Classroom Tools

This collection of links and tools is identical to the one provided within the classroom. You can access this page whenever you want, even long after you've completed the course.

Chapter 1: Setting and Achieving Goals

Short or long-term, money-related or not... where you would you like to be days, months or years from now? Turn your dreams into reality by deciding what you want from life and writing it down! Before you do, here are a couple of links to more information that might help, as well as some forms you can fill out.

  1. Information and goal-setting worksheet from a professor at the Agricultural Extension Service of the University of Tennessee: http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/pb1454.pdf

Chapter 2: Developing a Spending Plan

When it comes to managing your financial life, a spending plan isn't the main thing: it's the only thing! There's nothing more important in this course than doing this: if you don't, you've wasted your time taking this course. Remember: any method will work ... if you work it!

  1. Here's the spending plan that Sally used in the video. Click the link to download it to your computer. It's really basic, but you can download your own copy, then rearrange it, add categories or otherwise make it yours! (I made this in Microsoft Excel, so you'll need that program to view it)
  2. There are literally thousands of other spending plans (budget worksheets) online: just do a search for "budget worksheet" Here's one example from Kiplinger.com: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/budget/ Here's one from mortgage lender Freddie Mac: http://www.freddiemac.com/corporate/buyown/english/pdf/monthly_budget_worksheet.pdf
  3. Prefer to use software to track your expenses? No problem! Go to www.download.com and search for "Budgeting Software." Where is says "All licenses" change the drop-down menu to "Free." You'll find lots of choices. Check em out and pick a program you like!
  4. If you want other options to create a spending plan, or need help putting yours together, any credit counseling agency will happy to help! If you don't already have a credit counselor, you can quickly find one at http://www.debtadvice.org/takethefirststep/locator.cfm, http://www.aiccca.org/find.cfm or http://www.aadmo.org

Chapter 3: Working Your Plan and Finding What Really Makes You Happy

Finding extra money in your budget without sacrificing your quality of life: that's the key to discovering the extra money you need to achieve your goals. There's a mind-boggling amount of information out there that can help.

  1. Here's a Google list with about 50 websites for saving money: http://www.google.com/Top/Home/Homemaking/Frugality
  2. Here's a list of 205 ways to save money that I made for Life or Debt the book: Download PDF
  3. The Dollar Stretcher: this site has lots of tips, and you can get a free email newsletter: sign up for it! http://www.stretcher.com
  4. The library is full of books on saving money on virtually anything you can think of: check it out!
  5. Remember that one key way to save is to only spend on things that truly make you happy! So think about those things and write them down. Here's something that might help: it's a blog called "The Happiness Project" Some cool tips for discovering or rediscovering what makes you happy: http://www.happiness-project.com

Chapter 4: Getting Organized

Since we're all different, you're the one who can probably devise the best way to keep your paperwork under control. But if you'd like to see what others are saying, here are a few ideas:

  1. About.com: Tame the Paperwork Tiger: http://management.about.com/b/a/109837.htm
  2. Dollar Stretcher: Getting Organized: http://www.stretcher.com/stories/02/02nov04e.cfm
  3. Bankrate.com: How long to Keep It: http://www.bankrate.com/mtlk/news/mtg/20000518h.asp

By the way, if you don't have the Microsoft Office suite on your computer, you may also want to download a program called Open Office. It's an office suite, similar to Microsoft Office, except it's completely free! And the best part... it'll play nice with Word Documents and Excel Spreadsheets, so you'll never have to worry about how you're going to open Office files. Here's where you can find it: http://www.openoffice.org

Chapter 5: Five Financial Fundamentals

Plug some numbers of your own into a few calculators so you can see what compound interest does when it works for you... or against you! You can do an online search for "Consumer Calculators" and come up with dozens... but here's one example from about.com:
http://banking.about.com/library/calculators/bl_CompoundInterestCalculator.htm

Here's a minimum payment calculator: see how much faster you can erase debt when you pay more than the minimum:
http://www.bankrate.com/mtlk/calc/MinPayment.asp

There are other free calculators out there that can tell you everything from how soon you'll be a millionaire to whether you should buy or lease your next car. Great resources... use them!

Do you ever encounter financial terms that you don't understand? Investopedia is a free online dictionary that helps put complicated stuff in simple terms. As examples, here are their definitions of some of the stuff we discussed in this chapter:

  1. Open-End (Revolving) Credit: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/openendcredit.asp
  2. Closed-End (Installment) Credit: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/closed_end_credit.asp
  3. Secured Loans: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/secureddebt.asp

Are there other words you've heard that you wonder about? Surf around this site or others like it, get a little education, then impress friends and family with how brilliant you are!

