The National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) is a proud partner of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education® (AFCPE®). NEFE has supported the annual AFCPE Symposium for many years as an exhibitor and strives to provide quality, research-backed resources for financial counselors and educators. Part of the power of this partnership stems from the overlapping visions of the two organizations.

NEFE vision:

“We envision a world where people make informed, thoughtful and beneficial financial decisions that are aligned with their values so that they can enjoy better, more secure and more satisfying lives.”

AFCPE vision:

“A future where all people — regardless of income or background — are empowered to achieve lasting financial well-being through the highest standards of financial counseling, coaching and education.”

Both organizations envision a future where people are empowered to achieve financial well-being through quality information and services. As a result of these overlapping visions, there is much common ground in our work.

All of NEFE’s resources are noncommercial and available at no cost. This means financial counselors and educators can use these materials for free and without the fear of a hidden agenda or advertisements. These resources can be passed onto a client or used within a program. NEFE is an independent, nonprofit foundation that operates from its endowment and does not accept outside donations. Learn more about the funding behind the free here.

NEFE provides resources in several ways to help financial counselors and educators: through research, curricula and counseling tools.

Research

NEFE funds research that furthers the field of financial education. Through these studies, you can learn more about financial literacy best practices and financial behaviors. You can find summaries of NEFE-funded research here. From this pool of research, NEFE identified the Five Key Factors for Effective Financial Education.

Curriculum

NEFE also provides a free research-based curriculum for a wide variety of ages.

  • NEFE’s Financial Workshop Kits provides downloadable workshop kits on topics from college to retirementand special situations ranging from living on entry-level wages to military money management.
  • The High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP) is NEFE’s oldest program and has reached more than 11.5 million students and individuals since its inception in 1984. This curriculum for grades 8-12 covers six key financial modules and can be downloaded at HSFPP.org. If you would prefer, NEFE also will ship these materials to you at no cost.
  • CashCourse is NEFE’s online financial literacy resource for colleges. The site includes hundreds of articles, online coursework modules and a budget wizard designed to help students create a spending plan. CashCourse is used at more than 1,000 colleges and universities in the U.S.
  • If you would like to evaluate your own program, check out NEFE’s Financial Education Evaluation Toolkit, which was designed specifically to assist educators in evaluating financial literacy programs. This tool will help you develop pre- and post-tests to measure impact and make continuous improvements.

Financial Counseling Tools

NEFE also provides free financial counseling tools available to you or your clients.

  • In summer 2016, NEFE introduced online, self-guided courses through Smart About Money (SAM). This is a great resource for your clients who want to learn more about money management, but need the flexibility of an online course.
  • My Retirement Paycheck is a NEFE website that provides holistic advice on all things retirement. This is an especially useful resource for aging populations or those just getting started with retirement planning.
  • NEFE’s LifeValues Quiz and Financial Identity Quiz help identify and clarify financial values. Both of these quizzes give consumers a better understanding of their own approach to money management.

A future of empowered, informed financial decision making requires effective educators and trustworthy resources. NEFE is here to support the community of AFCPE professionals to achieve this future.

Guest Contributor: National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE)

January 11, 2017

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *