A Very Big Social Challenge That Requires Attention Now!

Do You Realize?

The majority of the adults in the US that reach the age of 70 are almost out of money, but have life expectancies well into their mid-80's and maybe into their 90's. That's disastrous. Who will be responsible for them? The choices are few, family and friends, nonprofits and people with money, and the government as a final safety net.

Too many young people and their families are burdened with excessive education debt and other forms of debt. Student loan debt exceeds $1.3 trillion and is the 2nd largest class of consumer debt after mortgages; members of the class of 2016 graduated with an average of $37,000 in student loan debt.

It is estimated that more than 50% of our adult population (120 million Americans) do not have an up-to-date estate plan to protect themselves, and their family's assets.

This can lead to a significant and unnecessary shrinkage of family assets and an enormous waste of time and resources at the most inopportune time. Financial and estate planning is not just for the wealthy it's important for everyone.

Additionally, we have just entered into the greatest wealth transfer in history. An estimated $59 trillion - divided among heirs, charities, estate taxes and estate closing costs - will be transferred from 116 million American households from 2007 to 2061. Without some financial and estate planning a significant amount these assets will be wasted, with much of the remaining assets not going to the right person(s) or organization(s), and or not used as intended.

Managing personal finances today is more complicated and more important than ever. We’re living longer, but saving proportionately less. Scores of us feel less secure in our jobs and homes than we did in the past. We see our money being drained by the high cost of housing, taxes, education, health care, while dealing with the uncertainty of investments and our economy. We worry about the future, or unfortunately in many cases, simply try not to think about it.

Most people are not taught the essential principle to smart personal financial management at home or in school, thus they don’t have the proper tools to address every day financial decisions in an informed manner. This jeopardizes their financial and physical wellness, their ability to realistically achieve and maintain their personal and financial dreams, let alone enjoy a financially secure debt free future.

Wouldn’t it be great if there is a real solution to this lack of financial awareness and financial illiteracy epidemic?

We strongly believe there is, and it revolves around better educating the general public, educators, financial service and nonprofit professionals to the essential principles to smart personal financial management while motivating them to get and keep the financial, estate, and gift plans in order. People need access to better personal financial management tools and information, to communicate and work more effectively with their financial advisors – (that includes fee-based service providers and sales people), and to make better informed every day money decisions.

The Strategy
The strategy is to recognize organizations and their management that are championing improving financial awareness and financial literacy. Then uniting them with other associations, organizations, nonprofits, educational institutions, municipalities, and employers to actively focus their vast community resources into a growing concentrated personal finance content media blitz campaign every six months around the strategic venues of:

National Financial Literacy Month –

In 2004 the Senate passed Resolution 316 that officially recognized April as National Financial Literacy Month. In 2016 President Obama signed a Presidential Proclamation proclaiming April as National Financial Capability Month.

National Estate Planning Awareness Month / Week –

In 2007 founders of The Financial Awareness Foundation approached Congressman’s Mike Thompson office with the idea of creating a National Estate Planning Awareness Week Congressional proclamation. After eighteen months of research and work he and 49 bipartisan congressmen and congresswomen co-authored and passed H.Res. 1499, which proclaims the third week in October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week.

The plan is to touch the majority of the general public, high net worth individuals, financial service and nonprofit professionals and their organizations at least twice a year through these strategic venues, with educational and motivating reminders to get and keep their financial, estate, and gift plans in order.

The objective is to encourage financial / nonprofit / education professionals and their organizations, employers, municipalities, and the news media to actively participate in this movement to alert, educate, motivate, and assist the everyone to cost effectively establish and keep their estate and financial plans and gifting plans current; 120 million America's-half the adults; rich to poor - that don't have plans.

We understand that this is a massive undertaking; however, it’s being accomplished through leading organizations and their associates that include:

Together these organizations represent nearly 1,000,000 financial professionals. The accountants, attorneys, estate planners, financial planners and advisors, insurance agents and brokers, trust officers, and nonprofit executive directors and development officers that are members of these organizations are helping to mobilize the financial and estate planning and nonprofit communities by providing support, tools, and education for their professionals and the general public they serve.

