Council for Economic Education’s Survey of the States Reveals Slow Progress in …

NEW YORK, March 19, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
State standards stalling in course requirements and testing for K-12

The Council for Economic Education (CEE) released its seventh Survey of the States: Economic and Personal Finance Education in Our Nation’s Schools. The biennial report highlights the importance of economics and personal finance education by documenting its status in the United States. The report shows that while there has been progress since the first survey, over the past two years the trend has slowed, and in some cases moved backward.

The recent economic downturn has brought nationwide attention to the dangers of a financially illiterate society. But “while many states have addressed this gap in education curriculum, there is still a large segment of the American student population that is not being exposed to economic and financial education,” said CEE President & CEO Nan J. Morrison.

While 22 states require an economics course for high school graduation (up from 21 in 2009), only 16 states require the testing of students’ economic knowledge, three fewer than in 2009. Thirteen states require a personal finance course as a high school graduation requisite, the same since 2009. These 13 states make up approximately 25% of the U.S. population, meaning almost 75% of Americans have not received financial literacy education to date.

Funding for the survey was provided by the Calvin K. Kazanjian Economics Foundation, which has supported greater economic literacy since 1947. “This report provides a benchmark for states and school districts who wish to work harder to assure that economic literacy is part of every student’s education,” said Michael MacDowell, Managing Director of the Foundation.

The 2011 Survey of the States report is available for download at
http://www.councilforeconed.org/survey2011 .

About the Council for Economic EducationThe Council For Economic Education educates children about the real world through lessons in economics and personal finance. CEE supports better and greater school-based K-12 economic and personal finance education through programs reaching more than 55,000 K-12 teachers and approximately 5 million students in the United States.

Contact: Alicia Sellitti Public RelationsASellitti@councilforeconed.orgT: 917-822-9010

SOURCE Council for Economic Education

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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Finding the key to your dream lifestyle

If you visit a financial life planner you will typically be asked three key questions:

1) If you had all of the money that you needed, how would you live your life and what changes would you make?

2) If you suddenly discover that you have just five to 10 years to live, what would you do differently?

3) And if you discover that you only have 24 hours left, what did you miss and who did you not get to be?

The largest part of your financial plan is based on the answers to these questions. Most planners should align your spending with your values, but whether you are working with a planner or going it alone, its worth considering these questions to readjust your plans or create new ones.

Another valuable tool to gain clarity, and to see how much it really costs to live your dream life, is found at FourHourWorkweek.com. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, has created the dreamline: a simple spreadsheet based on the things you want to have, be, and do. From here you can see your ideal lifestyle in detail and then match a dollar figure to the dreams.

I created my dreamline and was surprised that the ultimate dollar figure needed was lower than expected. If youre lacking motivation or financial direction, its worth taking a look. Its much more motivating to make and stick to a financial plan when you have a clear vision of what you want and a realistic dollar figure attached to make it happen.

Angela Self is one of the founders of the Smart Cookies money group. Read her weekly column on managing debt and saving money at the Globes personal finance site.

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Carrick’s Reader: Our housing bubble beats their housing bubble

The best of the web on money, markets and all things financial, as chosen daily by Globe and Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick.

Our housing bubble beats their housing bubble

Canadian cities dominate this global listing of Google searches for housing bubble.

Lets spend the next 10 years together

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Take advantage of personal finance tools at work

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By Jennifer Openshaw

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Employers are offering more workplace tools for employees to protect their health and their wealth — and workers should take advantage of them.

Retirement readiness is important to workers and employers alike. U.S. workers as a group are $6 trillion short of what they need for retirement savings, according to a study by the Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. And the aging work force, with higher salaries and higher health-care costs, ends up costing employers more. Plus, many companies are moving to consumer-driven health-care plans, requiring employees to find the dollars to put toward those medical costs.

