Financial Integrity Program

Brand and Messaging Framework

July 2007

Program Positioning

The Financial Integrity program utilizes 9 proven steps supported by a practical toolkit developed to help people align their financial choices with their individual values and life goals.
Program Values
Service: Directing our energies to benefit each other and society as a whole
Integrity: Living in alignment with your values
Fulfillment: Discovering what’s important to you and defining what “enough” looks like for you
Personal Transformation: Growing awareness of who you are and where you are going in life
Partnership: Working together to be the change we want to see in the world
Success: Not just talk, but practical steps and guidance to achieve financial goals
Program Personality Traits
Straightforward * Practical * Empowering * Collaborative * Dependable
Program Differentiator
9 proven and practical steps that work for anyone

Program Brand Pillars

(these are essential to the brand – new products/services should be created with these in mind)

Financial Integrity Program

  • Building balance and integrity into people’s understanding and use of money
  • Steps-based program flexible enough to be navigated based on individual preferences and goals
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Practical

  • Practical tools and support that anyone can use
  • Not just talk or inspiration, but action-based guidance and support
  • Practical steps that anyone can do
/ Aligning financial choices with their individual values and life goals
  • Helping people reestablish what is important to them (values and life goals)
  • Guiding them towards living and spending with integrity

Top-Line Program Messages by Audience

Partner Audiences - Primary

Simple Living Industry Partners: CNAD, SLN, Alternatives for Simple Living / Financial Education Programs: (ethically or values-based investing and non-profit financial counseling) / Life Coaching Consultants or Programs
  • The Financial Integrity Program enables more people to align their financial choices with their individual values– helping them understand their barriers and positively overcome them.
  • This program offers your participants/supporters a proven, flexible and practical tool to help them live their lives more simply and to leave less of an impact on the world.
  • This program and toolkit can be branded by your organization and customized to provide each of your audiences the most useful tools for their needs.
  • Since navigating through life changes is difficult, the program toolkit provides customizable support and guidance from various types of materials and people.
  • The program steps are designed to be flexible so individuals can choose to follow the program in a way that is meaningful and successful for them. Some people go through each step as part of a formal, linear process, while others choose the steps that will inspire them to make progress towards their specific goals.
  • There is concrete evidence of program participants experiencing the incredible rewards of personal exploration. Their stories can provide inspiration, as well as practical examples, of how to utilize and live the concepts presented.
  • The Financial Integrity community is about building relationships between like-minded people who support each other in the program and share their complementary interests (simplicity movement, environmental issues, social justice, personal fulfillment, etc.)
  • People who participate in this program often volunteer to spread the word and lead others to fulfillment. There is currently a vast network of Financial Integrity program followers who want to participate in simplicity circles and other related work.
/ Financial Education Programs (general messages):
  • This program augments basic financial literacy with exercises that teach critical thinking around financial choices, in context of both life goals and individual values. It not only teaches people how to stay out of debt, but how to evaluate the role of debt in their lives.
  • The Financial Integrity Program enables more people to align their financial choices with their life goals – helping them understand their barriers and positively overcome them.
  • This program offers proven, practical steps and tools to help people achieve their financial goals and live a more fulfilling life.
  • This program and toolkit can be branded by your organization and customized to provide each of your audiences the most useful tools for their needs.
  • Since navigating through life changes is difficult, the program toolkit provides customizable support and guidance from various types of materials and people.
  • The program steps are designed to be flexible so individuals can choose to follow the program in a way that is meaningful and successful for them. You can help your clients to determine if they are best served to go through each step as part of a formal, linear process or use individual steps to inspire them to make progress towards their specific goals.
  • Thousands of program users report establishing long term habits that enable them to more easily save money, use debt wisely, and simultaneously experience higher quality of life
Values-based Investing:
  • The Financial Integrity program enables your clients to identify and assess what is important to them to make investing choices that align with that.
  • In addition, this program can help your clients ensure they are spending and earning in alignment with their values and life goals.
  • This program helps clients to develop a proactive attitude toward their personal finances, and leads them to more effectively engage in planning and decisions about their investments.
Non-profit debt counseling:
  • The Financial Integrity Program helps people in debt take positive action and break free from their vicious cycle of debt. They confidently learn how to rid themselves of debt through a series of steps that help them assess their past financial choices, evaluate current spending and earning realities, and start making traction towards their long-term life goals.
  • Thousands of program users report establishing long-term habits that enable them to more easily save money, use debt wisely, and simultaneously experience higher quality of life.
  • This program can be a valuable component in debt management training. Although it doesn’t directly address how to deal with extreme debt issues, the FI program provides your clients ways to simplify their expenses and live on less money, so that they can start reducing their debt over time.
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  • The Financial Integrity Program enables more people to align their financial choices with the life goals they have identified with you – helping them understand their barriers and positively overcome them.
  • This program offers proven, practical steps and tools to help people achieve their financial goals and live a more fulfilling life.
  • This program helps people skillfully navigate a very confusing area of life – money – both personally and culturally.
  • This program and toolkit can be branded by your organization and customized to provide each of your audiences the most useful tools for their needs.
  • Since navigating through life changes is difficult, the program toolkit provides customizable support and guidance from various types of materials – accommodating most learning styles and preferences.
  • The program steps are designed to be flexible so individuals can choose to follow the program in a way that is meaningful and successful for them. You can help your clients to determine if they are best served to go through each step as part of a formal, linear process or use individual steps to inspire them to make progress towards specific goals.

End User Audiences – Secondary (for use in product development)

Current program users / Drawn in by debt / Drawn in by values / Drawn in by financial independence
  • The Financial Integrity program is the program you’ve come to know from Your Money or Your Life.
  • The program now offers a toolkit of practical materials to help you evaluate where you are in the 9-step process, what steps are most important for you to focus on, and continue to support you in aligning your financial choices with your individual values.
  • If you are not already an active part of an FI community group, find out how you can help other people be successful in the program by being a mentor, leading a support group, or just sharing your individual successes.
  • You can visit the Financial Integrity website for ongoing support.
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  • The Financial Integrity Program can help you take positive action and break free from a vicious cycle of debt.
  • The program provides you with a flexible series of steps that help you assess your past financial choices, evaluate current spending and earning realities, and start making traction towards your long-term life goals of managing or reducing your debt
  • Since navigating through life changes is difficult, this program and toolkit provides you with customizable support and guidance from various types of materials and mentors.
  • The program steps are designed to be flexible so you can choose to either complete each of the 9-steps in a linear manner or just use individual steps to bring you closer to your specific life goals.
  • You can visit the Financial Integrity website for ongoing support in removing debt from your life.
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  • The Financial Integrity program enables you to identify and assess what is important to you and then make financial choices that align with that.
  • The FI Program empowers you to use money powerfully and purposely to create the life you want.
  • This program offers proven, practical steps and tools to help you achieve your financial goals and live a more fulfilling life.
  • The program steps are designed to be flexible so you can choose to either complete each of the 9-steps in a linear manner or just use individual steps to live more in alignment to your values.
  • You can visit the Financial Integrity website for ongoing support and tips on how to live in alignment with your values.
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  • The Financial Integrity program can help you achieve your definition of “financial independence” sooner by helping you make financial choices in alignment with your values.
  • This program offers proven, practical steps and tools to help you achieve your financial goals and live a more fulfilling life.
  • You can visit the Financial Integrity website for ongoing support and tips on how to achieve financial independence.
  • The program steps are designed to be flexible, but more formally working through each of the steps will enable you to achieve financial independence sooner.
  • This is a program for achieving a more secure financial independence, based on both conservative investment vehicles and increased personal capacity to meet needs without money.