From VISA to Lady Gaga, Financial Literacy Bus Tours are Latest Financial Education Trend

From Asia and Europe to Africa and the Americas, financial literacy buses are making tremendous inroads in providing impactful financial education solutions to individuals and families in both developed and developing countries. In one of the latest examples, global payments giant Visa launched a bus tour across many provinces in China, where the bus has reached more than 10,000 primary and middle school children, teaching them about budgeting, saving, financial planning and other key financial literacy topics.

Financial education advocates are promulgating the virtues of buses as a means of reaching individuals who might otherwise lack exposure to financial education tools, materials and resources. In Visa’s case, the company partnered with other entities involved with the China Financial Literacy Development Alliance Program, which is focused on delivering financial education to students throughout China. Other organizations comprising the alliance include the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the China Foundation for Development of Financial Education (CFDFE), which is an entity backed by People’s Bank of China.

A few examples of successful financial literacy bus tours include the following:

• Visa China Financial Literacy Bus Tour:  As described above, this financial education bus tour has been an effective means of targeting and connecting with children throughout China to teach them critical financial literacy skills.

• Lady Gaga’s Born Brave Bus Tour:  Global pop icon Lady Gaga raised awareness about the importance of financial literacy when she launched a pre-concert financial education component as part of her Born Brave Bus Tour. The financial education bus provided pre-concert space for young people to gather and gain financial literacy skills, while connecting youth with local resources in their communities for ongoing financial education.

• UAE – Emirates Foundation Financial Literacy Bus Tour:  The Emirates Foundation launched a financial education bus tour initiative in which its financial literacy bus visits malls, schools and universities to hold educational events and activities designed to raise awareness among the country’s youth regarding money management and other related topics. The bus tour has been deemed a significant success through an effective partnership among entities such as the Emirates Foundation and the Ministry of Education.

• Fifth Third Bank’s Financial Empowerment Mobiles:  Fifth Third’s Financial Empowerment Mobiles are buses that travel widely throughout the bank’s markets to reach individuals and families primarily in low and moderate income areas that historically have been underserved by banks. The Fifth Third financial education bus initiative is ten years old and, since its inception, roughly 100,000 people have boarded the buses and gained important financial education from its offerings. A schedule of the bus tour locations can be found here.

• Your Money Bus Tour:  The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) Consumer Education Foundation, TD Ameritrade Institutional, and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine collaborated to roll out the “Your Money” bus tour. The initiative focused on spreading the message that it is never too late to prepare for a secure financial future. The bus route included many Wisconsin cities and the program features ranged from educational seminars to one-on-one conversations with financial consultants who were equipped to answer financial questions of the participants.

• BB&T Bank Bus Tour:  Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T) has rolled out its BB&T Bank Bus through innovative partnerships with financial education-focused entities such as the Gainesville Housing Authority. The Bank Bus provides information to participants regarding a range of financial literacy topics focused on empowering them to make better informed decisions with respect to their personal financial affairs. The bank bus has received high marks from industry observers, in part for its bilingual staff who are able to communicate with participants in their language of choice to educate them on such matters as budgeting, checking their credit scores, and setting up bank accounts.

Among the factors driving participant excitement about the financial literacy buses is the range of fun and interesting offerings that the buses provide. The Visa China buses include laptops that enable individuals to play Visa’s award winning Financial Football game, as well as other multimedia products that teach both kids and adults about financial planning concepts in a fun, interesting format. Other financial literacy bus tours contain everything from financial education-focused comic books for kids, to more serious financial textbooks geared to adults looking for a deeper dive into strategies and tools to hone their money management skills.

The financial literacy bus initiatives described above represent only a small sampling of similar bus and mobile financial education programs being rolled out in communities throughout world. Financial literacy proponents continue to assert that these bus tours will continue to drive financial education to new levels of success as they reach an expansive range of individuals and families who need them most.