Students in grades seven through eleven can now enter the tenth annual Money Smart Kid essay contest and compete for the chance to win $1,000 to help boost their college savings. The statewide essay contest is sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association.
Eligible students can enter the contest by writing an essay of 300 words or fewer, answering questions based on this scenario: “Your family faces a medical emergency. Due to this situation, your parent/guardian cannot work temporarily. Your family does not have much savings and will need to find ways to adjust spending.” Given this scenario, students must answer the questions: “How could your family adjust spending? What actions might you take to assist your family situation? How can your family prepare in the future for unexpected emergencies that have major financial impact?”
Essays are due by March 25. The student with the winning essay will be selected as Iowa’s Money Smart Kid for 2016 and receive $1,000 toward college savings funded by the Iowa Bankers Association.
The Money Smart Kid serves as an ambassador during Money Smart Week Iowa, which will be April 23-30 in several communities across the state.
Student debt is a serious problem – amounting to more than $1.3 trillion dollars – with long-term implications to quality of life for students and their families. While many issues contribute to the problem, an important step toward solving it is to educate yourself and others about options for making smart financial decisions.
Learn about the true costs of a college degree. Watch Broke, Busted and Disgusted Jan. 7 at a special presentation at the DMACC West Theatre. The film, to be presented by Adam Carroll, is designed to help college students (and their parents) better understand the potential repercussions of student debt and how to graduate with less debt.
Topics for every age group The Hands on Banking program offers all the basic money tools, skills, and information you need to provide your students with valuable financial education lessons. Plus, different lessons are available for kids and teens. Just pick your target age group and get started!
Helpful instructor guides The program also includes free, downloadable Instructor Guides that provide everything you’ll need to guide your students through real-life scenarios, group discussions, and valuable activities.
Alignment to educational standards The lessons for school-aged children are aligned with national and state educational standards for economics, financial literacy, mathematics, and English language arts, making it easy to integrate the Hands on Banking program into the classroom.
Click here to learn more, and click here to contact Wells Fargo’s Eric Idehen to participate in the program.
Quick links to additional resources
Click here to view program alignment to Iowa core standards
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), in association with the NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation, are joining forces to offer free financial advice through their NEW Maximize Your Money webchat series. The first online chat will focus on easing holiday money concerns and providing year-end tax planning advice.
NAPFA Fee-Only financial advisors will answer questions for free on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015 at live.kiplinger.com or through twitter using the hashtag #MaximizeMoney.
Maximize Your Money will feature 20 financial advisors who will provide specific answers to questions across an array of topics:
Easing Holiday Money Concerns—Smart financial advice on how you can make the most of the holidays without going broke, taking out unneeded loans or emptying your savings.
Year-End Tax Planning—Guidance on what you can do now, before the end of the year, to protect your investments and lower your tax bill.
Other Financial Challenges—From saving for college to investing to paying down debt, advisors are available to provide the best solutions to all your financial questions.
Participants can submit questions in advance and throughout the live chat, and/or read about easing your holiday money concerns and year-end tax planning during and after the event. Participants can also view questions and answers, as well as ask for financial advice, by using the #MaximizeMoney hashtag on Twitter.
The Golden Circle College Fair is traditionally the largest in Iowa, and is sponsored by Iowa College Access Network and supported by Iowa Student Loan, both members of the Iowa Jump$tart Coalition. Last year, 140 colleges and universities exhibited to more than 2,000 students and family members. Take advantage of this chance to speak one-on-one with school representatives from across the country, and attend breakout sessions on planning for college.
The 25th Annual Golden Circle College Fair
Golden Circle College Fair
Iowa Events Center – Hy-Vee Hall
Des Moines
Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015
12:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Pictured left to right are scholarship winners Carla Madson of the Urbandale Community School District, April Moffitt of the Emmetsburg Community School District, Jen Snyder of the Colfax-Mingo School District, LaRae Arment of the Alburnett Community School District, David Becker of the Ottumwa School District, and Iowa Jump$tart President Mary Sandvig.
Five Iowa teachers have received scholarships from Iowa Jump$tart to attend the National Jump$tart Educators Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, in November. Scholarship winners are winners Carla Madson of the Urbandale Community School District, April Moffitt of the Emmetsburg Community School District, Jen Snyder of the Colfax-Mingo School District, LaRae Arment of the Alburnett Community School District, and David Becker of the Ottumwa School District. This conference will bring together hundreds of educators from across the country whose work gives students a successful financial future.
“Financial education is critical to the future success of Iowa students. It is also important to equip Iowa teachers with the resources they need for teaching financial literacy,” said Mary Sandvig, president of Iowa Jump$tart. “The National Jump$tart Conference provides a wealth of tools and information to help teachers help their students build a strong foundation when it comes to financial education. At Iowa Jump$tart, we are happy to help Iowa teachers with this scholarship to attend.”