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You’re probably familiar with 401(k) programs, but there are other tools and benefits you should be aware of. Here are some of the most common:

Life and disability insurance:
Many companies offer subsidized insurance for life and/or disability coverage. It’s usually not enough, though, so you’d be smart to review it against what you really need. For instance, if you become disabled, will your disability insurance cover all of your salary or just a small portion?

Emergency assistance programs:
These are generally hotlines to help workers with anything from depression to bankruptcy. The information is usually kept confidential and deep help is often limited but they may refer workers to resources.

Employee stock option or stock ownership programs
: These programs allow you to be awarded stock options to purchase or to divert a portion of your paycheck to purchase company stock outright. You don’t get any discounts on their price and, as with any investment, you should consider carefully what place your employers’ stock should hold in your portfolio.

New tools to help build wealth

Two areas that have been undergoing some changes are in the investment and paycheck support services areas, focused on helping people figure out how best to spend their paycheck and build wealth.

That’s where HelloWallet comes in. Now used by companies including Marsh and McLellan, H.J. Heinz Co. and others, HelloWallet provides personal software tools to guide employees in taking the right steps to build wealth.

“We make the starting assumption that most people don’t think about their money and when they do, they’re intimidated,” founder & CEO Matt Fellowes said. “So one of our tricks is we’ve figured out what’s emotionally important to that person and provide them options.”

The company uses tactics like peer pressure or showing trade-offs to motivate people to make better decisions.

For example, a worker might have high credit card debt, but also want to buy a house. How do they make changes to accomplish that? “But that’s a tough decision,” says Fellowes. “So we’ll educate them and then nudge them over time, by showing the behavior of others like them who have no debt.”

Fellowes says HelloWallet has increased savings by 80% among its users, or about $300 per month on average. No products are promoted or advertised. If an employer offers the service, it’s free to workers. Without company sponsorship, consumers can subscribe to HelloWallet.

Other tools may help improve your investments and retirement savings, whether it’s automatic rebalancing to ensure you have the right mix of stocks and bonds or portfolio optimization.

Fellowes said that many retail investors “can’t get past the emotional issues, so they’re better off turning it on automatic and forgetting about it.”

Many employers or your 401(k) administrator offer tools to help you manage your investments. Financial Engines, one I’ve used myself, helps you choose the right investments to optimize your portfolio and reach your retirement goals.

The bottom line: Know which of these benefits your employer offers and take advantage of them.

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TheAdvice.com Publishes New Articles on Retirement Advice and Credit Card …

Personal Finance Expert Walter Edelstein has published new content that provides retirement advice on how consumers should consider paying off their mortgage before retiring and credit card advice on how to deal with missing a credit card payment.

Bayside, NY (PRWEB) March 20, 2012

Personal Finance expert Walter Edelstein, CFP#174; is providing updated financial information and advice on several important topics including retirement advice on how consumers should pay off their mortgage before retiring, and credit card advice on how to deal with missing a credit card payment. TheAdvice.com Personal Financial Site Network continues to provide consumers with free information and easy to implement practical ideas to help them achieve their personal financial goals. Following is a summary of some of the new articles published on TheAdvice.com Personal Finance Site Network.

Advice on Paying Off A Mortgage Before Retirement

There are many different ideas and philosophies on how best to save for retirement. There is lots of retirement advice about how much money should be invested in stocks, how much in fixed income products like bonds or CDs, and how this balance between equity investments and non-equity investments should change as retirement nears.

But another form of retirement savings – one that doesnt get the same degree of attention as those traditional investments – is paying off a mortgage before retiring. According to Mr. Edelstein paying off your mortgage before you retire can provide you with some unique advantages over traditional retirement investment strategies. This article provides information and insight on how consumers can pay off their mortgages before retiring.

Advice on How to Handle Missing a Credit Card Payment

With online banking and bill pay services, its become easier than ever to pay bills without having to write a single check or address a single envelope. But sometimes this convenience has a downside. Some people have gotten out of the once common ritual of sitting down at the kitchen table, checkbook in hand, to pay the monthly bills – and this can lead to missing a payment.

