Interview with Chris Peterson from Penny Forward! | HOPE Blog Series
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headshot of Chris with blue background and white text “hope wsb blog series | interview with chris peterson from Penny Forward
Welcome to our second installment of the WSB blog HOPE (Hanging Onto Positive Expectation) series! There are so many individuals doing great things for the Blind and Visually Impaired Community that we wanted to highlight and share their stories. We hope these stories can also serve as inspiration for those with vision loss and to remind us that there are so many people working towards a common goal of helping those who are blind and visually impaired.
At WSB, we know the importance of financial literacy and independence and that’s why we are so excited about this month’s guest! This month we are featuring Chris Peterson, the founder of Penny Forward! Penny Forward is a resource for the blind and visually impaired to gain financial literacy.
Chris was born blind but that hasn’t stopped him from achieving his dreams and goals. Growing up the expectation for Chris was that “[he] was going to be successful, that [he] was going to the same things that every other kid did, and that [he] was going to take care of [himself] as much as any other kid [his] age would take care of”. He also grew up with a sister with the same eye condition, so being around blindness was the norm for him. Chris graduated high school and received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Southwest Minnesota State University. He worked for IBM and then went on to receive his Master’s in Software Engineering, and currently works remotely.
In 2020, Chris started Penny Forward. Chris describes Penny Forward as “a community of who are blind and visually impaired and their families who share an interest in financial independence”. The mission of Penny Forward is to help blind people build the knowledge to confidently navigate the complicated landscape of personal finance through education, mentoring, and mutual support.
Chris knows that financial Literacy can be overwhelming, especially because many people were not been taught everything growing up. Chris is even self-taught in his Financial Literacy education but is currently pursuing certifications to take Penny Forward to the next level. He explains the goal of Penny Forward as “We're developing a group and one-on-one financial education programs that help people to understand how money works to the point where they feel confident enough to put together a personal budget if that works for them, open bank accounts to help to organize their finances better, apply for loans, talk to a financial advisor if they're ready to start investing, or even thinking about things like life insurance or long term care insurance”
While Penny Forward only began last year, Chris has been able to have some big names on the podcast from Rehabilitation Counselings working in the field to our very own, Director of Education and Training, Eric Yarberry! He often has guests who have built a career for themselves as blind and visually impaired individuals to show that financial literacy is possible. He has a lot of plans in the works as well, from bringing on financial advisors and people who are not in the disability space. With Penny Forward, Chris wants to show that those in the disability community “want to and can do the same things just like everybody else” He wants to give those in the blind and visually impaired the confidence to work with Financial Advisors, loan officers, etc. who they may not have the confidence to do otherwise.
We want to thank Chris for being a part of our series, HOPE, and we hope you spend some time on Penny Forward!
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