Affordable Care Act Conversation

The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, has a large number of features impacting the marketplace, consumers and small businesses. In this conversation state specialist J. Michael Collins and outreach specialist Caroline Gomez focus on the impacts on families especially related to budgeting, taxes and other financial management tasks that people may need to plan ahead […]

Summer Reading: A Critical Review of Popular Press Books on Managing Money

This time on Lunchtime Learning – summer reading selections to keep you learning until we return in September. Books discussed – The Total Money Makeover Your Money or Your Life Guide to Surviving Debt Pound Foolish Voice over PPT A Critical Review of Popular Press Books The Book Challenge Books on Money Management: Can you […]

Understanding Financial Capability

What does it mean to be “financially capable,” how does financial capability differ from financial literacy, and are these terms simply buzzwords with short shelf lives? The FINRA survey data suggests a more comprehensive approach, including a well-being or wellness focus that does not judge the choices people makes, but helps them in the context […]

Check Your Free Credit Report Campaign – 2/2, 6/6, 10/10

This campaign represents a coordinated effort to increase the number of people who check their credit reports regularly. The goal is to help people understand why it is important to check their credit reports, how to obtain a truly free report, and then how to interpret the reports, which are often difficult to read. The […]

What are we learning about financial coaching?

Financial coaching is a promising approach to helping individuals work towards their financial goals, but the availability of coaching is limited. In order to expand the public’s access to financial coaching, the University of Wisconsin-Extension started training new coaches in 2010. The training workshops are open to anyone interested in coaching. This brief provides an […]

Understanding Financing Options for Education

Student loan debt has attracted widespread media attention due to recent increases in the amount of student loan debt in the US and the growing share of all household debt that student loans account for. This brief reviews these trends for Wisconsin, discusses the balance between taking on too much versus too little debt, and […]

Financial Issues for Military Families

Military families have some special things to consider when working on their finances. Families need to financially prepare for deployment and develop strategies to stay financially healthy during and after deployment. Programs specifically designed to support military families with mortgage debt, disability, and saving will be discussed. Resources: Financial Issues for Military Families Brief On-line […]

Financial Literacy Education for Children: A Review of Studies

This brief summarizes research about how children learn about personal financial topics, with an emphasis on in-school financial education. Issue Brief Financial Literacy Education for Children mp3 file* Financial Literacy Education for Children (April 9, 2012) *Listen now or download the audio file to an mp3 player for later listening by following the steps on […]

Financial Capability and Domestic Violence

This brief begins with a broad overview of the economic challenges survivors of domestic violence face. It then highlights early research on enhancing survivors’ financial capability. The brief concludes with takeaways from leading researchers and practitioners as well as a list of curricula and other resources. Issue Brief Financial Capability and Domestic Violence […]

Matching Curricula to Core Competencies

How can an educator select Personal Financial Education curriculum from what is available? This brief offers an example of one way to systematically compare educational materials based on the intended use. As an example of how this process can work four sets of materials—all available online—were downloaded and analyzed using a matrix of core competencies. […]