Sealund’s Serious Games Blog

I was honored to sponsor the Florida Council of Student Affairs luncheon at their State Meeting in Tallahassee on Thursday, February 11, 2010, and serve as a guest speaker during that event. Tonjua Williams, PhD, Vice President, Academic & Student Affairs, St. Petersburg College had invited me to speak to this assembly of student affairs leaders from all 28 state and community colleges and some private institutions. Given the current economic conditions in Florida (and worldwide, of course), I thought they might be very interested in the topic Channel Partner Revenue Opportunities for Alaris Financial Literacy eLearning.

I presented them an opportunity to do well while doing good, by becoming a channel partner for our best-in-class Alaris™ Financial Literacy eLearning curricula. Their students, alumni and employees can benefit from the information and skills they gain in handling their finances, from overall budgeting principles to the details of responsible management of student loans, credit cards, identity protection, and other lifelong financial matters. The colleges and universities benefit from the channel partner relationship in offering the Alaris™ curricula in two ways – by receiving up to 50% of the revenue for each course taken and by association with our outreach to the disabled community through our involvement with the 2010 Real Economic Impact Tour (REI Tour) and our Credit Management curriculum’s compliance with accessibility Rule 508.

Our potential channel partners were interested in the options of hosting the Alaris™ curricula themselves or using Sealund and Associates’ hosting service , and they warmly received the mentor-driven approach of the courses. Their enthusiastic feedback included many expected issues and one very pleasant surprise. Everyone agreed that students, alumni and employees all need financial literacy education. They saw the benefit of the revenue sharing opportunity.

The pleasant surprise was an invitation from Geoffrey Fortunato (Dean of Students at Seminole State College of Florida) to speak to the FACC in May in Jacksonville, because he liked the Alaris™ curricula concept and channel partner opportunity so much that he thought the 120 student development practitioners from the Florida College system would also be very interested. I’m looking forward eagerly to speaking with them, too!

What do you think? Please share your comments.

The ASTD TechKnowledge™ 2010 Conference at the RIO All Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 27-29, 2010 was a smashing success! http://www.tk2010.astd.org We were hoping that, in this case, what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas but would spread with great impact into the world of training.

On Wednesday, 1/27 from 4-530 PM and Friday, 1/29 from 10-1130 AM, I presented “Managers Will Create Games in Minutes,” beginning with a brief discussion of the effectiveness of Serious Games and how to implement them for the maximum impact – but most of each session had the participants working hands-on with our Serious Games. I also distributed copies of my white paper, Serious Games – What’s In It for My Organization?

During these interactive sessions, people actually created mini games, using our new Interactivity Creator and took their games back to the office for deployment. Our Interactivity Creator is available for download here for $299 per developer perpetual license.

Our booth enjoyed enthusiastic visitors who were impressed with our Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), especially the Alaris Identity Theft demo. Our drawing for a 32” Vizio TV was won by Mahar from India. (We don’t want to put his identity—or his new TV—at risk by giving his last name.)

Of course, a good time was had by all.

My suite at the RIO served as Sealund Command Central, and gave us a great view of Las Vegas.

We wanted to give a big “thank you” to Joey’s family who drove us around Vegas, so we took them to the Rio Buffet on our last evening there. Kristin, Joey, Barbara, Beverly, Sue, Joe, Steve, and Stacy all enjoyed unwinding after a very busy conference.

Did you attend the conference? What do you think? Please share your comments.

With St. Petersburg Honorable Rick Baker, my husband Phil and I co-hosted a coffee reception for Florida Governor Charlie Crist on Saturday, February 6, 2010. The crisp, clear morning weather lit up our great room, and our guest of honor lit up the conversation.

We also enjoyed our time with newly-elected Mayor of St. Petersburg, Bill Foster.

A 60 Minutes film crew captured the event; can’t wait to see that segment!

Governor Crist met with Reverend Moses Brown of Feed Our Children Ministries and the girls recently brought here from Haiti.

Of course, everyone was interested in the plans for Florida’s economic recovery. Our involvement with the 2010 Real Economic Impact Tour (REI Tour) has us participating with diverse partners in national economic recovery efforts for consumers. And my November, 2009, participation in Governor Christ’s Florida Small Business Summit with its theme, Road to a Brighter Future, had informed me of areas of concern, such as The Unique Challenges of Florida’s Small Businesses, Florida’s Economic Gardening Program, Cutting Red Tape for Florida’s Small Businesses, Finding Strength in Numbers, and Connecting Small Business Owners with Florida’s Workforce. Everyone at the reception was interested in Governor Crist’s evolving vision for Florida’s small businesses and citizens as we build a path to greater prosperity.

