MyMoney.gov
by CI Staff
MyMoney.gov is a U.S. government website dedicated to teaching the basics of financial education. The site has three separate sections—Life Events, My Resources and Tools. Each provides useful features and articles that assist with financial decision-making. The site organizes financial education resources from over 20 different federal websites in one place.
The Life Events section lists educational articles based on different stages of life, from the birth of a child and preparing for college to retirement to the death of a family member. Other important topics covered include marriage, home ownership and starting or losing a job. There are a bevy of articles in each section. In addition, the most popular articles are featured at the bottom.
My Resources separates the collection of financial information into categories for different types of users, such as youth, teachers, parents, retirees and employers. As in the Life Events section, the most popular articles are listed at the bottom.
The Tools section features several useful calculators, worksheets and checklists. The Retirement Estimator provides an estimate of the retirement benefits you will receive from Social Security. The figure provided should be reasonably accurate, as it is provided directly by the government Social Security website. Also linked is a Debt Payoff Calculator designed to calculate how long it would take to pay off a certain amount of debt at a specified interest rate and monthly payment.
Numerous worksheets are provided to help users budget their expenses, including an expense envelope worksheet and a budget box worksheet (which represent two different budgeting approaches). Various checklists are also available, including ones that assist in college preparation, shopping for mortgages and credit cards, and using home equity loans.
Overall, MyMoney.gov provides a wealth of financial education resources from the U.S. government, aggregated in one place. We recommend trying the website to see if there are articles or calculators useful to your personal situation. After all, the service is already paid for by your taxes.