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 March 27-29
Coronavirus Pandemic coverage this week includes articles on the soon-to-be stimulus bill, actions by the Federal Reserve, unemployment statistics, the stock market volatility, and potential implications for student loans.
Stimulus Bill
What is in it, and what is not. The NYT provides the answers with an FAQ.
Will you qualify to a direct payment? (WaPo) provides a calculator for stimulus checks.
If you don’t need your stimulus check to pay bills, what should you do with it? Save it...
Reading List for March 20-22
Dealing with our new reality—here are articles that you may find helpful.
USA Today came up with this article to help kids come to terms with what is going on.
The food supply is secure. No need to hoard groceries. While there will be shortages of some products as adjustments are made, like food that was going to restaurants will find its way to grocery channels, if anything, production is gearing up. (NYT)
Jean Chatsky has been on NBC news affiliates today with her financial advice for...
Reading List for March 13-15
Coronavirus
The World Health Organization declares the Coronavirus is now a pandemic. This past week, we saw the worst day on Wall Street since 1987 on Thursday (NYT), and worst week since 2008. As I write this, markets are bouncing back, but the day isn't over yet.
Neil Irwin in his Upshot article explains the troubling phenomenon with this financial crisis: all asset classes are down. Listen to him on MarketPlace Morning report recapping the crazy week. (listen to the 3/13/20...
Reading List for March 6-8
By Beth Tallman
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Mar 06, 2020
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Current Events, Investing, Economics, Mortgages, Financial Literacy
This week's list is devoted predominantly to the wide-ranging impacts of the Coronavirus in addition to wild fluctuations in the stock market. (As predicted after last week's tumbling market, this isn't over yet.)
Investing
What should stock market investors do in this market? A Wealth of Common Sense suggests you ask yourself some questions to help figure that out.
Of Dollars and Data explains why now you will understand why you should invest in bonds.
10-year Treasuries dropped...
Question of the Day: For every $1 of corporate income taxes collected, the U.S. government collected $___ from individuals?
Answer: $7.39
Individual income taxes = 1.7 trillion
Corporate income taxes = $230.2 billion
Questions:
What’s the single largest source of taxes for the U.S. federal government?
What are the two payroll taxes that make up the category “social insurance” taxes? Hint: One has “social” in its name.
The number of workers employed in the U.S. has grown over the past few years. Which tax categories would be impacted by this employment growth? ...
And the Winner is----Financial Literacy!!!
Four of the past five years, I have coached a team of students from Oberlin College competing in an undergraduate business case competition put on by Peoples Bank, a large regional bank headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Oberlin is a liberal arts college, and the all of the other 14-15 competitors are students in undergraduate business programs. This year, on top of the usual challenge of overcoming the gap in business knowledge, our team was comprised of one first-year student and two...
Reading List for February 28-March 1
By Beth Tallman
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Feb 28, 2020
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Investing, Stocks, Current Events, Paying for College, Financial Literacy, Retirement
Given the huge and rapid correction in the stock market this week, we start this week’s list with the “Investing” articles:
This is the fastest market “correction” in history, and we aren’t done yet. (Yahoo Finance)
"Is The Stock Market Going to Crash?" The Irrelevant Investor takes a deep dive for those of you that like numbers and stats and graphs to address this question.
WSJ-(subscription) columnist Jason Zweig reports on survey results...
[Update] Question of the Day: What’s the current unemployment rate for 22-27 year-olds who graduated from a four-year college?
Answer: 3.9%
Questions:
What is the difference today in unemployment rates for those 22-27 year olds with a bachelor’s degree and those without?
What was this difference in 2010 following the Great Recession? Has the gap narrowed or widened between those with/without degrees?
Why do you think that having a college degree impacts an individual’s probability of getting a job?
Overall, what has been the trend in unemployment across all types of workers since 2010?
Click here...
Reading List for February 21-23
By Beth Tallman
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Feb 21, 2020
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Advocacy, Personal Finance, Current Events, Investing, Career, Mortgages
Advocacy
The West Virginia Senate considers two education bills: a financial education bill requiring a high school class, right alongside one reestablishing cursive writing in elementary school. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)
Personal Finance
Ever wonder what files you should keep and for how long? Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post explains how she used “Homefile: Financial Planning Organizer,” by certified financial planners J. Michael Martin and his wife Mary E....
Reading List for February 14-16
By Beth Tallman
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Feb 14, 2020
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Personal Finance, Savings, Credit Cards, Investing, Economics, Retirement
Happy Valentine’s Day (and Presidents’ weekend)! In recognition of the holiday, I am sharing the first article from Barry Ritholz’ reading list this morning from Behavioral Scientist in case you still need to find that perfect Valentine’s card for the people in your life. Enjoy!
Personal Finance
We do what we do to keep future generations from repeating our financial mistakes. According to a recent survey by Deposits.com, 85% of Americans admit to making financial...
"Going from Broke:" Episode Summaries and Discussion Questions
Ashton Kutcher is one of the executive producers of a series called “Going from Broke,” focusing on the massive (student) debt issue facing young adults. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is the ad-supported video streaming service that runs the series on Crackle, and it hit 5 million views after just 4 weeks. The series appears to be attracting attention.
Dan Rosensweig, another executive producer, is the CEO of a company called Chegg and is the host of the show....
[Updated] Question of the Day: What percentage of Americans can not come up with the cash to cover a $400 emergency?
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Feb 11, 2020
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Question of the Day, Savings, Current Events, Credit Cards
Answer: 12%
It is time once again to take a look at new data on this often quoted number, and put it in context.
(In fact, 12% is the critical figure here, representing those who can’t pay it at all: 27% would have to borrow or sell something to cover the expense.)
Questions:
Are you surprised by this number? Why or why not?
What are some emergency expenses that could amount to $400?
How do you think the 39% cover this emergency cost if they don’t have money saved to cover it?
What...
QoD: Electronic Arts vs. Activision: Which has been the better performing stock over the past five years?
Answer: Activision
Questions:
Reviewing the chart, how much would your $100 investment five years ago have grown if you had invested in...
Electronic Arts?
Activision?
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?
Which games do you prefer? Would that be enough information to drive you to invest in one company over the other? What else would you want...
Reading List for February 7-9
It's Oscars weekend, and here is a documentary you should watch leading up to the event if you haven't yet! NGPF released the documentary “The Most Important Class you Never Had” this week.
Financial Literacy
CNBC covered the release of the CEE biannual Survey of the States on Wednesday.
“Research shows that these requirements make a difference,” said Nan Morrison, the president and CEO of the Council for Economic Education, which released...
Reading List for January 31-Feb 2
By Beth Tallman
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Jan 31, 2020
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Personal Finance, Behavioral Finance, Budgeting, Paying for College, Taxes, Insurance
Happy Super Bowl Weekend!
In case you missed this week's FinCap Friday, Credit Crunch details how the FICO methodology will impact millions of consumers.
Personal Finance/Financial Literacy
This article from the NY Times “Smarter Living” section got some attention this week in social media. “Does Personal Finance Still Work in our changing Economy?” contains a great discussion of the findings of the book The Financial Diaries (Rachel Schneider and Jonathan...
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