount $1,578.64 Select to ViewTransactions Track your cashflow with MyMoney. Manage your budget, track your spending, and modify your payback plans for debts. Get Organized 4 min read

Q&A: What Should I Consider When Selecting a Bank? When looking for the perfect bank, ask yourself, “Does this bank complement my lifestyle and financial goals?” At First Bank, we believe it should. You may also want to consider the following 4 criteria: Community Involvement Longevity & Stability Personalized Customer Service Breadth of Financial Service 1. Community Involvement When comparing your banking options, consider how your prospective bank is involved in your community. If local economic growth is important to you, prioritize a community-focused bank that is committed to reinvesting in local economic development. An actively involved bank can provide your neighbors with increased access to small business loans, mortgages, charitable donations, and overall financial wellness. For example, First Bank has invested over $1.2 billion in community development loans to revitalize low- and moderate-income areas. Additionally, in 2022, we donated $500,000 to support education-focused initiatives across the Carolinas. As First Bank grows, so do the communities we serve. 2. Longevity & Stability Do your research – find a bank with a track record of success and the ability to remain steadfast during uncertain economic times. Consider how long the bank has been established and how they plan for growth into the future. First Bank began in 1935 during the height of the Great Depression in order to safeguard the hard-earned funds of local farmers, community members, and business people. Throughout our organization’s 87-year history, we have seen recessions, depressions, and many banks come and go. While we stay current with modern banking trends, we will continue to operate our company with an intense focus on safety and soundness, so our customers, clients, partners, investors, and associates know that we will provide safe and stable long-term success. 3. Personalized Customer Service It’s important to think about what your perfect banking relationship would look like. Do you value a tailored in-person experience or do you prefer online banking services with less one-on-one interaction? Regional banks, like First Bank, have the ability to offer the best of both worlds. The personal relationships that we develop within our communities help us advocate for our customers’ best interests. We can offer competitive rates and recommend the best financial tools to the right businesses, municipalities, and families at the right time. When you’re traveling 3 min read

3 Steps to Creating a Strong and Unique Password In today’s world, passwords have become an important part of our daily lives. We use them for everything from social media accounts to digital banking, and endless apps in between. Although it is easy to choose the same short and memorable passphrase for everything, it can leave you wide open for risk if one of those platforms is compromised. Step One: Change It Up The first step to protecting yourself from data breaches is defining secure phrases for your different accounts in order to alleviate risk. The consider the following tips to remember when selecting a password: Make sure your password is at least 12 characters Include upper-case and lower-case letters throughout Avoid keyboard paths like 45678 or asdfg Add punctuation marks within the password not just at the end Step Two: Make it Meaningful While there is strength in a lengthy password, trying to remember an array of random letters, symbols, and numbers such as YP&3U6?@DM2$ may be difficult; therefore, it is beneficial to use phrases meaningful to you, but ambiguous to others. Instead of using easily predictable passwords containing information shared online such as birthdays, anniversaries, or family names, try relating it to your favorite hobby, food, or movie in order to better protect yourself. For example, creating a password that combines your favorite movie and the last 4 digits of your best friend’s phone number like PreTTyWoM@N2849! ensures that cybercriminals cannot effortlessly hack your account. Here is a chart designed to help you better understand how easily a cybercriminal can guess your password and the time it would take for you to be hacked. Step Three: Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe The more complex your passwords, the easier it is to forget a character and get locked out. So, what’s the best solution to keep everything straight and safe? Online: Storing passphrases on your phone or computer or sending them through email or text often seems like a convenient hassle-free solution, but it creates the opportunity for hackers to obtain private information. Offline: Writing down your passwords can be the safest way to store your information, but it is still crucial to not record them word for word. Sadly, fraud often times comes from internal sources 4 min read

How to Save for Periods Without a Paycheck Did you know that two out of five wage and salary earners over the age of 15 know their schedule less than one month in advance? If that sounds like you, or if you’re a teacher on a 10-month pay cycle, try this calculator to help you figure out the best approach to savings during those periods without pay. 1 min read

Cropped shot of a businesswoman sitting alone and typing on her laptop during the day at home

Learn the Cybercrime Warning Signs The number of cybercrimes continues to increase day by day. This can sometimes make it hard for you to completely protect yourself from these threats. But the more you know about these scams, the better chance you’ll have at identifying and avoiding them. What is a cybercrime? Cybercriminals aim to exploit your information for their own personal gain, causing harm to financial stability and exposing secure information. Cybercrimes are those criminal activities where a computer or the internet is used as a tool for fraudulent claims, to gain personal or business information, or to infect networks and devices. *First Bank will always take the appropriate measures to keep your personal information safe. In this article, we have outlined some common cyber scams, so that you can understand what to look out for. Some common scams/fraud includes: Phishing Email Scams Perhaps the most common type of scam is phishing, usually done via email and designed to look like they are coming from someone at your company, someone you know, or a notable figure. Because these emails look like they can come from anyone, it is easy to be caught in this form of scam. It may be hard to fully protect yourself from them, but it is always best to double check who is requesting your information. Payroll Scams In Protecting Against Fraud from Nacha, a payroll scam is when, “fraudsters target individual employees by directing the employees to update or confirm their payroll information via a fake payroll platform that spoofs their employer’s actual payroll platform. In some cases, the fraudster may claim the employee must do one of these: view a confidential email from human resources or the payroll department, view changes to the employee’s account, or confirm that the account should not be deleted.” Cybercriminals will use the stolen credentials to change payment information within the business’s payment platform. This type of scam can be extremely dangerous to an individual and a company because it exposes both user and business information. Romance Scams According to fbi.gov, romance scams, or online dating scams, “occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or 7 min read

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Investment and insurance products and services are offered through Osaic Institutions, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Osaic Institutions and FB Wealth Management, a division of First Bank, are not affiliated. We do not provide tax advice. Consult your tax advisor.

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