NGPF Blog
Reading List for January 22-24
Economics
New unemployment claims up at 900,000 again last week. (DOL)
US Trade Deficit reaches a 14-year high. (AP News)
Existing home sales hit their highest level since 2006 in December. (Who is nervous?) (Yahoo Finance)
Get to know Janet Yellen, whose nomination to Treasury Secretary should be confirmed as early as today. (Yahoo Finance)
Investing
This Of Dollars and Data article wraps up investing in the year 2020 with ten takeaways.
Tik Tok may be the rage right now, but it is...
NGPF Podcast: NGPF Payback Challenge National Winners Alexandra Hovdestad and Andrew Tomlinson
Each fall, the NGPF Payback Challenge provides students across the country with the opportunity to earn college scholarships with $50,000 awarded. This week, you will hear from our two National Winners, Alexandra Hovdestad of Lenape High School (Medford, NJ) and Andrew Tomlinson of Mora High School. They will share what they learned from the NGPF Arcade game, Payback, and how it has influenced their college plans in the future. In our Current Events section, Yanely discusses a financing...
FinCap Friday: Buy Now, Pay Later
New age "layaway" payment plans are taking over the shopping world! "Buy Now, Pay Later" loans as they are called (also called point-of-sale loans) are available now more than ever before as more and more customers turn to e-commerce and online shopping for their needs and wants. The most popular companies that offer these types of loans are Affirm & Afterpay. These loans allow customers to buy products now & pay later. But consumer advocates say to be very careful! Why the words of...
EconExtra: 20 States Increased Minimum Wage on January 1
EconExtra is a series of posts that go beyond the textbook, relating current events and recent developments in economics to content standards, and providing resource suggestions to help you incorporate the current events into your lessons.
The Issue
The impact of a higher minimum wage was on my list of topics for an EconExtra for a couple of reasons. First, as of January 1, minimum wage increases went into affect for twenty states (Yahoo Finance) (CNN) (Economist). Second, President Biden...
My Classroom Podcast: Molly Tyson
Welcome to the third series of My Classroom, a 15-minute weekly NGPF podcast series that will highlight four rock star teachers who took unique paths to the classroom and collectively attended more than 600 hours of virtual professional development with NGPF in 2020. In this series, we will learn what remote teaching strategies they enjoy the most and how they use these strategies and the information they have learned in their own instruction.
Each week a new podcast will be posted for you...
Question of the Day: What was the average price of a new car sold in the 4Q of 2020?
Answer: More than $40,000; monthly payment of $581
Questions:
Why do you think that people are spending so much on new cars?
What happens to the value of a car once you drive it off the dealer's lot?
Do you think about cars as an investment? Explain.
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (Marketplace audio):
"New car and truck sales were down 15% last year. That may not...
EdPuzzle Thursday: How Risky Is The Stock Market?
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's EdPuzzle video titled "How Risky Is The Stock Market?" explains exactly what it means to own stock and the benefits of diversification and long-term investing.
Interested in more EdPuzzle videos?...
Guest Post from Susan Bistransin and Jean Paul Cadet: Prince George's County Public Schools (Maryland) Adopts a Personal Finance Graduation Requirement!
Prince George's County Public Schools (Maryland) is the 19th largest school district in the United States, serving over 132,000 students. The school system, which spans east of Washington, DC, is also one of the nation's most racially diverse school systems, serving 60% Black students, 18% Hispanic or Latino students, 13% White students, 4% Asian students, and 2% Multiracial students. In 2019, PGCPS became an NGPF Gold Standard Challenge Grantee by adopting a graduation requirement for...
Question of the Day (Updated): What are the highest paying jobs in America?
Answer:
1. Anesthesiologists $261,730 2. Surgeons $252,0403. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons $237,570
View the rest of the list here!
Questions:
What common characteristics do you notice about these jobs?
What training/education is required for these positions?
What jobs do you think didn’t exist 20 years ago that are on the list? What does this tell you about the nature of the job market?
Are any of these jobs of interest to you? Are they any that you want to do further...
NGPF Announces Winners of 4th Annual PAYBACK Challenge Scholarship
PALO ALTO, California, January 19, 2021
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Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a non-profit committed to ensuring that ALL students leave high school with the financial skills needed to thrive in the future, is pleased to recognize the National Grand Prize and Honorable Mention award recipients in their 4th annual PAYBACK Challenge Scholarship Contest.
Congratulations to the National Grand Prize winners who each will receive a $2,500 scholarship from NGPF to be used for educational...
NGPF On-Demand: The Power of Habit
NGPF On-Demand is a professional development opportunity that allows teachers to deepen their content knowledge on their own schedule and at their own pace.
One of the 16 modules currently available is "The Power of Habit". In this module, participants learn about the importance of habits, how they form, and proven methods to change or create new habits.
Here are some highlights from the module:
Collaborate with other teachers to share your best money habit. Here...
Question of the Day: What are the top 3 categories that Gen Z spends its money on?
Answer: Clothes/Shoes, Books & music (physical copies), and Apps
Questions:
In which of the following categories do you spend your own money?
Are you surprised by the top 3 results in this study? Why or why not?
How do you think COVID-19 has impacted Gen Z spending habits? Do you think this will be a temporary or lasting change?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (IBM): ...
Collaborate with Educators At NGPF Professional Development This Week (January 19-21)
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We have a full slate of LIVE professional development opportunities this week for teachers!
Here's what teachers are saying about our Virtual PDs:
"Honestly, these sessions have all been amazing! I have used so much due to the PDs!"!
"Each time I join the sessions, I come away with new knowledge, insights, and ideas on how to use this information with my students."
"I liked the facilitator modeling ways to teach virtually as well as suggestions from other motivated teachers!"
NGPF is...
NGPF Podcast: Kasey Ng on trading bonds on Wall Street and importance of internships
It's a new year so we are trying a new format for the NGPF podcast. This week's episode starts with Yanely talking bitcoin which is the subject of her 100th FinCap Friday, Bitcoin Bonanza. Then you will hear from the "Bond girl," Kasey Ng, a 20-something on Wall Street who discusses the bond market, why having mentors is critical to career success and the skills needed to land a plum internship on the Street (spoiler alert: it's not all about financial wizardry). In our Office Hours...
Reading List for January 15-17
Cryptocurrency
What goes up, must come down. Just last week we posted about bitcoin reaching a record high. This week it turned south. (CoinDesk) And many people are scrambling to find the password to their digital wallet to cash out! (NYT)
Economics
Not a lot of good economic news this week:
New unemployment claims jumped back up to the million mark last week. (Yahoo Finance) (NYT)
Lael Brainard estimates the unemployment rate for the lowest paid workers is likely north of 20%...
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