Question of the Day; What is the median savings account balance for Americans under 35?
Answer: $2,000
Questions:
Explain why there is such a big difference between the median and average for each age group?
What is the relationship between age and savings accounts balances? Explain why you think the relationship exists.
How much will you need to have in a savings account to feel secure (sleep well at night)?
Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (from 2016 Survey of Consumer...
Chart of the Week: How do banks react to increases in interest rates? (Hint: You don't want to be a borrower!)
I have noted this trend before but to see it all on one graph makes it even more powerful. As the Federal Reserve has increased the Federal Funds rate target, the cost of borrowing has risen in lockstep while interest earned from savings accounts still hovers close to zero. In other words, costs to borrow typically have variable rates which automatically adjust upwards in a rising interest rate environment while interest on savings accounts are extremely slow to adjust upwards as banks seek to...
Question of the Day: Children with bank accounts are ______ times more likely to graduate from college than those that don't have bank accounts.
Answer: 4 times more likely
Questions:
Do you have a bank account currently? Why or why not?
Why do you think there is a link between having a bank account and graduating from college?
What are the reasons that young people might decide NOT to open a bank account?
What do you need to open a bank account, if you are under the age of 18?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers...
FinCap Friday: Famous and Frugal
With the U.S. Open tennis tournament in full swing and the NFL season about to start, we thought students would enjoy learning about athletes and other celebrities who DO manage their money well. Learn more in the fourth installment of FinCap Friday, Famous and Frugal:
New to NGPF's FinCap Friday? It's a fun way to engage your students with current events and includes:
A five question Kahoot!
A 90 second video providing details about the current event and explaining why it matters to students...
FinCap Friday: The Raging Bull
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Aug 30, 2018
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Investing, Question of the Day, FinCap Fridays, Stocks, Compound Interest, Current Events, Savings
We know your students have a fascination with the stock market. Use the market's recent record-breaking performance to start a discussion about the pros/cons of investing. Learn more in the third installment of FinCap Friday, The Raging Bull.
For a quick refresher, our FinCap Fridays include...
A five question Kahoot!
A 90 second video providing details about the current event and explaining why it matters to students
A discussion prompt
Activity ideas to extend the learning...
What I'm Reading This Weekend (August 11-12)
By Beth Tallman
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Aug 10, 2018
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Personal Finance, Savings, Parent Conversations, Economics, Current Events
Personal finance
Banks and credit unions are talking about providing financial education as a competitive “weapon.” Is this good or bad?
Buying a car? Here is a quick video reminder of warning signs indicating you should walk away.
Parenting, Teens, and College
Parents, especially mothers, are teaching their kids about money.
Is the tide turning? Here are two studies/articles that suggest perhaps they are. One from Current suggests that teens save for goals, and according to...
Looking to use more infographics in your classroom? Here's a few good ones to use (and the brain science behind it)
Do your students seem very engaged with the infographics that you are using in your lessons? Here's the brain science behind why they have become so successful as a teaching device. Some of the more interesting factoids from this infographic (of course, it's an infographic about the power of infographics):
Information overload is real:
Color graphics make us 80% more willing to read:
When providing directions, illustrations (or YouTube) videos are a must:
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We...
Question of the Day: What percentage of Americans cannot come up with $400 to cover an emergency?
Answer: 41%
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 41% cover this emergency cost if they don’t have money saved to cover it?
Your friend says that saving is for chumps. He asks you “Why would you want to save money when interest rates that banks pay for savings is so low?” Convince him that saving money is a good idea.
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for...
What I'm Reading this Weekend......May 26-28
By Beth Tallman
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May 25, 2018
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Current Events, Personal Finance, Student Loans, Economics, Savings, Paying for College
A long weekend so the list and a couple of the articles are a bit longer.
Savings and Wealth
I plan to dig into this one more this weekend from an NYT opinion piece by the authors of a study on wealth inequality and families. (There is a link to their paper in the article, if you want to really take a deeper dive.)
Think having a million dollars in the bank makes you rich? Not according to bankers: bankers define rich as $25 million.
The number of 401k millionaires at the end of the first...
Digging Deeper: Retirement's Difficult Choices (Part 1)
I have been noticing many articles in recent weeks discussing a wide array of issues surrounding retirement and end of life decisions, from when to stop working (if you stop working), when to draw Social Security, where to live, and even planning your own funeral! I am not sure if there are more articles out there given that 10,000 baby boomers hit 65 every day, or if I am just much more attuned to them as my husband and I are getting serious about planning the logistics of our...
NGPF 2018 Summit: FinTech Panel with RaiseMe, FamZoo and Stockpile
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May 11, 2018
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Podcasts, Current Events, Investing, Savings, Paying for College, Behavioral Finance
What follows is the FinTech Panel from the 2018 NGPF Summit in San Francisco, California. As educators, we know how challenging it can be to keep up with all of the innovation occurring in the financial sector. To help make sense of it all, we invited Namrata Ganatra from Stockpile, Bill Dwight from FamZoo and Thea Lee from RaiseMe to this panel moderated by NGPF's own Jessica Endlich. You will learn about their innovative products which help students manage their spending, start investing and...
What's New With.......Savings?
Savings Rate
The most recent data for February shows the US savings rate increased slightly to 3.4% but has been markedly below average rates for a year.
According to a recent Bankrate survey, 20% of Americans surveyed aren’t saving anything, inspite of record unemployment.
Interest Rates on Savings
The bottom line here to shop around for a good rate, and include online banks in that search.
We start this section with a video explaining why rates at banks haven't increased more....
Question of the Day: What percent of American bank deposits are controlled by online banks?
By Tim Ranzetta
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May 02, 2018
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Question of the Day, Savings, Current Events, Research, Compound Interest
Answer: 8% (but growing almost 3X faster than American deposits over all)
This chart demonstrates why their growth should continue to outpace traditional brick and mortar banks. The interest rate they offer on their savings accounts has continued to rise almost matching Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Meanwhile interest rates at traditional banks....remain close to 0%.
Questions:
Why should you care about interest rates when choosing a bank?
Would you consider using an online...
Digging Deeper: Saving and Investing – its Simple but not Easy
We all know we should save money, and we know that we should invest some of what we save, but that doesn’t mean everyone is disciplined enough to “pay themselves first” rather than waiting to see what’s left at the end of the month. Once we do invest, human nature and emotion often work against us in making good investment decisions. For example, if we have an investment that is doing well, our inclination is to stay in it, rather than (more rationally) to sell some...
Question of the Day: What percent of Americans are contributing to a retirement plan (e.g., 401(k)) offered by their employer?
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Mar 14, 2018
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Question of the Day, Savings, Research, Retirement, Investing
Answer: 49%
Questions:
What do you think prevents workers from contributing to a retirement plan?
Retirement seems a long way off. Why do you think it is important to start investing when you are young?
What advice would you give someone in order to convince them to sign up for a retirement account?
If you were told that your company would match the amount you put into a retirement account, would that convince you to participate?
Click here for the ready-to-go...
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