Vermont Financial Literacy Summit Slated for Spring 2011 in Burlington, VT

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Christian Thwaites, President and CEO, Sentinel Investment Companies.

• John Pelletier of Stowe, Vermont, Director of the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, Burlington, Vermont

BURLINGTON, VT (12/08/2010)(readMedia)-- A spring 2011 summit designed to raise awareness and the public policy choices related to personal finance education is being planned by Champlain College's new Center for Financial Literacy with sponsorship by TD Bank and National Life Group/National Life Group Charitable Foundation.

John Pelletier, Director the Center for Financial Literacy and a former chief operating officer and chief legal officer at some of the largest asset management firms in the U. S., says a lack of knowledge about credit, investing and financial planning is really at the heart of the recent economic downturn.

"The Great Recession demonstrated that our citizens struggle when making complex financial decisions that are critical to their well being. Some of our economic problems were created by bad actors, focused on personal gain, but so many others were created by good people making poorly informed personal financial decisions," he noted.

The Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College will tackle those issues using a multi-pronged educational approach, backed with strong financial support from many of Vermont's major financial industry institutions. "We want to develop and prioritize ideas to improve financial literacy education of the entire Vermont population: K-12 students, college students and adults," he said.

The Vermont Financial Literacy Summit, planned for spring 2011, will bring together senior policy makers, business leaders, educators and others to address the lack of financial literacy in schools K-12, in higher education, and in the workplace. "We hope to tap into the collective wisdom of the attendees to gather ideas on how best to bring personal financial education into our schools, colleges and workplaces in effective and efficient ways that will directly benefit Vermont's economic vitality," Pelletier said.

"The teaching of personal finance is often an afterthought in schools because it is not a subject tested under the No Child Left Behind law. However, according to Jump$tart USA -- a Washington D.C.-based coalition of organizations interested in advancing financial literacy among students in pre-kindergarten through college -- high school seniors, on average, answered only 48 percent of personal finance questions correctly. We hope the work of the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College and the knowledge we gather at this Summit will ultimately result in a roadmap and a strategic plan that will help materially improve Vermont's financial literacy," Pelletier explained. Both TD Bank and National Life Group and their charitable foundations donated $10,000 each to fund the $20,000 costs associated with holding the Summit.

"This Summit will help us better understand the current levels of financial literacy and how to work to increase the capacity of Vermont's educators to deliver this important information. We also need to elevate the public policy discussion in Montpelier and Washington D.C. to encourage and increase the knowledge consumers bring to the marketplace and in planning their investment and saving strategies," said Philip R. Daniels, TD Bank Market President, Vermont.

The recent financial crisis and lingering recession have exposed behaviors that reveal the low levels of financial literacy across the nation. Mortgage defaults, foreclosure rates, personal credit defaults and bankruptcy rates are at all time highs according to economic experts. "Fifty one percent of adults don't have a rainy day fund; a third of them have not saved anything for retirement; a third have no savings to speak of; and more than a quarter of American adults don't pay their bills on time. These behaviors suggest there is a lot of room for improvement and the place to start is by educating people in personal finance," Pelletier said.

For National Life Group's Christian Thwaites, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sentinel Investment Companies , supporting the 2011 Vermont Financial Literacy Summit directly addresses the state's need to move financial education to the forefront of discussions by business people, lawmakers and educators. "One of the goals of the Summit will be to explore what financial education resources are currently available in our schools, identify solutions and stakeholders and set priorities for moving ahead."

For more information about the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College and the Vermont Summit for Financial Literacy, visit www.champlain.edu/cfl.html

About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 15 largest commercial banks in the United States, providing customers with a full range of financial products and services at about 1,300 convenient locations from Maine to Florida. On September 30, 2010, The South Financial Group, Inc. was acquired by TD Bank Financial Group, and its subsidiary Carolina First Bank merged with TD Bank. Carolina First Bank will continue to operate under the trade names Carolina First Bank in North and South Carolina and Mercantile Bank in Florida until conversion and rebranding in 2011. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., and Portland, Maine. Carolina First Bank and Mercantile Bank are trade names of TD Bank, N.A. For more information, visit www.tdbank.com. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Financial Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America and one of the few banks in the world rated Aaa by Moody's. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD." To learn more, visit www.td.com

About National Life Group

National Life Group is a diversified family of financial service companies that has successfully forged a strong identity as a product innovator offering personalized service. Companies in the group offer a comprehensive portfolio of life insurance, annuity and investment products to help individuals, families and businesses pursue their financial goals. National Life Group, a Fortune 1000 company, serves more than 870,000 customers. With 2009 revenue of $1.6 billion and net income of $72.3 million, members of National Life Group employ roughly 900 employees, with most located at its home office in Montpelier, Vermont. Group companies also maintain offices in Dallas, New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. The Group is made up of its flagship company, National Life Insurance Company, founded in Montpelier, Vermont in 1848; Life Insurance Company of the Southwest, Dallas, Texas, and Sentinel Investments, Equity Services, Inc. and National Retirement Plan Advisors, all based in Montpelier. To learn more www.nationallife.com

About Champlain College

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers study abroad programs in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. The College was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. It is also ranked in the top tier of 2011 Regional Colleges in the North by U.S. News & World Report. To learn more about Champlain College, www.champlain.edu