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Profiles of IFIE Members' Financial and Investor Education Programs
Securities Industry and Financial Markets (SIFMA) and SIFMA Foundation for Investor Education
Financial and Investor Education Program Profile:
The SIFMA Foundation is an independent 501c3 organization that develops and directs initiatives to promote financial and investor education for all ages, spurring greater economic independence for individuals and enabling them to better access the opportunities inherent in our global marketplace. An affiliate of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and a merger of the legacy Foundation for Investor Education, The Bond Market Foundation, and the New York District Economic Education Foundation, the SIFMA Foundation administers an array of award-winning, instructional programs and websites that have advanced the financial knowledge of tens of millions of children and adults during the past three decades. Programs include The Stock Market Game and Investwrite; Tomorrow's Money (Spanish version www.ahorrando.org); Path to Investing; Investing in Bonds and Investing in Bonds Europe. More information about SIFMA Foundation is available at http://www.sifma.org/education/education.html.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association(SIFMA) brings together the shared interests of more than 650 securities firms, banks and asset managers. SIFMA's mission is to promote policies and practices that work to expand and perfect markets, foster the development of new products and services and create efficiencies for member firms, while preserving and enhancing the public's trust and confidence in the markets and the industry. SIFMA works to represent its members' interests locally and globally. It has offices in New York, Washington D.C., and London and its associated firm, the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, is based in Hong Kong. More information about SIFMA is available at www.sifma.org. SIFMA is a founding member of IFIE.
What Works Particularly Well and Why:
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SIFMA Foundation's The Stock Market Game™ (SMG) is an online educational activity for students that has served more than 12 million young people in grades 4-12 since its inception in 1977. SMG introduces students to the financial markets with its integrated curriculum as they learn math, economics and the importance of long-term saving and investing. Teams of 3-5 participants invest a hypothetical $100,000 in real stocks, bonds and mutual funds, learning cooperation, communication and leadership as they manage their portfolio. In August 2009, Learning Point Associates, a leading educational research firm, completed a two-year study funded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to test the efficacy of SMG. The findings showed that SMG substantially improves student math scores on standardized tests and improves student investor knowledge. The study also showed that teachers were more likely to engage in financial planning practices as a result of teaching SMG. The SMG simulation engages children and teachers and increases learning of mathematics and economics concepts in addition to finance.
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SIFMA Foundation partnerships with state based Economic Educational Councils (Stock Market Game) and the National Association of State Treasurers (Tomorrowsmoney.org program and other adult investor education initiatives) are a key way to allow the SIFMA Foundation to extend the reach and service of its programs and leverage to individuals and communities across the US.
How We Learn About Our Audiences' Investor Education Needs:
- In addition to research, user analysis, and external feedback and evaluations, SIFMA Foundation utilizes SIFMA member financial expertise; partner feedback and analysis; and best practices and expertise shared by other organizations and networks as we work together to serve financial and investor educational needs.
Tools We Use in Our Investor Education Programs:
- lessons that support the teaching of math, social studies, business, economics, and language arts and that correlate to educational standards in all 50 US states
- newsletters for program participants
- information for those providing education and outreach to program participants including webinars, enewsletters, conference calls, train the trainer events
- calculators
- glossaries
- help desks/contact support/on-line information such as to how to help participants
- targeted content for different/particular audiences, at different levels of learning
- multi-lingual programming and websites
- contextual information and explanations for educational and math concepts
- education and outreach for partners and community leaders
Different Delivery and Marketing Strategies to Reach Our Audiences, Educate and Help Them Use Our Materials:
- Specialized financial education, financial literacy, investor literacy and investor education content for different audiences of all ages and skill levels
- Content oriented to the needs of particular audiences such as women as family decisonmakers or military families
- Content oriented to regional and state-based needs
- Content written in multiple languages and easily accessible
- Focus on program participants, site visitors and program users and on the capacity of adults, teachers, professionals, community leaders or trainers and intermediary organizations who interact with target audiences
- Programs are distributed through multiple networks of partners and organizations, schools and communities
- SIFMA and SIFMA member firms are critical partners
How We Measure the Impact of Our Investor Education Programs:
- External evaluations
- User and trainer surveys
- Analysis of visitor traffic and program user patterns
- External support, feedback and involvement --resources, partnerships, networks, industry member volunteer and resource contributions
- Participation in efforts to exchange, share and create best practices with other organizations in the field
Other Investor Education Initiatives:
- SIFMA Foundation and SIFMA believe in the power of working together to accomplish goals and objectives in complex, dynamic environments. For example, SIFMA Foundation is a leading member in Jumpstart Financial Literacy Coalition, (US) Alliance for Investor Education and International Forum for Investor Education.
- SIFMA and SIFMA Foundation work continually to understand and improve the delivery and effectiveness of its financial literacy and investor education programs.
Best Practice Investor Education Case Studies:
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SIFMA Foundation's The Stock Market Game™ (SMG) is an online educational activity for students that has served more than 12 million young people in grades 4-12 since its inception in 1977. SMG introduces students to the financial markets with its integrated curriculum as they learn math, economics and the importance of long-term saving and investing. Teams of 3-5 participants invest a hypothetical $100,000 in real stocks, bonds and mutual funds, learning cooperation, communication and leadership as they manage their portfolio.
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Designed by teachers and reviewed for accuracy by industry experts at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), SMG's curriculum features the following teacher tools:
- Lessons that support the teaching of math, social studies, business, economics, and language arts
- Specific lessons in math.
- Weekly newsletter for teachers that ties current events to the program
- In-depth newsletters for students
- Use of online research, helping students stay current on financial, economic and world events
- Curriculum correlations to standards in all 50 states
- InvestWrite national essay contest as a culminating activity
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In August 2009, Learning Point Associates, a leading educational research firm, completed a two-year study funded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to test the efficacy of SMG. The findings showed that SMG substantially improves student math scores on standardized tests and improves student investor knowledge. The study also showed that teachers were more likely to engage in financial planning practices as a result of teaching SMG.
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SIFMA Foundation's website-driven www.Tomorrowsmoney.org program is designed to build confidence, knowledge and skills in basic personal finance for adults. The award-winning suite of sites focus on the needs of beginners, women as financial decisionmakers for their families; young adults just starting out; Spanish speakers; and people experiencing the financial decisionmaking of unexpected life changes such as loss of a job, death of a spouse, or natural disaster. The partnership of the SIFMA Foundation and the National Association of State Treasurers Foundation and its more than 40 State Treasurers provides a powerful network of state-based financial resources along with the empowerment tools from www.tomorrowsmoney.org to build financial literacy skills to serve adults with websites, e-newsletters, publications and seminars.
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SIFMA Foundation manages the award-winning www.Investinginbonds.com which provides millions of visitors (5 million visits projected 2009) free real-time bond price information and a wide variety of donated market data, news, commentary and educational content on how the US bond markets work . Its sister groundbreaking educational site www.InvestinginbondsEurope.org offers individual investors free access to comprehensive, non-commercial and unbiased information about the bond markets within a pan-European context in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. These sites focus on providing both educational content and explanations for market and data information in context to help individual investors from beginners to experienced learn more about fixed income investments .