BridgeWorks
Career services and financial coaching are not the same job, but they sit closer together than most people realize. A new wage means new tax withholding decisions. A first benefits enrollment is also a first health insurance literacy moment. A first paycheck triggers questions about banking, credit, and how much rent you can actually afford.
We field these questions every week. April is Financial Literacy Month, which is a good occasion to compile the resources we hand out most often, organized by where you are in your career and financial life. Everything in this post is free.
If You Are Just Starting Out
For participants in our entry-level tracks, the most useful resources tend to be foundational.
MyMoney.gov is the federal government's basic financial education hub. The site is plain, ad-free, and well organized into the five core competencies: earn, save and invest, protect, spend, and borrow. The "Financial Toolkit" section is particularly useful for first-time workers building a budget.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) "Money as You Grow" and "Your Money, Your Goals" toolkits are built for one-on-one financial coaching but are equally usable on your own. The worksheets on tracking spending and setting concrete goals are some of the clearest we have seen.
Khan Academy's Personal Finance course is free, self-paced, and covers everything from how interest works to how taxes are calculated. Each lesson is short. We frequently assign specific videos to participants who want to fill a specific gap.
If You Are Building Credit
Most of the credit-building advice on the internet ranges from useless to actively misleading. The resources below are different.
AnnualCreditReport.com is the only federally authorized site for free credit reports from all three major bureaus. You are entitled to weekly free reports through 2026. Pull yours, read it carefully, and dispute any errors directly through the bureaus' websites. Identity theft and reporting errors are both more common than people realize.
The CFPB's credit reports and scores section explains in clear language how scores are calculated, what affects them, and what does not. Most of the surprising things people are told about credit (close old cards, check your score every day, etc.) turn out to be wrong.
Your local credit union. If you do not currently have a banking relationship, credit unions consistently offer the best terms on small starter loans, secured credit cards, and basic checking accounts. Most have free financial counseling for members.
If You Are Navigating Tax Time
This section runs hot in April, for obvious reasons. With Tax Day on April 15, here are the resources we point people to most.
IRS Free File lets most filers under a certain income threshold file federal taxes for free through name-brand commercial software. The income threshold for 2025 returns (filed in 2026) is $84,000. Many of the people we work with qualify and do not realize it.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) offers free in-person tax preparation by IRS-certified volunteers for households earning under approximately $67,000. There are walk-in sites operating across our region throughout April. The IRS site has a locator.
EITC outreach. The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the most under-claimed benefits in the federal tax code. Roughly one in five eligible workers does not claim it. If you worked in 2025 and earned a low or moderate income, run the EITC Assistant on the IRS website. The credit is refundable, which means you get the money even if you owe no tax.
If You Are Self-Employed or Working Gig Jobs
This is one of the financial areas where our participants ask for the most help, and where free quality resources are surprisingly thin.
The IRS Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center is dry but thorough. The quarterly estimated taxes section is essential reading for anyone with 1099 income. Underpaying quarterly taxes is one of the most common avoidable financial setbacks we see.
SCORE offers free one-on-one mentoring from retired business professionals, including on basic bookkeeping, separating business and personal finances, and choosing a business structure. Sessions are by appointment and can be in person, video, or email-based.
The Freelancers Union "Spark" learning library is free and covers contracts, client management, taxes, retirement, and health insurance for independent workers. You do not have to be a member to access it.
If You Are Thinking About Retirement
Yes, this applies even if retirement feels far off. Especially if it feels far off.
Social Security Administration's "my Social Security" account. Create one. It takes ten minutes. Once you have it, you can see your earnings record, your projected benefit, and the impact of different claiming ages. Errors in your earnings record are not rare and are easier to fix the closer you are to the year they happened.
The Department of Labor's "Savings Fitness" guide walks through the basics of retirement saving without trying to sell you anything. The "Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement" booklet is a useful starting point.
Your employer's plan documents. This sounds obvious. It is not. Many people do not realize that their employer match is part of their compensation, and that not contributing enough to capture the full match is the same as turning down a raise.
A Final Note
Financial literacy is one of those topics where the gap between "what people are taught" and "what people need to know" is enormous. None of this is intuitive. None of it is fair. Most of what makes a real difference financially is structural, not personal.
But within those structures, knowing how the system works gives you more leverage than not knowing. That is the only argument we will make for this stuff. It is not a moral matter. It is a practical one.
If you are a BridgeWorks participant and want to talk through a specific financial question, our career services team will sit with you and a calculator for as long as it takes. No appointment needed. The door is open.
