Examine how financial institutions affect personal financial planning.

Examination should include an analysis of the impact of each of the following practices:

• Banks often offer their depositors discount brokerage services.
• Credit unions and brokerage services may offer checking services to their customers.
• Financial institutions serve communities by employing people, lending money to build homes and start new businesses, by providing financial education and otherwise helping to improve quality of life. Individuals, as well as entire communities, may prosper partly as a result of the collective services offered by a variety of financial institutions.

Examination should also include

• the concept of the circular flow of money
• factors such as discount rate, federal open market, and interest rates.

Teacher Resource:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Links to an external site., (www.newyorkfed.org)