Reading List for January 10-12
Your (Financial) Health
If you only have time to read one of these articles this week, make it this eye-opening piece from the Atlantic that digs into a research paper by economics from the St. Louis Fed on the college wealth premium—different from the income premium. (St. Louis Fed)
And then find a few minutes for this important read on how mental health issues can severely mpact your financial health. (Business Insider)
Economics
Is the Fed running out of tools to deal with a...
Chart of the Week: Manufacturing jobs require more skills!
From WSJ article:
Specialized job requirements have narrowed the path to the middle class that factory work once afforded. The new, more advanced manufacturing jobs pay more but don’t help workers who stopped schooling early. More than 40% of manufacturing workers have a college degree, up from 22% in 1991.
“The workers that remain do much more cognitively demanding jobs,” said David Autor, an economics professor at MIT.
Looking ahead, investments in automation will...
QoD: What is most trusted profession in America: Bankers, Nurses or High School Teachers?
Thanks to Sonia for finding this chart!
Answer: Nurse
Questions:
Why do you think that people have such high trust in nurses?
Many of the lower trust professions are finance-related (bankers, real estate agents, car salespeople). What is it about those jobs that leads to this lack of trust?
How can you protect yourself in situations where you are buying a car or house and don't trust the car salesperson or real-estate agent?
Here's the ready-to-go slides for this...
Visualization of the Week: How does your state compare on various economic factors?
Stumbled upon this visualization on the Census Bureau website which provides state level data on a variety of economic factors, including:
Age (median)
Commuting to work (mean travel time)
Computer and internet access
Education (percent of high school graduates)
Employment status
Health insurance coverage
Household income
Here's the map with commute times by state:
Questions:
Go through each of the economic factors listed for your state and list the data for your state (e.g., our state has a...
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...
Reading List for 4th of July Weekend
By Beth Tallman
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Jul 04, 2019
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Personal Finance, Behavioral Finance, Economics, Investing, Credit Cards, Employment
Happy 4th of July!! In case you aren't attending a cookout or don't like fireworks, you can get a jump on the weekend reading list!
Personal Finance
From Investopedia – how to “Declare you own Financial Independence.”
Michelle Singletary offers some sage advice for how to handle a delicat situation—when a friend or loved one in financial dire straits asks to move in. (WAPO)
Cincinnati’s Julie Heath compares Ohio to the National results from the 2018 Financial...
Reading List for June 21-23
By Beth Tallman
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Jun 21, 2019
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Cryptocurrencies, Advocacy, Financial Literacy, Economics, Investing, Employment, Paying for College, Insurance
Happy Summer! It is officially here! And here is a list covering a wide range of topics for your reading pleasure this weekend.
Financial Literacy
The US Treasury (specifically, the Financial Literacy and Education Commission) is calling for colleges and universities to require financial literacy classes. Looks like $1.5 trillion in student debt has some folks worried. (CNBC) Here is the actual report.
Does it help your students to hear about sports stars ultimately making better...
QoD: Can you name ONE of the top five highest paying summer jobs for teens?
Answer:
5. Landscaper (est. $2,200/month)
4. Delivery driver (est. $2,300/month)
3. Dog walker (est. $2,500/month)
2. Golf caddy (est. $2,500/month)
1. Lifeguard (est. $2,800/month)
Questions:
Do you have a summer job? If so, how did you get it?
How would you describe the local job market for teens for this summer? What are the most popular jobs for teens?
What do you think are the benefits of having a summer job?
If you have a summer job, do you have a savings goal for the...
Chart of the Week: Most Plentiful Well-Paying Jobs that Don't Require a Bachelor's Degree
Note: Opportunity jobs are those that don't require a bachelor's degree.
Questions:
Are you surprised to see any of these jobs on the list as you assumed they required a bachelor's degree?
There has been much talk of automation recently. Which jobs do you think are most at risk of being replaced through automation?
47% of Bookkeepers have a bachelor's degree while 53% do not. Who do you think has more job security and a higher wage: the bookkeeper with a bachelor's degree of the...
Chart of the Week: What Are The Top 10 Jobs Of the Future?
From Visual Capitalist:
Questions:
Rank order these factors from most to least important when selecting a job/career: salary, workplace factors, stress and growth.
Does a list like this motivate you to research one of these jobs that you are less familiar with? If so, which one(s)?
Is there a common theme or pattern to the jobs listed above? Explain.
More from Visual Capitalist: Comparison of careers along a 2X2 Matrix:
----------------------
Looking for more graphs/charts...
Chart of the Week: Summer Jobs
Questions:
What pattern do you see in this line graph?
Between what decade do you see the most significant drop in summer employment for 16-19 year olds?
How does summer employment in the 1970s and 1980s compare with 2017?
Why do you think there has been such a sharp drop in summer employment for 16-19 year olds?
Behind the graph (Pew)
The decline of summer jobs is a specific instance of the longer-term decline in overall youth employment,...
Why We Do What We Do - April 2019
This email from a Delaware teacher greeted me yesterday. It came from a student of hers [Bold is mine]:
I wanted to inform you that after we learned about pay cards in class I let my friend who was threatened with termination after being offered a pay card know that it was in his legal rights to decline that method of pay. He was extremely excited and wanted to let you know that he is very thankful. He says that Kansas City is not an easy place to find a teen job. After finding out that he is...
QoD: How much of a decline in performance (in percent) comes from sitting next to a low performer at work?
Answer: 30% decline in performance
Questions:
Why do you think sitting next to a low performer reduces the performance of someone sitting next to them?
In an open office environment, what types of behaviors would you expect to see from a low performer?
If you were assigned a desk next to a low performer what would you do now that you have this knowledge?
Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (from Outside)...
Chart: Most common jobs by income level
Background (from datavizblog.com):
NPR has written a lot about how income has changed (or not) for the rich, middle class and poor in the U.S. In the past, however, they have written much less about what the rich, middle class and poor actually do for work.
Questions:
What is the most common job for the top earning professionals?
What is the most common job for the lowest earning workers?
Is there any overlap where jobs show up in multiple income levels? Does it tend...
Chart of the Week: Unemployment by Educational Attainment
Note: Shaded regions indicate periods when the economy was in recession, a period of time when the economy is contracting instead of growing.
Questions:
Finish the sentence based on the information in the graph: The ______ education you have the _______ the _____________________ rate.
During what periods is the gap in unemployment between the least educated and most educated the widest? the narrowest?
Your friend tells you that some college is better than none. Based on...
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