Financial literacy targeted at U of M

The Messenger 10.27.08

Financial issues have seldom been on the minds of Americans more than they have these past few weeks, but today through Friday, financial literacy will be special focus of a campus-wide initiative at the University of Memphis.
The effort is being sponsored by the university’s Center for Economic Education.
Kicking off the week will be a major public presentation by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. He will discuss “The intersection of Wall Street, Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue” and his talk will include an explanation of how the nation’s current economic crisis began and developed. He will also talk about the impact the economic climate is having on Tennessee communities and institutions and about the reforms needed to protect the nation from similar crises in the future.
Corker will speak at 10 a.m. in The Zone in the FedEx Institute of Technology. He will be joined by Greg Gonzales, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions.
For the entire week, the university will sponsor the Financial Literacy IQ Quiz. The online, 15-question quiz is available to all U of M students. Last week, a group known as Tiger P.A.W.$ (Peer-to-peer on Assets, Wealth and $) presented classroom discussions about credit cards. The Tiger P.A.W.$ group also gives talks about budgeting, saving and investing, student loans, credit reports and identity theft.
During Financial Literacy Week, the person with the highest score each day of the week will receive a $100 textbook scholarship, courtesy of the University Bookstore and First South Credit Union. At the end of the week, from the names of all the students who took the quiz, a random drawing will select one winner of a new iPod touch phone.
The emphasis on personal financial literacy is the brainchild of Dr. Julia Heath, professor of economics in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. Recognizing the harm that a lack of knowledge of how to deal with personal finances can cause to individuals, Dr. Heath established the program to make college students aware of how to handle their personal finances and of the importance of that knowledge.

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