MyStartingPoint: Life Cents Timed To Coincide With Recognition Of Financial Literacy Month. Juneau, AK (4.03.13) In recognition of April Financial Literacy month, the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority (THRHA) will launch MyStartingPoint: Life Cents, an innovative financial education program to serve rural Southeast Alaska communities in its regional footprint for services.

MyStartingPoint: Life Cents makes use of the newest techniques to help people learn easily, including 29 individual videos covering such topics as: “What are the benefits of using a bank? “ How can a budget help me, How do I stick to a budget?, What is a credit union?, Should I use a credit card?, ‘Why does my credit score matter?”

Featured topics within the program encompass Budgeting and Savings, Money Matters, Banking, Credit Management, Homeownership, and Investing.

“The communities we serve can only be accessed by ferry or Plane, our goal is to bridge that gap and provide continuing education once Financial Cent$, THRHA’s Financial Literacy Program, classes have been completed” said Dawn Wesley, THRHA Loan Servicing & Financial Skills Specialist. .” Empowering the people of Southeast Alaska to be
self-sufficient and in turn create self-sustaining communities, one individual at a time is our objective. MyStartingPoint: Life Cents will allow financial education to be present in our client’s minds a lot longer that the annual classes that are given now.

“I could see how this program would help us with our large geographic service area, but also because it has features of pre and post testing, and incentives to spur usage that many programs just don’t have. Also the videos are an easy way to deliver messages to people,” said Jocelyn Ramirez, Vice President of Tribal Services and Operations, who was introduced to the online program during a presentation at the National American Indian Housing Council 2012 Legal Symposium held in Las Vegas last December.

“The system is helpful to the housing authority because it has pre and post testing to determine how much users have learned. This is important to the Housing authority as well as to funders who want to be reassured that a program produces desired outcomes,” added Ramirez.

The MyStartingPoint: Life Cents financial education program is created by the Community Financial Education Foundation in Washington, DC, whose mission is to empower the American public and reach underserved communities, teaching meaningful financial life skills.

“We wanted to teach people in a way they are used to receiving information,” said Jane DeMarines CFEF Executive Director. “In this digital age of cell phones, apps, computers, and Twitter messages, communicating using these same techniques is necessary. We also incentivize people to go back to reaching their personal goals, by offering contests with prizes, when a user has completed goals. The chance to win something is a big motivator, so we incorporate this to spur people to work toward their goals.”

For Immediate Release: Contact: Dawn Wesley at Tlingit Haida Regional Housing Authority (907)780-6868

Community Financial Education Foundation: 202-997-8785, janedemarines@communityfef.org

For more information, contact CFEF at 202-997-8785 or at jane.demarines@communityfef.org.

MyStartingPoint is a web based program that identifies user’s financial wellness and customizes a learning path that is unique to each individual.  MyStartingPoint is designed to help consumers understand basic financial principles, loan terms, and credit.  MyStartingPoint integrates CFEF’s outcome based curriculum with the flexibility of an online platform. Through the website, individuals can access resources including interactive budgeting tools, checklists, calculators, financial worksheets, savings tips, credit tips and credit resources.

MyStartingPoint.com is unique in that each individual is given a financial wellness score upon entering the program and as they complete the tailored curriculum they are able to raise their wellness score. An individual’s wellness score is the way we are able to measure the success of the individual and our program.

Community Financial Education Foundation, a foundation focused solely on consumer financial education, has developed a certification program specifically for financial service companies/lenders.CFEF wants to help companies to signal to regulators and consumers that their company is responsible, principled and transparent –in product descriptions, terms, and the small print.

A Certified Financial Education Lender designation tells the world that a company has met that goal. This certification, displayed on a company’s website, will be an immediate indication to customers and regulators that they maintain a conscientious level of consumer education on their websites and in their transactions, and a commitment to the goals of consumer awareness. CFEF will maintain a list on its website of those who have achieved the designation.

CFEF is unbiased in its approach and is committed to the principles of full disclosure, transparency, and, above all, consumer financial education.

Certification employs both a self-assessment, and an external Board Review assessment. While the Certification is not the only avenue to customer assurance of sound lending principles on behalf of the consumer, it is a visible signal that is immediately recognizable. Click here to see program details.

