Control Your Financial Future: Smart Investing @ Your Library

By Betsy O'Neil, Reference Librarian

September 16, 2009

Are you worried about your financial future? Have your investments lost value in the past year? Are you frustrated with of living from paycheck to paycheck? Have you lost your job?

Recent economic woes have taken a financial toll on many families and individuals. Whether or not you are an experienced investor, it can be a challenge to locate appropriate, unbiased information and guidance to help make important financial decisions.

Your Library is a great resource to help you navigate economically tough times and plan your financial future.

Thanks to a “Smart Investing” grant from the American Library Association and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, your library has provided programs on many financial topics, developed a page of reliable online financial resources and added hundreds of books, audiobooks and DVDs available for checkout during the past year.

A new series of “Smart Investing” programs will begin on Thursday evenings starting October 1st. This year’s programs provide something for every age group and life situation and have incorporated feedback from similar programs offered last year.

Seniors and retirees are invited to learn about “Avoiding Investment Fraud” on Thursday, October 1st, and “Estate Planning” on Thursday, October 8th, both beginning at 5 p.m.

Adults of all ages and economic situations can learn from a four-part series beginning October 15th at 6:30 p.m. and continuing each Thursday for four weeks. The series is taught by local financial professionals and will cover basic financial planning, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, asset allocation, planning for retirement and managing your finances in tough times. 

Classes for Seniors and adults include a pizza dinner.  Jump drives, financial books and financial magazine subscriptions will be awarded as door prizes. To register for Smart Investing events for adults, please call 577-READ.

Managing money wisely is not just a topic for adults.  A program about saving, spending and sharing will be provided for children on Wednesday, October 7th at 4 p.m.  Parents are encouraged to participate.

Tweens and Teens will learn about investing basics with an exciting “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” program to be held October 5th at 4 p.m. for Tweens (4-6 grades) and October 13th at 3:30 p.m. for Teens (7-12 grades).

Learn more about Smart Investing resources and events by visiting www.natronacountylibrary.org. The webpage includes a link to recently added investing and personal finance resources available for you to check out. Here are a few of the new titles available:

*The 1-2-3 Money Plan: The Three Most Important Steps to Saving and Spending Smart, by Gregory Karp
*Safe Money in Tough Times: Everything You Need to Know to Survive the Financial Crisis, by Jonathan Pond
*Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan, by Suze Orman

As always, many excellent resources are available for free at your library, and librarians are ready to help you find information specific to your situation. Please join us for the 2009 Smart Investing Program and make the next year a financially healthy one for you and your family. 

Smart Investing @ your library® is administered by the Reference and User Services Association, a division of the ALA, in partnership with the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The program helps public libraries meet investor education and protection needs at the community level.

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