Thank you for your interest in financial empowerment and financial wellness in Oregon. This quarterly newsletter highlights efforts statewide that are putting more Oregonians on the path to security, solvency, and success. Does your organization have news? Please let us know.
April is Financial Literacy Month. Access resources and materials on the National Association of State Treasurers website at: NAST.org/financial-literacy-month
2024 Financial Wellness Scorecard gives mixed marks to Oregonians’ financial security, fitness and stress
Oregonians are earning more and report higher net wealth, yet also are more likely to express difficulty paying their monthly bills. In addition, fewer than half of Oregon adults report ever taking a personal finance class.
Those are some of the takeaways from the 2024 Oregon Financial Wellness Scorecard, released by Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read and the Financial Empowerment Advisory Team.
“No matter who you are or where you call home, we lead better lives when we have the knowledge and confidence to make sound financial decisions, and to work and save toward financial freedom,” said Treasurer Read.
The array of statistics -- across 53 categories -- were gleaned from 16 sources including the U.S. Census, Federal Reserve, Equifax and Oregon Department of Justice. For the first time, the Scorecard also includes data from a personal finance survey of Oregonians, conducted in October 2023 by the nonprofit Oregon Values and Beliefs Center.
The representative survey helped illustrate that financial hurdles and stress levels are higher for Oregonians who are younger, rent their residences, are parents of children younger than 19, come from communities of color, or who have never taken a personal finance class.
Attorney General, annual empowerment awards lead April agenda
The Financial Empowerment Advisory Team meets quarterly to discuss and amplify financial education and capacity-building issues and efforts, with the goal of helping Oregonians statewide to advance their financial wellness and security.
All meetings are open to the public, and the next session is a virtual meeting on April 2. It begins at 2 p.m.
The Team will welcome Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who will discuss consumer protection efforts at the Department of Justice and her initiative “America’s Youth: Attorneys General Looking out for the Next Generation.”
The meeting also will include the announcement of the winners of the 2024 Financial Empowerment Awards, and a progress update from the Oregon Department of Education about the implementation of Senate Bill 3 (2023).
Angela Fontes, Vice President, Policy & Research at the Financial Health Network will present on the topic of financial security of people with disabilities, based on a national study last year.
The legislation requires that Oregon high school students take financial education and life skills-connected coursework, starting with the class of 2027.
Award-winning board game highlights credit and debt
Maintaining your financial health isn’t a game – but at Oregon State Credit Union, they turned it into one.
Called “Credit Land,” the board game was developed a decade ago and was a 2014 first-place winner in the Credit Union National Association’s Desjardins Award. The game is still available, along with a PowerPoint presentation, for Oregon educators. If you're interested in getting Credit Land for your classroom, contact Audrey Bailey, Community Education Director.
“Our credit union is passionate about improving financial wellness in our local communities, and we believe tools and education for all ages can help individuals lead healthier, more empowered lives,” she said.
To play the game, each player rolls the die, and along the way they learn what behaviors increase, decrease, or have no impact on a credit score. The player with the highest credit score at the end of the game wins.
Junior Achievement is relaunching Money Jar podcasts
A Portland-founded financial literacy podcast is relaunching on April 3, just in time for Financial Empowerment Month.
Money JAR is produced by Junior Achievement of Oregon & SW Washington at its studio in Portland, and began airing in 2012.
New episodes, ranging from 25-30 minutes in length, will posted every other Wednesday and will incorporate youth voices to talk about topics like financial literacy, careers, entrepreneurship, and common challenges that young people face when they enter the economics of life.
The adult host will be Jerelyn Brimer, operations manager at the Portland-based chapter of Junior Achievement and also the host of a sports podcast. The youth host of Money JAR is Gianna Leider, a senior at Cleveland High School in SE Portland, who plans to study marketing and consumer behavior in college.
The entire catalog of shows is available at www.juniorachievementradio.com, on iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. Through a partnership with iHeart MEDIA, TheMoney Jar will be featured through its podcast site.
State of Oregon Happenings
State School Board will consider financial education class standards in June
By this summer, Oregon school districts will have a clearer understanding of what will be taught as part of the newly passed law mandating personal finance and life skills education – and also, whether students will have standalone classes in those subjects or if the subjects will be combined into existing classes, which is similar to what happens today.
Senate Bill 3 was passed by the 2023 Legislature and requires students to get credits in those subjects to graduate. The law also gives districts flexibility. The State Board of Education is responsible for deciding the details.
The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) conducted several rules engagement sessions during late-February on draft rules, soliciting feedback from school district administrators, educators, business partners and parents around the state. Those suggestions will be used to further refine the draft rules language before they go to the State Board of Education in April.
