Friday, July 3, 2009
Chris Gardner Documentary Clip
Chris Gardner is a self-made multi-millionaire, entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker and philanthropist, who was portrayed by Actor Will Smith in the 2006 Hit Movie, The Pursuit of Happyness. This is brief clip of our interview with Chris which will be featured in our forthcoming documentary movie, Secrets of Money: The Financial Illiteracy Epidemic in America Exposed. Be sure to watch the whole clip -- the last part is the best!
Financial Literacy Resources from The OCC
I just received this periodic update email from The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and thought it contained a lot of valuable financial literacy resources which I wanted to share:
Have a financial literacy event coming up worth noting? Rolling out a new financial literacy initiative? Developing a new tool or product? Have general feedback? E-mail us at communityaffairs@occ.treas.gov.
July 14, 2009 (St. Louis, Mo.)
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis offers “Lessons in Children Literature,” a professional development workshop for 1st-5th grade educators. The course covers curriculum ideas designed to help students gain personal finance and economic knowledge while they read.
July 16, 2009 (St. Louis, Mo.)
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis offers “Personal Finance: Your Students’ First Steps,” a professional development workshop for 9th-12th grade educators. The course covers two new curricula designed to help students meet their first personal finance challenges. It's Your Paycheck! introduces students to wages and taxes while also preparing them for the tempting world of credit cards, payday loans, rent-to-own contracts and check cashing schemes. Cards, Cars and Currency focuses on that first important purchase—a car—and also helps students learn more about the costs and benefits of using credit cards for smaller purchases that can add up to big problems.
July 20-24, 2009 (Boston, Mass.)
Junior Achievement Worldwide holds its Worldwide Leadership Conference with the theme,“ Connecting to Build a Better World.”
July 20-24, 2009 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia offers “Making Sense of Money and Banking,” a five-day course for teachers that covers money, banking, and the Federal Reserve System. The course is taught by Federal Reserve economists, economic education specialists, and staff from state centers on economic education. Emphasis is placed on active- and collaborative-learning teaching methods and curricula for teaching money and banking in the grades K-12.
July 22, 2009 (Canyon, Texas)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas Council on Economic Education, West Texas Center for Economic Education, College of Business, and West Texas A&M University offer a one-day teacher workshop for secondary educators called “Get Your Kicks on Route 66.” The workshop examines the West Texas economy and how it relates to what is going on nationally as well as globally. Also addressed are the major economic drivers that make this region work, especially as they relate to the natural resources of wind, water, and energy.
August 3-6, 2009 (Tempe, Ariz.)
The 2009 National Youth Involvement Board Annual Conference provides insight and resources that can be used to understand young consumers and teach them good money management skills.
August 4, 2009 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia offers a one-day professional development program that introduces middle school teachers to methods for teaching personal finance topics, such as personal decision making, saving, investing, budgeting, and the wise use of credit.
August 19, 2009 (Dallas, Texas)
The Texas Department of Banking provides hands-on training on three financial education curricula: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) “Money Smart Program,” and JA Worldwide’s “Junior Achievement.”
August 31-September 1, 2009 (San Antonio, Texas)
The National Community Tax Coalition, a project of the Center for Economic Progress, holds its 2009 Annual Conference. Themed “Realizing the Dream: Promoting Financial Opportunity in All Communities,” the two-day conference provides opportunities for training, learning, networking, and shaping the direction of community-based tax preparation, financial services, leadership development, and advocacy.
September 11, 2009 (Chicago, Ill.)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago holds this conference to bring people together with researchers and representatives of partner organizations to discuss strategies for designing successful programs and partnerships in financial literacy and financial education. The conference provides research that evaluates the effectiveness of financial education and counseling and opportunities for participants to learn from partners about what works and what could be improved.
September 14, 2009 (Washington, D.C.)
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling holds its 2009 Annual Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. The national agenda focuses on financially responsible behavior and helping the foundation’s members deliver quality financial education and counseling services.