Five scholarships in total were provided by Iowa Jump$tart to Iowa teachers to attend the national conference, which will take place Nov. 6-8. The conference provides preK-12 teachers with financial education resources, personal and professional development and a nationwide network of colleagues supporting financial education.
Don’t miss your opportunity to attend Iowa Jump$tart’s Annual Conference for Personal Financial Literacy July 16 at the FFA Enrichment Center in the Ankeny DMACC campus. This conference is designed especially for educators, and provides a wealth of programs and materials to help teach financial literacy. Keynote sessions will include Mike Finley (aka the Crazy Man in the Pink Wig), Lincoln Hughes of EverFi and Robert Kinzer of the FDIC. There will also be a number of breakout sessions featuring a variety of free tools and resources you can use. In addition, K-12 educators have a chance to win a sponsorship to the national Jump$tart Conference in November.
2015 Money Smart Kid Essay Contest Winner Katherine Currier receives a $1,000 award presented by members of the Money Smart Kid Essay contest planning committee. Pictured left to right are Traci Stiles (Des Moines Metro Credit Union), Lori Ristau (Iowa Bankers Association), Katherine Currier (Goodrell Middle School), Matt Brown (Iowa Student Loan) and Kellie Masters (Wealth Advisors of Iowa)
Katherine Currier, an eighth grader at Goodrell Middle School, has won the statewide financial literacy essay contest for Money Smart Week Iowa and has been named Iowa’s 2015 Money Smart Kid. Currier was recognized April 24 at Goodrell Middle School. Currier will also receive a $1,000 Certificate of Deposit sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association.
“Financial education is an important subject for students to learn early, and it is exciting to see these students’ learning more about real-world applications and solutions to help with saving,” said Lori Ristau, vice president of marketing and communications at the Iowa Bankers Association. “Iowa banks are committed to helping Iowans reach their financial goals, and providing access to financial education resources through programs like Money Smart Week is just one of the many ways banks can help. That is why we are happy to sponsor this fun and educational opportunity for Iowa students on behalf of our member banks.”
Approximately 229 students from across the state participated in the essay contest. To be eligible, students had to be in grades seventh through eleventh and submit a 300-word essay. The essay asked students to describe the biggest obstacle to saving money and what technological and/or banking solutions might help them (and their friends) begin to save. The top six essay finalists also participated in an interview with contest judges. From those finalists, Katherine Currier was selected to be the 2015 Money Smart Kid.
“For the second straight year, we have had over 200 essays from bright students across Iowa,” said Matt Brown, chair for the Money Smart Youth Outreach Committee. “This year’s question placed a fundamental financial concept–saving–in front of middle and high school students, and we got a glimpse of the future by reading their creative ideas for technological and/or banking solutions. I could not be more pleased or hopeful for Iowa’s future.”
Currier wrote in her award-winning essay, “Many people start saving money, but soon quit because the urge to spend gets the better of them. The sooner kids are encouraged to save, the sooner they develop good habits for balancing wants and needs.”
Currier is the daughter of Larry and Vona Currier. As Iowa’s 2015 Money Smart Kid, Currier will serve as a spokesperson promoting financial education during Money Smart Week, April 18-25, in communities across the state. In addition to Currier, the five essay finalists were: Samantha Dilocker (Red Oak), Laura Stowater (Algona), Rachel Kerger (Ankeny), Andrew Wise (Johnston) and Christian Elliott (Bettendorf).
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has recently signed two proclamations to support financial literacy.
First, on March 9, he signed a proclamation declaring April 18-25 Money Smart Week. Members of the Jump$tart Coalition attended the proclamation signing (pictured above).
Then, on April 1, he also signed another proclamation declaring the month of April Financial Literacy month. In the proclamation, he states, “the state of Iowa believes knowledge of personal finance is essential for the success of citizens and state.”
Click here to learn more about how you can participate in financial literacy activities during Money Smart Week and Financial Literacy Month.
Saving for college? Preparing for retirement? Repairing your credit? Just wish you were better at managing your money? Sign up today for one of many financial education programs during Money Smart Week® April 18-25, coordinated by The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and hundreds of local partner organizations in your community.
Money Smart Week events are open to the public at businesses, financial institutions, schools, libraries, nonprofits and government agencies on topics including kids and money, credit building, managing student debt and retirement. Event information is available here.
Students in grades seven through eleven can now enter the tenth annual Money Smart Kid essay contest and compete for the chance to win $1,000 to help boost their college savings. The statewide essay contest is sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association.
Iowa Jump$tart Coalition 