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 December 6-8
By Beth Tallman
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Dec 06, 2019
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Economics, Investing, Budgeting, Paying for College, Current Events
Economics/Employment
The November jobs report beat expectations. Dive into the numbers here. (USA Today)
Does the jobs report give a complete employment picture? Forbes takes a look at the employment numbers and finds a large increase in low-quality, low-paying jobs.
"A study by the Brookings Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization that conducts research to solve problems facing society, found that a large amount of the newly created positions are “low-wage”...
QoD: The number one job skill that very successful businesspeople attribute their success to is their __________ skills.
Answer: Sales
Questions:
What does it take to be a successful salesperson?
How might these skills help someone be successful in other areas of business?
Raise your hand if you think you would consider going into sales? What sorts of sales-type jobs could you get at your age?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers: (Yahoo Finance)
Two-thirds of the mega-wealthy individuals interviewed for this...
Black Friday 2019 Reading List
By Beth Tallman
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Nov 29, 2019
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Economics, Paying for College, Investing, Retirement, Parent Conversations
Today is the official start of the biggest retail push of the year. If you are reading this, you either have already braved the Black Friday crowds (or shopped last night), or you are giving it a pass and shopping online. In any event, the crowds are expected to be a bit less chaotic this year (CBS).
Here is a look at how online shopping and delivery are changing the world (IMO, not for the better):
The Guardian discusses everything from the explosion of warehouses to environmental impact...
QoD: What is the most popular music streaming service?
Answer: YouTube
Questions:
What is your go-to source for music?
What do you like most about it?
How much do you pay for it?
How does YouTube compare to Spotify or Pandora when it comes to music streaming?
What would be your cost in time/money if you wanted to switch from your current streaming service?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers: (Washington Post)
Not Spotify, not Apple Music,...
Reading List for November 22-24
By Beth Tallman
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Nov 22, 2019
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Advocacy, Financial Literacy, Paying for College, Career, Financial Scams, Investing, Retirement
Financial Literacy and Advocacy
ICYMI, Tim Ranzetta had two pieces hit Marketwatch this week. The first is an article explaining how excellent teachers will drive the financial literacy movement, and highlights several teachers you will recognize. The second is an opinion piece in which Tim quantifies the value of a high school personal finance class.
Study Breaks’ Daniel Reed concurs with the need to make Personal Finance a high school graduation requirement.
Workers consistently...
Ed Puzzle Thursday - Get ready for Cyber Monday
In this week's EdPuzzle video from the PBS Series Two Cents, your students can learn and answer questions about "How Retailers Stalk You Online" to effectively target ads, and what you can do to minimize the impact on your wallet!
Interested in more EdPuzzle videos? Visit our Video Library and type in "EdPuzzle" into the search bar at the top to view the rest of our EdPuzzle videos!
Note: You do NOT need to create an account to ACCESS EdPuzzle videos....
QoD: Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts: Which company's stock has performed better over the past five years?
People tend to be pretty vocal about their preferred "go-to" coffee spots. Who is winning the coffee war (from the investor's perspective)?
Answer: Starbucks.
Questions:
What factors do you think contribute to the very different market performance of these companies?
Starbucks is much larger and has a larger international presence. Do you think those factors are important?
Which do you personally prefer? Explain why you prefer it.
Would you make an investment decision based on a...
Reading List for November 8-10
By Beth Tallman
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Nov 08, 2019
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Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship, Payment Types, Credit Cards, Investing, Cryptocurrencies, Retirement
Financial and Economic Literacy
People don’t know as much as they think they know about money. (Kiplinger)
Teens think economics is an important subject, yet they don’t grasp key concepts even after taking an economics class. Here are some suggestions for making the education more effective. (PRNewswire)
The CEO and founder of Pliquit wrote an article for Forbes encouraging banks to step in and take advantage of Gen Z’s consumption of media to fill their financial literacy...
Reading List for November 1-3
By Beth Tallman
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Nov 01, 2019
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Entrepreneurship, Economics, Investing, Credit Cards, Paying for College, Retirement, Financial Scams
Entrepreneurship
An excellent retrospective on the contributions of Peter Drucker on what would have been his 100th birthday. (INC)
How does owning your own business or working in the gig economy impact how your kids will view the world of work and finances? (WAPO)
Economics
Economics news this week included another Federal Reserve Rate cut. What does that mean for your credit card, mortgage, etc.? (USA Today)
And the October Jobs report came out today. USA Today explains the...
Reading List for October 25-27
By Beth Tallman
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Oct 25, 2019
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Investing, Financial Literacy, Economics, Credit Cards, Credit Scores, Career
Investing
We will start this week’s list with this mind-blowing headline: “Tesla overtake GM as most valuable automaker.” (Reuters)
Comparing today’s IPO environment (the “Not-Com Bubble?”) to the “dot-com” bubble of 2000. (The Atlantic)
Financial Literacy
A look at programs that bring experiential, hands-on learning about money into the classroom. (Reuters)
The New York Times reviews three of the most popular personal finance books....
Reading List for October 18-20
By Beth Tallman
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Oct 18, 2019
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Current Events, Financial Literacy, Cryptocurrencies, Student Loans, Financial Scams, Career, Budgeting, Taxes
Financial Wellness
Rather than focusing on life events, banks are now basing their products and marketing on everyday financial decisions, getting into the financial wellness business. (The Financial Brand)
Is your credit card debt making you sick? A detailed study by CarefulCents.com finds the answer if “yes.” (PRNewswire)
Economics/ Crypto-Currency
Here is an article from The Economist that discusses the demise of cash across the world’s economies. (For more detail...
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...
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