Investor Education
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Foundation for Investor Education (SIFMA Foundation)
The Foundation for Investor Education (FIE), The Bond Market Foundation (TBMF), and the New York District Economic Education Foundation, merged to form the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Foundation for Investor Education (SIFMA Foundation).
For more than 33 years, collectively the Foundations have administered an array of award-winning, instructional programs that have advanced the financial knowledge of millions of Americans of all ages, supported the efforts of the nation’s fourth through 12th-grade teachers, partnered with many key leaders and organizations in the field, and provided tools to help individuals increase their understanding of personal finance.
The SIFMA Foundation continues to support programs of the merged entities. The Foundation board will be establishing a long-term strategic plan, a mission statement and recruits an executive director.
Programs include:
The Stock Market Game – A curriculum-based program where student teams in grades 4-12 learn long-term saving and investing fundamentals with a hypothetical brokerage account. The program serves 20,000 teachers and 700,000 students annually. Teachers receive grade-level specific curriculum guides, lesson plans and newsletters to incorporate the program into their core mathematics, social studies, business, economics and language arts programs.
InvestWrite – The national essay competition, a culminating activity for the Stock Market Game, requires students to draw on logic, critical thinking and writing skills to demonstrate how concepts learned in the classroom respond to a specific real-world investing situation.
Path to Investing – A financial education Web site containing product-free, commercial-free, unbiased information for making financial decisions, financial planning, preparing for retirement, protecting investors and understanding how the financial markets work.
Tomorrow’s Money – Financial education Web sites (www.tomorrowsmoney.org; www.ahorrando.org; www.unwantedchange.org; and www.cambiosinesperados.org) which are geared toward women, young people, Spanish speakers, and people experiencing the financial impact of unwanted life changes.
State Treasurers Gateway Initiative Partnership and Network – A partnership with the National Association of State Treasurers Foundation, and its more than 40 state treasurers, providing state-based financial education through Web sites, e-newsletters, publications and seminars.
Investing in Bonds – A recently redesigned SIFMA investor education Web site that provides the public with valuable information and market data about bonds and how the bond markets work. A European version, www.investinginbondsEurope.org is being developed in five languages with release the first half of 2008. Content and market data are being donated by SIFMA European member firms.