- Should financial literacy efforts focus more on a "train the trainer" model? Mint.com survey finds parents have strongest influence on teen's financial behaviors (of course, most probably are not being taught this in school which may explain the low count for teachers):
- Ireland launches financial literacy website (www.makingcents.ie):
A website, www.makingcents.ie has been launched by the agency and the EBS to make financial literacy resources available in one location. “The issues people are grappling with have changed and are much more concentrated on debt and money management,” Inez Bailey, director of the agency, said. Problems range from not understanding special offers, to discovering when made redundant that mortgage protection insurance was only purchased for a year, to investing a redundancy lump sum in a risky financial product without realising it, she explained."
- Two college professors provide perspective on the role of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (New York Times):
Menus matter and can steer consumers away from expensive, complicated, or risky products. Advice helps, but only when it is focused on basics (like the “rule of 72” in investing). Commitment contracts or punchy messaging can help people make plans and stick to them.
- Wall Street Journal's Jeff Opdyke provides these fifteen money rules for your children:
- Credit.com CEO notes the importance of checking credit report on a regular basis (from Marketplace):
- Credit.com ran a survey a few months ago that showed that almost 50 percent of the public either had never seen a credit report or hadn't seen their credit report in the past year...Yeah, and that's just not good policy. One of your obligations as a consumer is to step up your game in terms of financial literacy, and one of the critical elements of financial literacy, is getting a credit report and understanding what's on your credit report.
- Discussed new rules on credit reporting agency ads: "...any site that's actually offering a free credit report has to prominently display a statement, which clearly indicates that if they're looking for the free credit report that the government has mandated, they will have an opportunity to click on a link and then go directly to AnnualCreditReport.com, which is a government-mandated site. You have to have the button that takes people to the government site."
- Look for a transcript of a recent Congressional hearing on the issue of credit reports later this week.
- What can the NFL draft teach us about personal financial literacy? I am a sucker for a good headline. Read more here.
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