Thrifty Thinking: MyMoneyCheckUp

You may be among the millions of Americans who wants to get finances in order this year. “Where do I even begin?” and “How do I get my head above water?” are typical questions one asks themselves when committing to putting their finances in order. The good news is there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The NFCC has a new tool - MyMoneyCheckUp™ - available on the NFCC website, www.DebtAdvice.org, or at www.MyMoneyCheckUp.org, and is designed to provide an assessment of a consumer’s overall financial health and behavior in four designated areas of personal finance including:
- Budgeting and credit management;
- Saving and investing;
- Planning for retirement; and
- Managing home equity.

This new tool was created to align with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Education Core Competencies, and is an example of a successful collaboration between community-based nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and the public and private sectors. It provides individual evaluations for each financial management track: Budgeting, Borrowing, Saving, Housing, and Retirement. It also allows for easy online access and availability. The tool can be utilized by the same user multiple times to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the counseling and education provided.

I tried the tool myself, and it was quite easy to use - and provided a great checkpoint for where we're at now.