Educational Outreach
Investor Education
Often, a bad combination of an inexperienced investor and an unscrupulous broker can result in both heartache and financial loss. In fact, every year, Hoosier investors are defrauded and cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Consumers can protect themselves by becoming investment-savvy and making educated decisions with the help of Investor Education programming.
Investor education helps consumers understand the most common types of schemes, scams, and fraud. When Hoosiers are alerted about the common types of investor fraud, they can learn how to avoid suspicious and risky investments and better protect their finances.
Through our investor education program, Indiana Investment Watch, we help Hoosier investors learn about smart investing strategies through workshops, presentations and publications—all of which are available free of charge.
Through investor education, we hope to:
- Prevent fraud
- Encourage reports of fraudulent activity by raising awareness throughout the state
- Assist Hoosiers in finding a basic approach to gaining wealth through saving and investing
- Encourage children to learn about money early in life through both family and school activities
- Raise awareness of the resources that the Secretary of State’s office provides to the people of Indiana
Indiana's program is supported by a network of statewide partnerships with other financial literacy organizations, as well as a national network through the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). NASAA provides an annual Investor Education Training Conference as a way for investor educators across the country to keep in touch and learn about the practices of other states.
Indiana Investment Watch is not funded at the expense of Indiana taxpayers. The investor education program is funded entirely by the state securities enforcement fund, which contains money collected from settlements in securities fraud cases.
Investor Education Special Projects and Community Involvement
- Through an ongoing partnership with the Indiana Council for Economic Education (ICEE), the Secretary of State’s office has been involved in the implementation of Stock Market Simulations in classrooms across Indiana, and has assisted in the development of a set of financial literacy posters for teachers. Posters are available at www.kidseconposters.com.
- Grassroots efforts for the investor education program have included informational booths at the Indiana State Fair, Indiana Black Expo, Fiesta Fort Wayne, Fiesta Indianapolis, Senior Expos in five different counties, Indiana University football games, and Purdue University football games.
- The program has continued to give presentations on investment fraud at teacher training workshops, senior homes, community organization meetings and the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Senior Sentinel training event.
- Other activities have included participation in local and statewide financial literacy events: Money Smart Week, National Teach Children to Save Day, National Get Smart About Credit Day, Financial Literacy for Youth Month, Jump$tart Teachers Summit, and the Indianapolis Financial Fitness Fair.
- Beginning in April 2004, the Secretary of State’s office initiated an annual Investor Awareness Month. April activities have included a statewide awareness campaign through public service announcements, visits to classrooms, new brochures, and presence at financial literacy events around the state.
- The Secretary of State’s office became a member of the Indiana Financial Literacy Coalition (IFLC) in 2005 and is working with the coalition to pool all financial literacy resources across the State of Indiana to make them more accessible to Hoosiers.
- Protect Your Pockets Workshops
- Calendar of Events
- Investor Education Fact Sheet
- Investor Awareness Publications
- Investor Resources
- PowerPoint Presentations