This is supplemented throughout the year with the develop and delivery of exceptional educational content, programs and tools to the general public and to financial service and nonprofit professionals and their organizations, and educational institutions that support the general public’s financial and estate planning and charitable gift planning needs.

You can see our advancements and what others are doing by reviewing the Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Movement Report & Magazine.

This provides a broad picture of the lack of financial awareness and financial illiteracy epidemic, an overview of the strategy behind the movement and campaigns, and a sampling of the community participation, including:

1. Supporting Presidential, Senate, and 21 Governor’s Proclamations (starting on page 38),
2. Evaluation Services spring campaign launching webinar – Help Solve the Financial Literacy Epidemic While Increasing Your Bottom Line! (page 9),
3. AFP's (Association of Fundraising Professionals) – helps launch the spring campaign (page 111),
5. Purposeful Planning Institute - said to their community (page 73),
6. Planned Giving Design Center helps launch the spring campaign - (page 69),
7. American Academy of Attorney-CPA's helps launch the spring campaign (page 68),
8. University of Miami School of Law gift to graduating students (page 162),
9. Monterey Public Library gift to the Monterey Bay Community (page 77),
10. HeirSearch.com helps launch the spring campaign (page 114),
11. National Association of State Treasurers provides state treasurers a comprehensive set of materials (page 65),
12. Citizen’s Bank kicks off Financial Literacy Month with $1.4 Million in Charitable Contributions (page 184),
13. TD Ameritrade ushers in National Financial Literacy Month with Scholarships and Grants (page 196)
14. TFAF – A planning calendar & a complimentary set of personal finance publications (page 121 & 214)
15. Gooding, rock band teaches students about financial literacy – (page 64 & 86),
16. NBA Legend Bob Lanier & WNBA Legend Allison Feaster inspire and teach financial literacy. (page 184),
17. Educational Initiatives (page160),
18. International Section (page 219),
19. and so much more.

Please join the Distinguished Co-Honorary Chairs in supporting, and actively participating in The Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Movement.

The Distinguished Co-Honorary Chairs for the 2017 Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Awareness Movement

Representing Academia Thought Leadership, Patricia D. White, JD, Dean of the University of Miami School of Law. Her legal career spans four decades as an -attorney and an educator. Dean White is transformative and a visionary; and the National Jurist Magazine named her as one of the most influential people in legal education in 2015, 2014, and in 2013. She was the first woman law school dean in Arizona and the longest serving one in the history of Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Since taking over as Miami Law's 11th dean in 2009, White has established the Law Without Walls program, which links students and faculty from 23 academic institutions around the world to examine issues and develop new solutions in legal education and practice; and Legal Corps, a novel fellowship program that places new law school graduates in nonprofit and public sector organizations across the nation, and the globe. She earned her B.A., M.A., and J.D. degrees at the University of Michigan and has been widely published in prominent law journals in the areas of tax law, bioethics, philosophy of law, legal education, and torts.

Representing Financial and Legal Services Thought Leadership
John A. Warnick , JD, CEO & Founder of the Purposeful Planning Institute. Along with his duties as the CEO of PPI, John A. is a practicing estate planning attorney who balances his enthusiasm for tax savings with in-depth discovery and purposeful questions to ensure the planning is congruent with his client’s core values. John A. delivers workshops across the country for estate planning attorneys and financial planners sharing the six paradigms of Purposeful Planning and Seven Keys of the Purposeful Trust and Gifts. Received his BA magna cum laude from Brigham Young University and his JD from George Washington University with honors, and has authored two BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) Tax Management portfolios and many other professional articles.

