About the Author
Beth Tallman
Beth Tallman entered the working world armed with an M.B.A. in finance and thoroughly enjoyed her first career working in manufacturing and telecommunications, including a stint overseas. She took advantage of an involuntary separation to try teaching high school math, something she had always dreamed of doing. When fate stepped in once again, Beth jumped on the opportunity to combine her passion for numbers, money, and education to develop curriculum and teach personal finance at Oberlin College. Beth now spends her time writing on personal finance and financial education, conducting student workshops, and developing finance curricula and educational content. She is also the Treasurer of Ohio Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
Reading List for October 11-13
By Beth Tallman
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Oct 11, 2019
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Behavioral Finance, Cryptocurrencies, Investing, Financial Scams, Career, Retirement
Behavioral Finance
An interesting dive into gender and money: The Myth of the Frivolous Female Spender (NYT)
FinTech
A longer read from Knowledge@Wharton discussing how FinTech may be helping the underbanked and unbanked. The risk is that many of these services fly under any regulatory radar.
Crypto-currencies
Mark Zuckerberg will face Congress to talk about Facebook’s proposed crypto-currency Libra. He will face a tough crowd, (Axios) and now several backers (Visa,...
Digging Deeper: What the Heck are Digital Dollars?
What if the US Federal Reserve stops printing currency and minting coins, going to purely digital dollars. How would this differ from life today, where many of us never actually touch cash? How would this differ from private crypto-currencies? What role will commercial banks play in this new system? Where does the Federal Reserve Bank stand on this issue? If dollars no longer exist physically, does it change the dollar’s standing globally?
Given that the US has not yet planned...
Reading List for October 4-6
By Beth Tallman
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Oct 04, 2019
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Financial Literacy, Economics, Investing, Insurance, Paying for College, Retirement
Financial Literacy
Perhaps we need to solve the innumeracy problem in the US in order to make any significant gains in Financial Literacy. (WAPO)
Even if we are successful in requiring every high school student to take a personal finance class, what do we do about all of those past high school who need the same knowledge? Some suggest the responsibility fall to employers. (Pensions and Investments)
Read all about NGPF's own Yanely Espinal! (MarketWatch)
Economics
US manufacturing...
Reading List for September 27-29
By Beth Tallman
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Sep 27, 2019
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Paying for College, Advocacy, Economics, Investing, Personal Finance, Insurance, Checking Accounts
Advocacy
The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill that would require students to take a semester-long personal finance class to graduate high school. The bill now moves to the House. The bill proposes that the credit for the class could be applied to social studies, math, business, or family and consumer science graduation requirements. (CBS-Pittsburgh)
A survey from Country Financial found that 86% of Americans think financial education should be mandatory. (LowCards)
Economics
There...
QoD: At what age do you think most people would find it embarrassing to still be living with their parents/guardians?
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Sep 24, 2019
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Question of the Day, Budgeting, Behavioral Finance, Career
Answer: 28
Questions:
At what age would YOU find it embarrassing to still be living at home with your parents/guardians? Explain.
At what age do you hope to be out on your own and not living at home with your parents/guardians?
Can you name a few reasons why adult children are living at home?
Do you think if you were to live at home after high school/college that you would be expected to contribute to household expenses? Why or why not?
Click here for the...
Reading List for September 20-22
By Beth Tallman
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Sep 20, 2019
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Current Events, Economics, Investing, Paying for College, Career, Retirement
Financial Literacy/Advocacy
Here is a snapshot of the state of financial education in the US by none other than NGPF Fellows, Courtney Poquette and Kayla Bousom, along with NGPF co-founder Tim Ranzetta. (MarketWatch)
Arizona State Treasurer discusses the importance of financial education. (Personal Finance curriculum is part of the economics course Arizona high school students must pass to graduate.) (USA Today-AZ Central)
Employers are now filling the financial literacy gap with twice as many...
QoD: Rank order these financial accounts from most to least prevalent for 8-14 year olds: investment account, online gaming account, credit card
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Sep 18, 2019
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Question of the Day, Credit Cards, Savings, Investing
Answer (courtesy of T. Rowe Price survey of parents of 8-14 year olds)
Questions:
Which of these accounts did you have when you were 14 years old?
