Federal Reserve Personal Financial Education Initiatives

Abstract

Recognizing the importance of successful personal financial management to individuals and the broader economy, the Federal Reserve System has in the past two years intensified its efforts to provide and promote personal financial education. Initiatives have ranged from a public outreach effort highlighting the importance of financial education, to local and regional Reserve Bank programs targeted to specific audiences, to new educational seminars for employees. Staff members have studied the effectiveness of different types of education programs for different groups, and the System has worked to encourage the dissemination of research findings. The challenge for the future is to support financial education in a way that makes effective use of the System's resources and national visibility and complements the resources already available.