In this NGPF podcast, you will hear from two amazing personal finance advocates. Their teacher, Brian Page, shared Anna and Carly's term paper "Balancing American Education" which should be required reading for all school administrators and state legislators. Their paper highlights the problem of financial literacy, its financial and social emotional consequences and the solutions. Having had the benefit of a course at their high school, they make an impassioned plea that all students should also enjoy similar benefits. Enjoy! 

Introduction:

• 0:00~2:39 Introduction
• 2:39~4:54 Early money lessons
• 4:54~5:47 Motivation for writing the report
• 5:47~7:47 Key points of the report
• 7:47~9:14 Motivating students to save for retirement
• 9:14~13:47 Creating systemic change
• 13:47~15:44 The impact of finance on life
• 15:44~16:12 A word from NGPF
• 16:12~18:26 Student concerns regarding finance
• 18:26~22:02 How personal finance class benefited their life
• 22:02~25:35 Most memorable activities
• 25:35~28:03 How personal finance classes DO help
• 28:03~29:39 Conclusion

Resources:

• Play Spent  interactive game

• Balancing American Education (Anna and Carly's term paper) 

Quotes:

• “I think at the moment people aren’t seeing this as an important issue in their life. Not everybody wants personal finance but people don’t realize everybody needs it. Until people realize that they need it, there’s not going to be a lot of change. That’s why you have to make presentations, talk to people, and influence other people to convince them that it is a prevalent issue.” -Carly  

• “Even if students remember absolutely none of the facts or anything else in that class what they are realizing is that there is a bigger picture that comes from their finances and that they need to be looking ahead.” -Anna

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.