Advocacy

• Many of you have seen this one, featuring a quote from BrianPage, but in case you missed it: (USA Today) "School probably didn't teach you much about money, here are 4 things you should know".
• A national survey by Experian of Gen Z found that 76% of them agree that a personal finance class should be offered in high school. (PRN Newswire) (CNBC)
• Michigan is considering legislation to allow practical math options to Algebra II, including personal finance. (thecentersquare)

Investing

• Before your students jump into buying stocks, this article might be a good read for them, as it explains why penny stocks should probably be avoided. (MoneyQandA)
• The Irrelevant Investor has a short piece that illustrates why you shouldn’t (over)react ever time the market has a big down day.

Budgeting (and the Environment!)

• A huge part of the climate change issue could be solved if we reduced food waste. Here is one answer. There are also companies delivering the “ugly produce” that can’t be sold in the stores. (One such company came up in my FB feed as soon as I opened the NYT article below.) I am hopeful that motivated Millennials and GenZers will come up with even more creative ideas to reducing food waste. (NYT)
• Covering emergency funds? This US News article might give you some more material to help with this lesson.
• Home buying may not be on your syllabus, but this is an interesting look at how much real estate brokers are paid around the world. Spoiler alert: the US pays the most. (The Economist)

Payment Methods/Credit Cards

• Have you been waiting for the Apple Credit card? I’ve been waiting for a review. Looks like you may be disappointed. (WaPo)

Insurance

• US News published an article with important guidance on health insurance for college students (who are still dependents).

Paying for College

• This a very useful guide written by Cheryl Winokur Munk to avoid the biggest mistakes, from not filling out a form, to filling out the wrong form, not using the tool to load data directly from the IRS, to not reading instructions clearly and missing deadlines. (WSJ)
• Is the CFPB still protecting consumers, specifically those holding student loans? (Yahoo Finance)
• Fidelity issued the findings of its 2019 College Savings: Lessons Learned Study of 4000 current students or recent grads and their parents.
  • 42% OF Americans would have started saving for college earlier if they knew then what they know now.
  • Nearly Half of Today’s College Students & Recent Grads Stressed About Student Debt
  • Majority Confident of Their Chosen College; Current Students More Realistic Than Recent Grads
  • Advice for Future College Students? Do More Research (47%) & Save as Early as Possible (37%)
•  There was a large-scale project looking at the impact of disbursing student aid (after tuition payments) monthly like a paycheck, instead of in lump sums. (MDCR.org)

Careers

• A CNN story focuses on how education will have to change in order to prepare children for the jobs of the future.  More/new technology in the classroom is part of the solution.

A report by the World Economic Forum notes that 65% of the children entering primary school in 2017 will have jobs that do not yet exist and for which their education will fail to prepare them.

• "The Career Path Less Taken" is a documentary focusing on innovative career tech programs in Ohio that are giving all students a path to fill the skills gap. (WOSU)
• A Federal study suggests that the push for bachelor's degrees is contributing to the shortfall in workforce for technical jobs.  More students need to take that other path. (Inside HIgher Ed)

About the Author