Nobody hands you a manual when you graduate high school. One day you're worried about homework. The next, you've got rent, a car payment, insurance, groceries, and a credit card offer showing up in your mailbox.

Most teenagers aren't ready for that. Cody Timm is trying to change it.

Meet Cody.

Cody is the Branch Manager at LMCU's Leonard Branch. He's been with LMCU for eight years, serves on our Financial Wellness Council, and spends a meaningful chunk of his time doing something most branch managers don't: volunteering in local high schools to run Financial Reality Fairs.

His motivation? Watching it play out firsthand.

"We go through scenarios and we talk about lending, and we see these applicants come in that are 18 years old, and there's just such a gap in knowledge," Cody says. "We need to get into schools and start talking to these kids before they're able to have some of these cards."

So, what's a Financial Reality Fair?

Think of it as a crash course in adult life, compressed into just a few hours.

Students are assigned a random job. A doctor. A farmer. A police officer. A lawyer. (No social media influencers yet, but Cody says never say never.) Along with the job comes a salary. And then, the exercise begins.

From there, students navigate a simulated month of real expenses: housing, transportation, food, utilities, insurance. They decide whether to buy new or used, whether to splurge or save, whether to put something on a credit card or hold off.

Some students end the simulation with a little cushion. Others find themselves $3,000 in the red because they bought top-of-the-line everything. Either way, there's a lesson waiting.

"We start to say: this scenario is to help shape your life for the future," Cody explains. "We're giving a resource to the students of today so that you can be the leaders of tomorrow."

The teachable moments that stick.

One of the biggest eye-openers? Credit.

Students learn what a credit score is, how they got there, and most importantly, how hard it is to dig out once you've dug in. Department store cards with sky-high APRs. The 30% utilization rule. Why missing a payment in your first year of credit can follow you for years.

"It can take years to fix the damage you do in the first six months of having a new line of credit," Cody says. "We make sure that's a point they walk away with." They also learn the difference between gross and net pay — a detail that surprises more students than you'd expect. And they leave with a clear understanding of credit basics: why missing a payment in your first year can follow you for years, and why carrying a balance above 30% of your credit limit can quietly drag your score down over time.

The simulation also puts the "keep up with the Joneses" instinct under a microscope. In a world where social media makes everyone's life look fully funded, students get a chance to ask themselves: can I actually afford that?

The feedback says it all.

At the end of each fair, Cody and his fellow volunteers sit down with students one-on-one to review their budgets. What worked, what didn't, and what they'd do differently. And the results are encouraging. "Right now, roughly 40% of Americans don't have an extra $400 if something unexpected happens," he notes. "The fact that these kids are walking away with a takeaway (having lived through an entire simulated month) means we're doing something to keep them from becoming part of that statistic."

Teachers have noticed too. The feedback from classrooms has been consistently strong and the conversations that start during the fair don't always end when it's over.

It takes a team.

Financial Reality Fairs aren't a solo effort. A typical event pulls 16 to 20 LMCU staff members into a school for several hours, and sometimes an entire day, running back-to-back sessions to reach as many students as possible.

Beyond the fairs, LMCU also partners with Junior Achievement's BizTown, a miniature working town where fourth and fifth graders run actual businesses for a day (complete with a mini LMCU branch on-site). It takes a 30-to-40-person volunteer effort to make an LMCU day at BizTown happen.

"LMCU allows us to do this — and they encourage us to be part of our community," Cody says. "That's huge."

Financial wellness starts with a conversation.

Whether you're a student, a parent, or an adult who could use a financial refresher, LMCU's team is here to help. No judgment. No jargon.

Stop into any LMCU branch to talk through your finances, explore your options, or just ask questions. And if you're a teacher or school administrator interested in hosting a Financial Reality Fair, reach out. Cody and his team would love to come to your classroom.

Because the earlier the conversation starts, the better the outcome. For everyone.

Visit lmcu.org or stop by your nearest branch to connect with our Financial Wellness team.