Our Impact
The Mercadien Foundation worked to deliver free financial literacy programs to help educate students and individuals in our community. Working primarily with high school educators and nonprofit organizations and guided by our strategic goals, we teamed up with local leaders to spark financial literacy education in all age groups using successful models and innovative techniques. We hope the dialogue about the importance of financial literacy that spanned various groups and regions of New Jersey continues.
With support from Rider University and New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group, Money$peak launched in Fall 2014 as a co- and extra-curricular competitive program for high school students in our region. Money$peak motivated students to learn about personal finance and gives them a way to make their own lasting connections with the curriculum materials.
Small teams of students were challenged to create short presentations demonstrating a deep understanding of a chosen topic on personal finance. The topic areas covered in the program are credit and debt, career and earnings, taxes and inflation, interest, insurance, credit, mortgage, investments, fraud, and identity theft.
Students presented information creatively or traditionally and were evaluated by a panel of high-profile judges. The program combined the required personal finance curriculum with student talents and interests in the hope that students would better retain the information. Money$peak was designed to advance a student’s grasp of everyday financial concepts and enhance their transition to independent and financially-competent consumers.
Money$peak was available to central New Jersey high school students who were taking or had taken a course fulfilling the Personal Financial Literacy Standard 9.2, required for graduation.
Research from the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation shows that each financially-stressed employee costs a business an average of $7,000 annually through lost productivity, poor performance, and inferior customer relations. As an employer, you play a critical role in helping your employees improve their financial capability.
$martWorkplace was designed as an assessment program to reward and recognize workplace culture and benefits that support financial literacy and capability. The goal of the assessment: help businesses improve their bottom line while improving financial education and related benefits for employees.
The $martWorkplace program was intended to create the opportunity to advance these trends - strengthening employee retention, increasing productivity, and improving overall satisfaction for employer and employee. As an innovative new program recognizing workplaces for supporting financially-capable employees and enhancing their communities, $martWorkplace would be a great development for employers and regional businesses.
Financial Literacy Resources
The Mercadien Foundation celebrates National Financial Literacy Month each April, helping to advance financial literacy education and supporting our overall mission and goals. We produced tools, including videos, whitepapers, articles, and tips to help all those interested in this topic. Check them out here.