Iowa Jump$tart Coalition

Money Smart Week Iowa is partnering with the Des Moines Bike Collective to host the 2017 Bike Bash on Saturday, April 29 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Join us for a day full of biking with family and friends.

There will be three route options that will all begin at Mullets. The bike routes include:

• Penny Pinchers (short route): Approximately 5 miles
• Savvy Spenders (medium route): Approximately 10-12 miles
• Super Savers (long route): Approximately 25 miles

All the routes will be on trails, and maps will be available prior to the event, at Mullets.

Register today to join in the fun! Participating in the Bike Bash is free, but registration is required. The first 100 riders to register will receive a free t-shirt!

For more information and to register, click here.

The 2018 Teach Children to Save Day is exactly onemonth away and will be celebrating its 20th birthday! Teach Children to Save Day is a free national program sponsored by the ABA Foundation, and was started in 1977 to coordinate bank volunteers in helping young people develop a savings habit early in life.

On Friday, April 28, 2018, bankers will be teaching young individuals about the value of saving and encouraging them to start young in order to save more. Bankers will be volunteering in classrooms, at after-school programs, at youth centers and in many more locations.

How can you get involved with the Teach Children to Save Day you ask? Simply register for free at the ABA website. Once registered, you will have access to free presentation planning tools, lesson plans, social media guides and much more.

To learn more about Teach Children to Save, click here.

We are in the midst of tax season, so what better topic for the classroom than taxes?

This year, the Iowa Department of Revenue has a tax year 2016 Student Income Tax Packet available to help educators and students gain a better understanding on how to complete the Iowa individual income tax return. To download this free packet, visit the Department’s website.

Also available is an Iowa Tax Information for Students publication. This publication includes details about filing Iowa income tax returns in a Q&A format.

Take the time to teach your students about taxes. You never know, you might learn a thing or two as well.

Money Smart for Older Adults (MSOA) is an instructor-led training developed jointly by the FDIC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The curriculum has been recently enhanced with new information and resources that allow older adults and their caregivers to make comprehensive financial decisions with confidence.

Learn about common types of fraud and scams and how to prevent elder financial exploitation. Most importantly, discover ways to keep your information safe and secure through advanced planning.

The curriculum covers seven topics:

• Common Types of Elder Financial Exploitation
• Scams Targeting Veterans
• Identity Theft
• Medical Identity Theft
• Scams that Target Homeowners
• Planning for Unexpected Life Events
• How to Be Financially Prepared for Disasters

The FDIC is offering a free webinar on Thursday, March 30, to learn more. Click here to register and to learn more about MSOA.

The Iowa College Access Network (ICAN) has started a new initiative called FAFSA Ready Iowa. This initiative encourages Iowans to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which can offer many grants and scholarships to college individuals. In fact, students have an 85 percent chance of receiving financial aid just by filling out the form.

Currently, there is only a 41 percent completion rate for the FAFSA in the state of Iowa. With the help of ICAN, the goal is to increase the completion rate to 70 percent by 2025.

ICAN has nine student success centers in the state of Iowa and helps with the completion of more than 6,000 FAFSA’s each year. However, ICAN wants to increase this number and help educate individuals about financial aid and the importance of filing the FAFSA.

The FAFSA Ready Iowa initiative has partnered with school districts, nonprofit organizations, colleges and businesses to help educate more Iowans about affording post-high school education and training. To learn more about FAFSA Ready Iowa, visit ICAN’s website or contact your high school counselor to schedule an appointment with an ICAN student success advisor.

Are you looking for a fun way to teach your teenage students about saving? How about letting other teens do the job? Check out this year’s Lights, Camera, Save! Video Contest finalists for a fun way to get your teens talking about the importance of saving.

Each year, Discover Debit sponsors the Lights, Camera, Save! Video Contest to encourage teens to make short videos to help educate themselves and their peers about the advantages of saving money. Videos, like the ones below, are produced from teens all over the states. The videos may be short and sometimes funny, but they can truly get the conversation started with your students.

Currently, voting is open for this year’s Savers’ Choice award. Take a moment out of your day to let these teens teach your students! To view the top five videos and vote for your favorite, you must visit the American Bankers Association’s (ABA) official Facebook page, like the page and submit your vote.

Not only will your teenage students learn about saving from students their own age, they will also help the winner’s build up their savings account. The top three winners in the nation are awarded a prize of $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000 to help towards their savings goal.

To watch more Lights, Camera, Save! videos and get the conversation started with your students, visit the ABA’s YouTube channel.

By the ripe age of 18, students are expected to know what they want to do in life, which college or job they would like to pursue and begin paying their own bills- if they don’t already do so. But, how are students supposed to know all this at such a young age?

Junior Achievement is, “designed to help teens find careers that are best for them, learn about saving and budgeting, and find out how they can start their own businesses.” Junior Achievement does all this by providing a variety of free resources for students and educators to use.

To access these educational resources, interactive games and assessment tools, visit the Junior Achievement website.

The Iowa Financial Know-How Challenge: Senior Scholarship, developed by Iowa Student Loan, is now open for registration to all Iowa high school seniors. The scholarship program gives students the opportunity to earn a $2,000 college scholarship while also learning financial literacy skills.

Thirty scholarships will be awarded to students who complete two online financial literacy tutorials and score highest on the related assessment. Each winner’s school will also receive a $500 award. To register, visit the Iowa Student Loan website.