Welcome to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Your Money, Your Goals: A financial empowerment toolkit for social services programs! If you're reading this, you are probably a case manager, or you work with case managers. Finances affect nearly every aspect of life in the United States. But many people feel overwhelmed by their financial situations, and they don't know where to go for help. As a case manager, you're in a unique position to provide that help. Clients already know you and trust you, and in many cases, they're already sharing financial and other personal information with you. The financial stresses your clients face may interfere with their progress toward other goals, and providing financial empowerment information and tools is a natural extension of what you are already doing. What is "financial empowerment" and how is it different from financial education or financial literacy? Financial education is a strategy that provides people with financial knowledge, skills, and resources so they can get, manage, and use their money to achieve their goals. Financial education is about building an individual's knowledge, skills, and capacity to use resources and tools, including financial products and services. Financial education leads to financial literacy. Financial empowerment includes financial education and financial literacy, but it is focused both on building the ability of individuals to manage money and use financial services and on providing access to products that work for them. Financially empowered individuals are informed and skilled; they know where to get help with their financial challenges. This sense of empowerment can build confidence that they can effectively use their financial knowledge, skills, and resources to reach their goals. We designed this toolkit to help you help your clients become financially empowered consumers. This financial empowerment toolkit is different from a financial education curriculum. With a curriculum, you are generally expected to work through most or all of the material in the order presented to achieve a specific set of objectives. This toolkit is a collection of important financial empowerment information and tools you can access as needed based on the client's goals. In other words, the aim is not to cover all of the information and tools in the toolkit - it is to identify and use the information and tools that are best suited to help your clients reach their goals.

Today, people struggling with debt have far fewer options: lenders are stingier, which makes it harder to avert disaster, or to recover from setbacks like foreclosure, short sales, or bankruptcy. (Meanwhile, people with good credit have more options than ever, including some of the lowest interest rates in decades.) Debtors need an up-to-date guide that can help them assess options, find help, discover opportunities, and take action that works. Liz Weston's Deal with Your Debt, Updated and Revised Edition is that guide. In this extensively updated guidebook, Weston shows which debts can actually help build wealth over time, and which are simply toxic. She presents up-to-date, real-world strategies for assessing and paying off debt, including money-saving insights on which debts to tackle first. She also offers practical guidelines for assessing how much debt is safe -- and compassionate, realistic guidance for people who've gone beyond the safety zone. In There Are No Dumb Questions About Money , nationally-renowned personal finance journalist and best-selling author Liz Weston answers your most pressing questions, helping you navigate today's more-complicated-than-ever financial world. Through real-life reader questions and clear, to-the-point answers, Weston shows how to manage your spending, figure out what you can and can't afford, and choose the smartest ways to pay off your debt. You'll discover why most investment strategies don't work, and identify better ways to save for retirement. But you'll also learn to handle the trickier, emotional side of money: how to avoid fights with your partner, deal with spendthrift children or parents, and spot con artists or lousy advisors before you get robbed. Using humor, keen insight, and time-tested financial planning principles, Weston can help you wrangle your money into shape -- and find your own path to financial freedom.

You're going to earn plenty of money over your lifetime. Are you going to waste it on stupid crap that doesn't make you happy, or let it buy your freedom and your most audacious dreams? We never get an instruction manual about how money works. Most of what we learn about money comes from advertising or from other people who know as little as we do. No wonder we make such basic mistakes. No wonder we feel disempowered and scared. No wonder so many of us just decide to stick our heads in the damn sand and never deal with it. In Manage Your Money Like a F*cking Grown Up, Sam Beckbessinger tells it to you straight: how to take control of your money to take control of your life. In this clear and engaging basic guide to managing your finances, you will learn: - How to trick your dumb brain into saving more, without giving up fun - How to make a bona fide grown-up budget - Why you need to forget what you've learned about credit - How to negotiate a raise - Why buying a house (probably) won't make you rich - The one super-simple investment you need With helpful exercises, informative illustrations (also: kittens) and straightforward advice, this book doesn't shy away from the psychology of money, and is empowering, humorous and helpful. The book you wish you'd had at 25, but is never too late to read.

Create a foolproof budget that's right for you! Everyone wants a simple and practical way to manage their money, but with countless financial planners, budgeting articles, and websites available, it's not always easy to figure out where to start. Filled with only the most essential information on budgeting, this book shows you how to build a financial plan that not only meets your needs, but helps you stay on track. From prioritizing goals and listing expenses to saving regularly and planning for future finances, this book guides you through all the important steps of budgeting with realistic advice. You'll be able to create a visual portrait of your finances as well as learn how to manage your spending, stay out of debt, and build for the future. This book also includes a resource guide for free and up-to-date web tools that make the process as easy and comprehensive as possible. With The Only Budgeting Book You'll Ever Need, you will finally be able to find peace of mind knowing that you can create a realistic budget that works for your financial situation and goals.

This illustrated beginner's guide to personal finance distills essential information into small, easy-to-follow steps to help you get your finances in order. Get your finances in shape! In The Infographic Guide to Personal Finance, you will learn all the skills you need to make good financial decisions and grow your personal wealth. Full of colorful descriptions organized in an easy-to-read format, this book contains infographics such as: Choosing your bank; Building an emergency fund; Choosing a financial planner; Where your money is going; What not to buy; Health insurance; Property insurance; What federal taxes pay for. With the help of this guide, you'll learn how to make good investments, save for big things like a house or college tuition, budget, and more!

"The United States Code is the official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States of America. The Code was first published in 1926, and a new edition of the code has been published every six years since 1934. The 2012 edition of the Code incorporates laws enacted through the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, the last of which was signed by the President on January 15, 2013. It does not include laws of the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, enacted between January 2, 2013, the date it convened, and January 15, 2013. By statutory authority this edition may be cited "U.S.C. 2012 ed." As adopted in 1926, the Code established prima facie the general and permanent laws of the United States. The underlying statutes reprinted in the Code remained in effect and controlled over the Code in case of any discrepancy. In 1947, Congress began enacting individual titles of the Code into positive law. When a title is enacted into positive law, the underlying statutes are repealed and the title then becomes legal evidence of the law. Currently, 26 of the 51 titles in the Code have been so enacted. These are identified in the table of titles near the beginning of each volume. The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives continues to prepare legislation pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 285b to enact the remainder of the Code, on a title-by-title basis, into positive law. The 2012 edition of the Code was prepared and published under the supervision of Ralph V. Seep, Law Revision Counsel. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the contributions by all who helped in this work, particularly the staffs of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and the Government Printing Office"--Preface.