Personal Financial Management 4.0: Moving Forward
This report argues while PFM is the most important part of online/mobile banking, it's time to stop thinking of it as "product."
Financial Education
Articles about how banking providers can leverage financial education, financial wellness, financial literacy programs, budgeting tools, and other personal financial management tools (PFM) as part of their marketing and growth strategies.
Latest Spotlight Article:
The 0% Loan: Why a Dozen Lenders Are Leaning into the Novel Idea
There's no catch. Executives at several credit unions share what they like about the no-interest, no-fee loans, which are designed to be offered as an employee benefit.
Popular Articles within Financial Education:
Elements of Money Wins Credit Union Award For Financial Education
The Elements of Money website, a financial ed program for teenage members of U.S. credit unions, just won a marketing award.
My Savings Goals: Mental Accounting Trick Or Practical PFM?
A new automatic savings tool from ING Direct aims to breakdown behavioral barriers to savings, but is it really useful?
LGBT Investors Feel Confident, Positive About Retirement
Most of the world is feeling pretty gloomy about their prospects for retirement. But not the LGBT crowd, according to a survey by Wells Fargo.
The Piggy Bank Origin Story: An Accidental Invention
Ever wonder why kids stuff money into little pink ceramic pigs? It has nothing to do with the farm animal, and everything to do with ancient clay and rhetoric.
Hopping 3 Tropical Isles of Financial Education
Ready for some island-hopping? Take a look at these 3 financial education websites, all using a tropical theme as a backdrop to simulate life’s decisions.
56 Sage Street: Barclays Cool Online Money-Management Game
Barclays has introduced 56 Sage Street, a free, online, single-player money-management game built around an interactive virtual city. The big, Flash-based game is intended to help the European banking giant reach younger consumers. When 56 Sage Street begins you have just arrived in the city, with only £4 in your pocket. You make money by […]
Beneficial Decorates Branches with Books
This past weekend, Beneficial Bank christened two new education-themed branches in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The bank describes the branches as “campuses,” designed to be hubs for both learning and the community at large. Both the new branches incorporate a “Financial Learning Library” (something the bank is trying to claim a trademark on) with shelves […]
Does ‘Financial Literacy’ Work?
No one had ever heard of the term “financial literacy” when researchers first started measuring it back in the late 1990s. Today, hundreds of organizations promote financial literacy, Congress introduces bills supporting it, a Federal commission promotes it, serious research is being published on the subject, and thousands of banks and credit unions are pushing […]
Content Marketing Lessons for Financial Institutions
By Luke “Kip” Owen, Account Manager for Truebridge Financial Marketing Financial marketers often wrestle with a difficult question: How do you “sell” to consumers when they don’t want to be sold? The answer is to give them the information they want, not the products you think they need. Give them what they’re looking for — […]
Planet Orange for Kids
Reviewed and written by James Flores, CEO of Subcat Marketing. Subcat Marketing specializes in helping financial marketers reach “sub-categories” such as kids, teens, young adult and family markets. The firm develops fully-custom youth marketing and education programs for financial institutions across the country, and also offers a turnkey program for teens called The Elements of […]
Umpqua Bank’s New Marketing Campaign: ‘Save Hard. Spend Smart.’
Umpqua's "Save Hard, Spend Smart" initiative is a multifaceted website the bank describes as "a virtual financial support group for you."
BofA Has 6 (Six!) Brand Heritage Museums
BofA calls them Heritage Centers, including San Francisco, Charlotte, Boston, Los Angeles and Wilmington. A BofA facility in each these five cities is home to a gorgeous, professionally-produced “interactive museum.” The first one opened in Charlotte in January, 2006. The bank says it created its Heritage Centers so people could “experience our story firsthand through […]
What Gen X, Gen Y Think About Their Financial Situation
Banking only works when financial institutions understand customers and their needs. Gen X and Gen Y differ, and here's why.
The Amazing Money Maze
With economic upheaval on Wall Street, many Americans are looking for answers on a wide range of financial matters. O Bee Credit Union is telling people to “Get lost!” Literally. In a maze. O Bee Credit Union has partnered with a local newspaper and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions to create one of […]
KeyBank Says ‘Money Needs Attention’
“Money creates money concerns. And genuine attention to money helps eliminate them.” That’s the underlying premise behind Key Bank’s latest brand ad campaign, “Money Needs Attention.” The campaign includes print, TV and outdoor advertising, as well as a microsite. The TV spots share the stories and concerns of real KeyBank customers, told in their own […]
BofA Targets College Crowd With ‘Morris On Campus’
Bank of America’s Morris on Campus,™ Life According to an Upperclassman™ is designed to “educate and empower students to take control of their finances and bank with confidence in this new academic year,” the bank says. Unlike other Gen-Y online promotions, “Morris” is not the product of a “spokester contest,” but is instead a 23-year […]
Wachovia Ties New Automatic Savings Product to Debits
Wachovia is making it easier to save money with an automatic savings system similar to Bank of America's "Keep the Change" program.