If you think the workplace is just the place where people work, better think again. Americans already have the longest working hours in the world, but now the workplace is also becoming the spot where people's most important financial decisions are made. As health care costs soar and pension plans become even more complex, employees need to make crucial judgements about everything from which mutual fund is right for them to which medical benefits will best meet their current and future needs. "These financial decisions impinge on every aspect of life," says Kevin Condon, CFP® , executive vice president, advisor services for Myfinancialadvice. "Since the workplace is where these decisions are made, the workplace is the best place to get the advice needed to make the right choices." And that's exactly the service Myfinancialadvice seeks to provide.

Founded in 2001 by Ron Peremel, the organization's president and CEO, Myfinancialadvice is one of several organizations established in recent years that seeks to bring unbiased, affordable financial advice to the underserved middle-income market. Peremel combined his experience in the retail financial services industry with his knowledge of Internet-based tools to develop a Web site that allows personal advice to be delivered through a computer. Condon, a CFP® certificant since 1987, first spotted the lack of financial literacy in the middle-income market back in the late 1980s, while taking part in a call-in for readers of the USA Today newspaper. "People were calling in with very basic questions like, what is a mutual fund?" Condon recalls. "That's when I started to see the enhanced need for financial advice for this segment of the population. A lot of people are not used to asking for or receiving financial advice, and they are afraid it's too costly. Person-to-person consulting is the best solution for most people, and the Internet can deliver this service efficiently and inexpensively."

How does it work? Condon outlines the following scenario: "Say your employer is offering a new set of health benefits and you want to know how these compare with your existing benefits. Your employer is also offering access to the Myfinancialadvice Web site through your company's intranet. All you have to do is click on the advisor of your choice, who will then help you make the comparison by phone or e-mail. The advisor can get all the required information from you or your employer, and will charge a flat fee for the service. Myfinancialadvice is the space where this conversation happens. It's the same conversation you would have at a desk in your advisor's office, except that in this case you're both sitting at your own desks."

The Myfinancialadvice Web site offers a user-friendly interface to help people navigate the consultation process. The site has tips to help people identify their needs and tips for how to choose an advisor. Prospective clients can interview advisors by phone or e-mail to decide which one they want to work with. Once an advisor is selected, he or she will provide an initial free consultation to help diagnose the client's financial issues and then prescribe a plan of action, with the flat fee quoted up front. What the advisor won't do is try to sell a specific financial product, since members of the Myfinancialadvice network are prohibited from doing so.

Making smart financial choices is never easy. There are loads of tools out there, from pension calculators to investment trackers, to help consumers cope. Myfinancialadvice was founded on the belief that, as Condon says, "good decisions increasingly need the help of someone whose experience and expertise are irreplaceable. Employees want to make good choices, and their employers want them to do so, too. But you need an actual human being for that, not a calculator. We need to start using computers to do more than just add, subtract and multiply. We need to start using them to deliver this kind of personalized financial advice."

Kevin Condon, CFP® will speak about financial advice in the workplace at CFP Board's 2006 Annual Meeting on Friday, August 4, 2006, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. General admission is free, but registration is required by July 19, 2006. Read more about the meeting and register online.

Around half of all American households-upwards of 90 million people-are invested in mutual funds. But decisions about how to regulate America's most popular investment vehicle used to be made in the conference rooms of the Securities and Exchange Commission by SEC officials and industry representatives, without public input. Back in late 1999 Mercer Bullard, who worked at the SEC at the time as Assistant Chief Counsel in the Division of Investment Management, decided that should change. "The industry often behaves as if it's merely selling a product to consumers," Bullard says, "but the shareholders are actually the owners of these funds." As owners, people should have a say in how mutual funds are run, Bullard believes. So he founded Fund Democracy to give America's silent shareholders a voice.

