What Do You Want to Learn During Financial Literacy Month?
Published on - March 27th, 2009 (by J.D. Roth) I’m commandeering the “ask the readers” slot this week to recruit your help. It’s time to plan which topics to cover during Financial Literacy Month!
How much do you know about money?
Have you learned about the power of compounding? Do you know how the stock market works? What is a bond? Can you tell the difference between an Income Statement, a Balance Sheet, and a Cash Flow Statement? Do you even know why you would want to?
Do you know how to keep a budget? Do you understand how your taxes are used and why we pay them? Do you know what it takes to purchase a house? How much insurance do you need? What’s an index fund, and how do you purchase one?
Financial Literacy Month begins next Wednesday. Every April, Get Rich Slowly focuses on the fundamentals of personal finance. This is an opportunity to get back to basics, and I’m looking forward to it! There are some great guest posts lined up this year, but I’d also like to do some research and writing on basic topics that appeal to you.
Are there subjects that you’d like me to write about in greater depth next month? Is there a financial term that you find confusing? Have you ever wondered how bonds work? What fundamental personal-finance concepts would you especially like Get Rich Slowly to explore in April?
I won’t be able to respond to every reader suggestion, but I’ll certainly tackle those that get the most requests.
This article is about Administration
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
I’d love to read something about investing in Index Funds. I am trying to convince my (overly) conservative girlfriend that leaving her money in cash accounts is not a good long term investment idea. I know with how the market has performed recently that cash is “the” way for some people, but she is possibly missing a great long term investment opportunity as we speak.
Keep it simple!!!
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I would like a simplified explanation of APR versus APY.
I’d also love some step-by-step help on shopping for financial products online. For example, I hear about great refinance rates, but I can’t find anything as low as people are quoting. Plus, I don’t know how to figure out who’s a legit bank and who’s a sleazebag.
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LindaB: Happy to hear it helped.
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I’m a college student and would be really interested to read an article on “starting from scratch.” If you were just beginning your career, what mistakes would you avoid and what habits would you start from day 1?
I’m interested in beginning to save for retirement, etc. but I feel like I can afford to accrue technical financial knowledge (index vs. mutual funds) as I go, but I would really love to just get a grasp on the most basic hand-me-down practices people have.
For instance, a friend told me that he and his wife lived off of only one of their incomes until they had children so that when his wife quit working to take care of the kids they didn’t need to adjust their expenditures as drastically (and had plenty in savings to help cover the additional expenses).
Ideas like that intrigue me and I would love to hear more of them!
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As a continuation of the above post…
I wanted to add that I’d also be interested to hear: what, in your mind, are the most foundational requirements for financial literacy? A list of books, articles, concepts, etc. that lay the foundations would be incredibly helpful. I feel a little overwhelmed in light of all the jargon in this field; I would love to be told some key points on which I should focus initially.
I think some combination of these ideas could become a very interesting “financial manifesto.”
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It seems alot of people are requesting info on “definitions” perhaps a *Financial Dictionary* would be in order. Start it during the month and continually updated with more info. This could be a good revolving submission. Kinda like “Word of the Day”. Ideally we could get the definition and a real world, down to earth explanation.
(Obviously if one exsists already you could just link between the eyes)
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Well it looks like you will be busy this month. My goal this year is to trace the stocks I now own after buying AT&T back in 1993 and having it splinter into a million little companies. I don’t know how to value it all, trace the dates, etc. and I’m just overwhlemed when I pick up the file folder with all the details. Yuck. So if you know an EASY way to handle, please add that to the requests. And good luck – you asked for it.
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I want to know if there are any new and improved online apps to help with the budget gig. I also would like to suggest people check out aaii.com to learn about basic stuff. They have a very good intro library for about 50 bucks that starts slow and explains a great deal of stuff..
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These are some great topics!!
I am also interested in
- financial planning for a growing family, what you need for kids / future kids
- being prepared to help out aging parents who have poorly managed finances and may have nothing
- tax stuff – doing estimated payments, or doing a checkup midyear to see if you’re paying too much / too little. The W4 deduction sheet is always wrong for me.
- stories about people with smaller successes instead of huge successes. Some of us are nowhere near the debt free stage yet
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I’m wondering how and when it is best to invest in the stock market? How do you start investing in the stock market and where do you go to do this?
