Teaching Personal Finance: Risks of Sports Betting; Q&A with Prof. Gustavo Barboza; and more.

Dear Members of the Teaching Personal Finance Network,

My warmest wishes for the holidays as we enter this year-end season of reflection and celebration. This is an ideal time to recognize the progress we have made and the great work done by the members of the Network.

This issue of our newsletter showcases a few initiatives that underscore the strength of our community. Our conference recap revisits important insights and topics we discussed together last September. For the Spotlight Topic, we look at new research related to sports betting—an activity that is increasingly present in the lives of young people.

We also highlight the transformative effect of financial literacy. I am particularly inspired by Prof. Gustavo Barboza’s interview, in which he discusses bringing financial education to diverse communities outside the classroom.

I look forward to our work together in the year ahead.

Happy holidays to you and your family.

Annamaria Lusardi
Faculty Director
Stanford Initiative for Financial Decision-Making (IFDM)

Spotlight Topic: Uncovering the Risks of Sports Betting

Sports betting is accelerating, especially among young adults. How can we best address this topic in our teaching?

In a new paper published in the Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing, West Point’s Tom Naratil and James H. Walker II examine gambling among soldiers, the risk of addiction, and the broader consequences for mental health and unit readiness. Their findings show how mobile betting can undermine financial security.

The financial hit from sports betting is the focus of another paper, “Do Sports Bettors Need Consumer Protection? Evidence from a Field Experiment” by Stanford University PhD candidates Nick Grasley and Mariana Guido, along with Matthew Brown, PhD ’25. Their research uncovers critical behavioral biases in the rapidly growing sports betting market, where people wager over $100 billion a year. While bettors predict they will break even, data from the field experiment found an average loss of 7.5 cents per dollar wagered. The findings from this study highlight the importance of carefully designed policies and programs to correct these biases.

Q&A: Dr. Gustavo Barboza

The Jack and Vada Reynolds Endowed Chair of International Business at the College of Business, Loyola University New Orleans, talks with Faculty Director Lusardi about personal finance education in and out of the classroom.

Lusardi: What inspired you and your team at Loyola University New Orleans to start a course in personal finance?

Barboza: Our university is founded on the Ignatian principles of educating the whole person. Most recently, we have recognized the importance and necessity of financial literacy as an essential component of our education. In this regard, we began offering a course in personal finance as part of the First-Year Seminar. In addition, three years ago, we began teaching a personal finance course for the Honors Program. The initiative has been a resounding success, and it has also allowed us to expand our teaching of personal finance to other groups in the community.

Lusardi: You have taken your work to correctional facilities and community programs in a partnership with the Center for Ethics and Economic Justice.

Barboza: The Ethics Fellows of the Center for Ethics and Economic Justice, under the direction of Dr. Brian Boyd, have taught personal finance at Rayburn Correctional Center, for the “reentry class” of men returning back to society, and at John Ehret High School, for low-socioeconomic-status juniors and seniors who are learning to take responsibility for their own finances. For each, we have gone twice a semester, covering topics from budgeting to borrowing and investing, as well as topics like QR code scams.

Lusardi: Several students have been involved with these sessions, trained beforehand by university faculty and a certified credit union financial consultant. How does this engagement impact them?

Barboza: Our Ethics Fellows, all business majors, often confess that the first time they made a budget was while preparing to teach how to do it. Teaching financial literacy has turned their abstract knowledge into practical skills and has been an enormous boost to their self-confidence, stage presence, and capacity to engage.

Lusardi: What can we learn from your experience about designing and promoting initiatives inside and outside the classroom?

Barboza: It is always a challenge to introduce new courses and related initiatives. Most curricula are already full with general education courses and major-specific courses.

We have tackled this issue in three ways: adding a personal finance course in the Honors Program, reaching out to the community and offering free courses, and engaging in a productive conversation with the administration to increase awareness of the importance of financial literacy. We have tenured and full professors teaching personal finance for the Honors Program to signal the importance of such a course.

Lusardi: What can help educators build programs that spark a cascading effect in their communities?

Barboza: A powerful first step involves establishing a focused partnership between a university, a local high school, and a credit union. Because credit unions are community-owned and mission-driven, they bring credibility and practical expertise that elevate financial outreach programs.

Starting with a pilot coaching session or workshop gives educators room to refine the partnership before expanding. When academic learning is paired with hands-on financial practice and real-world fraud awareness—supported by a trusted financial institution—the result is a sustainable, community-wide ripple effect of financial literacy, confidence, and protection.

Conference Highlights and Access to Recordings

Thank you to everyone who attended our 2025 Teaching Personal Finance Conference. Your contributions, questions, and comments fueled an energizing virtual event.

Our webpage has been updated with speaker presentations, resources, and session recordings from the conference. They are available to explore at your own pace.

A few highlights:

• The Econ 43 (Introduction to Financial Decision-Making) course at Stanford has one of the highest enrollments on campus and is a good entryway into Economics or Finance.
• Barnard College’s Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being situates personal finance within a comprehensive approach to well-being. “We’re mindful of the critical relationship between lifelong success and financial well-being,” said Barnard President Laura Rosenbury.
• Stanford Prof. Ronjon Nag presented AI applications for teaching personal finance, noting that access to this new technology can scale teaching beyond what a single educator can provide.
• Sharon Epperson, CNBC’s Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, Prof. Irene Foster, and filmmaker Chris Temple discussed the power of storytelling in personal finance learning.

Build Our Momentum

As the Teaching Personal Finance Network grows and innovates, your contributions—including stories, teaching experiences, research, and resources—help shape our shared mission. Let us know about your experiences and any story ideas you might have for future newsletters at stanfordifdm@stanford.edu. Our network is made strong by its members. Please help us continue to grow by telling your colleagues and faculty interested in personal finance to join the network.