Educated Investor: Financial Success Suite - Overview
The Financial Success Suite is a powerful set of interactive online financial education tools that help your organization discover the bottom line benefits of financial education. Learn more about:
Available Content
The Educated Investor Financial Success Suite offers over 2,500 interactive articles, quiz questions, calculators and important terms grouped into three categories: Personal Finance, Investing Basics, and Retirement & Wealth Management.
Below is a listing of the topic areas included in the Financial Success Suite. Mouse-over any of the topic titles to see a sample of the articles, quiz questions and tools included in each:
- Define rollover, qualified, individual retirement account, annuity, 401K plan, Roth IRA, defined benefit plan, defined contribution plan, and Keogh plan
- Identify commonly used retirement plans
- Identify the types of investments that can hold an IRA or a Roth IRA
- Discuss how to contribute to IRAs
- Identify the tax advantages of retirement accounts
- Identify differences between the traditional IRA and Roth IRA
- Determine who can make tax-deductible contributions to an IRA
- Define health savings account, out-of-pocket limit, HSA-qualified plan, flexible spending account, high-deductible health plan, custodian, catch-up contribution
- Identify who is and is not eligible for an HSA
- Identify the type of insurance that permits an HSA
- Identify out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare costs under an HSA
- Identify preventive care benefits under an HSA
- Identify expenditures covered by an HSA
- Identify who can make contributions to an HSA
- Identify HSA contribution limits
- Explain how to establish an HSA
- Explain how HSA funds are used to cover qualified medical expenses
- Recognize financial life stages
- Identify events that affect financial planning and goal setting
- Discuss factors related to planning for future education expenses, including financial aid, Coverdell education savings accounts, and 529 college tuition plans, as well as other savings and investment strategies such as custodial accounts and parental savings
- Discuss the importance of short, intermediate, and long-term goal setting
- Identify sources of retirement income and sources of retirement expenses
- Identify long-term care needs
- Distinguish between medical insurance and long-term care insurance
- Identify estate assets and define probate, will, and trust
- Identify characteristics of a personal representative
- Discuss the need for an estate attorney
- Identify the elements of a budget
- Discuss the importance of setting realistic goals
- Distinguish between realistic and unrealistic personal financial goals
- Identify financial risk
- Discuss risk acceptance, risk avoidance, and risk sharing, and the role of insurance in managing risk
- Identify the role of debt in personal finance
- Differentiate between savings and investing and when to use each
- Define interest, the cost of money, and the time value of money
- Calculate simple and compound interest
- Discuss advantages and disadvantages of deposit accounts
- Write a budget plan
- Discuss how to use a budget to economize
- Identify how much debt is manageable
- Explain how to minimize debt costs
- Define credit rating and credit scores
- Identify sources of information and help in managing debt
- Explain how a consumer credit counseling agency helps people manage their debts
- Identify the uses and benefits of credit
- Identify fair and unfair credit practices
- Explain how creditors rate creditworthiness
- Define FICO score
- Differentiate among business, consumer, real estate, and institutional loans, and lease financing
- Identify the features and services of credit unions
- Identify and describe single-family, duplex, condominium, and co-op ownership
- Define equity, mortgage loan, escrow, leverage, fixed-rate mortgage, variable rate mortgage, interest-only loan, annual percentage rate, mortgage term, and points
- Identify costs of mortgage financing and refinancing
- Discuss pros and cons of ownership and renting
- Calculate the costs and benefits of refinancing
- Identify the benefits and risks of real estate investment property
- Discuss how to determine how much house one can afford
- Define income, adjustments to income, taxable income, adjusted gross income, deductions from income, exemptions, deductions, tax credits, tax avoidance, tax evasion
- Identify differences between the traditional IRA and Roth IRA
- Determine who can make tax-deductible contributions to a traditional IRA
- Discuss how and whether IRA contributions and distributions are taxed
- Describe Coverdell education savings account, medical savings account, SIMPLE IRA, SEP IRA
- Define basic retirement terms
- Identify retirement resources
- Explain how to set retirement goals
- Calculate savings necessary to achieve retirement financial goals
- Identify payout features of an immediate annuity
- Differentiate between an annuity and a mutual fund systematic withdrawal plan
- Identify a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA
- Identify the benefits of a traditional IRA and Roth IRA
- Explain the contribution and distribution rules and limits for IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs
- Identify IRA penalties for premature withdrawals, over-contributions, and insufficient distributions
- Explain 401(k) plan contribution and distribution requirements
- Define investment goals
- Differentiate among short, intermediate, and long-term investment goals
- Differentiate between realistic and unrealistic goals
- Describe how to select investments suitable to meet short, intermediate, and long-term goals
- Identify investment products used for preservation of capital, income, growth, and speculation
- Describe the roles of various investment professionals in the investment-planning and execution process
