AMES, Iowa -- The country's financial crisis has made everyone more aware of their money and how best to manage it. Iowa State University's College of Business is hoping to help everyone's financial literacy education through a series of free seminars, featuring presentations by area financial leaders, over five consecutive Mondays.
Credit card debt will be the focus of the first seminar on Monday, Sept. 14, and will feature Tom Coates, president, CEO and co-founder of Consumer Credit of Des Moines. Each seminar is open to the public and will take place from 6:30-8:30 p.m., in Carver Hall, Room 101.
"Due to the recent financial crisis, there has been a great need and awareness in the community to learn about sound money management techniques," said Shoba Premkumar, an ISU lecturer in finance who planned the seminars with Marv Bouillon, finance/accounting department chair; and Virginia Blackburn, associate professor of management.
"Most of us have been affected by the current financial crisis in one way or another, with the values of investments and retirement portfolios significantly down," Premkumar said. "These seminars are an effort to reach out to members of the community and to students by providing financial insight from experts in the field."
Coates co-founded Consumer Credit of Des Moines in 1987. He has become a well-known expert on credit and gambling issues, and been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, NBC News' Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning and the BBC.
The other financial literacy seminars include:
• Sept. 21:
Banking/Mortgages/Refinancing, featuring Scott Bauer,
president, and Sara Lehman, loan officer, both from the First
National Bank of Ames.
• Sept. 28: Student Loans/Financial
Aid/FAFSA, featuring Deb Barry, financial literacy
specialist, Iowa College Access Network®.
• Oct. 5: Asset Management/Risk
Management, featuring Adam Polacek, director, client
portfolio management, TIAA-CREF Asset Management.
• Oct. 12: Retirement
Planning/Estate Planning, featuring Jake Zehr, an
individual client services consultant, and Alicia Waltenberger,
wealth planning specialist, both of TIAA-CREF.
Anyone interested in attending these seminars is asked to register by sending an e-mail message to Premkumar at shobha@iastate.edu. Organizers hope to accommodate everyone, although space is limited.
Additional information is available online at: http://www.business.iastate.edu/events/financialliteracy.
