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Inside Iowa State, a newspaper for faculty and staff, is published by the Office of University Relations.

Nov. 7, 2008

Des Moines forum focuses on financial literacy

by Mike Ferlazzo, News Service

Members of the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy will host a listening forum with invited statewide leaders in financial literacy from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. Tahira Hira, professor of personal finance and consumer economics, and a member of President Bush's advisory council, will convene the session. About a half dozen members of the council will attend.

Bush created the 16-member council in January to assist Americans in understanding and addressing financial matters. The president and U.S. Treasury secretary Henry Paulson asked the advisory council to work with public and private sectors to increase financial education efforts for all Americans. In response to that charge, council members are hosting listening sessions with financial literacy leaders throughout the country. Sponsors of this listening forum are the ISU colleges of Business and Human Sciences, the Greater Iowa Credit Union and the Iowa Credit Union League.

"The information gleaned from these meetings may be applied toward the advisory council's recommendations to the U.S. Treasury Department and ultimately to the president," Hira said.

Dan Iannicola Jr., U.S. Treasury Department deputy assistant secretary for financial education, and executive director of the council, will moderate the session.

"We are in extraordinary economic times," Iannicola said. "While financial education has long been seen as important, more people now are beginning to see that it is also urgent. With the concerns and questions many consumers have about rapidly changing events, we find ourselves in a national teachable moment for personal finance."

The format for the listening session will be five-minute testimonials from invited constituents, followed by 15-minute discussions with advisory council members.

Quote

"With the concerns and questions many consumers have about rapidly changing events, we find ourselves in a national teachable moment for personal finance."

Dan Iannicola Jr.