To expand its outreach on a budget of less than $10 million, the Women's Bureau partners with universities and corporations. The bureau paid Texas A&M University $15,000 to develop the curriculum for Wi$e Up, a financial management program for women in their 20s and 30s, and persuaded the insurance giant State Farm to fund the rest of the venture with a $99,700 grant. In exchange, the State Farm logo is posted on the program's Web site. Participants can log on at http://wiseupwomen.tamu.edu/ to ask experts questions ranging from how to balance work and family to how to save money. Participants also can attend seminars on the following:
Prepare Women face single motherhood, divorce and providing for parents. Women are less likely to have a pension than men and are more likely to take time out from the workforce to care for family members, which lowers earning power.
Organize Financially successful families balance their checkbooks, pay bills on time, file their financial papers and don't buy things they don't need.
Pay Down Debt Young people should strive for a debt-to-income ratio of less than 15 percent.
Save People who start saving money early in their careers will benefit from compound interest by the time they retire.
Invest Women are more likely than men to make lower-risk investments, which generate lower returns.
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