News and Information about Financial Education from the FDIC
In This Issue
Message from the FDIC
The most recent meeting of the FDIC’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN) featured a discussion of a new collaboration between the FDIC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to help young people learn about money. The CFPB-FDIC partnership is focused on three strategic areas. First, the agencies will develop additional resources to help financial educators teach with confidence. Second, the agencies will conduct outreach designed to support parents and caregivers when they discuss financial topics with their children. For example, the FDIC will replace the existing Money Smart resources for young people with new age-appropriate materials that cover key age ranges from pre-K through 20 and include, for the first time, guides for parents and caregivers. Third, the agencies will identify and support innovative school-based financial education activities that provide hands-on opportunities for students to gain proficiency with financial decision making.
Similarly, last year the FDIC and the CFPB partnered to develop and distribute a new curriculum called Money Smart for Older Adults (MSOA), intended to help older adults protect against financial abuse and prepare financially for life events such as an unexpected illness. We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the program, and the interest in this curriculum has far exceeded our expectations. Over the past year, we've seen state agencies adopting MSOA for their training and outreach efforts, nonprofit organizations that work with older adults helping their volunteers learn how to use the curriculum, and financial institutions delivering it in their communities. It's clear that there is a tremendous need for -- and an interest in -- useful information to help older Americans avoid financial exploitation.
Our collaborative approach is not limited to partnerships with the CFPB. The FDIC is also an active member of the interagency Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC), which is working hard to help Americans better manage their money and use banking services to reach their goals. The FDIC encourages consumers of all ages to use "MyMoney Five," the key building blocks for sound money management, as a foundation to improve their financial health. To learn more, visit www.mymoney.gov.
Are there other opportunities to work together to promote financial education and capability? We are eager to hear from you about opportunities you see, or about promising approaches or successful strategies involving Money Smart that we can share with other financial educators in a future edition of our newsletter. Whether you are offering suggestions or looking for assistance, send us an e-mail at moneysmartnews@fdic.gov.
Mark Pearce
Director
FDIC Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection
FDIC Advisory Committee Discusses Strategies for Youth Education
At its meeting on April 24, 2014, the agency's Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN) featured a discussion with FDIC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) staff who solicited feedback on planned approaches to youth education, including ways to strengthen the ability of parents and teachers to support lessons about money. FDIC staff also unveiled a proposal to start a pilot program that would identify promising approaches for school savings programs. U.S. Treasury Department staff also presented highlights of their new study that measured the effectiveness of combining financial education with access to a bank account at a school-based branch. For more information, start at
http://www.fdic.gov/about/comein.
Our Latest Success Stories: Empowering Women, Young People and Families
Money Smart Alliance members that have been making a difference in their communities for many years by using Money Smart in conjunction with their support of financial empowerment and economic independence. One is a foundation that has been successful teaming up with an organization for homeless women, and the other is a bank that has undertaken a leadership role in a new program for at-risk youths. (
Read the stories.)
FDIC Consumer Newsletter Highlights Tips on Choosing and Using Credit Cards
The Winter 2013/2014 issue of FDIC Consumer News features practical tips for choosing and using credit cards. Additional articles offer suggestions on fraud prevention, saving money at tax time, and managing a home equity line of credit when interest rates rise. The newsletter also includes a quiz on FDIC insurance. Financial educators are encouraged to use the newsletter as a resource for their students or other clients. The newsletter is available free at
www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnwin1314.
Five Key Tips for National Consumer Protection Week
In observance of National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) 2014, held March 2-8, the FDIC offered five key tips on how to save and protect money. They cover how to protect your plastic from high-tech criminals; what to know about using debit, credit and prepaid cards; how to resolve errors on a bank or credit card account; tips about new mortgage rules; and steps consumers can take to improve their credit scores. The five tips and other consumer information for NCPW will be posted for reference year-round at
www.fdic.gov/ncpw.
Financial Literacy and Education Commission Reviews Initiatives for Children and Youths
The interagency Financial Literacy and Education Commission, of which the FDIC is a member, held a public meeting on February 12, 2014, at which presenters discussed federal, state and local efforts to enhance financial education for young people and adults. To learn more about the meeting and obtain information, visit:
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/financial-education/Pages/commission-index.aspx.
President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans Holds First Meeting
The inaugural meeting of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans was held on March 10, 2014. The purpose of the Council is to advise the President and the Treasury Secretary on promoting financial education at an early age in schools, families, communities, the workplace, and through the use of technology. For additional information, visit
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/financial-education/Pages/New-President's-Advisory-Council-on-Financial-Capability-for-Young-Americans.aspx.
CFPB Issues Report on Evaluating Financial Education Strategies
In January 2014, the CFPB issued a report that presents insights that can be helpful to researchers, practitioners and others regarding the effectiveness of different financial education strategies. Educators can use the report as a source of ideas as they consider how to best evaluate their programs. The report, entitled "Rigorous Evaluation of Financial Capability Strategies: Why, When and How," can be found at
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201401_cfpb_report_rigorous-evaluation-financial-capability.pdf.
Wanted: Your Practical Tips for Teaching Others About Money Management
Money Smart News highlights tips from
Money Smart educators in our Idea Exchange. This feature is an opportunity to share your strategies and successes with hundreds of other educators…and learn new tips from them as well. Please send us your thoughts on subjects, teaching techniques and/or marketing strategies that are working well. Your suggestions on any topic are welcome at any time. Please e-mail your tips to
MoneySmartNews@fdic.gov.