In addition, because students will need to obtain the credits starting with the class of 2027, which is already in high school, the Department has concluded the work of the two content standards panels for Personal Financial Education and Higher Education and Career Path Skills. The draft standards will be posted for public comment collected through a state-wide survey and will close on April 17th. Please visit the Oregon Diploma webpage to share your feedback.
The draft implementation rules will be presented to the State Board of Education at its April 18 meeting. Then, the draft subject standards will be presented at the May 16 State Board meeting. Both items are anticipated to be adopted at the June 13 meeting.
Guidance is expected to be developed and released over the summer.
With tax day in sight, free credits are benefitting Oregon Guard members and education savers
Do you help Oregonians file their taxes? Do you make less than $30,000 a year? Did you serve in active duty for the Oregon National Guard in 2023? Did you save money for higher education with the Oregon College Savings plan?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then the government wants to put money back in your pocket – and it could add up to thousands of dollars -- but you need to file a tax return by April 15 to get that money.
Visit the Oregon Department of Revenue to learn more about the Earned Income Tax Credit, new Oregon Kids’ Credit and the Oregon Education Savings Credit.
Also, thanks to a new law, servicemembers in Oregon no longer are taxed when they are on active service, said George Katsinis, a financial adviser for Oregon military personnel and a member of the state’s Financial Empowerment Advisory Team.
Click here to learn more about military taxes.
Oregon Financial Empowerment Roundup
State Treasurer Tobias Read, pictured with West Albany student Baylee Williams, was a keynote speaker in February at the Western Business Educators Association conference in Eugene.
| Date |
Event |
March 26 |
Scam Jam, 8:30 a.m., AARP Oregon, 1130 Wallace Road, NW., Salem
How to file a Homeowners Insurance Claim, 11 a.m. Oregon Construction Contractors Board and the Division of Financial Regulation, webinar |
March 28 |
Community Class: Investing and Retirement, 2 p.m., Financial Beginnings, Clackamas WorkSource and Embold Credit Union, Zoom class
Prepare Your Finances Ahead of Retirement, 7 p.m., AARP Oregon, Virtual class |
April 2 |
Financial Empowerment Advisory Team, 2 p.m., electronic meeting |
April 3 |
Small Business Success Summit, 8 a.m., Clackamas Community College, Wilsonville campus
Free in-person tax filing, by appointment, Portland Downtown Library, (207)518-8579 |
April 4 |
Community Class: Fraud Protection, 10 a.m, Financial Beginnings, webinar |
April 6 |
Youth Financial Foundations, 9 a.m, Dev NW, 212 Main Street, Springfield |
April 9 |
Post-college student loan workshop for grads and staff, 5 p.m., Portland State University |
April 11 |
Student loan workshop for rural and coastal communities, 12 p.m., Tillamook Community College
Community Class: Budgeting Goals and Tools, 2 p.m., Financial Beginnings, Clackamas WorkSource and Embold Credit Union, Zoom class |
April 17 |
Statewide College Night, 6 p.m., The College Place Oregon, virtual meeting (with $1,000 drawing) |
April 18 |
Consumer Hour with Oregon’s Insurance Commissioner, 2 p.m., AARP Oregon Teletownhall
Community Class: Understanding Credit and Debt, 2 p.m., Financial Beginnings, Clackamas WorkSource and Embold Credit Union, Zoom class |
April 24 |
Smart Saving for retirement with OregonSaves, introduction for employers (9 a.m.) and savers (10 a.m.), Oregon Treasury, WebEx webinars |
April 25 |
Community Class: Spending and Housing, 12 p.m, Financial Beginnings, webinar |
April 27 |
Fraud Fighter Summit, 9 a.m., AARP Oregon and Lane County DA, Eugene |
May 4 |
Homebuying Foundations, 9 a.m., Dev NW, 212 Main Street, Springfield |
May 15 |
Smart Saving for retirement with OregonSaves, in Spanish (11 a.m.), introduction for employers (noon) and savers (1 p.m.), Oregon Treasury, WebEx webinars |
June 5 |
Financial Foundations, 5:30 p.m., Dev NW, 528 Cottage Street NE, Salem |
June 8 |
Homebuying Foundations, 9 a.m., Dev NW, 528 Cottage Street NE, Salem |
June 20 |
Fraud Fighter and Financial Resiliency Summit, 9 a.m., AARP Oregon, Beaverton |
Aug. 6 |
Financial Empowerment Advisory Team, 2 p.m., Oregon State Treasury, Tigard |
Oct 15-16 |
RE: Conference, Neighborhood Partnerships, Salem Convention Center |