April's 15 Ways to Financial Literacy

What makes April special? Let us count the ways:

April Fool’s Day
Income Tax Day
My Brother’s Birthday
National Frog Month
National Autism Month
No Housework Day
International Guitar Month

. . . and more!

It’s also Financial Literacy Month. Even with 2 days left, it’s worth it to take a minute and get a little education. (And it still counts even if you wait until May!)

Every couple years, the Jump$tart Coalition issues a "personal finance" exam to high school seniors.

The test highlights the importance of personal financial literacy among America's youth and comes at an especially important juncture.

In the last test, 12th graders answered 48.3% correct on average and posted the lowest scores since Jump$tart first issued the test in 1996.

Can you do better? Find out by taking the complete Jump$tart Personal Financial Literacy test for yourself online.

The average adult scores 68%.

There are a great many other links concerning financial literacy and personal finance. Here are a few of my favorites:

Credit.com
The Official Free Annual Credit Report
Credit Info Center
You Need a Budget
truecredit.com
myfico.com
Free Money Finance

Get clicking and get reading . . . the health of your wallet depends on it!

When Your Wallet Speaks . . .

For some reason, I seem fascinated by people’s wallets. Any article referencing wallets or featuring a photo of one is an automatic hook for me: I have to stop and read. Perhaps it’s because when it comes to money, it doesn’t get much more personal than our own wallets.

Recently, I posted a short piece on things you definitely don’t want in your wallet. Today, here’s another take on the wallet and what it says about your money: Bankrate.com’s look at What Your Wallet Says About You.

Turns out how you handle your cash may reveal more than a little about you and money. Are you a cash crumpler? Receipt collector? Obsessive organizer? ATM addict? Compulsive credit carder?

Take a look and you may be surprised at what you find. More likely than not, you’ll see yourself in one or more of these profiles. Or maybe your habits suggest a new one altogether.

For my part, I’m definitely the “receipt collector”. There’s even a special section reserved in my wallet – and then my desk drawer – for all those business receipts. But for whatever reason, I rarely get beyond the collection step – maybe a subtle way of convincing myself I’m on top of things even when I’m not. Definitely something to think about . . . tomorrow, maybe.