Representing News Media Thought Leadership
Randy A Fox, - Editor in Chief of Planned Giving Design Center a national website and newsletter for philanthropic advisors. Randy’s exceptional ability to make the most complex and technical materials clear and relevant has given him the opportunity to have been a regular contributor to numerous publications such as CCH’s Journal of Practical Estate Planning and its “Money and Meaning” column, Cutting Edge Current magazine, Giving: Philanthropy for Everyone, Worth Magazine, Research Magazine, The Illinois State Bar Associations Of Counsel, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Law Firm Benefits, and The American Medical Association’s News. Randy also co-foundered and is an active principle of Life Legacy Case Design, a back office for professional advisors engaged with high net worth families, and EzCharitable, an online philanthropic giving training resource for professionals. He’s past president of the Board of the International Association of Advisors in Philanthropy and recipient of the 2015 Fithian Leadership Award.

Representing Nonprofit / Charitable Gift Planning Community Thought Leadership Michael Kenyon, President and CEO of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners the leading organization setting standards, providing education, resources and advocacy for charitable gift planners. He oversees the CGP Indianapolis based staff and a national network of over 100 councils and 8,000 CGP members promoting the value of charitable gift planning to legislators in D.C. and nationally speaks on the role of advocacy in the nonprofit sector.

Who Benefits From This Undertaking?

Families benefit by learning the essential principles of smart personal financial management so they can make better informed every day financial decisions, and have the best opportunities to reach and maintain their personal financial freedom, security and advance their personal philanthropy.

Employers benefit from having employees who are less stressed, happier and more productive.

Financial institutions and their professionals benefit by acquiring new business from more informed and motivated clients.

Nonprofits benefit with increased donations, planned gifts, alternate beneficiary selections and bequests from more informed and motivated donors and volunteers.

Philanthropists benefits by helping to solve a major social problem that leads to better world.

Universities benefit by having alumni, faculty and staff who are less stressed, happier and more productive and more philanthropic.

The news media benefits by providing its audience with timely valuable information.

Municipalities benefit by having happier and financially successful constituents, and a reduced strain on social welfare services.

Everyone actually benefits with a stronger and financially sound economy.

This is a great opportunity to "strengthen relationships” with clients and prospects and associates, generate new revenue opportunities for financial service / nonprofit / education professionals, while producing needed gifts and bequests for many educational institutions and nonprofits.

Most importantly, this also goes a long way to solving the lack of financial awareness and financial illiteracy epidemic.

Together we have the potential to help solve a major social challenge by advancing and contributing to one of the most broad-based, multifaceted moments for improving financial awareness and financial literacy while advancing philanthropy.

Here are some fun and easy ways to participate

1. Place financial and estate planning editorial content into your website, newsletters, social media groups, local newspapers, and radio/television/web-based shows and ads, in support of National Financial Literacy Month and National Estate Planning Awareness Week. If you need content please contact us or see the sample articles Press & Industry Media Kits and Guides found below.

2. Add the "We Support Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Icon" to your website with a link to:
http://home.thefinancialawarenessfoundation.org/campaigns.html (Click on the icon below to download it)

3. Add an “Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Page to your website, newspaper, and magazine. This is an excellent opportunity to show your support and to provide your employees, clients, prospects, and members of your community with a great platform to share important financial information.

4. Initiating local community-wide seminars (similar to job fairs) that focus on improving financial awareness and financial literacy.

5. Encouraging groups to host or take part national webinars built around estate and financial planning during the months of April and October.

6. Circulating financial awareness campaign materials and the Press & Industry Media Kits and Guides found here to your members, colleagues, associates, and encouraging them to support and participate.

On behalf of The Financial Awareness Foundation and the participating associations, organizations, nonprofits, and professionals thank you for your efforts and for assisting us in having a positive ongoing impact on improving financial awareness and financial literacy across the country, and throughout the world.

Respectfully submitted,
Valentino Sabuco, CFP^®, AEP^® Executive Director & Publisher
The Financial Awareness Foundation
A 501(c) (3) Nonprofit
Dedicated to Substantially "Improving financial awareness & financial literacy..." ^SM

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