Fannie Mae Foundations Financial Tool Kit:

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Fannie Mae Foundations Financial Tool Kit
Making Financial Skills Education a Reality
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Americans Experience Financial Stress

• Over 60 of Americans have trouble paying their
  bills and worry about money
• 75 of Americans recently faced a significant
  financial problem
• 15 of the workforce have financial problems that
  decrease their productivity
• Common financial problems include overspending,
  misuse of credit, lack of money management, and
  no personal or retirement savings

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Poor Financial Skills Result in Lower Quality of
Life

• How much money is your workplace losing due to
• employee absenteeism
• employees extended breaks to deal with financial
  issues
• distracted employees who cannot focus on work
• employees who seek managerial assistance or cash
  advances to deal with financial crisis
• employees who fail to use direct deposit or
  retirement savings plans
• higher turnover and increased training costs

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Personal Financial Skills Education Works

• Two-thirds of participants improve their
  financial situation with professional assistance
  within 12 months
• Financial education participants report that
  they
• make better financial decisions
• see improvements in their financial situation
• are able to set aside more money for savings and
  retirement
• lower their household debt-to-income ratio
• receive better job performance ratings
• have better health

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Personal Financial Skills Education Benefits
Employers

• Improving employee financial wellness can account
  for a 25 increase in productivity
• First-year return on employers investment in
  financial education is over 400 per employee who
  improves their financial behavior
• fewer absences
• less time handling financial matters
• increased productivity
• Employers can expect a 31 return on their
  investment in employee financial education

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Partnership Develops Financial Tool Kit

• Fannie Mae Foundation discovers need
• Home Depot workforce financial issues include
• half the workforce without direct deposit
• many employees experiencing garnishment of wages
• increasing number of employees using emergency
  loan fund
• excessive Human Resources staff time verifying
  employment for non-banked associates
• Home Depot, Fannie Mae Foundation, and Consumer
  Credit Counseling of Atlanta join forces to
  develop financial skills education

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The Financial Tool Kit Helps You Take Action

• You can customize tools to meet your
  participants needs, the resources include
• interactive participant workbooks
• instructor manual
• consumer homebuying guides
• videos
• templates for flyers and posters
• templates for financial skills newsletter articles

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The Curriculum Targets Essential Financial Skills

• The curriculum builds skills that are critical to
  personal financial wellness, such as
• developing a spending plan
• identify savings goals
• take control of the flow of household money
• working with checking and savings accounts
• increase awareness of money management practices
• learn about checking and savings accounts
• understanding credit and your credit report
• understand the concept of credit
• learn to read and work with credit reports
• getting a loan
• learn about the lending process
• understand how to avoid predatory lenders

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Select the OptimumEducational Approach for Your
Organization

• Successful workplace education uses multiple
  delivery channels such as
• workshops
• self-study materials
• newsletters
• Internet/intranet
• posters
• flyers

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Offer an Educational Environment That Suits Your
Participants

• Financial skills education may be provided in a
  number of ways, such as
• full-day classes
• self-study workbooks
• after work or weekend sessions

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Launching Personal Financial SkillsEducation
Requires a Minimal Investment

• Board commitment and support is essential
• Utilize free Fannie Mae Foundation resources
• personal financial skills workbooks and
  instructor guides
• consumer guides and videos
• Knowing and Understanding Your Credit
• Borrowing Basics
• templates for posters, flyers, etc.
• information for newsletter articles
• Dedicate staff time to launching and maintaining
  personal finance education program

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Next Steps

• Quantify need for personal financial skills
• Enlist board support
• Dedicate internal resources to financial skills
  education
• Order Financial Skills Tool Kit
• Develop communications strategy to recruit
  participants
• Design incentive program to encourage
  participation

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End Notes

• The information regarding the effect of financial
  problems on workplace productivity was gathered
  from research done by the National Institute for
  Personal Finance Employee Education.
• For further information, visit
• www.chre.vt.edu/NearEnvironments/ResourceManagemen
  t