Financial Literacy Tools

Department of Revenue releases 2015 Iowa Income Tax Practice Packet for Students

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Taxes 1The Iowa Department of Revenue is pleased to work with Jump$tart Iowa to promote financial literacy education.  That education should include basic knowledge about how to complete a tax return.  To assist with the development of that knowledge, the Department has created a student packet with examples, exercises, and instructions for teachers to expose students to the basics of completing an Iowa 1040 Individual Income tax return.  The Department encourages the usage of this packet and welcomes any questions you may have about the information presented.  Please contact idr@iowa.gov.

Download: 2015 Student Iowa Income Tax Practice Packet

Please take time to fill in the Tax Packet Evaluation to help us know where we can improve on this tool.

Financial Literacy Tools, Helpful Information

Enter Your School in Project Financial Literacy for the Chance to Win a $1,000 Scholarship to Help Students

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project_fl-logoEnter your school into Project Financial Literacy by March 15 – and you’ll also be eligible for the chance to win one of ten $1,000 scholarships to help your school and students. Scholarships are sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association and are available to help Iowa schools improve their financial literacy programs or provide scholarships to students.

Providing students with basic financial literacy skills helps to equip them for future success. Project Financial Literacy is designed to promote financial literacy education by providing high schools with an assessment tool, developed by Iowa-based Ednalysis, to help evaluate their financial literacy curriculum. The assessment tool is provided to schools free of charge thanks to the support of local sponsors, including Iowa banks. Upon taking the assessment, teachers and administrators who wish to address areas of improvement identified in the assessment may also utilize staff and resources available from TS Institute.

In addition, schools signed up for the project by March 15 will be eligible for random, regional drawings for one of ten $1,000 scholarships sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association to improve financial literacy programs or help students. Scholarship award recipients will be announced in early April 2015.

Sign up your school today at www.projectfl.org.

Iowa Jump$tart Information, News/Accolades

Member Spotlight: Iowa Division of Banking

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idob_logo_2013The Iowa Division of Banking (IDOB) is a state agency whose mission is to protect the interests of those doing business with Iowa chartered banks, licensed financial service providers, and licensed professionals through regulation that ensures safety, soundness, and adherence to laws and regulations. The IDOB consists of three functional areas: Bank Bureau, Finance Bureau, and Professional Licensing Bureau. Each functional area has three primary functions: Licensing/Chartering, Examining/Auditing, and consumer complaint investigation. The IDOB has provided funding for teacher scholarships to the Jump$tart national conference and is a proud member of the Iowa Jump$tart.

This member of the Iowa Jump$tart coalition is represented by Rod Reed and Mary Sandvig. Rod Reed is currently the treasurer of Iowa Jump$tart. He has served on many committees and positions, including president. Rod was president when the Iowa Jump$tart Coalition received the State Coalition of the Year Award from the National Jump$tart Coalition in 2011. At the IDOB he is the bureau chief of the Finance and Professional Licensing Bureaus. Rod and his wife have two sons (one a recent ISU graduate employed as an engineer in Des Moines and the other still a student at ISU). Rod is a graduate of ISU. He and his family are proud supporters of ISU.

Mary is currently the president of Iowa Jump$tart and has participated in several committees for over 10 years, especially with web content.  She has been with the IDOB as a systems analyst and developer for a little over 13 years. Her interests are quite varied. Two children, ages five and seven, keep her on the move. She loves music and is the drummer and marketing manager of the Iowa Falls-based variety band, the “Mudpuppies.”

You may find more about this member at:  www.idob.state.ia.us

Financial Literacy Tools, Helpful Information

Money Smart Kid Essay Contest Offers Students a Chance to Win $1,000

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MSWlogoStudents 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.

Click here for more information.

Helpful Information, Uncategorized

Preview Broke, Busted and Disgusted Movie Jan. 7

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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.

Click here to learn more about the film.

Click here to view the  Presentation Invite.

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New Report Gives Iowa a ‘C’ for Financial Literacy

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statemap-smallChamplain College’s Center for Financial Literacy in Burlington, Vt. has recently graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) on their efforts to produce financially literate high school graduates, and Iowa received a ‘C’ on its report card.

In this 2015 report, states were measured on whether they had personal finance instruction as a graduation requirement, made personal finance education a part of a required course, or had substantive personal finance topics in its academic standards that local school districts are expected to teach.

Just five states in the country scored an A: Utah, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia. These five states are the only ones in the country that require students take a dedicated semester of personal finance courses to graduate.

In the report, it is noted that Iowa does not have a specific personal finances course as a graduation requirement, but that the Iowa Core does contain a financial literacy standard. Iowa was also given “extra credit” for its 2014 Iowa Financial Literacy Work Team Report, which includes eight specific recommendations for improving financial literacy in the state.

This is the second time Champlain has produced such a report card, with the last report card being issued in 2013. Iowa received a ‘C’ on the 2013 report card as well.

Click here to read the 2015 Champlain report.

In related news, Iowa Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter recently called on all three of Iowa’s public universities to develop some sort of mandatory financial literacy course to help address the issue of student debt. Click here to read more in an article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Financial Literacy Tools, Helpful Information

Hands on Banking Resources for Iowa Teachers

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HandsOnBankinglogoAre you an Iowa teacher looking for easy-to-use financial literacy curriculum that can be used with any age group, aligns with Iowa’s core standards, includes helpful instructor guides, and is FREE? Then you’ll want to check out the Hands on Banking program provided free of charge by Wells Fargo. It includes all of these things – and more!

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

Helpful Information

Kiplinger & NAPFA to Host First-Ever “Maximize Your Money” Webchat on Dec. 10

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WebcastKiplinger’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.

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Money Teach Gives Running Start to New Financial Educators

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MoneyTeachLogo-articleMoneyTeach.org launched recently with support from NEFE to help instructors with little or no financial education background access to vetted resources and insight from experienced financial educators. Jointly developed by the Take Charge America Institute and housed at the University of Arizona, Money Teach is an online portal to noncommercial resources from a variety of providers and a forum to discuss what works and what doesn’t.

Teachers can choose curricula by length of instruction time, grade level, content topic, type of class and type of teaching material. Whether teachers need one 45-minute lesson or a 4,000-minute semester course, Money Teach guides them to resources meeting their criteria.

Numerous leaders in the financial capability community have worked to improve teacher effectiveness in recent years, based on insights from NEFE-funded research that found fewer than 20 percent of K-12 teachers feel “very competent” to teach personal finance. Money Teach supports several of the factors necessary for effective financial education by identifying vetted resources, age-appropriate materials to provide timely instruction and relevant subject matter.

See more at: Money Teach Press Release

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Lights, Camera, Save! Video Contest Encourages Students to Save

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LCS15-website banner770x200Sponsored by the American Bankers Association Foundation, Lights, Camera, Save! is a national, bank-driven competition that encourages teens to use video to communicate the value of saving and inspire others to become lifelong savers. The video contest is designed for teens between the ages of 13 and 18, and encourages teens to develop creative, innovative concepts that show the importance of sound money management.

Three national winners of the contest will also receive awards of $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000, and winning videos will be posted on YouTube to become part of a national campaign to make sound money management relevant to teens.

To participate, contact a participating Iowa bank to request an entry form. Click here to view a list of participating banks.