• Mapping Your Future's tools help keep your students financially fit!
• Make the most of summer break before college
• Life skills and money management game sees continued success
• Mapping Your Future honors its core values

Mapping Your Future's tools help keep your students financially fit!

Although April was National Financial Literacy Month, Mapping Your Future (MYF) offers financial fitness tools year round to help students learn more about personal finance and determine if they are financially fit.  Below are the top ten tips for financial fitness:

10. Test your financial fitness. How financially smart are you?
mapping-your-future.org/features/dmfinancialtest.htm

9. Pay yourself first, by building a savings account.
mapping-your-future.org/features/dmsavings.htm

8. Once you've established a savings account, consider other investment options. Should you open an IRA or put your money into a CD?
mapping-your-future.org/features/dminvest.htm

7. Reconcile your check register or other records to your bank statement each month. It's not enough to write your deposits and debits into your check book. You also need to reconcile your activity you tracked to your actual account activity according to the bank.
mapping-your-future.org/features/incontrol.htm

6. Use credit cards wisely! Credit cards are a great way to build up credit when you pay on the balance on a monthly basis and can be of assistance in the case of an emergency. Be careful to not overuse your credit card and accrue a large amount of debt.
mapping-your-future.org/features/dmcrwise.htm

5. Request a free copy of your credit report annually and review it to ensure accuracy.
mapping-your-future.org/features/dmcrreportreq.htm

4. Clean up any past credit issues or problems. Bad credit may cause problems for you in the future. Don't let a past mistake haunt you in the future.
mapping-your-future.org/features/dmcrcleanup.htm

3. View webcasts on money management. Get the basics of money management, find more information about your credit report and more importantly how this report will effect future large purchases, and learn how to protect yourself against identity theft.
mapping-your-future.org/features/webcasts.htm

2. Visit other free money management resources on the web. Find out more information on keeping yourself financially fit.
mapping-your-future.org/features/resources.cfm#SiteswithInformationonFinancialFitness

And the number one money management tip is . . .

Establish a budget — and stick to it! Get control of your wants and needs.
mapping-your-future.org/features/dmbudget.htm

To see all of MYF's financial fitness tools, visit mapping-your-future.org/features/dmtensteps.htm.

Make the most of summer break before college

It may be hard to believe, but summer vacation is just around the corner. For some students, the end of the semester is less than three weeks away, so it's time to be thinking about what you want to do this summer.

Here are some activities you might want to consider if you're graduating from high school this year:

• Prepare for life in the dorm. If you aren't sure what you will need to bring with you, check with the housing office at the college.
• Read some good books. Many colleges have suggested reading lists. Get a copy, and make sure you've read at least some of the books on the list.
• Visit the doctor. It's a good idea to have a physical (some colleges require it if you plan to participate in sports) and to make sure your immunizations are up to date.
• Make a budget. The college financial aid office may be able to assist you with estimated living expenses for students attending the college, and Mapping Your Future (MYF) offers a free online budgeting tool at mapping-your-future.org/features/budgetcalc.htm.
• Learn about personal finance. If you've never balanced a checking account or paid your own bills, now is a good time to learn. MYF has information online at mapping-your-future.org/features/dmtensteps.htm to assist you.
• Save some money by working a summer job. Working over the summer is great way to have some cash on hand when you go to college in the fall.
• Go to summer welcome. If your college offers summer welcome sessions, be sure to attend to make your transition to college life a smooth one!

Life skills and money management game sees continued success

More than 16,757 individuals have played Mapping Your Future’s (MYF) Show Me the Future^SM (showmethefuture.org), the free online life skills and money management game. This number represents all of the players who completely finished the game since its release on March 31, 2006 and includes individuals from all fifty states and various other countries.

The largest majority of players, 9,267, were female and 6,624 players indicated middle school as their last education level completed. Missouri had the most individuals, 1,453, play the game, with Kentucky (1,122) and North Carolina (1,099) a close second and third.

It is evident that schools are promoting and using the game in these state and others. Players are required to provide their school and zip code-making it easy for MYF staff to identify patterns. From the demographic information collected, MYF can conclude that many schools believe Show Me the Future is a valuable teaching tool for students.

Show Me the Future is an online life skills and financial literacy game. This interactive feature, aimed at middle and high school students, teaches life skills and money management and helps students understand that the decisions they make today can have a life-long impact.

To promote Show Me the Future to your students and families, you can distribute bookmarks that feature both Show Me the Future and CareerShip, MYF's online career exploration tool. To request a free supply, send an e-mail to MYF at feedback@mapping-your-future.org.

Mapping Your Future honors its core values

Mapping Your Future (MYF) is a national collaborative, public-service organization of the financial aid industry. MYF prides itself in bringing together the expertise of the industry to provide free career, college, financial aid, and financial literacy services for students, families, and schools, providing these services via the web at mapping-your-future.org for more than ten years.

MYF carries out its mission of enabling individuals to achieve life-long success by empowering schools, students, and families with free, web-based career, college, financial aid, and financial literacy information and services. MYF has a variety of programs and information offered on the web site, including, but not limited to, Online Student Loan Counseling (OSLC), Show Me the Future, CareerShip, and Financial Fitness Tools.

• OSLC helps schools meet federal loan counseling requirements and helps students understand federal student loan obligations.  Currently more than 2,790 schools use OSLC.
• Show Me the Future is an online life skills and financial literacy game. This interactive feature, aimed at middle and high school students, teaches life skills and money management, and helps students understand that the decisions they make today can have a life-long impact. As of April 2007, more than 16,757 had played the game (it was released on March 31, 2006).
• CareerShip is an online career exploration adventure for middle and high school students.
• Financial fitness tools are features that are aimed at educating high school and college students about personal finance. Students are able to determine if they are financially fit, get advice on the wise use of credit cards, learn how to avoid defaulting on their student loan and other debts, and access information on credit reports and investment options. It also provides interactive calculators to help students with budgeting, balancing a checkbook, savings, and loan consolidation.

MYF keeps all of its core values in the forefront:

• We support and encourage higher education and career opportunities.
• We are non-profit, non-proprietary, and a neutral source of information for parents and students.
• We promote a collaborative, team-oriented environment among professional staff, Sponsors, Friends members, volunteers and other partnering organizations.
• We adhere to all regulatory requirements and conduct daily operations with integrity, abiding by high moral and ethical standards.
• We provide a highly confidential and secure environment for data by establishing and implementing privacy and security policies and procedures.
• We provide accessible and relevant online services to as many users as possible.