NGPF Blog
Reading List for June 5-7
Current Events
Of Dollars and Data explains the racial wealth gap mentioned in Tim’s post on NGPF yesterday. WaPo tracks the gap back to 1968…and there has been little change.
Economics
After Thursday’s news that another 1.9 million people files for unemployment last week (AP), today’s unemployment rate announcement stunned most economists, going down to 13.3% when it was expected to go up as high as 20% (Forbes). The recovery of 2.5 million jobs added from...
Ren Makino - Why I'm Passionate About Financial Education
In October of 2014, when I was still a high school student, I applied for my first ever job as a student tester for NGPF. This was my initial introduction to the world of personal finance education. At the time there weren’t many people using the NGPF curriculum and there were only three full-time employees. My tasks were to go through the student activity packets as if I was a student in a class that used NGPF material. As I went through it, I was supposed to leave some feedback from a...
FinCap Friday: A Hazard to Your Wealth
In this FinCap Friday we check out some interesting trends related to the stock market. As coronavirus leaves it initial impact on the United States, sports games were cancelled and many business closed down so people had to find hobbies they could do right from the confines of their home! How much do factors like quarantine and business closing impact the stock market and the people who invest in it? Find out in this week's FinCap Friday:
CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE DECK
If you're short on time,...
We Stand Together Against Racism
We stand together against racism and remain committed to the bedrock social justice principles that our organization was founded upon. We stand together with our Black teammates, educators and students in the fight against racism in our quest to create a more equitable world.
George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. And countless others, some known through the media while so many others are known only to their loved ones or their communities. Their names, their killings, the...
Question of the Day: Do investors buy stocks in companies based on TV commercials?
Answer: YES
Questions:
Why do you think that investors buy stocks in companies after they see a TV ad on those companies?
Are there ads or commercials that you have seen over the past week where you think "Hmmm...that could be a good investment?"
Do you think this is a good idea? What other research might you want to do before making a decision to buy stock?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the...
EdPuzzle Thursday: Are We Headed For a Depression?
EdPuzzle is a great platform to test for knowledge while students watch a video and learn remotely. We will be releasing new EdPuzzle videos here on the blog each week so that your students can answer questions that are directly embedded within engaging videos. In light of the current pandemic, we will also be adding current event videos from Two Cents when relevant. So, on Thursday over the next few weeks, look for a combination of unit specific and current event EdPuzzle videos!
This...
Question of the Day (Update): If you invested $1,000 in Netflix stock ten years ago, what would it be worth now?
Answer: NFLX: $71,765.89! (as of 5/29/20)
Remember when subscribing to Netflix meant watching the mailbox for DVDs?
Netflix shares have been prone to large gains and losses as it has grown into a dominant media company. But like Apple, Netflix wasn’t exactly the company it is today 10 years ago. In May of 2008, Netflix was primarily a mail-order DVD rental company that had just rolled out a streaming service that was capped at 10 hours of free viewing a month for the base...
Virtual Adaptation: COMPARE: Types of Car Insurance
As the school year is coming to an end for many teachers and learning is taking place online, keeping students engaged is key. One topic that always proves to be interesting to students is buying and insuring a car. The activity COMPARE: Types of Car Insurance requires students to identify the different types of auto insurance coverage and determine the appropriate type of insurance to cover damages in multiple scenarios.
At a time where many schools have transitioned to offering...
Question of the Day: Excluding rent or mortgage payments, what is the most expensive monthly bill paid by households?
Answer: Auto loans
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Questions
This research focused on bills that are paid by households. What other major costs would show up in a typical household budget?
4 of the 9 monthly bills have this word in them. What is it?
Which billing category above do you think families may be looking to reduce now?
------------------------
A great way to end the year is with our Salary-Based...
Question of the Day: What grocery item saw the sharpest price increase in April 2020: Eggs, Fruits and Veggies or Meats?
Answer: Eggs
Questions:
What normally is the cause of higher prices on grocery items? Why do you think prices rose so quickly in April?
How do you think consumers react when prices of certain grocery items go up? Do they stop buying them, buy less or still buy the same amount or more?
Do you anticipate these prices to continue to increase in the month ahead? Why or why not?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom....
NGPF Podcast: Jean Chatzky on personal finance in age of pandemic
It was a great honor to host Jean Chatzky recently on the NGPF podcast. Author, analyst, commentator, columnist, entrepreneur, educator and if you listen to the podcast...there's even more. Jean shares why she is so passionate about financial education, how her mother influenced her attitude about gender roles when it came to money and what happened when she traveled to Vegas to talk mutual funds with basketball star Dennis Rodman. In a lightning round of Q&A, Jean shares her insights on...
Reading List for May 29-31
Pandemic Round Up
Weekly unemployment claims totaled 2.1 million last week, bringing total claims to over 40 million. (CNBC)
Summer jobs for teens are hard to find this year. (WSJ) (For reference, here is what the job market looked like for teens last summer: unemployment stood at a 50-year low. WSJ)
Amazon is looking to make 125,000 of the jobs it added to deal with the pandemic permanent hires. (TechCrunch)
USA Today sums up the permanent changes in our economy as we learn to live with this...
FinCap Friday: Banned From Banks
In this week's FinCap Friday we take a look at a very uncommon topic: ChexSystems. While many Americans know about the 3 credit bureaus and the credit score that is calculated using the data that they collect, most do not know about the ChexSystems agency and what type of data they collect to help banks make decisions about who to do business with. What types of data does this agency collect and what do they do with this data? Find out all about this and more in the FinCap Friday episode for...
The Simple Math of Finance Education: A $36 return for every $1 invested
This research report released in April, Financial education affects financial knowledge and downstream behaviors, clearly demonstrates what educators already knew: financial education works. Yet, as we see from our updated analysis only about 1 in 5 students attends a high school that ensures students cross that graduation stage having taken a one semester personal finance course.
So, how do we bridge this gap between the promise of financial education and the reality?
What is that...
EdPuzzle Thursday: Checking Accounts & A Cashless Society
EdPuzzle is a great platform to test for knowledge while students watch a video and learn remotely. We will be releasing new EdPuzzle videos here on the blog each week so that your students can answer questions that are directly embedded within engaging videos.
This week we have two EdPuzzle videos; one focusing on checking accounts and one answering the question - is cash going extinct?
The first EdPuzzle video titled "Know Your Checking Account" reviews how to write a...
Teacher Accounts
To get access to NGPF answer keys, assessments, and teacher-only resources: create a FREE Teacher Account
Follow Blog Via Email
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