Missing any bill payment is a bad thing, of course, but missing a credit card payment can be especially problematic. Edelstein says A single missed payment could result in your credit card interest rate being increased, late fees being assessed on your account and the late payment reported to credit agencies which can lower your credit score. This articles provides consumers with important steps to take to both prevent and deal with missing a credit card payment.

About TheAdvice.com Personal Finance Site Network

TheAdvice.com Personal Financial Site Network was launched in 2009, and since then has provided hundreds of free articles and financial tips across a broad array of personal finance topics. Several of the sites in TheAdvice.com Personal Finance Site Network include:

Banking Advice – where consumer can learn how to save money, establish budgets, choose the right checking account, and start banking online.

Insurance Advice – where consumers can find answers to many insurance questions including how to secure the right coverage for all home, health, life and automobile insurance needs.

Mr. Edelstein has financial experience that spans over thirty years. It includes being a Certified Financial Plannertrade;, having a Masters Degree from Columbia University, and having served as Chief Marketing Officer for a major online bank where he honed his online marketing skills to help consumers achieve their financial goals.

TheAdvice.com proudly reaches out with this network of personal finance websites to help individuals and families discover the path to financial knowledge.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/3/prweb9301830.htm

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Monday’s Personal Finance Stories

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By MarketWatch

Don’t miss these top stories:

• How to find summer-vacation bargains

• Tax credits you won’t want to miss

• 2012 Nissan Versa SV

• Mutual funds say ‘bye’ to bad three-year records

Spring is showing its colors in many parts of the U.S. this week, but the West coast is still dripping from winter rainstorms and the central states are facing floods and tornadoes. East coast, you’re next. What a great time to start thinking about a warm, sunny summer vacation. It’s also a good time to start looking for vacation deals, the travel pros say.

In her Buyer Beware column today, Jeanette Pavini reports that the secret to finding the best deals is to know where the offers will be and exactly when to book vacation packages and travel. See when the best times are for travel to Europe, the Caribbean and Florida.

In our TaxWatch column, Eva Rosenberg says you should make sure you get all the credit you deserve from the IRS — tax credit, that is. There are a lot of very valuable tax credits available. However, the number of credits out there and the amounts are starting to shrink, so take advantage of what you can.

–
Anne Stanley
, Managing Editor, Personal Finance

How to find summer-vacation bargains

Looking for great summer travel deals? The trick to finding vacation-season savings is to know where the deals are (think Florida and Spain) and to know when to find them (shop for tickets and fly midweek).

Read more: How to find summer-vacation bargains.

Tax credits you won’t want to miss

American taxpayers may not be getting as much credit as they deserve and they aren’t getting as many tax credits as they used to, but here are six different types of tax credits worth a lot — so get your credits if they’re due.

Read more: Tax credits you won’t want to miss.

2012 Nissan Versa SV

Nissan fans will love the Versa’s around-town utility, but buyers looking for basic wheels may want to check out other brands with better-looking interiors and a longer standard-equipment list.

Read more: 2012 Nissan Versa SV.

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Tuesday’s Personal Finance Stories

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By MarketWatch

Don’t miss these top stories:

• Neighborhoods for multiple generations

• Texting and stock investing don’t mix

• Jeremy Lin’s star not fading off court

• Did you break your iPad? Take it the iHospital

Home builders, when developing new housing communities, have tended to build all the houses in the neighborhood for a similar demographic or age group. Now they are rediscovering the value of multigenerational communities, Amy Hoak reports. Neighborhoods with houses designed to meet the needs of Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y families can be good for both developers and the owners. Watch the video. I think they used to call these “villages.”

And in our SportsWatch column, Andria Cheng reports that “Lin fever” is still hot off the court, as the commercial value of the Knicks player continues unabated.

