To The Editor:
Kudos to St. Joseph’s College for its efforts to impart the real world lessons of financial literacy to students (“Online Financial Course Helps Saint Joseph’s Students Wise Up,” Nov. 24). The Connecticut Society of CPAs is active in this arena as well. We made improving the financial literacy of Connecticut’s young adults our major public service initiative more than three years ago, and it continues as such today. We created a program entitled “Me, Myself, My Money,” or MMMM. The curriculum comprises 11 lesson plans, including “Who’s FICA, and How Come He Gets Part of My Paycheck?”
We initially designed MMMM for high school students — 149 Connecticut high schools have requested the series to date — and then took the logical next step of offering it to colleges and universities last year. Volunteer CPAs serve as instructors.
Central Connecticut State University has used MMMM as part of its mandatory freshman orientation for two years. Eastern Connecticut State University followed suit this past summer. The materials are also part of the financial literacy curriculum at the University of Connecticut’s Waterbury Campus.
In addition to the high school requests, we have received almost 40 requests for MMMM from other organizations ranging from the state Department of Children & Families and the state Department of Education to various charities and community organizations and even the Mohegan Tribe.
Further, our counterpart state CPA societies of Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia have asked for and received our permission to reprint the curriculum for local use.
We are grateful to Fairfield County Bank, Newtown Savings Bank, and Rockville Bank, all of whom saw the potential of our initiative and assisted with the developmental underwriting of “Me, Myself, My Money.” We are proud of the advice contained in MMMM, which is based on the financial expertise, independence and objectivity of CPAs.
See www.cscpa.org, and click on “Financial Literacy” and then “Me, Myself, My Money.”
Mark Zampino,
Public Affairs Director,
Connecticut Society of CPAs
