Upcoming Conference and New Initiatives
The 4th Teaching Personal Finance Conference is just weeks away, and we look forward to another great exchange of experiences, best practices, and new ideas—this year online.
We continue to build our network’s financial education toolkit. We are learning more every day about how AI can best be used in teaching personal finance, and we are also learning from initiatives being implemented by other colleges and universities. Make sure you check out this newsletter’s story about Barnard College’s integrated approach to financial well-being.
Other stories highlight steps we can take to encourage the next generation of researchers and teachers. I hope you can join us in our effort to improve financial literacy in college and beyond.
We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming conference as we explore new ways we can equip students to navigate today’s fast-changing financial environment.
Warm regards,
Annamaria Lusardi
Faculty Director, Stanford Initiative for Financial Decision-Making (IFDM)
Join Us on September 25
Our network is growing, and the online format of our upcoming Teaching Personal Finance Conference will allow us to connect with an even greater number of educators committed to improving financial literacy at colleges and universities around the country. Key among our goals is to learn from educators at the front lines. The conference will provide many opportunities to share experiences, methods, and materials that can help teachers of personal finance.
We have an ambitious program on September 25 and an impressive lineup of presenters and panelists. President Laura Rosenbury will talk about the innovative approach Barnard College is taking to financial wellness. Inventor, professor, and entrepreneur Ronjon Nag will help us bring artificial intelligence into the conversation. Nag, who teaches AI and venture capital at the Stanford School of Medicine and is the president of the R42 Group, will discuss AI and its implications for personal finance education.
It is important to engage young learners in creative ways. Professor Irene Foster will explain how she uses storytelling in her course at the George Washington University, and movie director Chris Temple will talk about the personal finance learning woven into his documentary about crypto investors and finfluencers.
Stay tuned for our calendar invitation with the Zoom link to join the conference. We’ve designed the sessions to be highly interactive, giving you the opportunity to share ideas, ask questions, and connect with colleagues from across the country. We look forward to your participation. See you soon!
Fast-Tracking FinLit Scholars and Teachers
Effective financial education goes hand-in-hand with rigorous research. For a week at the end of June, talented young scholars took part in Stanford’s Financial Literacy Research Boot Camp. These researchers engaged with leading experts in financial decision-making, financial literacy, personal finance, and applied econometrics.
The initiative drew two dozen Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and assistant professors from institutions across the country, including Berkeley, Harvard, MIT, Texas A&M, University of Michigan, University of Southern California, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Michael Boskin, John Shoven, and Annamaria Lusardi also took part in a fireside chat focused on the personal finance course at Stanford. You can check it out here.
Please feel free to disseminate the materials from the boot camp to your students or young collaborators. Let's keep building the next generation together!
Barnard College’s New Center for Well-Being
The Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being at Barnard College turns a much-needed spotlight on a holistic way for financial literacy to be built into the student experience.
The Center recognizes that financial wellness, in addition to mental and physical well-being, is essential to building resilience and lifelong success. And students are not the sole beneficiaries of this resource: Anyone in the Barnard community can use the Center.
It takes visionary leaders to create and support such work. We are delighted to have Barnard President Laura Rosenbury join us at this year’s Teaching Personal Finance Conference.
Storytelling in Personal Finance Teaching
Storytelling can be a useful tool in teaching personal finance. Stories can capture attention, make complex ideas more relatable, and help students retain knowledge.
Stanford’s personal finance course this summer included a screening of This Is Not Financial Advice. In tracing a real-life personal finance story, the documentary underscores the importance of financial literacy at a time when young investors turn to social media and their friends to invest and build wealth.
Our newly published paper, “Evaluating the effects of a low-cost, online financial education program,” also shows that the Big Three financial literacy concepts can be taught with simple stories. We’ll share effective storytelling experiences at the Teaching Personal Finance Conference.
Bringing Student Loans into Classroom Discussions
The student loan system is undergoing changes, and while the details may continue to evolve, it is clear that students need to understand how borrowing to pay for college and repaying those loans will shape their financial futures.
These topics are not abstract policy matters but a key conversation in any personal finance course. Educators play an important role in helping students make informed financial decisions. How are you planning to address these issues in your classroom? Share your insights and suggestions with us at stanfordifdm@stanford.edu.