Individual

The SEC offers online publications that help seniors understand the vast array of investment products and how to avoid investment fraud. In-person presentations explain the red flags of investment fraud and how to check the background of investment professionals.

These CFPB online resources and tools show the steps child welfare caseworkers and their agencies can take to help ensure that youth in foster care start their adult lives with healthy credit. Tip sheets explain how to detect identity theft or fraud, and how to resolve inaccuracies in credit reports. The CFPB also provides sample letters for disputing credit report errors on behalf of youth in foster care.

These CFPB toolkits help social service organizations, legal aid providers, and similar groups assist their clients in addressing financial challenges like budgeting, debt, and credit.

This report summarizes the findings from the Federal Reserve Board’s 3rd annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which aims to capture a snapshot of financial and economic well-being of U.S. consumers and identify potential risks to their financial stability. Topics covered include financial well-being, income and savings behaviors, economic preparedness, access to banking and credit, housing decisions, auto lending, education, student loans, and retirement planning.

Following a rigorous research effort to develop a consumer-driven definition of financial well-being, the CFPB developed and tested a set of questions–a “scale”–to measure financial well-being. The scale is designed to allow practitioners and researchers to accurately and consistently quantify, and therefore observe, something that is not directly observable–the extent to which someone’s financial situation and the financial capability that they have developed provide them with security and freedom of choice.

A guide from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help consumers retiring from a traditional pension plan navigate their payout options. The guide gives near-retirees the information they need to understand the trade-offs of taking their pension in a monthly payment or in a lump sum. The guide also provides tips and warnings about how to protect and best manage their lump-sum money.

The Teacher Online Resource Center offers teachers resources from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to help teach children from pre-K through age 20 about money or other financial topics. Also available on the site are videos that illustrate practical ways teachers can integrate core financial education lessons into the classroom. Access to curriculum, videos, and more can be found at www.fdic.gov/teachers.

Money Smart for Young People has lessons that provide a developmentally appropriate program for young students to build an understanding of key financial concepts. This standards-aligned curriculum can be incorporated into subjects such as English language arts, mathematics and social studies. In addition to the educator materials, the curriculum includes a Parent/Caregiver Guide that corresponds to the classroom materials.

Planning for Retirement is a new interactive tool of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help you make an informed decision about when to claim your Social Security benefits. The tool gives you a rough estimate of your monthly benefit and shows how your monthly benefit changes depending on the age at which you claim.