October 7-10, 2009 (Washington, D.C.)
The Council for Economic Education, National Association of Economic Educators, and Global Association of Teachers of Economics holds its 2009 annual conference. The conference focuses on grades K-12 economic, personal finance, and entrepreneurship education.
October 21-23, 2009 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Institute for Financial Literacy hosts the 2009 Annual Conference on Financial Education. The conference provides professional development opportunities for people working in the fields of financial literacy and education.
November 4, 2009 (Lubbock, Texas)
The Texas Department of Banking provides hands-on training on three financial education curricula: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the FDIC’s “Money Smart Program,” and JA Worldwide’s “Junior Achievement.”
November 6-8, 2009 (Washington, D.C.)
The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy presents the first nationwide conference devoted entirely to personal finance education in grades K-12.
The Bank On Cities Campaign is a technical assistance project that helps municipal officials build a comprehensive asset-building agenda for residents. Project participants learn how to access financial services, accumulate and protect savings or other financial assets, and avoid unmanageable debt and bad credit, which are the keys to both family financial stability and the broader economic vitality of their cities.
Mayor Bloomberg’s Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan has provided New Yorkers with access to free financial counseling at the city’s Financial Empowerment Centers in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens in addition to the Bronx. Services are provided by professional counselors in person or by phone in English and Spanish. Opening additional Financial Empowerment Centers is one of Mayor Bloomberg’s 18 initiatives to help New Yorkers face current economic challenges.
Money Smart Week Wisconsin October 10 – 17, 2009, is a public awareness initiative that aims to build financial knowledge so people can deal with their own money more quickly, confidently, and shrewdly. The workshops, seminars, programs, events, and other activities help people and their families, students, homeowners, businesspersons, employees, and other community members expand their opportunities through improved financial literacy.
The National Academy of Public Administration has launched a student-focused, public awareness campaign designed to demonstrate the importance of financial responsibility and to inspire students to make their voices heard in the ongoing fiscal policy debate. “Budgetball” is an innovative new sport that combines fiscal strategy and physical play. The game takes students out of the classroom and on to the field for competitive play that highlights the relationships among debt, savings, interest, and taxes.
The North American Securities Administrators Association provides information and tools on financial services and investments, including tips for avoiding investment fraud and where to go for help.
Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants has a variety of financial literacy programs targeting high school and college students. Its “High School Liaison Program” provides each high school in Tennessee with a volunteer certified public accountant to speak to students about career options or personal finance. The organization also offers a personal finance session to high school juniors and seniors who attend its summer Accounting Academy, a four-day program designed to expose students to career opportunities in the accounting profession.
The National Endowment for Financial Education has launched a National Financial Literacy Campaign that encourages Americans to start achieving their financial goals by accessing practical information on the Smart About Money Web site.
"United We Serve" is a nationwide service initiative, announced by President Obama, that will help meet growing social needs resulting from the economic downturn. The initiative aims to both expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own "do-it-yourself" projects. United We Serve is an initial 81 days of service, through September 11, 2009, but hopes to grow into a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all Americans.
The Virginia CASH Campaign (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) helps low- and moderate-income workers move toward greater self-sufficiency (a) by receiving the federal Earned Income Tax Credit that can supplement earnings and (b) through financial literacy and other asset-building activities. The campaign promotes the Earned Income Tax Credit program through education, outreach, and awareness; provides free tax preparation to avoid the high cost of professional preparers and to avoid refund anticipation loans; and promotes financial opportunities to the unbanked.
The Association of Credit and Collection Professionals International’s Education Foundation provides a free and confidential resource for helping consumers find solutions to credit and debt issues.
MetLife released a new publication, The Benefits Edge: Honing the Competitive Value of Employee Benefits, written by industry expert Dr. Ron Leopold. Grounded in MetLife research, The Benefits Edge contains pragmatic principles and ideas designed to help employers make more strategic investments in employee benefits with an eye toward optimizing return on benefits investment and delivering greater competitive advantages.
