Educational Programs

Financial Education for All

We are dedicated to improving financial readiness for people in all community sectors and all career and life stages by providing the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed, intelligent financial decisions. We offer a wide range of curricula on numerous financial topics that support various educational, business, social service, civic, and faith-based organizations across the country.

We have more than 60 financial education presentations that vary in duration and format. All content can be tailored to meet your organization’s specific needs. Let us know how we can help your organization provide great financial education!

In addition to educational presentations, this page also includes web-based training courses and financial calculators. Except for our FERS and CSRS Retirement Benefits Program, all educational content, resources, and tools are available at no charge!

General Financial Education Presentations

We offer a comprehensive library of presentations on numerous topics suitable for all community sectors, including federal civilian employees. Our library of presentations is customizable. They can be used for individual briefings or combined for a more comprehensive program to address the needs of a particular audience.

Our presentations and seminars can either be conducted by one of our volunteer speakers, or we can train individuals from an organization to do them.

General Financial Presentations and Seminars List
Presentation Request Form

FERS and CSRS Employee Retirement Seminars

We contract directly with federal agencies to provide federally mandated training on FERS and CSRS retirement benefits. Our in-person and virtual seminars include discussion and training on annuity and survivor benefits, Voluntary Contribution Program, Thrift Savings Plan, federal employee health benefits, Social Security, Federal Employee Group Life Insurance, long-term care insurance, and a brief overview of financial planning. Our professional speakers provide a full range of seminars tailored to early- and mid-career and pre-retirement federal employees, as well as to Special Provisions employees such as law enforcement personnel, firefighters, and air traffic controllers.

As a 501(c)(3) public non-profit charity, we do not endorse any commercial supplier, product, or service or promote the services of any specific financial institution.

We are pleased to offer the following presentations in this program.

CSRS Pre-Retirement 1 or 2 day
FERS Pre-Retirement 1 or 2 day
FERS Early-Career Retirement 1 or 2 day
FERS Mid-Career Retirement 1 or 2 day
Thrift Savings Plan with Financial Planning for the Federal Employee 1 day
Combined FERS and CSRS Pre-Retirement 1 or 2 day

FERS & CSRS Seminar Testimonials

Downloadable Financial Resources

Budget Basics

Understanding Credit

Managing Personal Debt

Personal Loans

Money Behaviors

Investing Fundamentals

Planning for Retirement

Life Insurance

Developing a Financial Plan

Financial Readiness Education

Financial Education: The Key to Financial Stability and Security

Financial Tools and Calculators

Our easy-to-use online calculators to help you solve some common financial problems without storing any of your personal information. If you find these calculators helpful, be sure to bookmark this page or suggest it as a link from your favorite home page or search engine.

Command Debt Terminator Debt

This tool can be used to develop a strategy to pay off debts. By entering a few pieces of information, you will receive a plan to eliminate your debt.
• Enter data about your current debts
• Enter information about additional monthly or lump sum funds you can apply to your debts
• Select the method you’d like used to calculate the debt schedule (order entered, lowest balance first, highest balance first, highest interest rate first)
• Click on the Calculate button to see the plan
(Note: you cannot save this plan online. You can, however, print it for future reference. If you want to revise the data, click the Back To Calculator button and make your changes.)

* Please note these calculators are provided for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as financial advice. Always consult a financial advisor or counselor familiar with your personal situation before taking specific actions that could affect your economic well-being. First Command Educational Foundation does not endorse or favor any commercial supplier, product, or service.

Spending Plan Tool

The Spending Plan Toll is a spreadsheet you can use to organize your finances.  To use, download and click Open to open the document.  If you would like to save this spreadsheet to your computer click Save or Save As.

  • The spreadsheet has 5 pages: #1 Net Worth Worksheet, #2 Monthly Income Worksheet, #3 Monthly Savings and Expenses Worksheet, #4 Debt Worksheet, and #5 Goal Worksheet.
  • Enter your data in the appropriate area of the appropriate worksheet, and calculations will be automatically made to help to determine the amount you will need to reach your goals.
  • You are also given an area to make notes on ways to achieve your financial goals.

* Please note these calculators are provided for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as financial advice. Always consult a financial advisor or counselor familiar with your personal situation before taking specific actions that could affect your economic well-being. First Command Educational Foundation does not endorse or favor any commercial supplier, product, or service.

Investment Risk Tolerance Self-Assessment

A primary consideration when developing an investment strategy and selecting instruments that best help you achieve your financial goals is knowing and understanding your investment risk tolerance level, i.e. how much and how many stock fluctuations you can tolerate while seeking higher returns and long term growth.  This questionnaire helps you determine your comfort level with investment risk.  

You can either click Online Assessment and complete the questionnaire online, or select the Risk Tolerance Worksheet option, download the form, and complete the pdf version of the questionnaire.

* Please note these calculators are provided for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as financial advice. Always consult a financial advisor or counselor familiar with your personal situation before taking specific actions that could affect your economic well-being. First Command Educational Foundation does not endorse or favor any commercial supplier, product, or service.

Money Matters Online

Money Matters Online is an online course that is ideal for pre-teens, teens, and young adults.   It consists of 12 modules on Accounts, Checkbook, Credit, Loans, Rights & Responsibilities, Buying, Stocks & Investments, Retirement, Insurance, Entrepreneurship, Bankruptcy, and Giving.   Each module contains pre- and post-modules quizzes, vocabulary, and exercises.  Money Matters Online is self-paced and provides feedback as various tests and exercises are completed.  The curriculum includes a pre- and post-course comprehensive exam and an instructor interface that allows instructors to create classes, add and delete students, and monitor their progress and test results.

Students

  • If you’d like to learn more about Money Matters Online, ask your instructor to visit this web page and contact FCEF at edufoundation@fcef.com. Your instructor can obtain access to the curriculum and enroll you in the program.
  • BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE COURSE, read the Student Manual. It will provide you with very important information for logging in and working through the course.  Once you have received your student login information, go to the Student Site.

Instructors

  • To learn more about Money Matters Online and to obtain access to the curriculum, complete an Instructor Enrollment Request and submit it to: edufoundation@fcef.com.    We will answer your questions and provide you with access to the program.
  • Once you have received your instructor login information, go to the Instructor Site.
  • Read and become familiar with the Student Manual to help you anticipate questions from students.