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the only questions i had answers for were the ones on budgets and what it takes to buy a house. the rest of it is worse than greek to me since i am a linguist
So anything would be good even if I can’t use it right now since I am still working on the very basics of getting up a good emergency fund, and paying off high debt. Love GRS, it’s very informative
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How to bounce back from a financial setback. This also goes along with my vote for an emergency fund discussion… how much is reasonable?
Have you ever discussed unemployment insurance here?
I’m recently re-employed after two months out of work, and my husband’s been out of work for a year. Knowing how to be prepared if this happens again would be great.
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First off, I want to say how much I appreciate the quality of the content you post on this blog! Truly a top-notch site and one that I’m glad to have stumbled upon.
I am wondering about all those “government grants” you hear about. Is there anything to them? I was watching an infomercial this AM about the fact that there are “thousands upon thousands” of grants available to help you pay down/off your debt, help start your business, etc. Is this true? And if so, do you really *need* to pay a third party to access this information, or are there ways to determine you’re eligibility for free?
Incidentally, I’m a small business owner (freelance writer), so my main intersted would be in finding grants that I could use for that purpose.
Thanks!
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Ugh…I don’t think there’s a way to edit my comment (#113), but I apologize for the typos. I’m a writer; I know better. But I’m also a mom with a lack of sleep. Sorry!
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How about a bit on what as far as statements and policies and such that you need to keep track of. How far back do you keep copies of statements? What do you do if all or most of your statements are electronic? How do you organize all of your financial information and how do you store it?
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I’m about to enter the next phase of personal finance. I’ve obliterated my debt and am about two to 3 months shy of having my 6 month emergency fund.
Once you’ve got debt under control, got your emergency fund, what’s next?
While I could up the emergency fund to 9 or even 12 months, I feel like I could use the extra cash flow more productively.
How do I get in on the magic of compounding?
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I’d like to know how to read a prospectus and choose which company to go with for managing retirement funds, and how to decide which specific funds to invest in. I’m not talking about the basics of a balanced portfolio – rather choosing the actual funds based on who is managing it, what holdings they have, and how that fits in with your own values.
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Can/should mutual funds be used as “short-term” savings? By short term, I’m thinking in the 5 year range or so, and in my case, money that would be used for a house down payment. I’m looking at things right now thinking that in 5 years, money invested today will probably make a much better return than it will parked in a savings account or CD given how low the market is. I’m specifically wondering about tax implications.
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How to find a good financial advisor. Mine retired 15 years ago- and I am still stuck out there on my own!
Lots of other great topics out there.
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Wow – so many great ideas!! Thanks JD for being such a helpful master of the finanical universe : )
Here are some things I’d love to learn more about:
– should your finances go more towards funding your retirement or funding for your kids’ college? Help in making that decision
– How to help your well-to-do parent, who is 99.9% financially illiterate, with no interest in increasing that knowledge, make wiser financial decisions for herself and her future
– how to learn more about government grants for starting a new business
– health insurance info for the self-employed
– bonds in general: how to invest (do you have to have a broker to invest?), how to pick, how to track performance, how to know when you should get out of the bond before the term is up, and municipal bonds – my father always recommended these but I don’t get them
– how to plan for the yearly tax bite when you feel clueless in this aspect. I guess a better way to put this is how to plan to avoid paying as much as possible (legally) when you are in the middle-income tax bracket and feel that so much money goes down the tax drain…
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I’d love to see an article about paying off student loan debt. I’ve never seen a good discussion about how to prioritize this type of debt. Is it better to make minimum payments on the student loans in order to maximize Roth contributions, or throw every penny at the student loans and wait until they’re paid off to save for retirement? In my case, the student loans have a 6.25% interest rate–not particularly low, even if it is supposedly “good debt.”
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I would love to see a post about how to teach kids about money (practical things). For example, at age 5, how would you teach a young child? At age 10, 15…or however the recommended age should be. Something perhaps about piggy banks, allowances, etc.
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JD,
I have been a long time reader and I just want to start by saying thank you. Your blog is great, like talking to a friend. There are two things I would like to learn more about.
1. The website http://www.lendingclub.com It seems like a good idea, the rates are good. But I am not sure how much I trust it. Has anyone used it?
2. Being in my mid 20′s I am not really worried about the stock markets in my 401K because I have time on my side. My questions is, should I be contacting my finical advisers and be moving my money around since I can take on a lot of risk? Should I try to get into a high risk portfolio now?