For more information, contact CFEF @ 202-997-8785, or jane.demarines@communityfef.org.

To get started: 5 myths about saving:

Five Strategies to Saving

1. Pay off high-cost debt
2. Save for emergencies
3. Participate in a work-related retirement program
4. Outside of work, save monthly through an automatic transfer from checking to savings
5. Buy a home and pay off the mortgage before you retire

Practical Savings Tips for Every Day Savings

-Try take-out once a month instead of dining out.
-Rent a video instead of going to the movies.  If you really want to go to the movies, go to the less expensive afternoon “matinee.”
-Or better yet, go to your local library and borrow books, CDs, videos, and read the latest magazines and newspapers.
-Bring your lunch to work once or twice a week instead of buying it.
-Don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach or you may end up buying more than you need.
-Cut down food costs by buying what you need on sale, buying generic brands, buying in bulk, and shopping at discount outlets.
-Don’t buy a sale item or use a coupon just for the sake of it being “cheaper.”  Buy an item only if you need it!  Shop with a list.
-Increase your gas mileage by taking care of your car with schedule check-ups, or just drive less. Consider carpooling, walking, taking the bus or metro, or riding your bike.
-Cancel your cable (or at least the premium channels), as well as subscriptions to magazines and newspapers.
-Exercise at home rather than joining a gym.
-Make your own coffee at home rather than buying from a store, or at least cut down the number of times per week you purchase coffee.
-Get health insurance.
-Track your spending and cash – know where every dollar goes!
-Organize a friend/relative/neighbor swap of clothes, toys, furniture, CDs, etc.
-Buy clothes for next year at the end-of-season sales – try garage sales and thrift stores.
-Find a simple hairstyle that doesn’t cost too much to take care of on daily/weekly basis.
-Take advantage of free entertainment in your community – parks, museums, exhibits, etc.  Go to free park concerts and other community activities.
-Try to buy with cash, checks, or debit cards. If you use credit cards, get rid of all but one or two, and pay off the balance each month. You can save hundreds or thousands of dollars a year by avoiding credit card interest charges.
-Always do your grocery shopping with a list of items you need  — and don’t buy anything that’s not on the list. You can save hundreds of dollars a year by avoiding impulse food purchases.
-Compare unit prices on labels when shopping (for example, price per ounce). You can save hundreds of dollars a year by purchasing items with the lowest price per unit.
-Avoid shopping at convenience stores. You pay for the convenience — the prices are usually higher than grocery stores.
-Consider taking your lunch to work rather than buying it. Depending on where you live and what you eat for lunch, you could save $5 a day.
-Review your telephone and cable bills for services you don’t use and cancel them. If you subscribe to magazines you rarely get around to reading, cancel the subscription. You could save tens of dollars each month.
-When choosing a cell phone plan, find one that’s appropriate for the calls you intend to make. For example, if you plan to use the phone only for emergencies, avoid plans with monthly fees or minimums.
-When your doctor prescribes a medicine, ask if a generic is available — you’ll pay less. If you’re taking a “maintenance” medicine, consider a mail-order pharmacy — you’ll pay -less.
-Before buying a car, compare insurance, gasoline, maintenance, and repair costs for comparable models. You can save thousands of dollars over the life of the car by choosing a model with low operating costs.
-Save hundreds of dollars a year on gasoline by making sure your car’s engine is tuned regularly and your tires have enough pressure.

Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) works nationally and in DC to build pathways to economic independence for America’s families, women, and girls. In addition, WOW has helped residents of the DC Metro Area move towards financial self-sufficiency with their free “Self-Sufficiency Calculator” tool. However, Sarah Gonzalez Bocinski, Program Associate with WOW, notes that, “[our organization] doesn’t really have expertise on financial issues, so to find this expertise…filled an important gap in our program.”

Conducting workshops on behalf of WOW at Planned Parenthood, Healthy Babies, and other programming locations across the city, “the financial literacy sessions…were a perfect complement to the more career and earnings-focused workshops offered by WOW,” Bocinski says. “Conversations around banking have continued among the groups long after the sessions took place.”

Educating on the basics of banking, credit, and savings, workshop attendees were often “so engaged” that “they wouldn’t let the [CFEF] representative leave until all their questions were answered, even though the building was ready to close for the evening,” Bocinski recalls. “It was wonderful to see… a complicated and scary topic [made accessible] and meaningful.”