- Describe the main features of deposit and time accounts, bonds, stocks, mutual funds, derivatives, and other investment assets
- Define investment portfolio
- Explain the role of diversification and asset allocation in risk management
- Define investment risk
- Differentiate among business risk, market risk, political risk, economic risk, and timing risk
- Differentiate between risk aversion and risk tolerance
- Calculate risk tolerance
- Identify common investment strategies such as buy and hold, diversification, asset allocation, and market timing
- Define risk premium and risk-free rate
- Describe how the risk premium and risk-free rate are used in portfolio design
- Describe how beta, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation are used in portfolio design
- Define bull market and bear market
- Identify diversification, dollar cost averaging, and formula investment plans
- Describe investment strategies used by traders in bull and bear markets
- Define diversifiable (unsystematic) and non-diversifiable (systematic) risk
- Describe the pros and cons of various investment strategies
- Define cash and cash equivalent
- Define deposit account, timed deposit, CD, and money market securities
- Describe the role of cash and equivalents in financial planning and investment management
- Differentiate between negotiable and non-negotiable CDs
- Differentiate between competitive and non-competitive bidding, and sold at discount
- Define interest, yield, coupon, coupon rate, discount, and premium
- Explain the difference between a bond coupon rate and its yield
- Describe how to buy and sell bonds
- Differentiate between savings bonds and other bonds
- Identify the features of different savings bond series
- Describe conversion and call features of bonds
- Describe income tax consequences associated with bond investing
- Define stock, initial public offering (IPO), volatility, capitalization, limit order, stop-loss order, good 'til canceled order, day order, dividend
- Explain why companies issue stock
- Differentiate between publicly traded stock and private or closely held stock
- Differentiate between primary and secondary stock offerings; and primary and secondary markets
- Identify the following types of brokerage accounts: cash, margin, wrap, options, and specialty
- Explain why a company's stock price is volatile
- Differentiate among small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap stock
- Describe the roles of brokerage houses, brokers, and registered representatives
- Differentiate among full-service, discount, and deep-discount brokers
- Define mutual fund, investment company, income dividend, capital gains distribution, return of capital distribution, total return, sales charge (load), 12(b)-1 fee, fund prospectus, and fund objectives
- Differentiate between open-end and closed-end funds; income and capital gains dividends; capital gains and losses on share sales; the different fund types, such as income funds, growth funds, balanced funds, sector funds, and hybrid funds
- Describe diversification in a mutual fund; mutual fund management; index funds; the purpose of a fund prospectus and the information it contains; systematic withdrawal
- Explain under what circumstances mutual fund shares are traded or redeemed; mutual fund exchange privileges; tax consequences of mutual fund redemptions, trades, or exchanges; the difference between sales charges (fees) and management fees
- Define annuity, premium; general account, special account
- Differentiate between immediate annuity and deferred annuity; fixed, variable, and indexed annuity
- Describe annuity income; life annuity, joint and last survivor, term (period) certain, unit refund, systematic withdrawal; investment risk, mortality risk, and liquidity risk
- Explain the purpose of an annuity; annuity guarantees; how annuity proceeds are taxed; liquidity of immediate and deferred annuities
- Define investment advisor, financial planner, investment sales representative
- Differentiate among investment advisor, financial planner, and account representative (registered representative-sales professional); managing assets and financial planning; fees and commissions
- Describe CFP®, ChFC, CFA; NASD Series 65 and Series 66
- Explain fees based upon assets under management; questions to ask a financial advisor before hiring one
- Recognize terminology used in portfolio management and the Modern Portfolio Theory; economic factors that affect investment performance
- Identify Modern Portfolio Theory, efficient portfolios
- Differentiate the different types of investment risk
- Differentiate between investing and trading strategies
- Discuss the importance of investment goals in selecting an investment strategy; the role of short, intermediate, and long-term goals; how investment time horizon affects investment strategy; effects of asset allocation on investment risk
- Define asset allocation, investment time horizon
- Calculate risk tolerance
- Recognize types of analysis used in the financial press to describe investments
- Identify investments suitable for short, intermediate, and long-term investment strategies
- Differentiate pros and cons of both long-term investment strategies and short-term strategies
- Discuss the process of security analysis
- Discuss the roles of technical and fundamental analysis in investment selection
- Define fundamental analysis, technical analysis
- Recognize eligibility rules for IRA contributions and distributions; rules and penalties for early withdrawals and insufficient distributions from retirement plans
- Identify strategies used to avoid taxes; provisions of IRAs, Keoghs, SIMPLEs, SEPs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and annuity retirement plans
- Differentiate between tax-sheltered and tax-advantaged investments; traditional and Roth IRAs; defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans; income tax, estate tax, and tax penalties
