October 31st is not just for Halloween, its also World Savings Day

Most kids are counting down the days until one of the seasons most fun and celebrated holidays, Halloween – but October 31st marks another important date too -- it’s also World Savings Day.

World Savings Day was established on October 31st, 1924 during the first International Bank Savings Congress in Milano, Italy, where representatives of 29 countries in attendance at the Congress wanted to reinforce the importance of savings to the general public, and its relevance to the economy. As a result, World Savings Day was born.
Unfortunately, little emphasis is placed on World Savings Day in the United States due to the fact that it collides with Halloween, but in other countries it’s a completely different story. Franz Strasser, who grew up in Austria recalls with sentiment that World Savings Day was always a day of great excitement, when Banks distributed free piggy-banks to children, and inspired them towards savings goals, and instilled a sense of financial responsibility into their young minds.
Handing personal finances in a great life skill at any age, and kids that are taught to be financially responsible are generally better equipped to make better financial decisions later on in life, including having good savings habits. Here are some ways to get your kids started on October 31st with some World Savings Day activities that will pay off big time for them.
Encourage your kids to have a piggy-bank
Not only do kids enjoy putting spare change or part of their allowance into their piggy-banks, but it also serves as a visual incentive to them of how much money they are accumulating (and saving).
Open a savings account for your kids
Find out what savings accounts are available for kids at your bank, and enroll them in a savings program that will keep them motivated to build up that bank account balance – and keep on depositing those piggy-bank savings.
Teach your kids what a budget is
Teach your kids what it means to budget by breaking it down to a level that they will understand. Maybe they buy lunch at the cafeteria two or three days a week? Set a budget for their lunch money, and demonstrate to them that if they brown-bag it occasionally, those extra dollars convert into savings – or spending money – for something worthwhile down the track.
With a little imagination, and lots of positive reinforcement, your kids will soon be well on their way to becoming financially responsible, and learn a life skill that they will value for the rest of their lives.
So on October 31st, while you’re handing out candy to the kids, don’t forget to hand out some good savings advice too.

Money saving iPhone apps

via www.worldnews.com
The first step to saving money is to effectively manage your money – and it only takes a quick look at the Apple App Store to see that there are plenty of apps available to help you take care of just about every financial need you can conceive.

Whilst a tool that manages your finances is handy, you can really save big by taking advantage of apps that literally save you money on everyday expenditure. Here is some top picks that will keep your finances running smoothly, save you money, and keep you organized.

iXpenselt
iXpenselt will help you keep track of your expenses, store photographs of your receipts, help you set a budget, and display daily, monthly and annual expenditure by category. Whether you’re looking for an app to manage your personal finances or keep track of your business expenses, this app will keep you organized, and even give you an alert when you are getting close to exceeding your monthly budget.

BillMinder
BillMinder is a simple and easy to use bill tracking application that features push notifications to ensure you’ll never miss a due date, or pay late fees again. With the added convenience of backing up your data and exporting via email, you can rest assured that even if your phone is lost, stolen or damaged, you will still have your scheduled reminders backed up to your computer so you can restore your data and continue being organized.

Skype
With Skype you can make and receive free calls, and instant messages to anyone else on Skype, wherever they are in the world. You can also save on international calls and text messages to land lines and cell phones with a subscription to the service. Skype is free to download and easy to use. With the latest version, you can now call over 3G, and keep Skype running in the background.

iGarage Sale
If you love to bargain shop at Garage Sales, this app will quickly locate for you local garage sales near your location. Garage sales are shown in your display choice of either a map or a list format, and it even gives you directions.

iBarcode
iBarcode is a mobile barcode scanner integrated with real-time price comparisons. Simply scan the barcode on the product in the store your interested in, and iBarcode will find the best prices for you on that product within seconds.

GENERATION Y AND THEIR FINANCIAL EDUCATION

Generation Y have grown up in an era where they were not only shielded from a lot of financial responsibility, but they also grew up in an era of consumerism – where it was perfectly acceptable to buy that purse, vacation, or front row concert ticket – all on credit.

Now, the financial crisis has affected almost all aspects of their financial existence, from getting their first job to paying off their college (and credit card) debts. Generation Y is struggling to make financial headway, in an economy that is still showing the strains from the generations that preceded them.

And, if that alone wasn’t hard enough, Gen Y’ers, despite engaging in more sophisticated and savvy money management tools are still not educated enough on personal finances to make sound, informed and basic financial decisions.

Only 52% of High School Seniors passed a recent Financial Literacy Test. America has young adults entering the work force, who do not know enough about basic budgeting, interest rates or taxes to make the financial decisions in their own lives that are a critical part of gaining financial independence and security. Their inability to understand, and manage their finances is demonstrated in our countries bankruptcy filings. 22.7% of all US Bankruptcies filings are by young people between the ages of 25 and 34.

So what can we do to help a generation that is drowning in debt, in a bleak economy? The financial landscape of today is vastly different to what it was twenty years ago, the game plan, and the rules have changed. The financial products offered today are more complex than ever before, and understanding the risks – and the benefits – of these products, along with a practical and realistic view of their current financial situation and short to medium term goals, is an important part of financial responsibility.

The Department of Treasury recently released the Draft National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2010. The national strategy identifies five action areas—policy, education, practice, research, and coordination. The purpose of the National Strategy 2010 is to create an overarching framework that all organizations involved with personal-finance education, research, practice, and policy will find useful to help guide their work over the next three to five years. The National Strategy 2010 has four main goals:

Goal 1: Increase Awareness of and Access to Financial Education
Goal 2: Determine and Integrate Core Financial Competencies
Goal 3: Strengthen Provision of Financial Education
Goal 4: Identify and Share Effective Practices.

Although financial education alone does not guarantee financial success, it is nevertheless important that individuals and families are aware of and have access to reliable, clear, timely, and relevant financial information and educational resources. Likewise, it is important that individuals and families be aware of the need to access these resources. A recent U.S. survey of financial capability showed that many individuals overestimate their financial knowledge and lack an understanding of key financial concepts.

For more information on financial education resources currently available visit http://www.mymoney.gov - the U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education.