FINANCIAL LITERACY AND EDUCATION

How to confidently determine your retirement needs with Elevate Wisconsin

What does retirement mean to you? It means different things to different people, but whatever your vision is, you will need to plan in order to achieve your retirement goals. 

One of the major mistakes leading to retirement is failure to adequately assess your retirement needs. Most retirees find that their retirement cash needs are correlated to their pre-retirement needs, and need to be adjusted for change in lifestyle, taxes, and of course, inflation. Where you want to be largely depends upon where you are now.

What you will learn with Elevate Wisconsin: 

1. How Much Will You Need to Retire?
2. Retirement: What Are Your Current Needs?
3. What Expenses Will You Have in Retirement?
4. How Will Inflation Affect Your Retirement?
5. What Will Social Security and Your Pension Provide?

Sign up with Elevate Wisconsin to learn more. These resources are free for North Shore Bank employees and sign up is quick and easy. Check it out here!

COMMUNITY-MINDED

Emerging Leaders Group members teach financial literacy to U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps

On Sunday, December 10th, Jacob Verhaalen, Ryan Melcarek, and Shannon Quinn, three members of the Emerging Leaders Group, discussed various financial literacy concepts to the Milwaukee Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps during their monthly Drill session.  

“We got saluted, which I’m pretty sure will likely not happen again, at least in my lifetime. They were a great group,” Ryan Melcarek said. 

North Shore Bank employees presented the group of 11 to 17-year-old cadets with topics such as the basics of savings, the importance of emergency funds, and an introduction to credit via the Banzai Financial Education Program. 

“The group was fantastic,” Shannon Quinn said. “I was surprised by how much they already knew about personal finance. Many of them understood the concept of the 50/30/20 budgeting method. Some are already working with their parents to apply it. Also, they had great questions.” 

Jacob Verhaalen added, “They were a great group of people who I’m guessing will one day be leaders in our community…You can tell that the program is making a difference. and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.” 

A special thank you goes out to Denise Dionisio, Cash Flow Coordinator, for connecting the Emerging Leaders Group with Randy Lee, Instructor of the Sea Cadets. 

More information about the program can be found on their website, CruiserMilwaukeeSeaCadets.org. 

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HOLIDAYS

CCOC holiday celebration: Gnome for the Holidays

This year’s theme for the annual holiday celebration at North Shore Bank’s corporate office on December 13th was Gnome for the Holidays! This was our 25th Corporate Holiday Celebration, which began as a Holiday Round Robin throughout the building and now takes place in the bank’s Fourth Floor Employee Café and is organized by the CCOC (Corporate Community Outreach Committee). 

The CCOC is made up of employees from all areas of the bank’s headquarters. During the Corporate Holiday Celebration, employees bring in food to share, play games for raffle tickets that are used to win prize baskets created by the various departments, and generously donate to a charity.

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This year the money raised will be given to Kids Matter, Inc. Their holiday wish list is as follows, and the collection runs through 12/15:

• Winter hats for kids ages 2 through 14 year olds
• Mittens/gloves for kids from ages 2 to adult size
• Scarves for ages 3-8
• Pajamas for youth sizes 10 and up, including PJ bottoms for teens (often in adult sizes)
• See the holiday list below for more:

We were able to raise a total of $1,236.00 for Kids Matter, Inc. plus collected several boxes of items to help fulfill their needs list. Big thank you to everyone for the wonderful food, friendly conversation, and giving spirit!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Get discounted tickets to the Wisconsin State Fair 2024

Don’t miss this family-friendly discount! North Shore Bank employees are able to purchase Wisconsin State Fair 2024 admission tickets for just $12 each! 

The discounted price will save you $6 per ticket. Go to the What’s New banner in Ask Seymour to reserve your tickets now.

Deadline for submissions is December 22nd, so act now!

NOTE: Admission ticket payments will be collected via payroll deductions on the January 19th, 2024 paycheck.

NEW HIRES

Welcome our November new hires!

Say a big North Shore Bank welcome to the employees below who recently joined the bank!

• Kathy Couture (below) joined us as a Teller at the Westgate branch.
• Tommy Glenn (not pictured) joined us as a Commercial Loan Portfolio Manager in the Commercial Banking Department.

Kathy Couture

RECIPES 

Holiday cookie recipes

We asked you to send in your favorite holiday cookie recipes, and you delivered delicious treats! Here are a few of our favorites:

“I made these for an event and we ended up not going, so I had to put these in our garage so we didn’t eat too many!” Dawn Conley says of her recipe below. “Now, if one of us disappears and comes back with peanut butter breath, we know someone snuck out to the garage.” 

CRISPY PEANUT BUTTER BOMBS 

• ½ cup butter, unsalted
• 18 oz. creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 4 cups Rice Krispies
• 2 – 5.29 oz. packages milk or dark chocolate bars

1.  In a large bowl, microwave butter for 30 seconds or until melted.  Stir in peanut butter and powdered sugar until combined.  Add Rice Krispies and stir until well combined.
2.  Drop spoonful onto parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes.  Roll into uniform bombs and refrigerate another 20 minutes.
3.  Add chocolate to a medium bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in-between, until melted.
4.  Coat bombs with chocolate and place back on baking sheet.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until chocolate is set.  Drizzle melted chocolate or peanut butter on top, if desired.

Kate Knox, meanwhile, delights in a delicious buttery cookie with seasonal flavors that will make your mouth water! 

BUTTERY THUMBPRINT COOKIES

RECIPE MAKES 24 COOKIES (2 DOZEN)

• 1 cup salted butter, softened
• ½ cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, plus ¼ cup more for dusting
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of Bonne Maman fruit preserves (not jam) (We use raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry and cherry)

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, blend butter and sugar until fluffy and light, 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla, salt, cinnamon and ginger, scraping down bowl as needed. Switch to low and gently mix in flour, just until combined. Don’t over mix.
3. Roll tablespoon-full of dough into 1-inch balls. Place dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets. Press down the center of each ball with your thumb making a slight depression.
4. Fill cookie centers with a teaspoonful of preserves. Bake 15-18 minutes or until puffy and/or golden brown. Keep an eye on them and don’t over bake. Let cool a few minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to finish cooling on wire rack.
5. When cookies are completely cooled, dust with confectioners’ (powdered) sugar. Cookies can be kept in airtight container at room temp for a few days or in refrigerator for longer.

Get to baking! 

COMMUNITY-MINDED

Bank employees bring Banzai to four middle school classes at Wilson Elementary

Aubrey Abrahamson (Allouez Assistant Manager) and Tisha Kenfield (Northland Assistant Manager) presented the Banzai Financial Education Program to four middle school classes at Wilson Elementary in Appleton.

So amazing to see kids embracing their own financial literacy!

Aubrey Abrahamson and Tisha Kenfield at Wilson Elementary in Appleton

Community Calendar of Events

Discover events and activities in and around your community

•  Donate Toys and Support Local Families in Need – Monday, November 20, 2023 (9:00 AM) – Saturday, December 23, 2023
• 2023 Candy Cane Lane in West Allis, WI –  Friday, November 24, 2023 (6:00 PM) – Monday, December 25, 2023
• Wild Lights at the Milwaukee County Zoo! – Friday, December 01, 2023 (5:30 PM) – Sunday, December 31, 2023

Shorelines Submission Reminder

If you’d like to submit content to the newsletter, please email shorelines@newaukee.com. Please be sure to include:

• A description of the story or event 
• If applicable, when and where the story or event took place  
• If applicable, which employees were present and/or are pictured in photographs 
• Photo(s)