MyMoney Resources - MyMoney Five

Financial literacy help for educators and students alike. The site offers a plain and simple approach to: Managing Your Money; Credit, Loans and Debt; and Scams and Identity Theft. The information has an easy-to-use, direct style that focuses on the basic information people need, along with the steps they need to take. Consumer.gov also has videos and audio read-alongs to support different learning styles and multi-tasking.

Planning a funeral is an emotional experience. These practical tips can help.

Before you pay with plastic, learn the differences between credit, debit, and charge cards, and get tips about how to shop for a credit card.

This article provides an overview of bank-based financial education. The role of banks more generally is reviewed, and examples of Marshall and Isley (M&I) Bank's Consumer Education (CE) program are discussed. Evaluation methods used by M&I are described. Key factors for success include clearly defined priorities, a standardized high-quality curriculum, appropriately designed delivery, well-integrated assessment and evaluation, effective community partnerships and a willingness to provide supporting tools.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and U.S. Department of Agriculture convened the National Research Symposium on Financial Literacy and Education on October 6-7, 2008 in Washington, DC. Twenty-nine experts from the fields of behavioral and consumer economics, financial risk assessment and financial education evaluation were invited to summarize existing research findings, identify gaps in the literature, and define and prioritize questions for future analysis. Participants included academics from public and private universities and scholars and administrators from non-profit organizations and government officials. Numerous individuals also attended as observers. This document summarizes the proceedings of the symposium. The two-day symposium featured four discussion groups on the topics of behavior theory application, consumer economic socialization, financial education and program evaluation, and financial risk assessment.On day one, participants presented key research findings in their assigned topic area and outlined the most pressing research gaps. A discussion with the whole group followed. On day two, topic area groups met separately to prioritize key research questions in their respective topic area. The decisions made by each team were reported to the whole group. The total group then discussed and agreed upon ten recommended research priorities.

This short article briefly summarizes and provides a link to the final report on the FDIC Survey of Bank Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked. The survey was conducted in 2008 and the report was released in 2009. The FDIC retained Dove Consulting to help administer the survey of banks during 2008. The voluntary survey consisted of mail-in questionnaires administered to a stratified random sample of about 1,300 banks. The nationally representative sample was selected from the population of federally insured banks and thrifts with retail branch operations. In all, 685 complete surveys were returned, including 24 of the 25 largest banks. The survey finds that while most banks are aware that their market areas include significant unbanked and underbanked populations, relatively few have made it a strategic priority to target these market segments. In addition, while a number of banks are trying to reach the unbanked and underbanked, relatively few participate in the types of outreach that are thought to be particularly effective. The survey findings also indicate that although banks recognize the challenges associated with doing business with unbanked and underbanked individuals, they are making some progress in improving the accessibility of banking services.

This study analyzes the impact of the FDIC’s Money Smart financial education curriculum and training on the financial opinions and behaviors of course participants. The study collected data from 631 adult respondents who experienced some portion of the Money Smart program during 2004-2005 and also completed a pre-training survey, post-training survey, and telephone follow-up survey. The data indicate that Money Smart financial education training positively affected consumer behaviors as measured through self-reported responses to survey questions 6-12 months after completing the training. Among the significant findings were that participants were more likely to open deposit accounts, save money in a mainstream deposit product, use and adhere to a budget, and have increased confidence in their financial abilities when contacted six to twelve months after completing the Money Smart course than they were before taking the course.

This report was prepared to provide background on the “Bank On” model, a new approach for expanding access to safe, affordable financial services for unbanked households. The purpose of this report is to describe the landscape of Bank On programs, their origins, and their context within a broader financial access field. The report provides basic information about Bank On programs that currently exist, including information about program structure, partnerships, and funding as well as an assessment of successes, challenges, special considerations and gaps in the field. Information for this report comes from several sources: a Bank On program survey, research and information gathered for NLC’s publication, Bank On Cities: Connecting Residents to the Financial Mainstream, research and analysis from CFED’s forthcoming publication on the role of financial institutions in Bank On programs, conversations with Bank On program staff and research from experts in the field, including the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), the New America Foundation, the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and others. The report describes the overall financial access field, the emergence and growth of Bank On initiatives, details about the structure of existing programs, direct and indirect benefits and outcomes, key components of successful programs, challenges facing the Bank On field, and opportunities for expanding the reach and effectiveness of Bank On within the context of comprehensive financial access initiatives.

This article discusses the results of and lessons learnt from the Financial Opportunities Project (FOP), a comprehensive effort by the Center for Economic Progress identify, implement, and disseminate strategies for integrating financial services and asset-building opportunities with community-based tax-preparation services at IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. The goal of the FOP was that 15 percent of tax clients would take on an asset building service, an improvement from the 8-12 percent take-up rate achieved in past pilot studies by the Center and tests on the take-up of savings matches or Savings Bonds. The Center developed the Asset Building Service Delivery System (ABSDS)—a process-based model for offering asset-building products and services to clients served by community-based programs. The components of the ABSDS include 1) strategic program planning around asset promotion, 2) simplicity in process design, 3) specialization of staff to promote assets, 4) specific and targeted promotional strategies, and 5) customer-focused processes. From the fall of 2008 through the end of the 2009 tax season, the Center oversaw the national launch of the ABSDS and awarded three programs grants to assess the effectiveness and versatility of the op- erational models and programmatic guides of the ABSDS. To the extent programs adapted the model and tested new ideas, this season provided an opportunity to further refine the ABSDS. Overall, take-up rates surpassed expectations, with almost 27 percent of clients enrolled in at least one service. The article provides a more detailed overview of the FOP findings and identifies recommendations for improved delivery of asset building services, concluding that such tax programs can effectively include simple messages and financial education to encourage savings and improve financial management skills.

The Community Financial Access Pilot (CFAP) began in 2008 and was implemented through December 2009 by the U.S.