Two minutes

Taking financial literacy to the nation

Tahira Hira has made it her life's mission to improve financial literacy, and she says we can all do better. The professor of personal finance and consumer economics now has the opportunity to take her message to the nation. She was appointed by President Bush to the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy in 2008. The council also will advise President Obama over the next year.

Listening to Americans: Charged with increasing financial education efforts, advisory council members hosted "listening sessions" with financial literacy leaders across the country. Council members also promote financial literacy through public events. For example, council members closed the trading day on the New York Stock Exchange as part of Financial Literacy Month in April.

Spreading the word: An internationally known researcher, Hira has written nearly 100 articles and book chapters. She also has given hundreds of presentations around the world on such topics as borrowing and investment behaviors, consumer bankruptcy, consumer credit, gambling and college students' borrowing habits.

Elite campus clinic: Hira founded Iowa State's Financial Counseling Clinic, making the university one of just three institutions nationally to offer a full-service financial counseling to students.

-- Mike Ferlazzo

Tahira Hira addresses the media at the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy listening forum last November in Des Moines. Photo by Michael Adams, Greater Iowa Credit Union