- Discuss the reasons for choosing tax-sheltered or tax-advantaged investments; how retirement plans save taxes; taxes on retirement distributions; taxation of Social Security benefits
- Define tax-sheltered, tax-advantaged, tax avoidance; tax evasion; qualified plan
- Calculate the difference between tax-sheltered and non-tax-sheltered accumulations over a period of years
- Recognize benefits of insurance
- Identify who pays for long-term care; pros and cons of permanent and term life insurance
- Differentiate kinds of insurance; long-term care vs. medical care; long-term care insurance and medical care insurance; permanent and term life insurance
- Discuss the purpose of insurance; how to determine the cost/benefit of long-term care insurance
- Define Medicare, Medicaid; long-term care; permanent or cash value insurance; term insurance; universal life insurance; variable life insurance
- Recognize who needs an estate plan; provisions found in a will
- Identify will, trust, executor; joint ownership with rights of survival, joint tenants in common; transfer on death account, payable on death account
- Differentiate gift and estate tax; trust, will, property ownership; living trust and testamentary trust
- Discuss the value of an estate plan; the implications of dying intestate; the use of lifetime gifts to reduce estate tax; rights of a surviving spouse; the pros and cons of probate; how life insurance proceeds are taxed
- Define estate, will, probate; personal representative, executor; trustee; trust; intestate; community property
Product Features
With over 2500 interactive articles:
- Quick and easy setup
- Customization
- Online usage reports
- Fresh content
- Contextual links
- Co-branding
- Lead tracking
Available Tools
With the Financial Success Suite, we make it simple. you have the flexibility to choose individual tools as part of a package.
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| MoneyCoach | |
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Generate highly qualified referrals by encouraging your members to create a personalized financial education plan based on their unique financial needs.
The Money Coach is the most robust product within the Financial Success Suite. Members are asked a few simple questions to determine their financial education needs, and then provided with a personalized financial education plan based their answers.
Each personalized financial education plan is a sequential series of tutorials, quizzes, and exams designed to help the member improve knowledge in the areas he or she has identified as needs. The MoneyCoach is the only product of the Financial Success Suite to offer the ability for members to create a personalized account to track their progress and pursue their game plan.
"The Money Coach is a superb tool to help create qualified sales leads and referrals, thereby reducing the costs associated with gaining and retaining new members."
Powerful and proven system leveraging 500+ pages of educational content and tools to help drive qualified leads and referrals.
The Educated Investor Learning Center financially empowers members to find instant, unbiased answers to common questions about money. The Learning Center greatly enhances any credit union’s Website offerings, allowing members to learn what they want, when they want it. This powerful program helps you focus your marketing and drive referrals by linking products and service information to related sections in the Learning Center.
Over 100 interactive calculators cross-linked with key content to help members "test drive" the benefits of the products you provide.
Categories include: cash flow, college, credit, home and mortgage, taxation, insurance, paycheck and benefits, qualified plans, retirement, savings and investments.
Develop targeted, online marketing promotions to help generate qualified leads with this quick, fun, and interactive tool.
This Educated Investor Challenge allows members to test their financial IQ through a brief series of multiple choice tests. You choose and adjust the topics of the questions, enabling you to tie them into the products and services you are currently promoting, which in turn improves your ability to market through your Website and drive qualified referrals. Members instantly receive the results and are given links at the end of each answer both to your credit union's related offerings and personnel and to further information about that particular topic.
Cross-sell more products and services by empowering people to learn about the various products you provide.
Add dynamic daily quiz questions to encourage members to learn more about the products and services you provide. A single quiz question provides a very quick and easy way to engage a member, and the answer page can provide links to more information. You have the option of picking and choosing questions tailored to your financial institution so you can generate qualified referrals for products and services you are promoting.
Engage members and generate leads by providing timely and topical financial education articles on a daily or weekly basis.
Providing new, updated information regularly is proven to drive repeat Website members. The Featured Article Service provides the opportunity to enrich and build upon your credit union’s offerings, enhance your marketing message, and drive qualified referrals.
Clarify your members' KEY financial concerns and connect them with products or services that meet their unique financial needs.
A quick and easy-to-use interactive tool that provides people with an instant online checkup on their financial well-being. The Personal Financial Wellness Score helps you demonstrate that your credit union genuinely cares about the financial health of your members, which further strengthens the relationship you have with your members.
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