“The most meaningful part of my time at the U has been my ability to assist students with their financial questions. I have helped with paying for the upcoming semester, paying current and past bills, individual budgeting, and money management for couples. This has been the most rewarding for me.

Finances impact us every single day. Every single day we make dozens and dozens of consumer decisions. I would like everyone to learn to be savvy consumers so we can meet all of these choices confidently and develop healthy behaviors toward finances. 

A lot of people I visit with just don’t want to talk about money. They don’t want to have anything to do with it because they don’t have a good relationship with it. So that is something that I have been trying to change. It is my passion to help people have healthy and positive relationships with money.

When I work with college students, they are for the first time really making some major financial decisions and that is tough. It’s tough to be 17, 18, 19 years old and making these big decisions that impact you for years to come. But that is something I can help them through. A lot of us do learn about finances in high school or from our parents, but my job is helping this go from conceptual to real life. 

In addition to my work with the Financial Wellness Center, I’ve taught as an adjunct instructor in Family and Consumer Studies. I’ve had a few students over the years say things to me like, ‘I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but after taking a class from you, now I know what I want to do.’ That is too humbling. I hope that I’ve helped students on their way to graduation. That was a goal of mine. 

Another goal of mine was to help the students that worked in my office or took classes from me go on to have fabulous careers. So I advocated for them and helped them along through the process. I had some good instructors and some good mentors when I was in graduate school and that’s how I ended up where I am. So I wanted to do that for the students I was in contact with as a professional. 

I want students at the University of Utah to leave here and have lifelong financial security. I want them to know how to advocate for themselves and how to make good, responsible, financial decisions and to continue throughout their lives to save, invest, and spend wisely so they too can have healthy relationships with money.”

—Ann House, director of the Financial Wellness Center at the U