NGPF Gold Standard Challenge Grantee Dan Clement: The Best Answer To "Why Isn't This Course A Requirement?"
Dan Clement is an enthusiastic personal finance teacher from Somers High School in Somers, CT. Dan's school is the 11th in the country to be awarded a $10,000 grant for their personal finance program. He earned this by moving his school to NGPF's Gold Standard by adopting a one semester standalone personal finance course that ALL students will take prior to graduation. Kudos to Dan for his dogged determination to support his students with comprehensive financial education. Here's Dan in...
QoD: How many states do not have state income taxes?
Did you know that most people have to file tax returns for BOTH federal AND state income taxes? Listed below are 7 states that do not (as of 1/10/2020) have state income taxes.
Answer: 7: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming
Find the top tax rate for your state here:
Note: Tennessee and New Hampshire tax investment income.
Questions:
How does your state's tax rate compare to other neighboring states?
Do you think that states that...
Math + Personal Finance: Where are Number Chugs?
If you incorporate math in your personal finance class (or vice versa, personal finance application in your math class!), you may have used NGPF’s Number Chugs. As the curriculum team is working on updating resources, you’ll notice that some have been RETIRED, including Number Chugs, to make room for newer activities. If you are still interested in using Number Chugs with your students, you can locate them in two places:
Math Resource Directory - Tab 10: [RETIRED] Number...
Guest Post from Lana Main: Using NGPF for Computer Technology Instruction
Thanks to NGPF Fellow Lana Main of West Central High School (Sioux Falls, SD) for this guest post!
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In addition to my role as a Personal Finance teacher, I also teach a Computer Applications course for freshmen. For several years I’ve used NGPF's phenomenal, free resources in my Personal Finance course. As I’ve become more familiar with NGPF resources, I’ve realized that many of them fit well into many other courses too. Here are some engaging lessons and...
Chart of the Week: Investment Returns By Decade
I came across this cool gif on the Irrelevant Investor blog. Lots of percentages here which make this an interesting one for math teachers too!
Be sure to click on the image below to experience the GIF:
Notes:
Important: Given the multitude of asset classes here with some familiar and some unfamiliar, you may want to just focus on two bond proxies (5 Year U.S. Treasuries and Long-Term Corporate Bonds) and two stock proxies (S&P 500 and NASDAQ). Of course, if you cover other...
QoD: Walmart vs. Amazon: Which has been the better performing stock over the past five years?
Answer: AMAZON by a long shot!
Reviewing the chart, how much would your $100 investment five years ago have grown if you had invested in...
Amazon?
Walmart?
The overall stock market (S&P 500)?
Would you have been better off choosing between these 2 companies or just buying the overall stock market through an index fund?
Why do you think that Amazon has performed so much better than Walmart? (Hint: Do you think that online ecommerce is growing faster than “bricks and...
NGPF Announces National Winners of 3rd Annual PAYBACK Challenge Essay Contest
PALO ALTO, California, January 14, 2020 - Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a non-profit committed to ensuring that ALL students leave high school with the skills needed to thrive in an increasingly complex financial world, is pleased to recognize 10 students as National Grand Prize winners in their third annual PAYBACK Challenge Essay Contest.
Congratulations to the following students who will receive a $5,000 award from NGPF to be used for educational purposes:
Abigail Stackle of...
TEACHER TIP - CASE STUDY: Gimme Some Credit
Amanda Volz brings you a Teacher Tip video on the CASE STUDY: Gimme Some Credit. In this case study, students will take on the role of a peer financial counselor to analyze credit card promotions and comparison shop for a credit card. They will also learn about alternatives to credit cards for those seeking to build a credit history. NGPF case studies can be a great assessment tool or collaborative activity in the classroom. In this video, Amanda provides some ideas for how you can incorporate...
QoD [UPDATED]: Excluding home loans, what are the three largest debts for American consumers?
Answer:
Student loan - $1.5 trillion
Auto loan - $1.32 trillion
Credit Card - $0.85 trillion
Questions:
Which type of credit has grown the fastest from 2004-2019? Why do you think this is the case?
Using the chart, estimate the growth rate (in trillions of dollars) between 2004-19 for student loans, auto loans and credit cards.
What impact did the Great Recession (2008-09) have on debt levels? Do you think people tend to borrow more or less when a recession occurs? ...
When a student asks....What's a good stock to buy?
Have them read this quote from Nobel Laureate, Richard Thaler (highly recommend his book, Misbehaving):
“The biggest mistake people make in life is overconfidence…Most active managers [editor's note: professionals that are trying to beat the market] underperform, at least by their fees, or more. So if professionals with their Bloomberg terminals and access to all kinds of information can’t do better than throwing darts, why should individual investors think they...
NGPF Announces Honorable Mention Winners of 3rd Annual PAYBACK Challenge Essay Contest
PALO ALTO, California, January 14, 2020 - Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF), a non-profit committed to ensuring that ALL students leave high school with the skills needed to thrive in an increasingly complex financial world, is pleased to announce 94 students from across the nation have received an Honorable Mention Award in their third annual PAYBACK Challenge.
Over 900 students from all across the United States submitted essays earlier last fall. After playing the award-winning college finance...
Collaborate with Educators At NGPF Professional Development This Week (January 13-17, 2020)
We know many of you have New Year's resolutions to continue to hone your craft and we are here to support your goals. We have doubled our Virtual PDs and now offering them at 1pm and 4pm Pacific Time. Attend 3 NGPF Virtual PDs between January 1st and February 13th and you will earn a $100 Amazon gift card.
Here's what teachers are saying about our new Virtual PDs:
"Keep it up. NGPF has been the most engaging PD I've attended in years."
"I am absolutely inspired...I am more prepared...
Interactive Monday: What's Your Stuff Worth? and Renter's Insurance
Hat tip to NGPF Fellow Jill Wilson and her students at Glenwood Springs High School in Colorado for sharing this interactive. It helps renters quickly get a sense for the value of what they own and the amount of renter's insurance they may need.
The interactive starts by having students walk through each room in their "apartment." They use a slider bar to indicate how spartan or extravagant their room while the interactive estimates the value of the "stuff" in the room. Here's the intro...
QoD: What percent of Americans got a raise in 2019?
Answer: About 50%
Marketplace audio (1:27):
Questions:
According to the audio, the last decade was the first that didn't have a __________________.
What was the average pay increase across all workers?
While 1/2 of workers may not have received a pay increase, what are other ways that companies may have helped their employees other than raising their pay?
What can you do as a worker to increase the chances that you get a pay increase?
Here's the ready-to-go slides for this...
NGPF Podcasts: Demetria Gallegos of WSJ on 9 Myths About Credit Scores
Everything you ever wanted to learn about credit scores and more. Discover the myths, the realities and ways that you can improve your credit score in this informative podcast with Demetria Gallegos of the Wall Street Journal. Enjoy!
Details:
0:00~1:28 Introduction
1:28~6:10 Utilizing a Roth IRA
6:10~9:05 Learning about money growing up
9:05~11:47 Financial lessons learned from raising children
11:47~14:14 Myths about credit scores
14:14~15:08 Using a secured credit card...
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