The Cooperative Extension System’s Financial Security for All Community of Practice hosts a series of informational chat sessions through the University of the District of Columbia. Visitors to the site can ask questions and get answers from extension personal finance experts. Also available on the site is a locator for local extension offices and institutions.
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling has launched Debt Advice, an interactive Web site that gives consumers access to numerous financial education tools and helps them find a certified credit counselor closest to them.
The Federal Reserve has created a Credit Card Repayment Calculator. Based on the information the user provides, the calculator will give an estimate of how long it will take to pay off the credit card balance. A second calculation helps the user develop a plan for paying off the balance sooner.
The FDIC has released the Money Smart Podcast Network, the portable audio (MP3) version of the award-winning Money Smart financial education. The new version of Money Smart is suitable for use with all MP3 players, enabling consumers of all ages to learn to make informed and prudent financial decisions while “on the go.”
The FDIC has issued a variety of tips to help consumers stay on guard financially in the current economy, in areas ranging from foreclosure rescue and loan modification scams to deceptive offers of FDIC-insured certificates of deposit. The FDIC published these tips in the spring 2009 issue of FDIC Consumer News, the agency’s quarterly newsletter for consumers, which is available on the Web site.
In its winter 2008/2009 issue of FDIC Consumer News, the FDIC issued tips to help consumers spend less, save more, protect against fraud, and borrow wisely at any time but especially during a difficult economy.
The Financial Literacy of Young American Adults, an analysis of the Jump$tart Coalition’s 2008 biennial survey, is available in PDF on the Jump$tart Web site. The survey, which launched in 1997 and has been conducted every other year since 2000, focuses on high school seniors but included college students for the first time in 2008. The results of these surveys (and comparisons with earlier surveys) are included in the book. Also available on this site is Making the Case for Financial Literacy, 2009, a collection of personal finance statistics that Jump$tart compiled from other sources.
Financial Literacy Online is a product of National Student Loan Program, a nonprofit student loan guaranty agency dedicated to financial literacy, based on the belief that education helps all consumers manage debt and other financial matters. Financial Literacy Online is a comprehensive and convenient online learning center that teaches students the basics of personal money management. Courses are for students planning for college, enrolled in college, planning to graduate from college, or recently graduated from college. Anyone interested in money management—including parents—may take the courses.
Investor Education Fund, in partnership with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, sponsors “Funny Money for High Schools Assembly Program,” an entertaining show that takes students on a financial literacy tour through the basics of balancing a checkbook, reconciling a debit card statement, learning credit card fundamentals and more.
Junior Achievement and the Allstate Foundation have created a new series of free, downloadable teaching tools to help parents talk to their children about smart money management. Lessons cover budgeting, the importance of saving, understanding the cost of credit and how to use it, and more.
The National Theatre for Children has developed a communications strategy that combines live theater and multiplatform educational materials to communicate complex messages to hard-to-reach audiences. Mad About Money is a four-part program that teaches children about forming savings habits, evaluating risks, and the difference between a debit card and a credit card.
My Money Management is a unique industrywide effort to provide consumers with comprehensive financial education resources to help guide their personal finance decision-making process. This Web site provides consumers with tools and resources from a variety of sources, including financial service companies, advocacy organizations, and personal finance experts. My Money Management is an initiative of the Financial Services Roundtable.
Smarty Pig is a free, online savings account for people who want to save for specific goals. The account also is FDIC-insured. A person types in the dollar amount they wish to save and the time frame in which they would like to reach their goal. The Web site technology suggests a monthly deposit amount to the account holder to reach that goal.
The U.S. Social Security Administration offers a wide variety of new and important publications and other resources and tools for the public about retirement, benefits, and support for family members in the event of disabilities or death.
