Thank you to all who attended our 2020 conference!

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The MFEC 2019 Annual Report is now available. Please click this link to view it. Thank you to all of our partners and board members for their support this past year. We’re excited to continue our mission of promoting financial education for all in 2020!

Jill Page is an educator at Glasgow High School with 17 years of experience. She attended the 2015 Jump$tart National Conference and has incorporated many things she learned into her classroom including Reality Check, Practical Money Skills, Next Gen Personal Finance, and Foolproof. She is a big advocator for financial education at her school, and as Jill states, “I have incorporated personal finance into all of my classes as much as I can.” This past year, she received approval to teach a personal finance class and received recognition as an Innovator Educator.

Jill is also one of this year’s winners of a scholarship to attend Jump$tart’s National Educator Conference. Thank you to our generous sponsors, which include Jump$start and their national partners as well as the First Interstate Bank Foundation, for providing Montana teachers with this amazing opportunity.

During the recent Annual Meeting of the State Bar in Billings, Marsha A. Goetting, MSU Extension Family Economics Specialist, received the 2019 Distinguished Service Award.  She was nominated by members of the Business, Estates, Trusts, Tax and Real Property Section.

The award reflects the respect the State Bar has for her development of 43 MontGuides (fact sheets) in the estate planning area.  “Marsha has been a tireless friend of the BETTR Section and the State Bar of Montana. Her work has been invaluable.  We were most pleased to recognize her with our Distinguished Service Award,” stated John Mudd, Executive Director of the State Bar.

For over 40 years she has solicited the input by the section’s attorneys to assure the MontGuide information is legally accurate.  As Justin Bryan of the Bryan Law Firm in Bozeman wrote, “Our office really appreciates the service MSU Extension provides the public through its MontGuides, and are honored to assist.”

The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has set a new goal to increase financial education in our nation’s classrooms 25 percent by the end of 2025. This exciting new initiative dubbed “Project Groundswell” plans to enlist the help of parents, family members, educators, volunteers and Jump$tart’s nationwide network of state affiliates. The focus of Project Groundswell is on getting financial education into more classrooms, regardless of state or local mandates, and at all levels, beginning in elementary school.

Jump$tart has created a virtual toolkit at CheckYourSchool.org for those who want to take part in the effort, including links to research that will help make the case for financial education in schools. Jump$tart’s online clearinghouse will help schools new to financial education find vetted resources from hundreds of providers, as well as the National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education and professional development opportunities for classroom teachers

Wednesday, February 13, 8:30 AM-3:30 PM, Hamilton, MT

Money is a very difficult topic for all ages to discuss and causes an immense amount of stress. Learning about your (or your client’s) money profile can alleviate some of this stress. Syble Solomon is the creator of Money Habitudes which is used around the US and globally with adults and youth to initiate conversations about money in a fun, engaging and non-intimidating way. CEU are available. Register for this FREE event here. Contact Kierstin Schmitt, 360-6266, with questions.

Kathy Revello, Family and Consumer Science Agent with the Missoula office of MSU Extension, forwards the following tips people can use to cope with the ongoing economic downturn. The tips were compiled by Jim Garnett—aka “Ask Mr. G”—member of the Institute of Financial Education Board of Educational Advisors. We hope you find something you can use in your financial education efforts.

1. Know what you spend. Carry a small spiral notebook for a month and write down everything you buy with cash or debit cards. Other spending will show up in your checkbook register or credit card statement.
2. Spend less than you make. If you find that you spend more than you make, you will need to either make more or spend less. The option of using credit cards to make up the deficit is not a wise option.
3. Cut back realistically. To avoid failure and discouragement, reduce spending on extras by 50% rather than eliminating spending on extras all together.
4. Stop worrying about “the Jones’”. Many of “the Jones’” who appear wealthy are buried up to their eyeballs in debt.
5. Cultivate a “this is not a forever thing” attitude. Lead your family in thinking “We are doing now what we need to do, so we can do later what we want to do.
6. Do not carry the entire burden alone. Allow your family members to work together with you to reach the other side of the problem. The old proverb is right, “A joy shared is double joy; a problem shared is half a problem.”
7. Do not borrow to pay off debt. Borrowing to pay off debt is merely moving the debt to a different location. Digging a hole in your front yard in order to fill in the hole in your back yard has never been a good plan.
8. Pay off debt using a snowball effect. Continue to pay each debt at its current minimum payment amount. Put as much extra toward the smallest debt balance as you can. When that debt is paid off, add its payment to the payment of the next smallest balance.
9. Reduce your number of active credit cards to one or two. Debt spread out over 10 credit cards seems like less debt than the same amount of debt on one card!
10. Do not be a co-signer. Co-signing makes you 100% responsible for the debt and can easily be a fast track to damaging important relationships.
11. Sell stuff you can do without. Yard sales and Craig’s List can bring in needed monies.
12. Don’t go into debt simply for tax benefits. To pay $5000 interest on debt in order to have a $1250 tax deduction does not make sense. You will get the same deduction if you give your church or nonprofit a $1250 contribution.
13. Don’t use your home’s equity like an ATM machine. Pay off your home loan early instead of continually borrowing against it.
14. Fund your emergency savings account each paycheck. Emergencies happen, and it is better to have money set aside for them than to go into debt.
15. Be content with what you have. Try to imagine how happy you would be if you lost everything you have and had it all returned to you the next day.

January 2019

The Montana Department of Revenue has an important message to anyone filing Montana income tax returns for the first time: Keep your mailing address current with the department. Otherwise, your state income tax refund could get delayed.

Nearly everyone who worked in Montana in 2019 is required to file a Montana state income tax return – and many people will receive a refund. But if you change your mailing address after you file your return, please notify the Montana Department of Revenue.

Here’s why first-time filers need to do this: As part of its ongoing anti-fraud measures, the department will not send refunds by direct deposit to first-time filers – just paper checks, through the mail. And, the Post Office will not forward paper checks to your next address, so just changing your address with the Post Office won’t be enough.

Changing your address is easy. You can download and complete a change-of-address form at revenue.mt.gov. (Click on “Forms” and then on form ADD-CH; or just click here: https://app.mt.gov/myrevenue/Endpoint/Form/ADD-CH.) Or, call our Help Desk at (406) 444-6900.

In 2018, about 2,000 state income tax refunds came back to the department before eventually finding their rightful owners. The majority of those refunds belonged to college students.

And remember, the easiest, quickest and most secure way to file your tax return is electronically. The Department of Revenue lists several software options on its website, and there are organizations around the state that offer help with tax preparation, some for free or at low-cost for those who qualify.

So don’t delay. Filing your return is easy, and it’s the law. File by April 15 to avoid possible penalties or interest.

Call the Department at (406) 444-6900 or visit revenue.mt.gov for more information.