Reading List for April 3-5
Current times are impacting every aspect of our financial lives, so this week’s list is a bit longer than usual, allowing you to decide what is relevant in your world at the moment.
Economics/Federal Reserve: The view of what is going on and how the Federal Reserve is working to mitigate the economic hits from this crisis has been presented by regional Federal Reserve Presidents:
Neel Kashkari (Minneapolis) compares the 2008 response to this year’s stimulus bill in an Op-Ed piece...
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...
Question of the Day: Rank order from most to least prevalent these credit products used by Gen Z (18-24): Student Loan, Auto Loan, Credit Card.
Answer:
Note: Private label = store credit card
Questions:
What is your current attitude toward credit products?
Do you anticipate using any of these products?
If so, at what age do you think you will start using them?
Describe what it means to use credit products responsibly.
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (TransUnion research):
Many younger consumers receive smaller credit limits...
QoD [UPDATED]: What percent of graduates leave college with student loan debt?
Answer: 65% of Class of 2018 had student debt when they graduated [latest data available from TICAS] with an average debt of $29,200
Questions:
Why do you think that so many students need to take out student loans to pay for college?
What are other ways that students can pay for college?
Do you think taking on student debt is a positive or a negative? Develop a list of pros and cons.
How would you compare it to credit card debt or auto loans?
Here's the ready-to-go slides for this...
TEACHER TIP - ANALYZE: A Student Aid Report (SAR)
Amanda Volz brings you a Teacher Tip video on the activity ANALYZE: A Student Aid Report (SAR). This activity has students answer questions while reviewing a sample Student Aid Report and understand the importance of the SAR in the financial aid process. In this video, Amanda discusses how she used this activity in her classroom and provides some tips for you to use it with your students!
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Did you know that we have 35 of these Teacher Tip Videos on our YouTube...
QoD [UPDATED]: Excluding home loans, what are the three largest debts for American consumers?
Answer:
Student loan - $1.5 trillion
Auto loan - $1.32 trillion
Credit Card - $0.85 trillion
Questions:
Which type of credit has grown the fastest from 2004-2019? Why do you think this is the case?
Using the chart, estimate the growth rate (in trillions of dollars) between 2004-19 for student loans, auto loans and credit cards.
What impact did the Great Recession (2008-09) have on debt levels? Do you think people tend to borrow more or less when a recession occurs? ...
Reading List for January 3-5 (2020!)
Happy New Year! This week's list includes a few articles reflecting back on the the past decade, as well as reflections on personal financial health and habits.
If you want an incredibly comprehensive look at what transpired in 2019, Barbara O'Neill has your back in this Journal of Financial Planning article, 2019 Personal Finance Year in Review.
Financial Literacy
The emphasis in this article is moving the financial education much earlier in a child’s development. (Education Dive)...
Updated QoD: What percentage of students who started college in 2013 graduated within 6 years?
Answer: 60%
Here's the earlier QoD blog post that had data for the 2012 cohort. Slides have been updated to reflect up-to-date information.
Questions:
Which school type has the lowest graduation rates? Which school type has the highest graduation rates?
What might explain these large differences in graduation rates?
What has been the trend in graduation rates over the last 3-4 years for the public and private non-profit colleges?
What do you think are the leading reasons that...
NGPF Podcast: Georgetown's Martin Van Der Werf on the ROI of a college education
I had a great conversation with Martin Van Der Werf from Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce. We discussed his center's report "A First Try At ROI" which analyzed the return on investment (ROI) for over 4500 colleges. He shares the key findings and insights from this report and how families should use this information as one input in the college selection process.
Details:
0:00~1:47 Introduction
1:47~3:38 Considering the ROI of attending college
3:38~5:14 How...
QoD: Match with percent with survey results from college-going students: 43%, 73%, 88%
Hat tip to Derek D'Angelo for highlighting this research.
Survey results:
__________ % said the major benefit of a degree was a "Potentially better job / income."
__________% of respondents reported needing money for college outside of their savings.
__________% of respondents reported their level of stress about the college application process as “High"
Answers:
43% said the major benefit of a degree was a "Potentially better job / income."
88% of...
Reading List for October 18-20
By Beth Tallman
|
Oct 18, 2019
|
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...
QoD: Match the percentage with the correct item: 97%, 25%, 37%
Following up with another fun FAFSA fact...
Items:
Percent of families who know that FAFSA is available starting October 1st [25%]
Percent of families who plan to complete the FAFSA together WITH their college bound child [37%]
Percent of families who plan to complete the FAFSA [97%]
If you need an explainer, here's a two minute video explaining the FAFSA:
Questions:
Why do you think the FAFSA is so important? Does this survey information confirm how important it is?
Have you had...
Teacher Tips for Implementing Credit Clash OR What I learned at Credit Clash Virtual PDs
Since we launched Credit Clash earlier this month, we hosted several Virtual PDs with over 60 teachers. I wanted to share some highlights from those conversations:
Game Takeaways
Get your payments in order before opening additional lines of credit. Take into account that opening lines of credit "dings" your credit before it begins improving it. Be careful to have plenty of $ in your bank account in case of emergency [Emily Hardesty]
Additional lines of credit can build your credit score, but...
Throwback Tuesday QoD: What was the average amount of student debt for 2018 graduates?
This post updates a Question of the Day from 2017...
Answer: $29,200
Click below for interactive map
Questions:
Does the figure “$29,200” seem like high average amount of debt? Why or why not?
Given that the average new car loan is over $30,000, would you think of student debt differently from a car loan in terms of what you are receiving for the debt?
Explain how and why you are concerned about student debt. What can you do to minimize your debt when you graduate?...
QoD: Students who don't complete college are _______ times more likely to default on their student loans than those who graduate.
Answer: Students who don't complete college are THREE times more likely to default (not repay) on their student loans than those who graduate.
Questions:
Why do you think it's more difficult for people to repay their student loans if you don't finish college?
Do you think that people with college degrees earn more than someone who starts college but doesn't finish? Why?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can...
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