January Financial Anxiety Improves
SAN FRANCISCO-The Money Anxiety Index for January stood at 93.9, an improvement of 1.4 index points over the same month in 2011. The Money Anxiety Index has been on the rise since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, and peaked in mid-2011 at 99.5. The index improved gradually in the past six months, which its author said indicates a higher level of consumer financial confidence.
However, said Dan Geller, trend analyst at Money Anxiety Index, there is a "cloud" hovering over the improvement in the financial confidence of U.S. consumers, and that is the instability in Europe.
For info: www.moneyanxiety.com
Financial Counseling Expands
NAPERVILLE, Ill.-Forty representatives from Illinois credit unions are participating in the second year of the REAL Solutions Enhanced Financial Counseling Certification Program, as a result of support from the Illinois Credit Union Foundation.
According to the Illinois league, in bringing back the program for the second year two significant modifications have been made to enable as many Illinois CUs as possible to participate in the program: a reduction in cost and an increase in number and locations of proctored test sites.
Thanks to sponsorship from the Foundation, the only cost to Illinois credit unions is the purchase of the FiCEP books and exams from CUNA. Expanded testing sites in 2012 program will include Chicago, Danville, Gurnee, Moline, Rockford and St. Louis.
In the first year of the Illinois program, 23 individuals from 11 credit unions "graduated" as Certified Credit Union Financial Counselors (CCUFC).
