Two forums on wealth building will be held in Madison and Milwaukee as Communities Learning to Invest and Mobilize Business (CLIMB) USA aims to make investing a more equitable financial avenue to access.
The forums coincide with CLIMB USA’s fifth anniversary. The Madison-based nonprofit company’s mission is to assist teens and young adults in improving their financial literacy through education and engagement with the capital market. The two forums, which is also part of its fundraising, will feature different speakers who are both experts on wealth building.
“These are thought leadership convenings where we are bringing in special guests that are going to help us raise the consciousness level of the importance of building wealth through market-driven strategies,” said Roberty Wynn, president of CLIMB USA.
In Madison, the featured speaker will be LeChaun Banks, a professor of practice at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and research fellow at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. LeChaun’s is an expert in economic development, strategic leadership and equitable growth.
In Milwaukee, Jackie Cummings Koski, a certified financial planner and author of “F.I.R.E. for Dummies, will be the speaker. Koski is a nationally recognized advocate for financial independence and is described as a “role model” for single mothers.
“She is a self-made millionaire who basically built wealth through investing in the stock market and participating in an investment club as a single mother in Detroit,” Wynn said.
Each will feature a panel discussion with people involved with CLIMB USA’s Investment Enterprise Initiative. 
A cornerstone of the forums will be reaching young potential investors, Wynn said. By making investment opportunities and avenues known earlier in life, the potential for higher returns is greater.
“The power of compounding is propelled by time,” Wynn said. “If we wait until people are fully grown adults before we connect them to investing, they will have missed some extremely important, valuable years where their money could start out with modest amounts, but grow and compound over time and be able to build into much larger amounts.”
The Forums on Wealth will be held Tuesday, Nov. 11, in Madison at the Black Business Hub, 2352 S. Park St., from 4-7 p.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Milwaukee at the Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel, 139 E. Kilbourn Ave., from 11-1 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased via CLIMB USA’s website.
