Question of the Day: Which item saw the sharpest increase in prices in last 12 months: Gasoline, Bacon or Eggs?
Answer (from Visual Capitalist):
Questions:
Have you noticed inflation (the increases in prices) in items that you or your family purchase in your own lives?
Which of the items above do you think consumers will buy less? Which of the items do you think they will not change their behavior despite the price increases?
Pick one of the items from the list and come up with a substitute that a consumer might choose.
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the...
FINAL SUMMARY: NGPF's FinEd BillTracker for 2021
Personal Finance education captured lots of attention and activity in state legislatures across the country in 2021. To keep you abreast of these developments, we launched NGPF's FinEd BillTracker which has now been updated as of 12/31/21.
Here's the final tally for what was accomplished in 2021:
26 states + DC introduced bills focused on financial education in public schools
3 states had bills signed by their governors that guarantee that all high school students will complete a one...
Question of the Day; How many states are raising their minimum wage in 2022?
Answer: 26
Questions:
How is the minimum wage changing in your state? Here’s the data source with minimum wage data on all 50 states (most of the 50; a few have N/As).
Are employers in your area paying more than the minimum wage for part-time jobs?
Most states now have set minimum wages far above the federal rate of $7.25. Why do you think legislators in DC have chosen not to raise the federal minimum wage?
Imagine you run a small business where most of your employees earn...
NGPF Best of 2021: Top 10 Countries Using NGPF Website (outside the U.S.)
It's always great to see educators from across the globe participate in our professional development sessions. We know given the time differences that many are joining us at times that are far outside the traditional work hours. It seems that the need for more financial education is universal. The wonders of the internet means that the reach of our curricular resources and PD extend beyond our nation's boundaries. In fact, about 7% of visits to the NGPF website come from countries outside the...
Interactive: What's driving the higher prices of new homes?
Hat tip to Jessica for sharing this interactive.
Home prices in many markets have rocketed skyward during the pandemic. While many note the supply/demand imbalances that have been driving prices, there's another factor at work here. Namely, the costs of construction materials for new homes have seen significant increases which get passed along to the buyers in the form of higher prices.
In this interactive from Bloomberg, students will be able to see recent price changes in the various...
Question of the Day; What percent of 18-29 year olds have invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency (e.g., Bitcoin or Ether)?
Answer: 31%
Questions:
Have you ever invested in/traded or used a cryptocurrency? Why or why not?
Why do you think that more young adults are active with cryptocurrencies than older adults?
What are the differences that you see by gender?
Does any of this data about who is trading/investing/using cryptocurrencies surprise you? Explain.
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (Pew Research):
Roughly...
Interactive: What impact does family income have on a child's chance of going to college?
Hat tip to teammate, Ryan, for sharing this interactive from The Upshot (subscription required).
What makes this an interactive activity is students get to draw their answer to this question (using a touchpad) on a graph that has family income levels on X axis and college attendance rates on the Y axis. You also get a free tip knowing that your line has to pass through a certain point on the graph.
Once you have made your guess, you can see how your line compares with reality (based...
Question of the Day (Updated): What percent of branch banks offer "free" student checking accounts?
Answer:
Questions:
Do you think there are ANY fees with "free" checking accounts? If so, can you think of any examples?
Why do you think that so many banks offer "free" checking accounts to students?
What do you think happens to the account fees after you leave school and no longer qualify for a student account?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (WalletHub):
Student checking accounts, which...
Question of the Day: How many math errors did taxpayers make on tax returns in 2019?
Answer: 1.9 million
Over 50% of the errors are with tax calculations/other taxes.
Here are the top 10:
[2] Includes all errors associated with the calculation and assessment of income taxes, as well as other taxes, such as self-employment tax, alternative minimum tax, and household employment tax.
Source: IRS data
Questions:
Does it surprise you that taxpayers make so many errors on their tax returns?
What are strategies that you can use to avoid making mistakes on your own tax...
Question of the Day (REPEAT): A recent research study found that _________ of stock day traders made money over a 12 month period.
Given the events that have transpired over the past week with GameStop, this QoD provides great opportunity to discuss the perils of day trading.
Answer: 3%
Questions:
Why is day trading so popular despite the difficulty of making money consistently?
Why do you think it's so difficult to make money day trading?
Do you know anyone who has actively traded stocks? Were they successful for more than a few days?
What's the difference between investing and speculating? ...
A Worrying Trend for High School Seniors
As of January 15th, 2021, only one out of three high school seniors have filed a FAFSA -- which is down about 10% from this time last year, according to the FAFSA Tracker which uses data from the U.S. Department of Education. And the numbers are even worse for seniors who qualify for free and reduced lunch (FAFSA completions are down by 13%) and students of color (down by 15.4%).
Here is what makes this such a worrying trend: NerdWallet estimated that students who are Pell Grant-eligible missed...
Best of 2020: Top 10 Countries Using NGPF Website (outside the U.S.)
The great thing about the internet is that websites are accessible to users throughout the world. Create something of value and that Field of Dreams line comes to mind, "if you build it, they will come." Well, about 5% of visits to the NGPF website come from countries outside the U.S.
Here are the top 10:
Canada (#3 in PISA 2018 Financial Literacy Exam results)
India
United Kingdom
Philippines
Australia (#6 in PISA 2018 Financial Literacy Exam results)
Germany
China (#1 in PISA 2018...
FAFSA filings down 15.5%; Interactives to Nudge Students to File the FAFSA
FAFSA filings are down 15.5% on year over year basis. We all know the consequences of students failing to file a FAFSA and the importance of filing early. Some awards have limited resources, and those who wait until the last minute to file could be out of luck as funding dries up.
Here are three interactives you can use to nudge your students to file a FAFSA now.
FAFSA Tracker - The #FormYourFuture FAFSA Tracker is an interactive data dashboard that tracks and ranks states’ progress...
Question of the Day: You purchase a new TV with a store card offering 0% APR (pay no interest) for 18 months. What happens if you don't pay in full within 18 months?
Answer: 53% of store cards have deferred interest features meaning you will pay interest going back to the date of the purchase which can be quite costly.
Questions:
Black Friday is right around the corner..why do you think these 0% APR offers are so popular at this time of the year?
How often do you think consumers forget to pay off the full balance and get hit with these deferred interest surprises?
Do you think offers like are a good idea for consumers? Why or why...
Question of the Day: What percent of 14-17 year olds think it is likely that they will ever purchase/own a home?
Answer: 93%
Here's reasons given for wanting to own a home:
Questions:
Do you want to own a home at some point in the future? Why or why not?
If so, is there a specific age that you would like to own a home?
What are the biggest challenges you see in being able to buy a home?
What would you be looking for in that first house that you buy? What factors matter most to you?
Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (Gen...