Wells Fargo recently launched a free virtual world, “Stagecoach Island,” an entertaining and interactive companion site to Hands on Banking, its free financial education program. Teens can explore the island and its hidden secrets, connect with friends and make new ones, and learn smart money management. Educators can use the “Stagecoach Island” virtual world in the West Texas Center for Economic Education classroom to teach important lessons in budgeting, saving, managing credit, buying a home, and getting a job. Participants earn virtual money by visiting the Learning Lounge, and answering questions about money management. They can also obtain virtual jobs, credit cards, and home loans giving players the opportunity to learn, earn, build and, play in a virtual world.
The American Bankers Association has launched “Teach Children To Save,” a Web site designed to make classroom lessons for children available to everyone. The site offers tips for young people and their parents on how to establish a budget, start a savings account, and make regular deposits.
The National Endowment for Financial Education has developed a new Web site dedicated to help people optimize their retirement paycheck by making wise decisions.
HelpWithMyBank.gov - The OCC’s Web site that provides answers to more than 300 commonly asked banking questions. While targeted at national bank customers, the site answers many questions common to all banking consumers and provides useful information about contacting regulators of state banks, thrifts, and other financial institutions. A link from HOPE NOW to HelpWithMyBank.gov has been established.
MyMoney.gov - The U.S. government's Web site dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics of financial education. The site houses important information from 20 federal agencies on such topics as buying a home, foreclosure prevention, deposit insurance, privacy, fraud, scams, balancing a checkbook, and investing in a 401(k).
MyMoney.gov - The U.S. government's Web site dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics of financial education. The site houses important information from 20 federal agencies on such topics as buying a home, foreclosure prevention, deposit insurance, privacy, fraud, scams, balancing a checkbook, and investing in a 401(k).
Have a financial literacy event coming up worth noting? Rolling out a new financial literacy initiative? Developing a new tool or product? Have general feedback? E-mail us at communityaffairs@occ.treas.gov.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Larry Winget Documentary Clip
Larry Winget, the "Pit Bull of Personal Development" and Host of A&E's "Big Spender" TV show, recently posted this clip of our interview with him which will be featured in our forthcoming documentary movie, Secrets of Money: The Financial Illiteracy Epidemic in America Exposed. Click here to see what Larry has to say about his life story and the importance of Financial Literacy!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Jump$tart Releases Summary of Annual Survey
The Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy has just released this .PDF E-Book (255 pages) which analyzes the results of the 2008 National Jump$tart Coalition Survey of High School and College Students. Click here to check out this interesting summary and their findings!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Financial Literacy Resources from The OCC
I just received this update email from The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and thought it contained a lot of valuable financial literacy resources which I wanted to share:
Upcoming Events
May 13-15, 2009 (Annapolis, MD)
The Maryland Cooperative Extension, a statewide system within the University of Maryland, will host the 21st Annual Personal Finance Seminar for Professionals at the Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, MD. The seminar is targeted toward counselors, educators, analysts, and other personal finance professionals. Expert speakers will discuss current issues and trends facing personal finance professionals and their clients.
May 13, 2009 (Houston, TX)
The Texas Department of Banking will provide hands-on training on three financial education curriculums: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart Program,” and Junior Achievement.
May 14-15, 2009 (Indianapolis, IN)
The Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University will host a two-day conference, “Improving Financial Literacy and Reshaping Financial Behavior.” The conference focuses on factors shaping financial behavior and how individuals, educators, and policy makers can effectively improve financial literacy and its influence on financial decision making.
June 1-3, 2009 (Dallas, TX)
The Center for Financial Services Information’s 4th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum will provide information from industry experts and on-the-ground case studies from across the globe, offering strategies and solutions to achieve profitable growth and long-term success. The forum also offers an exhibit hall focused on underbanked solutions and a variety of networking formats.
June 8-10, 2009 (Memphis, TN)
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, University of Missouri at St. Louis, and the Office of Economic Education and Business Research (Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville) will host a three-day event for classroom instructors. The event focuses on government’s role in the economy.