Thanks again!
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Asset Allocation. Please someone help!
What does it mean? Why is it important?
And, in this economic environment, would it have even mattered?
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I opened a $4,000 IRA last year with TD Ameritrade and now its just sitting there in a money market account earning .05%. What can I do to get a higher interest rate?
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I’m new to the site and am finding it extremely eye opening. If I understand your 5 stages of personal finance correctly then I have entered stage 2 now and am actively working to get to stage 3. Of course, I didn’t know that there were stages when I started but that is besides the point.
For Financial Literacy Month I think it would be good to have a discussion about setting goals for yourself. Financial planning and the 5 stages to are effectively a realization that a person needs to plan (at least a little) their finances in order to build them more and better.
I personally am not good at all with goal planning, tracking and obtaining. I have not been for a long time. I am working on that now. Hopefully with some time, a lot of work, some determination and understanding I will be able to say that I am a good goal planner.
I think it would be interesting to hear some advice on how you and others here go about goal planning.
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I’d like to know more about timelines of repairing credit. Like my credit was messed up in 2006 and by 2007 I paid everything off and have been making payments on time and doing everything right, but my credit score still isn’t very good. How long does it take on average?
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I’d love to read something about the financial aspect of divorce (from a guest writer, I guess:)). As far as I can remember, this is one topic that you haven’t touched yet.
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More advanced/basic topics in budgeting. Maybe a comparison of all the software budgeting tools available and which one is the best. I’ve never had any luck with Microsoft Money’s budgeting features. I like mint, but would rather have more control to get it to work better.
I’m now trying Quicken Premier. Even a basic guide to get that configured correctly would be helpful. I had to manually import my 401(K) from my statements (Hartford life is not a quicken partner) and it took all morning to understand what goes where. Now I’m stuck on my student loan. I can enter it in as a liability, but don’t have the information to set it up as an account. Even if I had the information, I don’t know if I would know what goes where.
These tools are great, but I think people shy away cause they need the resources to step by step get them configured correctly.
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I haven’t checked all the comments so I don’t know if this is a repeat, but:
Please can you explain WHY it is so commonly asserted to pay yourself FIRST?
Leaving religious tithes etc out of the equation, which some take off the top anyway, I would have thought the best order was:
* anyone you owe (debts on secured loans before unsecured)
* all your regular bills (although sometimes if its dire I appreciate the need to buy food and run away from the creditors)
* your savings goals/commitments
* unneeded but probably very useful purchases (or other one-offs)
* donations to charity
* fun money
with donations to charity moving up one or down one depending on the person.
That’s a rough sketch at any rate.
Is paying yourself first ONLY about getting an emergency fund? Is there some mathematical advantage to doing it this way? I would just feel really guilty keeping money for myself if I knew I hadn’t paid my bills or my creditors. I am especially thinking of people with lower incomes here, where there does have to be a choice.
Also, not directly related:
If someone’s goal for their life is to give away as much money as possible to charity, are they best achieving this by giving money out of their income every time but living hand-to-mouth for the rest of their lives, or, doing what it takes to get themselves in a strong financial position where they will generate MORE money, and then give away out of that?
And I second a UK-converter please
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In my humble opinion, “paying yourself first” is sort of a spiritual directive, maybe even “quantum mechanics” — It just seems to work out this way: When you pay your self LAST, there doesn’t seem to be enough left to do so. When you pay yourself FIRST, we just seem to find enough to make the bills work, etc.
I think maybe we work harder to make sure OTHER people are paid (to avoid confrontation, looking bad, loss of something) while if we can’t find $50 bucks at the end of the month to put in our savings, we shrug it off and say, ah, next month. So it really isn’t about priorities, in this case, or responsibilities, it’s simply about doing what seems to work.
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I would be interested in finding out how to consolidate student loans.
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My son and his wife are barely getting by. They are working to get free of debt, have a budget, are thrifty, etc. etc., but don’t have much to spare. How much does it take to start investing? How should they begin a retirement plan? It seems much harder for them than it was for us at their age.
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For financial literacy month I want to learn about minimum wage. When did it start? Why is there a minimum wage? How much does minimum wage add to inflation? How much does minimum wage affect the unemployment rate? Is it even possible to live on a single minimum wage income of $7.25 per hour?
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