Banking on National Financial Literacy Month | Millionaire Corner

April is Financial Literacy Month, but experts agree that it should be a year-round priority.

According to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) 2013 Financial Literacy Survey, 40 percent of respondents gave themselves a grade of C, D, or F when asked to grade themselves on their knowledge of personal finance. Failure to act on such basic financial concepts as setting financial goals, creating and living within a budget, saving for college or retirement, or establishing an emergency fund, can leave individuals and families vulnerable in the case of setbacks such as job loss or, in an extreme case, the 2008 economic collapse.

Financial literacy is prized among wealthy investors. Confidence in their financial knowledge increases with wealth level, according to ongoing Millionaire Corner research. In households with a net worth between $100,000 and $1 million (not including primary residence) only 8 percent of investors considered themselves very knowledgeable about financial products and investments, compared with 24 percent of Millionaire investors. America?s wealthiest households, those with a net worth of at least $25 million, are the most confident in their financial knowledge. Almost half (45 percent) say they are very knowledgeable.

Banks and financial institutions have been taking the lead to make financial literacy accessible to all. The latest initiative is BetterMoneyHabits.com, a partnership of Bank of America and Khan Academy, which launched Tuesday.

The commercial-free website was created ?to provide both bank customers and non-customers alike free, self-paced, easy-to-understand resources to develop better money habits. The site features short videos that employ animation and a casual narrative-style to illustrate topics such as setting up an emergency fund, tackling debt, creating a budget (and sticking to it) and ways to save on everyday expenses.

Another financial literacy website is Hands on Banking from Wells Fargo. The website offers age appropriate content to kids grades 4-5, teens, young adults, adults and entrepreneurs. The pre-teen section, for example, follows the animated adventures of an alien visiting earth and learning about money, spending, saving, budgeting and credit.

Chase Bank has developed a Financial Education Library, a series of ?workbooks? that can be downloaded from the bank?s website. Titles include ?Basic Banking Principles,? ?Personal Financial Management,? ?Credit/Debt Management? and ?Understanding the Mortgage Process.?

Eric Tyson (Personal Finance for Dummies) and Liz Weston (?There are No Dumb Questions

Source: http://www.millionairecorner.com/article/banking-national-financial-literacy-month

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