Category: Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Roadmaps to Retirement 2025

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Join us for Roadmaps to Retirement 2025: Global Lessons and Paths Ahead. This event will continue our discussion on strategies to improve retirement security at the retirement system level. The roundtable discussion will focus on the private retirement savings landscape in the US and how it compares to countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia. The roundtable will address both retirement savings accumulation and retirement income options, current policies and regulations, and future goals. 

Ahead of the roundtable discussion, we will be hosting a networking lunch! It is free to attend, but you must select in-person attendance WITH lunch when registering via Eventbrite. 

Event Details

Date and Time:

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

1:00 – 3:30 p.m. CT
*Optional networking lunch from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CT

Location: Tom and Ruth Harkin Center (2800 University Ave., Des Moines, IA 50311) and Zoom Livestream

Cost: Free!

Accommodations: 

American Sign Language and live-captioning (CART) in English will be provided for all attendees. Additional accommodation requests can be requested by emailing harkininstitute@drake.edu. 

Register Now

Contests, News/Accolades

The 2025 Econ and Finance Challenges Results

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Finance Challenge Finalists

Each year, the Iowa Jump$tart Coalition, with support from the National Council for Economic Education, hosts two major statewide competitions: the Economics Challenge and the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge. These events offer students a platform to demonstrate their understanding of economic and financial literacy through competitive, interactive experiences. This year, both competitions were held at the Iowa State Research Park Economic Development Core Facility.

Economics Challenge – April 9

On April 9, students from across Iowa participated in the annual Economics Challenge. This online competition tested their knowledge of economic principles through a series of examinations. Participants competed against peers statewide, showcasing their academic skills and earning cash prizes, awards, and recognition for their achievements.

2025 Economics Challenge Finalists:

  • Adam Smith Division
    • West Senior High School (1st and 2nd)
    • Clarinda High School
  • David Ricardo Division
    • Montezuma High School (1st)
    • St. Ansgar High School (2nd)
    • Ankeny Centennial High School
    • Clarinda High School
  • Middle School Division
    • West Middle School
    • Anamosa Middle School
    • Clarinda Middle School
    • Montezuma Middle School

Personal Finance Challenge – April 16

A week later, on April 16, the Iowa Jump$tart Coalition held the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge. This event brought together the top-performing high school teams from fall and spring regional competitions for a live state championship.

Teams were assigned fictional case studies and tasked with creating financial recommendations for their assigned client. Their presentations were evaluated by a panel of judges comprising economists, business leaders, and financial professionals.

2025 Personal Finance Challenge Finalists:

  • High School Division
    • Montezuma High School (1st)
    • Waukee Northwest High School (2nd)
    • Lake Mills High School (3rd)
    • Kingsley-Pierson High School
    • Clarinda High School
    • Bellevue High School
    • St. Ansgar High School
  • Middle School Division
    • Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School
    • Montezuma Middle School
    • West Middle School
    • Clarinda Middle School

These competitions continue to promote financial literacy and economic understanding among Iowa’s youth, equipping them with valuable skills for the future.

Economics Challenge Winners and Finalists
Teacher Training

2025 Financial Skills for Smart Living FIT Certification Training

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Join fellow educators from across Iowa and earn your FIT certification—an essential financial literacy credential that enhances your teaching and opens doors to new opportunities! The FIT training team will be in Iowa on March 28, 2025, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the DMACC Urban Campus. For just $50, you’ll gain a full day of interactive training, networking, and expert insights, plus generous financial incentives: attend the full day and receive $100, complete your FIT certification by April 11, 2025, for an additional $50, and if you’re already certified, earn an extra $50 just for participating. That’s up to $100 in your pocket while strengthening your ability to teach personal finance! Don’t miss this chance to elevate your skills and empower your students!

FIT is a financial education certification based on the latest national Jump$tart/CEE standards at no financial cost to teachers.

Sign up Today!
Challenges

Join the Quiz Bowl – Economics and Personal Finance Challenges are back!

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Attention Teachers!

Are you ready to bring some excitement into your classroom while helping your students sharpen their knowledge of Economics or Personal Finance? You still have a chance to join these Challenges – but hurry, the deadline to complete the steps is March 14, 2025!

Completing it is easy! Here’s how in less than 2 days:

  1. Register yourself for either the Personal Finance or Economics challenge and form student teams of up to 4 people while waiting for approval from the state coordinator. (takes up to 24 hours)
  2. Add your classroom teams on the official website and provide each student with their unique “access code.” (5 minutes)
  3. Let the students take the quiz through the “student access” button. (35 minutes)
  4. Check student scores and track their progress directly on the website. (see tutorial)

Why should you participate?

  • Pinpoint areas for improvement – Identify where your students excel and where they need extra support using their scores. Personal Finance Lessons and Economics Lessons are available to provide the students additional help.
  • State Finals Opportunity – If your team performs well, you’ll be invited to the State Finals, where you can network with other dedicated educators and high-achieving students as they compete for the top team.
  • Cash Prizes for the first and second place state winners!
  • National Finals Trip – Winning teams at the state level earn a travel expense-paid trip to the National Finals!
  • Recognition for Your School – State qualifying schools will be featured on the Iowa Jump$tart website, giving you and your students the recognition you deserve.