Chapter 6: Cleaning Up Your Credit History

There are lots of companies out there charging lots of money to clean up your credit history for you. But all the knowledge they have is right here, free for the taking. Click on these links and you'll know where to go when it's time to improve your credit history!

Here's a link to Fair Isaac, where you can order your credit score and get information on how to improve yours: http://www.myfico.com

Free Credit Reports:

    There are three ways to get your free credit reports:

  1. Online at http://www.annualcreditreport.com
  2. Call 877-322-8228
  3. Download a form at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/include/requestformfinal.pdf and mail it to:

    Annual Credit Report Request Service
    P.O. Box 105281
    Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

Information on Free Credit Reports from the FTC: check out this page... it's got lots of good info on it! http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.shtm

Other ways to get a free report:

  • If someone denies you credit, a job or insurance, you're entitled to a free report, as long as you ask for it within 60 days of receiving notice. (The denial notice should give you the name, address, and phone number of the credit reporting agency that owes you the free report.)
  • If you're officially unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days you can get a free report once a year.
  • If you're on welfare
  • If your report is inaccurate because of fraud, including identity theft.

Credit Reporting Agencies: These companies all try hard to up-sell you with expensive credit monitoring services and higher-priced baskets of reports, scores, etc. And part of the way they do that is virtually hiding the place where you can order a simple, 10 dollar report. So I've included links to the order form for each company.

Experian:

TransUnion:

Equifax:

Building a Better Credit History: Info from the FTC:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre03.shtm

General Credit Info from the FTC. Great info, and written in plain English. Read this now so you'll know where to come for help in the future!
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit.shtm

Sample Dispute Letter: FTC example of a letter to send to credit reporting agencies when you find mistakes in your credit history, along with other info on correcting errors
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm

Secured Credit Cards: Bankrate.com: a good article explaining what to look for in a secured card:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm

Bankrate.com: a listing of secured card issuers:
http://www.bankrate.com/mtlk/rate/cc_ratehome.asp

And last but hopefully not least: there's always the written version of Life or Debt. You should be able to find it free at the library!

Chapter 7: Insurance

There are estimates suggesting that nearly one dollar out of every ten we spend is used to buy various forms of insurance. If you want to spend less or get more for the money you spend, learn more about insurance! Both library and web are full of useful information, but here are a few ideas to get you started:

Information, Articles, Calculators and Insurance Comparison shopping from Bankrate.com:
http://www.bankrate.com/mtlk/rate/insurance_home.asp

Information from the Insurance Industry's trade group, the Insurance Information Institute:
http://www.iii.org

Free Home Inventory Software from the Insurance Information Institute:
http://www.knowyourstuff.org

Here's the spreadsheet I use to keep track of my car insurance. It's got Sally's information in it as an example, plus a blank spreadsheet for you to fill out.
Download it as an Excel or PDF file.

Here's the spreadsheet I actually use to keep track of my own home insurance. You'll see my information in it and then a blank sheet for you to fill in with your own.
Download it as an Excel or PDF file.

Health Insurance basics from Bankrate.com:
http://www.bankrate.com/mtlk/green/insurance/basics4-intro.asp?caret=49

Social Security: see what benefits you qualify for: retirement, death and disability:
http://www.ssa.gov

Conclusion: Getting Help

When it comes to protecting your rights, you don't need to memorize a bunch of laws... but you do need to know that they exist and you should know where to go to get more help should the need arise. Here are a few websites that are worth exploring:

Here's a page that lists links to about 50 consumer protection laws, from the Fair Credit Reporting Act (a good read) to the Wool Products Labeling Act (Who knew?)
http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/stat3.shtm

Consumer Information from Uncle Sam:
http://www.consumer.gov

Consumer Action: another website from Uncle Sam with lots of great info:
http://www.consumeraction.gov

Information from the Federal Trade Commission: you'll be amazed at all the free information written in perfectly plain English that explains practically everything you'd ever want to know about money-related stuff!
http://ftc.gov

FTC Complaint Form: if somebody rips you off:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

To keep from getting telemarketing calls, register with the National Do-Not-Call Registry:
http://www.donotcall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222

A complete listing of state, county and city consumer protection agencies: yes, there are actual people who are standing by to help you... and you pay their salaries!
http://www.consumeraction.gov/state.shtml

Better safe than sorry! Here's an alphabetical listing of consumer Protection info from Air Travel to Workplace Safety:
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Consumer_Safety.shtml