June 10, 2009 (Dallas, TX)
This conference titled, The Changing Economy: The New Community Development Lending Environment, is sponsored by Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas Mezzanine Fund, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This event will help identify ways to maintain community development lending with new resources, grants, credit enhancements and best practices.
June 14-16, 2009 (Brooklyn, NY)
The Corporation for Enterprise Development will host the 2009 National Conference on Children and Youth Savings to bring together innovators and leaders from the fields of asset building and child development to showcase youth savings programs.
June 17, 2009 (Washington, DC)
This global summit titled, Making a Business Case for Financial Literacy, Post Crisis, is featuring U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as the headline speaker. The goal of this summit is to promote viable long-term, systemic and sustainable solutions to economic problems. The Summit will frame the issue of financial literacy as an essential, core ingredient to mid-to-long-term economic recovery and stability.
June 17 and 18, 2009 (Nashville, TN)
The Nashville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta will sponsor the “Financial Literacy as Part of the Curriculum” workshop, designed for educators to learn more about financial literacy as part of a high school curriculum. The workshop addresses the new high school personal finance course and tactics for integrating personal finance instruction into existing courses.
July 20-24, 2009 (Boston, MA)
Junior Achievement Worldwide will hold its Worldwide Leadership Conference in Boston, MA, with the theme, “Connecting to Build a Better World.”
July 20-24, 2009 (Philadelphia, PA)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will offer the “Making Sense of Money and Banking” five-day course for teachers in Philadelphia. The course covers money, banking, and the Federal Reserve System and will be taught by Federal Reserve economists, economic education specialists, and staff from the state centers on economic education.
August 19, 2009 (Dallas, TX)
The Texas Department of Banking will provide hands-on training on three financial education curriculums: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart Program,” and Junior Achievement.
August 31–September 1, 2009 (San Antonio, TX)
The National Community Tax Coalition, a project of the Center for Economic Progress, will hold its 2009 Annual Conference. Themed “Realizing the Dream: Promoting Financial Opportunity in All Communities,” the two-day conference provides opportunities for training, learning, networking, and shaping the direction of community-based tax preparation, financial services, leadership development, and advocacy.
October 7-10, 2009 (Washington, DC)
The Council for Economic Education, National Association of Economic Educators, and Global Association of Teachers of Economics will hold it 2009 annual conference. The conference is largest national conference focusing on K-12 economic, personal finance, and entrepreneurship education.
October 21-23, 2009 (Philadelphia, PA)
The Institute for Financial Literacy will host the 2009 Annual Conference on Financial Education. The conference provides professional development opportunities for individuals working in the fields of financial literacy and education.
November 4, 2009 (Lubbock, TX)
The Texas Department of Banking will provide hands-on training on three financial education curriculums: the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’s “Building Wealth,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Money Smart Program,” and Junior Achievement.
The Boys and Girls Club of America partnered with the Charles Schwab Foundation, to create Money Matters: Make It Count. This financial literacy program was designed specifically to help teens (ages 13 to18) expand their knowledge of money management and learn the skills that lead to financial independence and well-being.
The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, operates a financial security program which targets youth, financially vulnerable populations and consumers. The goal of the program is to enable individuals to make sound financial decisions that will help them acquire the knowledge, skills, and motivation to build financial security. Programs focus on behavioral change, starting with achieving financial self-sufficiency, then stability.
The Extension Financial Security for All Community of Practice (COP) hosts a series of informational chat sessions. People can ask questions and get answers from personal finance experts. The March Chat focused on Federal Income Tax Planning. The April Chat dealt with Banking and Unbanked. Records and transcripts are available online. These monthly chat sessions are scheduled through November 2009.
FICO, a provider of analytics, decision management technology and consumer credit empowerment, introduced the FICO® Mortgage Recovery Initiative (FICO® MRI) to help homeowners and lenders address the growing problem of mortgage foreclosures. FICO® MRI was developed in collaboration with leading mortgage industry partners to help lenders address immediate challenges with mortgage modifications while mitigating new delinquencies that are near on the horizon.
