PHOENIX — The state treasurer is Arizona's top banker and investor.
That person determines how our tax dollars get invested and handled, and help local governments determine their investments as well.
It's a position Republican candidate Kimberly Yee is familiar with - she's the incumbent.
An Arizona native, her family immigrated to the state in the 1930s and became local business owners.
"They began a little grocery store business on the corner of 7th avenue and Buckeye Road in south Phoenix," Yee said. "I learned those hard lessons about working hard for your family business and ensuring that we are achieving this wonderful American dream story of freedom and opportunity."
She is the daughter of a US Army veteran and a retired Arizona schoolteacher.
She told ABC15 she feels one of her biggest achievements in her term as treasurer is getting the AZ529 Education Savings Plan moved to her office for management.
"It's been around for 20 years in Arizona," she said. "It was kind of hidden away in a small bureaucratic commission office and the average family didn't know that Arizona had this wonderful education savings plan that they can start saving for their child's future education - whether it be a university, or a college education, to vocational school, workforce development - and get tax deductions along the way."
She said she believes an area she'd like to improve on if reelected, is Arizona's plan for saving for the future.
"I do believe that we in Arizona have thought short term on many things because we're a very, you know, moving state and we have a lot of things happening, but if we look to the long term, we will be prepared and we will be able to prosper and grow what we have in place now," Yee said.
She said she wants to continue to invest in strong, U.S.-based companies here in Arizona.
"We continue to invest in safety, liquidity before yield, that is our financial philosophy," she added.
In our current economic climate, with skyrocketing inflation, Yee said she believes now is the most important time to teach families to be smart about money management, especially through the AZ529 plan.
"Financial literacy is so important for young children because they need to know how to be smart with their money management," Yee said. "I believe there's a direct correlation between how families manage their money and the fiscal health of the state of Arizona."
She believes one of her biggest advantages in the race for state treasurer is that she knows the role.
"There's so much more to do in this office," Yee said. "I have served as the state treasurer these past three and a half years, and we are in an economy right now that is uncertain, and we need to have that steady hand at the wheel, someone who has the fiscal experience for the job."
