Each depositor insured to at least $250,000 per insured bank

The latest FDIC Consumer News (Spring 2005) is a special issue devoted to helping young adults, including those just beginning a career or family and others still in college or high school, learn the right ways to save and manage money right from the start.

The new publication, entitled “Taking Control of Your Finances: A Special Guide for Young Adults,” is now available on the FDIC Web site at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnspr05. It features:

• Common Mistakes Young Adults Make with Money and How to Avoid Them. These errors include buying unnecessary items; failing to consider the cost of interest charges and other fees; getting too deeply in debt; paying bills late or otherwise tarnishing their credit record; having too many credit cards; and not saving enough for the future (including retirement).
• A To-Do List for Key Stages of Your Life. The new guide offers ideas young people can consider at four different times – during high school, during college, when starting a career and when starting a family.
• A “Financial Aptitude Test” – the F.A.T. Take our interactive quiz, which is based on the information presented in this special guide.

To help make the tips and information in this special edition widely available to young adults, the FDIC is taking several steps. First, the agency is providing single copies free of charge through the Federal Citizen Information Center. Consumers can order this issue online at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/cnspr05 or write to: Taking Control of Your Finances, Pueblo, CO 81009. Second, the FDIC is encouraging financial institutions, colleges, high schools, consumer groups and the media to reprint the new guide in whole or in part and to mention or link to the FDIC Web site. The guide is available on the FDIC Web site in a PDF format that can easily be reproduced in any quantity, and the back page of this version was intentionally left blank so that an organization could add its name, logo, a special message and/or self-mailing information. And, third, the FDIC is preparing a Spanish version of the new guide for young adults.

The goal of the quarterly FDIC Consumer News is to deliver timely, reliable and innovative tips and information, free of charge, to help people protect and stretch their money. Current and past issues appear online at www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news. The FDIC offers a free subscription service that provides an e-mail notice about each new issue posted to the Web site and provides a link to stories of interest. Instructions for subscribing are posted on the FDIC Web site at www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Information in FDIC Consumer News may be reprinted in whole or in part without permission from the FDIC. Material used should be credited to “FDIC Consumer News, a publication of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.” Media requests should go to Jay Rosenstein, the editor, at 202-898-7303 or jrosenstein@fdic.gov.

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Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation's banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation's 8,975 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed. The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars – insured financial institutions fund its operations.

FDIC press releases and other information are available on the Internet at www.fdic.gov, by subscription electronically (go to www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html) and may also be obtained through the FDIC’s Public Information Center (877-275-3342 or (703) 562-2200).