For #1, list the timing of when you got each account.
How do you think that kids so young are able to have a credit card? Do you think it's a good idea for someone so young to have a credit card? Explain.
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the...
QoD: When do young Americans think they will be financially independent?
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Sep 16, 2019
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Parent Conversations, Question of the Day, Personal Finance
Answer: 22
Questions:
When you you hope to become financially independent? What do you think it means to be "financially independent?"
Why do you think the younger generation is more optimistic about when they will become financially independent?
When do you think you will be able to do the following?
a) Pay for your own streaming service?
b) File your own taxes?
c) Pay for your own health insurance
d) Start saving for retirement and investing?
Click here for the ready-to-go...
QoD: What percent of college graduates end up working in the field of their major?
Answer: 27%
Questions:
Which majors do you think are more likely to lead to a job in that field?
What steps can you take to prepare yourself for employment, regardless of which major you choose?
Given that almost 3/4 of college grads end up in fields that are not related to their major, do you think it's a good idea to consider multiple majors while in college?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers...
Reading List for September 13-15
By Beth Tallman
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Sep 13, 2019
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Current Events, Advocacy, Budgeting, Credit Cards, Investing, Insurance, Paying for College
Advocacy
Many of you have seen this one, featuring a quote from BrianPage, but in case you missed it: (USA Today) "School probably didn't teach you much about money, here are 4 things you should know".
A national survey by Experian of Gen Z found that 76% of them agree that a personal finance class should be offered in high school. (PRN Newswire) (CNBC)
Michigan is considering legislation to allow practical math options to Algebra II, including personal finance. (thecentersquare)
...
Stock Showdown QoD: Which company has performed better over the past five years, Netflix (NFLX) or Disney (DIS)?
Answer: Netflix
Netflix, at a recent price of $290/share, has increased 450% in the past five years ago, while Disney, at a recent price of $140/share, is up 169% compared to five years ago.
Questions:
Both companies are in the business of entertaining, but have taken different approaches. How would you sum up each company in ONE sentence?
What factors do you think contribute to the very different market performance of these companies?
When you look for entertainment, which of...
What's New With Insurance? (September 2019)
Often the trickiest thing about insurance is knowing what type of insurance you need, and then figuring out how much and where to get it? A Morningstar article has some practical advice on these decisions, broken into categories of insurance. Here is some general advice offered up front:
When making insurance decisions, one of the best pieces of advice is to not insure yourself against risks you can afford to cover. For example, if you have ample savings, you're not going to be sunk if...
Reading List for September 6-8
By Beth Tallman
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Sep 06, 2019
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Current Events, Advocacy, Investing, Cryptocurrencies, Paying for College, Career, Employment
Advocacy
Liz Frazier pens a compelling piece for Forbes magazine listing five reasons personal finance should be taught in schools. She is preaching to the choir here, but perhaps her approach will get through to the general public, and one might find this a concise source of supporting arguments and statistics for your personal quest.
Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz explains her efforts as President of the Charles Schwab Foundation to promote financial literacy (Yahoo Finance)
An academic study out of...
Question of the Day: Can you name ONE of the three most valuable sports franchises?
Football season is upon us which inspired Beth to come up with this question!
Answer:
Dallas Cowboys: $5 billion
New York Yankees: $4.6 billion
Real Madrid: $4.24 billion
Questions:
What factors do you think drive the value of a sports franchise?
Do you or your friends spend money to support your favorite teams? What types of things can you/do you purchase?
One of the reasons that franchises are worth so much has to do with their latest TV/Cable/Streaming contracts.
Raise your...
Have you seen the new "What's New With _________?" posts?
By Beth Tallman
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Aug 31, 2019
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Current Events, Credit Reports, Index Funds, Investing, Credit Cards, Checking Accounts, Career
We all know that things are always changing in the world of Personal Finance. We bring you a weekly reading list of news related to Personal Finance, Economics, and other topics relevant for teachers, but what if you want to hone in on what’s been happening in just one topic?
This year, the “What’s New With” series of blogs is a bit different than in the past. We are pulling in fewer articles on each topic, but going into more depth within the blog to explain what has...
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