When it comes to securing financial security, are you a doer or a dreamer? By definition, financial doers have a better shot at reaching their retirement goals. No real surprise, they also have a much better shot at raising …
Financial Education
Pension Backstop Posts Record Shortfall. Is a Bailout Next?
Put another nail in the coffin of private pensions. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a government agency that insures corporate defined-benefit plans, has been running a record deficit. Now it’s sending up flares for either a taxpayer bailout or higher insurance premiums from the companies that still offer these plans. Good luck on …
Smart Cookies: Girl Scouts Learn Financial Literacy
Think the Girl Scouts are all about making s’mores and campground sit-upons? Think again. A new overhaul of the organization’s merit badge program includes learning some decidedly 21st-century survival skills: budgeting, …
Hey, Education Secretary Duncan, Let’s Teach Kids About Money (Not Just Talk About It)
Speaking to a White House advisory group this week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan highlighted the need for schools to begin teaching students about personal finance as early as kindergarten. He’s dead on. But what’s he …
Why So Many Unwisely Turn Down Free 401(k) Advice
Free advice on how to manage your 401(k) is widely available and routinely ignored. Here’s why you should give it a try.
Why We Can’t Buy Happiness — But Try to Anyway
In 1972, the percentage of Americans who said they were “pretty happy” was about 50%. In the years since, the U.S.’s standard of living has risen dramatically, and our gross domestic product per capita has increased by 96%. That …
What’d Happen If Jay-Z and Warren Buffett Were in a Cartoon Together?
And they teamed up to teach kids lessons about making money? This may sound like the makings of a hazy conversation in some dorm room during the wee hours of the night. But this is actually happening. Come to think of it, the …
Forget Prince Charming: Why Economic Education Is A Worldwide Imperative
As the severity of this recession sinks in, the call grows louder for a serious plan to help people help themselves when it comes to their finances. After all, things won’t get much better anytime soon.
Save for Retirement or Pay Tuition? Most Parents Are Making the Wrong Choice
With all the hand wringing over the high cost of college and amid an increasingly loud debate as to whether the expense is worth it, parents by a wide margin see saving for tuition as equally or more important than saving for retirement.
Can Entrepreneurs, Stuck On An Island for a Few Days, Solve the World’s Biggest Problems?
At a small conference on a little island, some big thinkers propose ways to fix everything from energy to education.
Reminder: NYC Financial Fitness Workshop on Saturday, October 1
Any New York-area readers looking to improve their financial fitness this weekend?
Simply Finishing College Offers the Best Chance to Gain Financial Education
A new report paints a dim picture of success in college. Meanwhile, the failed pursuit of a college degree leaves many in a financial straight jacket: They owe tens of thousands of dollars in student loans and have a diminished …