It is a scary thought being the CFO (chief financial officer) of your life particularly if you have little understanding of basic finance.  What can you do to gain financial acumen?  Here are a five ideas:

1. Visit Doorways to Dream Fund and view the financial entertainment as they call the video games they created on financial literacy.
2. Ask your employer’s top financial guru to provide lunch time workshops on personal finance topics.  If you have an employee assistance program, they should be able to provide curriculum.
3. If you have limited funds and carry any debt, think about paying down the debt versus putting any money towards your 401K.  The debt is an immediate problem to be rectified while the 401K is an amount that will grow over time but does not benefit the present.
4. Take a personal finance course at your local community college.
5. Call your state treasurer’s office and inquire what agencies, state and local, are offering programs on financial literacy.  In Boston, MA, Action for Boston Community Development runs two programs, Money Management and Financial Futures Initiative.

For other resources on financial literacy, see the News & Resources/Financial Intelligence Resources page on this site.