What do you think? Please share your comments.

Banks’ Programs for Customers

The 2009 consumer credit crisis combined with the way the TARP funds bank bailout has been playing out has motivated banks and other financial institutions to bolster their image and their own financial stability by offering financial literacy information to their customers. Examples abound.

In April, 2009, Sarah Spear of the Association of Advanced Life Insurance Underwriting published a white paper on The Need for Financial Literacy, in which she summarized the financial literacy situation like this: “Government officials, educators and broadly diverse civic organizations agree on the need to increase the financial literacy of the American public. Ranging from school children to those who have recently retired, Americans need to learn the basics of personal financial planning and management, especially in the areas of budgeting, investing, and managing debt. The current financial and economic environments are only exacerbating the inability of our citizens to manage their personal finances.” She noted Sun Life Financial’s statistical findings that “Within the last 12 months, 20% of American workers have stopped funding their pre-tax retirement account, e.g., a 401(k), a 403(b), or an IRA (source: AARP). 59% of working Americans believe they are doing an “average” to “below average” job of preparing themselves financially for retirement (source: PlanAdvisor.com). 48% of American workers anticipate that they will continue to work beyond age 67.” Her call to action for 2009 also cited powerful reasons and measurements: “There is need for a new and innovative financial literacy delivery system to deliver financial literacy education as is evidenced by the subprime mortgage crisis, the growing number of personal bankruptcies, the dangerously high level of credit card debt, the low savings rate, and the lack of retirement planning, etc. We are living in a very complex financial environment, and many consumers are beginning to react to the financial crisis by increasing their knowledge of financial products. Open Course Ware financial literacy courses, an initiative by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has experienced a 27% increase in enrollment in their Fundamentals of Financial Planning since September 2008. The Consumer Credit Counseling Service saw a 43% increase in webinar attendance since September 2008. The 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy, an initiative of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), saw 43% increase in their financial literacy programs since 2008.”

Many financial institutions, from local to national organizations, have been expanding their financial literacy initiatives to meet that need. Minneapolis, Minnesota based Thrivent Financial for Lutherans launched their Debt Savvy program in 2007, and demand among their customers has grown ever since. Thrivent’s Debt Savvy program helps people learn how to budget realistically so they can be thoughtful about taking on debt, but it helps the banks’ business, too, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reports: “Jill Alshire, director of consumer banking at Thrivent, is sure the program has contributed to the bank’s growth to $560 million in assets this year from $400 million three years ago.”

Charles L. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago noted at the September, 2009, Conference on Successful Strategies for Financial Literacy and Education that the Fed’s history of engagement in financial education has been growing since the mid-1970s, from focusing initially on “improving public understanding of the Federal Reserve’s purposes and functions and informing consumers of their rights and lenders of their responsibilities” to recent initiatives concentrating on “practical issues, such as: financial skill-building, economics education, bank account ownership, financial planning, wealth accumulation, consumer protection, and foreclosures—issues that affect many people at different stages of their lives.” Looking forward, he expressed the intention for the Federal Reserve to work on both national and regional levels “to develop financial education programs that take into account the needs of their regions. For example, they can respond to variations in state education standards and to regional economic conditions. In addition, they are adept at identifying strong partners in their communities.” This outreach has expanded in the past several years.

School and Non-Profit Programs

Government agencies, organizations of financial services professionals, and community-based organizations may target a broad cross-section of the public or specific categories of consumers by life-stage or special interests.

At the federal level, the U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission provides an increasing number of resources through several websites. The Treasury Department, home of the Office of Financial Education, is the hub of federal financial education resources and has expanded its offerings to respond to citizens’ concerns. In 2009, the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy sponsored the OFE’s Community Financial Access Pilot (CFAP) to increase low- and moderate-income families’ and individuals’ access to financial services and education through Treasure staff serving as community consultants in up to eight pilot sites, after which they identified the most effective practices to achieve that goal. Mymoney.gov provides tool kits and information for consumers on many financial topics and warnings about scams, such as those for loans requiring advance fees and services claiming to offer foreclosure rescue.

Washington state, for example, sponsors the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, which offers many links to financial education and literacy resources. New York’s w!se (Working in Support of Education) sponsors the New York Financial Literacy Coalition program, Moneypower.org, to educate students and young adults.

