BizAnalyst Network: FYI National Edowment for Financial Education

Saturday, September 24, 2005

FYI National Edowment for Financial Education

Making People Financially Literate
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
� 2005 DiversityInc.com�
September 21, 2005
Calling all financially illiterate people: The National Endowment for
Financial Education (registration required) wants to help you understand your
finances.

The Colorado-based nonprofit organization dedicated to financial literacy
says it thinks many people in the United Statescould manage their personal
finances better and plans to introduce an advertising campaign to enlighten the
masses through the information on its Web site, smartaboutmoney.org.

"We have an economy, a society, where people are encouraged to buy today,
even if they don't have the funds for it," says William L. Anthes, the president
and CEO of the group, the National Endowment for Financial Education. "People
aren't owning up to the personal responsibilities they should to take care of
themselves and their future. The three-legged stool - Social Security, private
pensions and savings - is broken."
The new ad campaign is aimed at Americans between the ages of 35 and 55, with
incomes of $35,000 to $100,000. "We felt an awful lot of low-income
individuals are well served by programs targeted to them, run by organizations like the
National Urban League and National Council of La Raza," he said. "People with
over $100,000 in income already have an established relationship with a CPA,
financial planner or investment adviser. We felt the middle group was most in
need of receiving the personal-responsibility message."
The $2-million ad campaign for the site will be spent exclusively on Time
Warner media, including five magazines, 
Parenting, People, Real Simple, Time and 
Sports Illustrated; CNN and CNN Headline News; and AOL Personal Finance and
AOL Business News, The New York Times reports. Financial experts such as Lewis
Mandell, a professor of finance and managerial economics at the school of
management of the University at Buffalo, are skeptical about the effectiveness of
these ads. He also wonders if "just creating awareness and bringing people to a
Web site is going to get very many people to modify their behavior in a
significant manner. It just isn't easy for us to change our basic behavior
patterns."
George G. Daly, the dean of the McDonough School of Business at
GeorgetownUniversityand former president of the Investor Education Entity, said he would be
"surprised if the campaign had any meaningful outcome.""They're competing
with every enterprise in the world trying to tell people how to manage their
money - investment management concerns, banks, mutual funds; these spend far more
in a single day than NEFE is going to spend on its campaign," says Daly, who
added that "the people most in need of this help don't read Time Warner
publications dealing with finance or watch news programs."
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Rodney J. Littles
President
Rodney J. Littles & Associates, Inc.
Management & Financial Consultants
a Tax Pros Financial Group Affinity Partner

New York City-Atlanta,GA-Washington,DC-Caribbean
212-937-3893
404-745-0390
voice/fax

"We find comfort among those who agree with us--growth among those who
don't."
Frank A. Clark

<HTML><HTML> 
Making People Financially Literate 
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff 
� 2005 DiversityInc.com� 
September 21, 2005 
Calling all financially illiterate people: The <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/business/media/20adco.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1127239368-dUokg1LNe/zAJb82ioN0tA">National Endowment for Financial Education</A> (registration required) wants to help you understand your finances. 
 
The Colorado-based nonprofit organization dedicated to financial literacy says it thinks many people in the United Statescould manage their personal finances better and plans to introduce an advertising campaign to enlighten the masses through the information on its Web site, smartaboutmoney.org. 
 
"We have an economy, a society, where people are encouraged to buy today, even if they don't have the funds for it," says William L. Anthes, the president and CEO of the group, the National Endowment for Financial Education. "People aren't owning up to the personal responsibilities they should to take care of themselves and their future. The three-legged stool - Social Security, private pensions and savings - is broken." 
The new ad campaign is aimed at Americans between the ages of 35 and 55, with incomes of $35,000 to $100,000. "We felt an awful lot of low-income individuals are well served by programs targeted to them, run by organizations like the National Urban League and National Council of La Raza," he said. "People with over $100,000 in income already have an established relationship with a CPA, financial planner or investment adviser. We felt the middle group was most in need of receiving the personal-responsibility message." 
The $2-million ad campaign for the site will be spent exclusively on Time Warner media, including five magazines, Parenting, People, Real Simple, Time and Sports Illustrated; CNN and CNN Headline News; and AOL Personal Finance and AOL Business News, The New York Times reports. Financial experts such as Lewis Mandell, a professor of finance and managerial economics at the school of management of the University at Buffalo, are skeptical about the effectiveness of these ads. He also wonders if "just creating awareness and bringing people to a Web site is going to get very many people to modify their behavior in a significant manner. It just isn't easy for us to change our basic behavior patterns." 
George G. Daly, the dean of the McDonough School of Business at GeorgetownUniversityand former president of the Investor Education Entity, said he would be "surprised if the campaign had any meaningful outcome.""They're competing with every enterprise in the world trying to tell people how to manage their money - investment management concerns, banks, mutual funds; these spend far more in a single day than NEFE is going to spend on its campaign," says Daly, who added that "the people most in need of this help don't read Time Warner publications dealing with finance or watch news programs." 
Have a great weekend. 
Sincerely, 
Rodney J. Littles 
President 
Rodney J. Littles & Associates, Inc. 
Management & Financial Consultants 
a Tax Pros Financial Group Affinity Partner 
 
 
New York City-Atlanta,GA-Washington,DC-Caribbean 
212-937-3893 
404-745-0390 
voice/fax 
 
"We find comfort among those who agree with us--growth among those who don't." 
Frank A.  Clark 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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