–
Anne Stanley
, Managing Editor, Personal Finance

Jeremy Lin’s star not fading off court

For his aunt’s first-ever New York Knicks game last Wednesday, Antonio Yu shelled out $560 for a pair of tickets, and, to be certain they were appropriately dressed for the occasion, he paid $250 apiece for two officially licensed Jeremy Lin jerseys. While the atmosphere of “Linsanity” surrounding the point-guard phenom may have died down somewhat on the hardwood, on the commercial side there still appears to be plenty of passion.

Read more: Jeremy Lin’s star not fading off court.

Neighborhoods for multiple generations

What are home builders thinking about? Multigenerational communities designed to meet the needs of Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y families all living in close proximity. MarketWatch’s Amy Hoak reports.

Watch video: Neighborhoods for multiple generations.

Did you break your iPad? Take it to the iHospital.

The iHospital is a chain of stores that fixes broken Apple products but takes Apple-care to new levels, Ian Sherr reports on Lunch Break.

Watch the video: Did you break your iPad? Take it to the iHospital.

ECONOMY AND POLITICS

New U.S. home construction falls slightly

Builders start construction on new homes in February at a slightly slower pace, but an increase in building permits points to a pickup in store in the coming months, U.S. data indicate.

Read more: New U.S. home construction falls slightly.

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The NFECs’ Announces Financial Literacy For Kids Coursework

The National Financial Educators Council announces their financial literacy for kids programs.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 19, 2012

The NFEC’s financial literacy for kids programs have been announced. The official launch date is set for April 30th. The NFEC already provides adult and teen financial education material, events and services. The expansion into the personal finance for kids space rounds out their current offerings.

With the April launch of the kids financial education programs, the NFEC now provides organizations complete “Life Stages” solutions to address their financial literacy needs. The new kids money management product line includes curriculum, training and support tools for these groups: Pre-kindergarten – 2nd grade, 3rd – 5th grade, and 6th – 8th grade. The new material will be shipped April 30th; however, organizations may pre-order to receive a 50% discount now.

The financial literacy for kids coursework provides comprehensive personal finance tools for those seeking to [teach children about money. The entire kids financial education programs include a variety of tools to create multiple touch points, which can increase long-term retention of the lessons according to the NFEC. This includes lesson plans, student guides, board games, video learning centers, software, games and the Certified Financial Educator Training program.

The children’s financial literacy program follows the NFECs”holistic approach to teaching financial literacy’, which is focused on teaching the end user and their support group. In the kids program, the NFEC includes material for the children’s parents including: Family Money Talks, Money Grows On Trees and a worksheet that helps families set financial goals together. With reports showing that most adults never received a professional money management course in school many lack the knowledge to properly teach their children about money. The NFEC material assists parents, so they can confidently open up the line of communication with their kids.

The financial literacy for kid’s coursework was developed similar to their other curriculum offered to adults and teenagers. It was created through collaborating with early childhood development experts, financial professionals, education experts and respected financial educators. The NFEC’s objective was to develop coursework that meets educational standards while being practical in nature so the youth can benefit from the lessons in the real world.

The NFEC developed the financial literacy for kids campaign to foster positive personal financial habits among children. The NFEC, a social enterprise organization, is dedicated to giving children, families and communities the financial education resources needed to empower young people with the knowledge necessary to make financial decisions that can improve their lives, now and in the future.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012financial-literacy/for-kids/prweb9286354.htm

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Buttoned Up: Must-have tech tools for streamlining finances

Many people put off organizing their finances because they believe it will be a time-intensive chore. Fortunately, in this day and age, it doesnt have to be. A wide variety of free and fee-based tools exist that can make the entire process as easy as pushing a button or two. But with thousands of personal-finance websites to comb through and app libraries filled with hundreds of options, its easy to get lost in the weeds.

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Dropping the hammer on housing

The best of the web on money, markets and all things financial, as chosen daily by Globe and Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick.

Dropping the hammer on housing

In this dissection of proposed new rules for mortgage lending, the Canadian Mortgage Trends blog argues that the federal banking regulator is getting too tough, too fast. Its one thing to induce a measured housing correction (which is probably needed in some regions), but a policy-initiated free-fall is another matter.

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