Hello everyone! As my last and first post mentioned, I am so grateful to have stumbled across this forum and for what I have learned through reading numerous finance books over the past 5 or so years. I was always and still am, a big believer in "knowledge is potential power", but never applied this thinking to personal finances until my early 40s. Of course I wish I had learned about finances in my teens or at least in my 20s, but that didn't happen. I learned in my teens and 20s mainly from my parents and "The Joneses". I learned from my parents what living paycheck to paycheck was like, that you can afford any car as long as you can make the monthly payment, that you just want to make sure you get a refund on your tax return (my parents always had someone do their taxes and I don't believe new much about taxes other than they don't like paying them, lol), and regarding 401k, 403b, IRAs, 529s, brokerage account, never remember my parents mentioning any of these growing up. My parents did mention and talked briefly about having a checking and savings account. My parents were loving and I am grateful for them, however, when it came to teaching us kids about finances, it just didn't happen. From the Joneses, I learned you need to "keep up with them", to spend, spend, and spend, that credit cards can be your best friend, and by the way don't worry about saving money for retirement that isn't for another 40 or so years. Thus, as you can tell, I didn't have the benefit of learning about finances (at least smart ways to manage money) until late in life. Fortunately, I did "wake up" and finally learn and fortunately I was never a big spender, so other than some college debt (which I paid for 12 years of college myself via loans, grants, scholarships, and in grad school via TA and RA positions) and a few car loans, I never accumulated much debt (e.g., no credit card debt), but also never invested (other than in a 403b over the years, but not really knowing what I was invested in, now I do
).
So, with all this said and now having a better understanding of my background, I am wanting to help others (you can say, pay it forward) learn the basics about finances, so they have the knowledge much early than I. Thus, I am brainstorming ways to help my college students (yes, I am a college professor, but in exercise science) learn the personal finance basics. I teach a variety of classes (e.g., Wellness for Life, Senior Seminar, Research, etc...) and teach all grade levels (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors). In my Wellness for Life class, we do talk briefly about the financial dimension of Wellness (there are 8 dimensions of wellness and the class is mainly built around the physical dimension, e.g., cardi, resistant training, healthy diet, etc...). I am thinking about spending more time on the financial dimension (e.g., spend the first 10-15 minutes one class per week). I am just wanting to be sure (help) my freshmen students (e.g., those in Wellness) get some "no conflict of interest" basic financial knowledge, and my seniors a little more than basic knowledge before they graduate. Here are three options I am considering:
1. use the first 10-15 minutes of Wellness class time sharing tips/advice on personal finance, likely use videos/content from Nex Gen Personal Finance (
https://www.ngpf.org/).
2. Start a book club (use likely one on the Bogleheads recommended books) that meets once a month, not mandatory, so not sure if students will come
3. require my seniors in my Senior Seminar class to read a finance book on the side and to do short summary assignments on each chapter.
Does anyone have experience, recommendations, or ideas on how best to help college students learn the basics of finances and how a college professor, like me, can assist that learning? I am open to ideas?