Junior Achievement, with sponsorship from Capital One, plans to build the region’s first Finance Park facility, scheduled to open in Fairfax County, VA, in January 2010. The Finance Park, a 20,000 sq. ft. facility with state-of-the art technologies, is designed to provide hands-on solutions on personal financial management topics for over 13,000 young people a year.
Junior Achievement, with the support of The Allstate Foundation, conducted its tenth annual “Teens and Personal Finance” poll in late February. The survey assesses how the current economic climate has impacted the spending and saving habits of American teens. For more information about Junior Achievement’s financial literacy programs, visit www.ja.org/programs.
Over the past few months, Junior Achievement delivered two comprehensive white papers (“Understanding the Stock Market Fluctuations” and “Understanding the Financial Crisis”) to every school system in the Greater Washington State Region. The papers are available online and Junior Achievement plans to publish additional papers on financial topics quarterly.
The MetLife Study of the American Dream set out to determine American attitudes and perceptions in light of the current economic situation and the ongoing erosion of traditional corporate and social safety nets. The study surveyed a cross-section of U.S. adults, in all generations and ethnic groups, to find out how their lives have changed—and how the American dream itself has changed—in the past year. Read the results on its Web site.
The National Consumer League runs LifeSmarts, a national consumer education competition program for middle and high school students, which develops and rewards teens for their marketplace financial knowledge. Teams of four to five teens, coached by an adult participant, compete in district and state matches with state winners going to the national competition to vie for the national LifeSmarts title. For more information, call (202) 835-3323 or e-mail the National Consumer League.
The Wisconsin Jump$tart Coalition partnered with professional educators to create the National Institute of Financial and Economic Literacy, which provides teachers with tools and training to educate local youth. For more information on what this new organization can do for schools, call (608) 267-1713 or e-mail Teresa Walker.
The West Virginia State Auditor’s Office is offering Money Matters, a free seminar on investor education and financial literacy for classroom or group presentations. The program includes the “Stock Market Game,” in which attendees become participants in an active stock exchange. Since its inception, Money Matters has been presented to over 8,000 students and 2,000 teachers. For more information, e-mail James Rutledge, Outreach Manager.
The American Bankers Association Education Foundation launched teachchildrentosave.com, making the Teach Children to Save program -- historically only delivered through classroom lessons -- available to the public via the Web. The Web site offers tips for young people and their parents on how to set a budget, start a savings account, and make deposits regularly. Also, there is the “Saver’s Pledge” that youth can take as they vow to become lifelong savers.
The 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy program provides a comprehensive approach for consumers of all stages of life to making informed financial decisions. The program combines grassroots, state-driven financial literacy models with free resources for the public and tools that certified public accountants can use at the local level when volunteering to educate others.
Consolidated Credit Counseling Services partners with businesses and organizations to bring “Financial Responsibility in the Workplace” programs into communities. The staff provides financial education to individuals and employers, free seminars, financial literature libraries, and Web-based financial tools for employees and their families.
The Council for Economic Education advocates for better and greater school-based economic and personal finance education at the K-12 level. Its goal is to empower young people in the United States and around the world, primarily through well-prepared teachers, with economic and financial literacy.
The Federal Trade Commission recently launched its “Money Matters” Web site, which offers short, practical tips, videos, and links to reliable resources and information on such topics as credit repair, debt collection, job-hunting and job scams, vehicle repossession, managing mortgage payments, and foreclosure rescue scams.
The Journal of Extension, the official refereed journal of the Cooperative Extension System, has a new Web site. The Journal of Extension expands and updates the research and knowledge base for extension professionals and other adult educators to improve their effectiveness.