To some extent, this lack of public input is understandable. "The issues around mutual fund law are complex," Bullard says, "and consumer groups, let alone individuals, don't have the expertise to address them." But Bullard does. Indeed, his stints at the SEC and as an attorney in a private investment management practice gave him precisely the experience he needed to bridge the gap between the mutual fund industry and shareholder representatives. Bullard launched Fund Democracy in January 2000 to provide the specialized expertise needed to effectively lobby the SEC on mutual fund regulatory issues. The organization does this by submitting comment letters on rule proposals, asking for hearings on requests for exemptions from fund regulations, lobbying federal and state legislators, submitting rulemaking petitions, and filing briefs as a friend of the court in cases that may affect mutual fund shareholder interests. Fund Democracy is non-profit, funded solely by public contributions. When Bullard is not teaching at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he's an assistant professor, he's advising member groups like the AFL-CIO, the Consumer Union and the Consumer Federation of America.

It seems only proper that Fund Democracy should be founded in the public interest, since the public has taken such a keen interest in mutual funds. In March alone, the combined assets of America's mutual funds increased by $138 billion, or 1.5%, to $9.35 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute, the national association of U.S. investment companies. "Mutual funds are a huge success story," Bullard says. "They are a very strong brand." And a brand that is only likely to get stronger as consumers increasingly come to rely on their own investments to either supplement company pensions or provide the main source for retirement funds. "Given the increasing need for self-directed retirement financing, mutual funds will continue to dominate the financial services field," Bullard says.

So what still needs to be done in terms of regulating the mutual funds industry? "The key issue is to make investing less expensive," Bullard says. "Investors are not receiving as much of the return on their investments as they should be. The solution is to reduce the cost of operating mutual funds." Some fixes are simple. Eliminate the costly annual re-delivery of the prospectus, Bullard suggests, and merely require funds to notify shareholders of any material changes. But Bullard would also like to see a more transparent and efficient disclosure of transaction costs and hidden fees, so consumers could more easily compare fees among funds and against an industry average. That would involve tackling some trickier issues, however, like "soft dollars," the practice of some mutual funds of paying service providers by passing on business instead of writing a check.

Fund Democracy clearly still has a few regulatory challenges to meet, even though Bullard praises the mutual fund industry as "the area least in need of financial service reform. There are bigger issues out there." Ah, and what might those be? Bullard won't say, except to remark, "There are much greater problems with the regulation of banking and insurance products." Hmmm. Sounds like it's not unreasonable to expect Fund Democracy to take on a much broader focus soon.

Mercer Bullard will speak at CFP Board's 2006 Annual Meeting on August, 4, 2006 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Read more about the meeting and register online.

You've heard of summer camps full of crafts, campfires and horseback riding. You've heard of summer camps to help turn troubled kids around and boot camps for weight loss. Now there are camps designed to help children and adults improve their financial literacy.

The Money Camp, a non-profit organization founded by Elisabeth Donati in 2002, is one of these new programs providing camping experiences to people who want to learn more about handling money. Both kids and adults can attend The Money Camp's programs to learn practical money management skills and participate in activities that will change their beliefs and attitudes about money in a positive way.

Donati found many adults to be embarrassed and ashamed at their lack of financial knowledge. At The Money Camp, people discover they are not alone in these feelings. With 75% of Americans living month to month, paycheck to paycheck, not only are most adults struggling each day with their personal finances, but their own lack of knowledge results in their being unable to pass good money skills to their kids. Kids don't realize they're not getting the information they need because they don't know they need it until they become adults.

The Money Camp's mission is to empower kids to grow up and choose financial independence. It's a place where kids learn the "ins and outs" of personal money management as well as some critical life skills. The Money Camp explores how things such as our beliefs and attitudes about money and wealth influence our choices and behaviors and help dictate our future wealth potential.

A visit to The Money Camp's Web site, www.themoneycamp.com, with its chirping birds, bright flowers, fluffy white clouds, and butterflies lazily crossing the landscape, makes it clear that the program's educational goals are presented in a way that's fun as well as informative. Campers will enjoy their experiences with The Money Camp and return home with activities that allow them to put the principles they learned into practice every day.

Elisabeth Donati will speak at CFP Board's 2006 Annual Meeting on August, 4, 2006 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Read more about the meeting and register online.