Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Financial Literacy Ad Campaign

There was an article in the NY Times today about an ad campaign being launched by the non-profit National Endowment for Financial Education. Starting this week, TV, radio, magazine and internet ads will attempt to draw people to this website, where financial assessment tools and other resources are available.
The campaign is directed at middle class Americans, age 35 to 55, with incomes of $35k to $100k, with the goal of improving savings rates and financial literacy in general.
I went to the website and took the personal assessment quiz. It's full of somewhat silly questions like "Are you concerned about your credit rating?" Whether their score is good or bad, is anyone who made it as far as the website really going to say "No, I don't give a shit about my credit rating?!" They could have designed a much more focused questionnaire. After answering these 21 questions, I was told
Based on your answers to the questionnaire, the following categories have been identified to help you achieve your financial goals: Financial Planning, Investing, Retirement, and Saving.
Gee, thanks!
When I first started reading the article, I thought "oh, what a great thing, people really need this." But I'm not so sure these ads and a website are the best way to spend $2 million.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am guessing the campaign is geared towards people without financial savvy. The ones who contribute to the -ve national savings rate. For people like you and me a lot of things may be common sense that some others may be overlooking.

Caitlin said...

is it me? I got bored during the questionnaire and stopped.

I hope it does some good though...just didnt click with me either.

lpkitten said...

wow, that is rather disappointing! they could have made it so much cooler than what they have. oh well

Anonymous said...

Stop blogging right now!