Still on the fence? Check out what other Iowa teachers and students are saying about this exciting opportunity!

Don’t miss this chance to engage your students in a fun, competitive learning experience while showcasing their skills on a bigger stage.

The challenges are sponsored by Iowa Jump$tart and the Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services.

Upcoming Events

The 2024 Symposium for Educators

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Join us for our first ever Symposium! It is a two-day event that will treat our financial literacy educators to an unforgettable experience! Iowa Jump$tart has been providing financial literacy resources and networking for over 20 years. This symposium will give 25 Iowa educators mutiple opportunities to learn and network so they can empower the kids in their community to build healthy financial futures. Please check out the website to get more details including the agenda and registration information.

Register Now!
Upcoming Events

April 30 | Harkin Retirement Security Symposium 2024

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Register now for the Tuesday, April 30th event!

Whether you’re budgeting for the present or planning for your retirement, managing your finances can be an overwhelming task. That’s why The Harkin Institute chose “Navigating the Journey to Financial Wellness” as the theme for this year’s Harkin Retirement Security Symposium. The event will bring together advocacy and community organizations, government agencies, and private companies and their foundations that work on financial wellness and retirement security. The symposium will provide a forum to discuss the most pressing challenges and find collaborative opportunities to address documented financial wellness needs and their relationship to retirement security, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations.

Agenda

8:30 AM Registration/Breakfast

9:00 AM Opening Remarks, Matthew Reed, Executive Director & Rayna Stoycheva, Retirement Security Policy Director

9:10 – 9:40 AM Morning Keynote, Adam Carroll

9:45 – 10:45 AM Financial education curriculum and best practices

Moderator: Stephanie Wager, Iowa Department of Education

  • Jennifer Anderson, University of Northern Iowa
  • Suzanne Bartholomae, Iowa State Extension
  • Ryan Osborn, Junior Achievement
  • Amanda Volz, NextGen

11:00 – 11:40 AM FINRA Achieving and measuring financial capability

11:45 AM – 12:30 Lunch Keynote Discussion, Mark Miller, Retirement Reboot (moderated by Chris Ferrell, Minnesota Public Radio)

12:30-1:30 Lunch & Visit Fair Exhibits

  • Stream fraud videos from Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services  

1:30-2:30 PM Financial wellness for vulnerable populations

Moderator: Jo Christine Miles, Principal Foundation

  • Angela Fontes, Financial Health Network
  • Ena Babic Barnes, Iowa Credit Union Foundation
  • Joy Esposito, Evelyn K. Davis Center Director
  • Kelli Soyer, United Way of Iowa

2:35-3:00 pm Featured Presentation: ABLE accounts, Iowa Treasurer of State

3:10 -4:10 PM Medicare choice & managing health care costs in retirement

  • Kristin Griffith, Iowa SHIIP Director
  • Josh Pearson, THI Senior Fellow
  • Iowa AARP, Brad Anderson
  • Medicare Rights Center

4:15 PM Closing Remarks 

Contests

Accounting Opportunities Experience and High School Case Competition

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The Iowa Society of CPAs’ Accounting Opportunities Experience

The Iowa Society of CPAs is excited to have partnered with other state CPA societies, AICPA, and Center for Audit Quality’s Accounting+ initiative to raise awareness of the accounting profession among high school (and middle school!) students through Accounting Opportunities Experience. A national campaign to bring CPAs into classrooms took place throughout the month of November. We even received a declaration from the governor of Iowa designating the month of November Accounting Opportunities Month! We held in-person presentations across the state to help high school students better understand opportunities in the business world. During 2023 Accounting Opportunities Experience, we reached 1676 Iowa high school students and presented in 39 different schools utilizing almost 50 CPA volunteer presenters! ISCPA is still accepting classrooms and continuing to give presentations throughout the year, not only in November! If you would like to bring CPAs into your classroom, please complete this 2-minute survey and a member of the Iowa Society of CPAs will contact you. Thank you for all you do to inspire the next generation of accounting professionals! 

The Iowa Society of CPAs’ High School Case Competition

The Iowa Society of CPAs (ISCPA) is excited to announce the Second Annual ISCPA High School Case Competition for the spring semester. This is a fantastic opportunity to expose students to the accounting profession! The case provides students an on-going, real-world learning experience – culminating in a day spent in person at a host company, either CPA firm or company, near you! This begins with an ISCPA member scheduling four visits to your accounting class this spring. Members will help supplement the accounting curriculum by teaching four accounting modules to prepare the students for the case. Topics include Accounts Receivable, Bad Debt Expense and other adjusting journal entries, Financing, and Financial Statement Analysis. After four classroom visits students will be ready for the Case Competition, which will be held towards the end of the spring semester in person at a host office. The case provides students the opportunity to finalize yearend financial statements and complete some basic financial statement analysis. In addition to accounting fundamentals, students will practice working in small teams and demonstrate presentation skills.