The Jump$tart Clearinghouse provides an easy-to-use, free online database of personal finance materials designed for teaching and learning. The clearinghouse includes CDs, DVDs, interactive online programs, lesson plans, teaching guides, textbooks, informational brochures, simulation games, and posters.
The Money Mammals are characters created specifically to teach kids the value of money. The Web site offers educational videos and games for children as well as the opportunity to join the “Saving Money Is Fun” kids club.
Nuestro Barrio is a Spanish-language miniseries about Hispanic life in the United States. The miniseries uses the telenovela, or soap opera, to engage and entertain consumers on various issues, including banking and homeownership. The TV show is one of the largest financial literacy efforts in the country, broadcasting to over 25 million households and distributing more than 60,000 DVDs. Nuestro Barrio is a collaboration between the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina and Café con Leche Production.
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) released a free, consumer video, “Avoiding Foreclosure,” that introduces four clients who found themselves in mortgage trouble for different reasons and sought assistance from an NFCC-certified housing counselor. The video introduces consumers to some of the terms and scenarios they are likely to encounter as they work to save their own homes; familiarizes consumers with the process for avoiding foreclosure; and shows real-life examples and how they worked through their challenges with the help of an NFCC-certified housing counselor.
NFCC redesigned its Web site, www.DebtAdvice.org, which allows consumers to access numerous financial education tools and reach an NFCC-certified credit counselor closest to them.
The National Endowment for Financial Education, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping people make sound financial decisions throughout life, has redesigned its Web site. The Web site provides relevant content, interactive tools and quizzes, an e-newsletter, and forums to help people understand and manage money.
The OCC released the April 2009 issue of Community Developments Investments, Cultivating Community-based Financial Literacy Initiatives. The newsletter highlights roles that banks can play in promoting financial stability through local partnership efforts. Articles describe four programs that help banks and their community partners reach out to consumers to encourage better money management through savings and checking products.
OCC Community Developments Insights School-Based Bank Savings Programs: Bringing Financial Education to Students, discusses how banks can set up school-based bank savings programs to help students learn about the importance of saving and managing their personal finances. Students receive “hands-on” learning, while banks gain visibility in the communities they serve.
OCC Consumer Advisory, Protect Your Family from Foreclosure Prevention Scams” (April 2009), provides information about scams promising to "rescue" consumers from foreclosure. These scams are popping up at an alarming rate nationwide. The advisory addresses how homeowners can protect themselves and their homes. The advisory also provides tips on how to differentiate between scams and legitimate resources.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Candid Comments from Executive Producer of Financial Literacy Documentary Film
Check out some my candid comments and findings as we were in the process of filming the forthcoming documentary movie, Secrets of Money: The Financial Illiteracy Epidemic in America Exposed. Shocking stuff! For more details -- http://www.SecretsOfMoneyMovie.com.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
FREE Tele-Seminar on Monday, 4/6
In order to help promote April being "Financial Literacy Month," I have teamed up with several other Financial Literacy Advocates to host multiple FREE tele-seminars next week and offer some much needed financial advice to consumers.
My topic is going to be some little-known tips about consumer credit that will save you money, as well as expanding upon my discussion on "Why you should CUT UP your ATM Debit Card, but KEEP your Credit Card." Lots of good information and it's all free. I've never offered one of these tele-seminars before, so I hope that you will join on the call and and give me your feedback.
My time on Monday (4/6) is 1:00 pm (Eastern) with a repeat at 9:00 pm (Eastern). Click here for the call-in details and I hope to "see" you there!
My topic is going to be some little-known tips about consumer credit that will save you money, as well as expanding upon my discussion on "Why you should CUT UP your ATM Debit Card, but KEEP your Credit Card." Lots of good information and it's all free. I've never offered one of these tele-seminars before, so I hope that you will join on the call and and give me your feedback.
My time on Monday (4/6) is 1:00 pm (Eastern) with a repeat at 9:00 pm (Eastern). Click here for the call-in details and I hope to "see" you there!
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