Behavioral Finance

• An interesting dive into gender and money: The Myth of the Frivolous Female Spender (NYT)

FinTech

• A longer read from Knowledge@Wharton discussing how FinTech may be helping the underbanked and unbanked. The risk is that many of these services fly under any regulatory radar.

Crypto-currencies

• Mark Zuckerberg will face Congress to talk about Facebook’s proposed crypto-currency Libra. He will face a tough crowd, (Axios) and now several backers (Visa, Mastercard, Ebay, Stripe) are "backing out." (CNBC)

Investing

• Fidelity joins its competitors in dropping trading commissions to zero (Reuters)
• Impact investing at the highest level—Forbes makes a list of the most impactful investors among the ultra-rich.

Savings/Retiremet

• WAPO’s Michelle Singletary advises people not to put every dollar of savings in tax-advantaged savings accounts—keep some separate.
• Pension problems for GE employees raises the age-old question: Take a lump sum or payment for life? (USA Today)

Higher Ed/Paying for College

• How will the new ACT rules (can retake individual components and add up all the highest scores) impact admissions chances for students? The article looks at the impact of the SAT’s new “Disadvantage Score” also. (USA Today)
• We know that finances force students to drop out of college, unpaid balances keep them away, and they have the most trouble paying back student loans. Wayne State and other Detroit schools are waving balances to encourage students to return and finish their degrees. (Inside Higher Ed)

Careers

• This video about finding an “opportunity occupation” may be a useful addition to your careers lesson.

Parenting/Budgeting/Saving

• Average weekly allowance jumped to $30/week. Most kids are expected to do about five hours of work for that amount, and very few of them are saving any of it. (NYT)

Generational Trends

• PiperJaffray issued the results of its semi-annual Taking Stock with Teens survey. YouTube edges out Netflix and Instagram edges out Snapchat.
• Teens are too busy with school work and extracurricular activities to work. (CNBC)
• Millennials polled seem to be most worried about their credit scores. Coming in second--Instagram followers. (PRNewswire)
• Millennials seem to be falling for scams in their job search. (USA Today)

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