Financial readiness should be part of every business strategy.
Famous Quotation
“Wasting time is more sinful than wasting money.”
Elizabeth Blackwell
Connect to Financial Readiness Central

Employee Tools

Thank you for taking time to visit our website. The purpose of this site is to:

  • Reinforce ideas discussed during the Financial Readiness workshops
  • Provide links to resources that can help you become financially ready

As you prepare to become financially ready, remember some basic ideas from the workshop.

First, there are five basic steps to becoming financially ready:

  • Take Inventory
  • Assess Your Situation
  • Set Your Goals
  • Make Your Plan
  • Execute Your Plan

Second, as you take steps to become financially ready:

  • Talk to your human resources representative at work. You’ll find many of the resources you need to become financially-ready are already available through work.
  • Explore some of the public-domain resources listed on this website. There are countless government, non-profit and for-profit organizations that exist solely to help you become financially-ready.

Third, it’s ok to admit you don’t know something, but it’s not ok to hire an advisor that knows or cares less than you do. Thoroughly interview potential advisors before hiring them. To get started, consider asking questions similar to those on the

As always, we wish you the best and look forward to seeing you during our next visit.

PLEASE NOTE: The third party links provided are strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the web sites provided here, you are leaving this site. We make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these sites. Nor is the company liable for any direct or indirect technical or system issues or any consequences arising out of your access to or your use of third-party technologies, sites, information and programs made available through this site. This information should not be construed as business, financial, tax or legal advice.

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Additional Resources

To learn about college and financial aid visit:
FinAid Page at
www.finaid.org

Alloy Education at
www.careersandcolleges.com

College Savings Plan Network at www.collegesavings.org

To obtain a free copy of your credit report visit:
www.annualcreditreport.com

To take a free quiz that will help you estimate your credit score or to pay to receive an actual credit score, visit:
www.myfico.com

To learn about credit ratings visit:
National Foundation for Consumer Credit at www.nfcc.org

To get help cleaning or monitoring your consumer credit history, contact any of the credit agencies:
Equifax at
www.equifax.com

TransUnion at
www.transunion.com
Experian at
www.experian.com
Innovis at
www.innovis-cbc.com

To opt out of most credit card offers, visit:
www.optoutprescreen.com

Another way to shop credit cards, instead of opting back into credit card offers is looking for competitive offers at:
www.cardtrak.com
www.cardratings.com
www.bankrate.com

To learn more about credit counseling visit:
National Foundation for Credit Counseling at www.nfcc.org
Myvesta at
www.myvesta.org

To opt out of most direct mail offers visit:
The Direct Marketing Association at
www.the-dma.org

To remove your residential phone numbers from most commercial call lists, visit:

National Do Not Call Registry at
www.donotcall.gov

To learn how to reduce energy costs visit:
Nexus Energy Software at
www.energyguide.com
Tax Incentives Assistance Project at www.energytaxincentives.com
Otter Tail Power at
www.conservingelectricity.com
WE Energies at www.weenergies.com/residential/energyeff/101tips

To teach children and young people about financial wellbeing visit:
The Northwestern Mutual Foundation at www.themint.org
National Endowment for Financial Education at www.nefe.org
Practical Money Skills at
www.practicalmoneyskills.com
Money Savvy Generation at
www.moneysavvygeneration.com

To find helpful personal financial articles, tools and calculators visit:
CNN Financial News at
www.cnnfn.com
CBS Marketwatch at
www.cbsmarketwatch.com

AOL Financial Coach at
www.aol.com
Bloomberg Financial at
www.bloomberg.com

To learn about and locate financial planners visit:
Certified Financial Board of Standards at www.cfp.net
Financial Planning Association at
www.fpanet.org

National Association of Personal Financial Planners at www.napfa.org

To learn about and locate other advisors, such as accountants or lawyers visit:
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants at www.aicpa.org
American Bar Association at
www.abanet.org

To learn how to protect against identity theft visit:
Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft
Identity Theft Resource Center at www.idtheftcenter.org

To learn about mutual fund investing visit:
Morningstar at
www.morningstar.com

Mutual Fund Investor's Center at
www.mfea.com

To learn about financial needs in retirement visit:
National Association for Home Care at www.nahc.org
American Association of Retired Persons at www.aarp.org
Health Insurance Association of America at www.hiaa.org

To find creative ways to reduce spending visit:
www.lowermybills.com
www.stretcher.com
www.thefrugalshopper.com

To learn about reverse mortgages visit:
American Association of Retired Persons at www.aarp.org
National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association at www.nrmla.org

To learn about Social Security benefits visit:
Social Security Administration at
www.ssa.gov

To find answers to general tax questions visit:
Internal Revenue Service at
www.irs.gov

Quicken at
www.quicken.intuit.com