Massachusetts Financial Literacy Task Force Issues Key Report

All eyes were on the state of Massachusetts when State Treasurer Deb Goldberg and her Financial Literacy Task Force recently released their statewide report on the status of financial education in Massachusetts. Following the launch last year of a comprehensive research effort by the Treasurer’s Office of Economic Empowerment, and a half-year of analysis and discussions by the Task Force, the report provides a roadmap for programs and resources that will empower Massachusetts residents with the skills they need to manage their finances, plan for college, save for retirement and have more control and effectives over the decision-making relating to their financial lives.

Among the initiatives called for in the report are the following (the full report can be found here):

<> increasing accessibility to all financial education activities and programs throughout the state

<> promoting a public financial education awareness campaign

<> communicating the family dynamic principle to stakeholders

<> incorporating all financial literacy programming within the Office of Economic Empowerment

Treasurer Goldberg created the Office of Economic Empowerment with the primary objective of incorporating a range of economic empowerment initiatives, with financial literacy topping the priorities. Other work of that office includes a focus on college affordability and programming to support wage equality.

The Massachusetts Financial Literacy Task Force is comprised of thirty-one members representing a broad range of stakeholders across the state’s financial education network, including policymakers, educators, bankers, and advocates responsible for examining the state of financial education in Massachusetts. Through their work, they identified three key demographic groups; namely, K-12 students, college students and adults. These groups are targeted for the largest scope of fiscal impact on the state and the largest scope of programming work as identified in the report.

Other states have been watching Massachusetts closely as they work through their own reviews and policy proposal for increasing financial capability in their states. Now that the report of the Task Force has been issued, the priority changes to implementation and financial literacy proponents will continue to observe the Massachusetts developments with great interest in the months ahead.