In these turbulent times we're all looking for ways to create a little more peace of mind. Every day I see people who are concerned about their personal finance situations and are looking for cost-effective, easy-to-apply ways of advancing their financial education.

April is National Financial Literacy Month, and the Internet is abuzz with a variety of tools and reference materials for consumers to use to help improve their financial literacy.

The intent of National Financial Literacy Month is to promote financial education and help Americans learn more about how to set up and sustain healthy financial habits. It was originally established in 2003 and was focused on creating greater awareness and understanding of personal finance issues among children.

Since that time, support among the government and for- and nonprofit organizations has helped expand the scope to include all age groups.

A quick visit to the Web yields a vast collection of free articles, resources, tools and other aids to help people expand their knowledge about personal finance issues. And the timing is excellent as more and more people are looking for strategies to help them refinance their mortgages, improve their credit scores, identify ways to consolidate debt or reduce spending, create and maintain budgets, avoid bankruptcy, adjust retirement plans, and many other related actions.

Of course, you don't need to wait until every April to talk to your children about financial responsibility and personal financial sustainability. Helping them become comfortable learning and talking about finances is a valuable life skill that will serve them well into their futures. Parents and teachers can access free information from http://www.thinkfinity.org from the Verizon Foundation. Type in the word "financial" in the site's search field to gain access to pages and pages of age appropriate assessments, learning plans and other tools that will help you facilitate dialogues with children of all ages.

Visit http://www.financialliteracymonth.com and discover Money Management International's 30 steps to financial wellness. On this site you'll discover useful tools, calculators, brief hints, resources and much more to help you on your path to financial sustainability.

On the Institute for Financial Literacy's Web site at http://www.financiallit.org, you'll find the national standards for adult financial literacy education which identifies personal financial skills adults should have. You can use this list to help develop your own self-directed learning program by researching more about each of the identified skills on some of the other sites.

A stop at http://www.360financialliteracy.org offers you free financial education based on your life stage. The site also offers information on financial topics such as tax, investment and retirement planning as well as a financial guidance book.

During National Financial Literacy Month, take advantage of these and many other resources to help advance your knowledge and bring you additional peace of mind.

Michael Haubrich is president of Financial Service Group, a registered investment advisory firm in Racine. On the Web at http://www.toyourwealth.com.