It started out as a fun idea inside the Investopedia newsroom – take an RV from New York to Nashville and stop in some of the country's great cities and towns along the way. We wanted to talk to Americans about their financial questions, concerns and aspirations. Then we'd take those questions to the thousands of financial advisors on our Advisor Insights platform and get them answered. Meanwhile, 1100 miles away in Kansas City, Mo., executives from American Century Investments were cooking up a similar idea: spread financial education and American Century's corporate mission of "Prosper with Purpose" across the country. When those two ideas met during an unrelated phone call, The Financial Fitness Tour was born, and the American highway came calling.

On September 28th, The Financial Coach was unveiled to hundreds of American Century employees, financial consultants and members of the community at the company's headquarters in Kansas City. The Investopedia team and our video crew climbed aboard with consultants from American Century and hit the road – destination, Nashville, TN.  Along the way, we stopped at various towns and cities to interview folks from all walks of life. Clear themes began to emerge: "Do I have enough for retirement?"; "Can I afford to buy a home?"; "Am I better off renting?"; "How can I lower my debt?"; "I'm uncertain about the stock market and the economy, so what should I do with my 401K?"  

These are questions we can all relate to, no matter what our age or income is. While there are no blanket answers to any of them given how unique they are to every individual, financial education is a great place to start. That's one of the reasons we created a Financial Fitness quiz for people to take in order to start the conversation about getting financially fit. It's also the main reason we teamed up with American Century. We wanted to enable those face-to-face conversations between real people and start the educational process.  Our goal: get those questions answered to put folks on the right path to getting financially fit.

At Investopedia, we are fortunate to have become one of the top online destinations for finance and investing information. Our size and 18-year legacy have given us a pretty strong vantage point as to what our users are looking for and how we should provide it to them. At the end of the day, they are looking to get smarter to make better investing, saving and financial decisions. It is our mission to provide them the information they need to do that. The Financial Fitness Tour is a perfect extension of that mission, albeit one that rolls down the highway in a converted tour bus that was once owned by a rock-n-roll band. It is our great honor to be able to extend our mission across America's great Midwest and partner with the terrific team at American Century Investments in doing so.

Meet us in one of the several cities we are visiting or follow us #TheFinancialCoach and on Investopedia.com/facebook.

Get on that Bus!

Caleb Silver - Editor in Chief