One workshop participant reported in her feedback following the class: “They are doing a great job! It is truly helping me get back to where I need to be with my finances.” Thank you to WOW and Bank on DC for allowing CFEF the opportunity to empower DC residents!

Finite Mathematics professor Martha Whitty reached out to CFEF after she noticed that students were most interested in the financial literacy chapter. “The topics I cover are immediately useful in their lives, such as budgeting, saving, borrowing, interest…” Whitty says. “However, the students often have specific questions that I can’t answer. I realized it would be helpful to have a guest speaker who could answer the nitty-gritty financial questions better than I could.”

Besides answering questions Whitty frequently receives such as, “Where is the best place for me to open an account?”, or “What credit card should I start with?”, or “Why are credit unions better than banks?”, CFEF gave students tools, resources, and knowledge that they could use immediately. Whitty says she appreciated the sessions because, “I liked how the CFEF speakers spoke to the students as equals. They didn’t talk down to the students. Rather, they spoke to them as peers who just wanted to share their financial hints and advice with others.”

Jonas Singer, Director of CFEF, conducts a financial education workshop at VMT, December 4, 2010

CFEF is proud to be a part of Bank on DC, a collaborative effort between the District Government’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, financial institutions, and non-profits, bringing together banks and credit unions to offer accounts with no minimum balance requirements, no monthly maintenance fees, and no overdraft charges.

Bank on DC also works with some of the District’s largest employers to offer Bank on DC products and financial education as an employee benefit. One of these successful partnerships is with VMT Long Term Care Management, Inc., a leader in home health and nurse’s aide education, placement, and management.

While educating hundreds of healthcare professionals each year and employing over 200 home health aides throughout District, VMT recognized a need for access to safe and affordable bank accounts for its students and staff. “VMT has offered direct deposit to our employees for many years now,” says Adam Chandler, Office Manager of VMT, “but we have not always had a lot of success with some of our employees who are unable to get a bank account.”  With the help of Bank on DC, Chandler hopes to have “close to 100% of our employees enrolled in direct deposit.”

In addition to offering the Bank on DC account through enrollment drives and Human Resources processes, CFEF has worked with VMT to administer financial education for students and staff. Chandler believes that these efforts, combined with ready access to a Bank on DC account, strengthen VMT’s relationship with its students and staff. “At VMT,” he says, “we understand that our staff is as important as our customers. We hope that by partnering with Bank on DC we will take another step in showing our staff we want to go above and beyond for them as they do for our customers on a daily basis.”

The William G. McGowan Charitable Fund was established to realize and enlarge the magnificent human potential that William McGowan foresaw. Their vision is to impact lives today, create sustainable change, and empower future generations to achieve their greatest potential. CFEF is dedicated to the same mission; we hope to enable individuals across our nation to secure their financial futures by better understanding the tools and options available to them. By mitigating financial distress and exclusion, we foster equality and opportunity across our communities. It is our goal to inform people and help them to connect with the products and services that help them to achieve financial stability for them and their families. It is with great gratitude that we accept the grant from the McGowan Charitable Fund to accomplish this mission.

“Many unbanked District residents are forced to rely on alternative financial services just to cash their checks or pay their bills,” says Michelle Dee, Bank on DC’s Program Manager at DMPED. In an effort to bring about greater financial equality in the city, Dee says that the program can help people “save money on fees, build assets, and save money for the future.”

Over 2,500 Bank on DC accounts have been opened since the program’s inception in March 2010. While Dee counts this number as a success, she finds that one of Bank on DC’s most promising strategies has been the program’s “ability to provide financial products with financial education.” By offering expertise in financial education, outreach, and development, CFEF has been integral to this two-pronged approach. In addition to this financial education strategy, CFEF and DMPED have spearheaded a targeted community and employer-based approach to drive education and account enrollment, including joining forces with Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) to register recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in Bank on DC accounts on the spot.

These approaches, nonetheless, are not the final goal of the program. “A bank account is just the first step to financial security,” Dee adds. “Combined with quality financial education, Bank on DC can garner success by ensuring that everyone in the District has the opportunity to open safe and affordable bank accounts.”