Financial Strength Builder™ (FSB) was designed in response to today’s need for education on basic sound financial practices and a return to making financial stability a priority.

After years of administering programs to help families get out of debt, it quickly became apparent to the founders  that debt was not the only reason families were living paycheck to paycheck. It was simply the symptom of a much bigger problem; the lack of financial skills, education, tools and behaviors necessary to create financial stability. After developing and delivering financial education in many forms for our clients, we learned that very few were taking advantage of them. Our surveys and focus groups led us to the conclusion  that  educating people about household financial matters in a fun, online experience would captivate and hold people’s attention while providing help with behavioral changes that would encourage long term success.

We recognized that the process of learning had to be delivered in a convenient and automated system that provides privacy on a very personal subject. It also had to be a simple and easy step by step process that followed the basic principles of personal finance, yet was practical enough to deliver the instant gratification of either an “ah ha” moment or a way to find money in a person’s existing budget. Finances are boring and scary to face sometimes. I relate it to getting on the scale when you need to lose weight. You are horrified, but will most times make a change in your eating habits, even if you only small changes. Personal finance is no different. If you become horrified with where you are with your finances today and only make a few changes, you start making progress.

Hence, The  Financial Strength Builder™, has been developed to create educational and learning tools including the Financial Strength Score™, and The Frugality Game™, Interestingly, the game was inspired by the mother of one of the founders, who lived during the depression of 1929. As a single mom raising herself and her brother on a very small income, she watched as her mom managed her money using envelopes to budget her cash. The envelopes were sorted by category like rent, groceries, fun money, saving account and so on, allowing her to stay within a budget and yet have extra cash if there was an emergency. When the envelope was empty, mom stopped spending. The Frugality Game™, including an electronic version of the envelope system, was developed as a tool to create the behavior needed to experience the feel-good results of making better financial decisions. Subsequently Frugality Teenz™ and Chalkboard Kidz™ were also developed to teach our next generation.

Personal Finance is simple. Do not spend more than you make!! So why do so many people have difficulty executing this simple concept? Because, like weight loss, you have to change your lifestyle and that’s hard.

FSB has created a unique combination of technology and people that allows you the privacy to work at your own pace online, but have available the expertise of a personal finance advisor when you get stuck or just want to talk to someone.