The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has grown since its 1995 origins targeting students in Washington, DC, to a nation-wide network of state coalitions in four regions, with national standards in K-12 personal finance education, and hosting their first National Conference for Financial Educators in 2009.

The 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy organization, sponsored by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), offers ever-broadening information to support consumers’ financial decisions throughout their lives, from youth through retirement. It provides information on free financial literacy events in each state, access to the “Money Doctor” via a question form, and an online “Financial Guidance Book” with manageable amounts of high level information on general topics that drill down to more detailed subjects.

The demand for financial literacy is growing, and so is the supply. Many of the online and paper-based resources require a great deal of patience to dig through to the topic you need, but persistence will pay off, even if it just helps you figure out what questions you need to ask a financial advisor to resolve your specific issues.

Do you need financial literacy resources in your community? Would it be effectively delivered through the schools, libraries, or other community organizations? Let us know, and we at Sealund will send the word along.

What do you think? Please share your comments.

CNN Money reported that in the third quarter of 2009, the total number of bankruptcies filed spiked up 33%, the highest level since 2005, when 2,078,415 were filed before Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code. “The American Bankruptcy Institute, an industry research firm, said 388,485 bankruptcies were filed during the last quarter, compared to 292,291 filed during the same period in 2008, according to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Filings for the first nine months of the year climbed 35% to 1,100,035, compared to 841,496 filings during the same period in 2008. A total of 1,117,771 bankruptcies were filed last year.” The ABI report included these details as of 2009, Q3:

• During the last quarter of 2009, personal bankruptcies increased 33% to 373,308, with a 42% rise in Chapter 7 filings, totaling 265,721, and Chapter 13 filings rose 15% to 107,142. During the twelve-month period ending Sept. 30, 2009, total filings increased more than 34% to 1,402,816, compared to 1,042,993 in the same period of 2008.

• In the third quarter of 2009, business bankruptcy filings rose 32% to 15,177. Filings for the first three quarters of the year totaled 45,510, topping the total 43,546 business bankruptcies filed in all of 2008.

Reuters’ January 5, 2010, report on global consumer and business bankruptcies was equally bleak. They found 89,402 bankruptcy filings by businesses in 209, compared with 64,584 the previous year, and personal bankruptcies increasing to 1,357,565 in 2009, from 1,031,562 in 2008.

The Role of Consumer Debt and Unemployment

• The ABI also reported that consumer debt is consistent with bankruptcy filings, with the Federal Reserve indicating a record high ratio of household debt to disposable income in 2008. The chart of these data shows the 2005 spike in both debt and bankruptcy filings, with a sharp drop in 2006 but dishearteningly steady growth in consumer bankruptcy filings since then. Although the ABI shows complete statistics only through 2008, analysts predict that the continuing high unemployment rate will cause personal bankruptcies to grow through 2010. “While only 37.6% of consumers who filed for bankruptcy in 2008 attributed job loss, Leslie Linfield [executive director of the Institute for Financial Literacy] expects that number to rise significantly for 2009. ‘At the end of last year, unemployment hadn’t crept up as high as it is now,’ Linfield said.” Long-term unemployment, those out of work for 27 or more weeks, is at 5.4 million nation-wide and rising, nearly doubling the previous high of 2.8 million in 1983. Animated maps showing the growth of unemployment from January, 2007, through Q4, 2009 can be viewed on American Observer and Slate.

Societal Effects of Bankruptcies and Excessive Debt

MyBudget360.com expects that Q1 of 2010 will provide clear indicators of the direction of the economy as reflected in various measurements, but the picture for 2009 showed these statistics:

• US food stamp participation was at 36 million in July, 2009, from a low of 26 million in July, 2005.

• Foreclosure filings reached nearly 1.1 million in Q3 of 2009.

• Revolving credit has contracted for the first time in the history of credit data tracking. This means that just when more citizens need more financial support, credit card companies are terminating lines of credit and charging higher fees to customers in good standing, to compensate for the credit card companies’ own errors in judgment that had led them to offer too-easy financing to non-credit-worthy consumers.

Although we can’t rewrite the past, we can—and must—learn from it. Here at Sealund & Associates, we’re proud to be participating in the Real Economic Impact Tour’s nation-wide efforts to improve consumers’ financial literacy and in Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s Small Business Summit to build the small businesses that will boost employment and help our entrepreneurs and their employees increase financial stability for our citizens.

Are you involved with financial stability initiatives in your community? Let us know, so we can help spread the word.

What do you think? Please share your comments.