On the day of the Case Competition, students will be given the case to complete in small groups of approximately four students. ISCPA members will be on hand to assist the groups. During the office visit, students will also have an opportunity to tour the host company, meet a variety of accounting professionals, and enjoy a catered lunch courtesy of the host company. Teams will record and electronically submit their presentations. Once all teams have submitted their recordings, a panel of ISCPA members will judge the presentations and determine the winners. The winning team will be announced at the ISCPA Annual Meeting, receive an ISCPA High School Case Competition trophy, and each member of the winning team will receive a gift card. All participants will receive an ISCPA High School Case Competition t-shirt. This opportunity is open to all accounting students. No class is too big or too small. ISCPA staff will do all of the coordination! Does this sound of interest to you and your students? If so, please contact Natalie Harwood at nharwood@iacpa.org or 515-985-7104 to get signed up.

Upcoming Events

Virtual Teacher License Renewal Course “Small Change

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Building Financial Security” on Nov. 1 benefits both students and adults

Abundant studies illustrate school-based financial education programs impact both students and their teachers. Beyond the impact on students’ financial skills, results show that teachers exponentially benefited from financial literacy classes with improved rates of savings, lower levels of debt, and increased rates of asset accumulation. Iowa K-12 teachers and their students will benefit from “Small Change: Building Financial Security for Educators” with an Iowa State University Extension and Outreach online course starting Wednesday, Nov. 1 from 5-7 p.m.

The course content is embedded in the financial literacy standards of the Iowa Core 21st Century Skills and Social Studies, and connects participants with curricula, resources, and school-based programs for elementary, middle, and high school levels. Educators can earn one Iowa License renewal credit. Registration at https://cvent.me/r9dom0 by October 25, 2023 for the course supports education efforts to increase Iowa students’ financial literacy.

The ‘Small Change: Building Financial Security’ course features vetted curriculum and resources. It has been accepted as a BoEE Endorsement Class for Financial Literacy and Business Teachers.

The educator course focuses on making more informed decisions about financial management and building greater confidence to make small changes that can make a difference. Participants explore gamified lessons that are timely and relevant to themselves personally and to their classroom.

Lesson topics include:

  • Finance Fundamentals—getting organized, smart borrowing, estate planning.
  • Insurance—life, health, disability, long-term care, auto, home, liability coverage.
  • Investing—risk tolerance, investment choices, funding long-term goals.
  • Retirement—preparing for retirement, building a nest egg, Social Security, IPERS.

The course format requires participants to:

  • Participate in a live, virtual 2-hour introductory workshop on Nov. 1, 2023, from 5-7 pm.
  • Complete at least 4 of 12 gamified online lessons covering financial topics.
  • Complete assignments to promote financial literacy and connect with resources.

The course fee is $25 to ISEA members and non-members. Those who do not need license renewal credit may register and audit the course for a $10 fee. Check the ISEA On-line Catalog (https://isea.org/course) for this class.

Register online by Oct. 25 at https://cvent.me/r9dom0. Space is limited.Contacts: Carol Ehlers and Phyllis Zalenski, Human Sciences Specialist in Family Wellbeing with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, 712-732-5056 or xehlers@iastate.edu

News/Accolades, Upcoming Events

Registration is open for our Summer Conference

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Visit our conference page for all the details!

The Iowa Jump$tart Coalition is excited to announce the 21st Annual Personal Finance Conference will be held on August 10th, 2023 at the DMACC Urban Campus in Des Moines, IA. We would love for you to join us for a day full of learning where you are sure to come away with education around your personal finances as well as strategies and resources that you can use with your students at the start of the school year! Keep an eye on further announcements and announcements regarding the conference and feel free to register or submit a session proposal using the links below.

Contests, News/Accolades

The 2023 Econ and Finance Challenges were a huge success!

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The 2023 Personal Finance Challenge and Iowa Economics Challenge saw more than 1,000 students, teachers, and volunteers involved over the course of the 2022-2023 school year. Both events test the knowledge and skills of middle and high school students: the Personal Financial Challenge tests students on income, money management, spending, credit, saving, and investing and the Economics Challenge utilizes Quiz Bowl style exams on economic knowledge.

The Personal Finance Challenge hosted two competitions this school year. The Fall 2022 competition ran from September to December with 745 students and 12 teachers participating. The Spring 2023 competition had 637 students and 8 teachers competing from January to March. The two competitions culminated in 60 students, fifteen teams of four, competing for 1st , 2nd , and 3rd place on April 12th at Drake University and resulted in more than $2,000 in prizes to the participants.

The Economics Challenge hosts competitions in three divisions: Adam Smith for returning competitors, AP, IB, and honors students; David Ricardo for first time competitors; and Milton Friedman for middle school students (grades 6-8). This year saw 163 students and 7 teachers competing in fall and spring challenges. The final challenge brought 80 students (twenty teams of four students) to Drake University on April 19th, with winners taking home prizes totaling more than $2,000.

A great big thank you to the twenty volunteers and also to the sponsors, without whom these events would not be possible: Iowa Division of Banking, The Harkin Institute, Drake University, University of Northern Iowa, ISL Education Lending, and TS Institute.