Cooperative Extension Resources

I’m always looking for ways to stay ahead of the [financial] curve. I want the most up-to-date information possible. This is often difficult as information and policy is changing continually. A consistent source of current financial information is Extension. What I’ve encountered is that the notion of Extension is often a cloudy one. Did you know that personal/family finance is a prominent area of programming efforts in most states?

In 1914, Congress established the Cooperative Extension Service to deliver information from land-grant colleges to Americans. This ‘cooperative’ (educational partnership) helps people put research-based knowledge to work for businesses, communities, and individuals resulting in economic prosperity and an improved quality of life. Extension links the resources and expertise of nearly 3,150 county government offices, 104 State Universities, and the US Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, literally “taking the University to the people.” In other words, you have professionals that gather information and provide it to the public in an understandable way [often for no or minimal cost]. I would like to focus this week on the financial literacy resources that Extension provides … publications, web resources, classes and programs are simply a few of the ways that Extension is helping people put knowledge to work.

Debt Management, College Funding, Estate Planning, Investing, Insurance, Retirement Planning, Budgeting, Consumer Protection, Buying a House – these are just a sampling of the types of topics where Extension information is readily accessible. Rather than you needing to dig around, I’ve done the initial digging for you and have organized the information by state (see resources below). Links are provided to a general “financial management” homepage and a list of available publications. If no link is provided, it could be that the state doesn’t have a financial specialist; it could also be that their information was not organized in an ‘easy to find’ manner. If you find “better” links for a particular state’s program or pubs, let me know and I’ll change our links as necessary.

Links to Extension Financial Resources.
- Links to state resources
- Missouri Families
- MU extension resources
- National eXtension personal finance site


MU EXTENSION.
Using science-based knowledge, University of Missouri Extension engages people to understand change, solve problems and make informed decisions. MU Extension makes University education and information accessible for:
- Economic viability
- Empowered individuals
- Strong families and communities
- Healthy environments