Personal finance course

[jIMOh]

All-

I have my meeting with vocational school tomorrow. Below is the 2 page list of topics

3 categories
1) Classroom discussion topics. Depending on length of course, and how many hours per day, this list shrinks
2) Problems to solve. These are the types of questions the students should be able to answer when completing class.
3) Outside resources- this is a list of places students can go for further information.

Subjects to cover

1) Income- sources like W-2 vs 1099 and the pros and cons of each
2) Budgeting
3) Emergency fund
4) debt management
5) financing things vs paying cash
6) investing (buy something which goes up in value)
7) knowing risks
8) investing in the stock market and bond market
9) Compound Interest
10) Asset allocation while investing
11) retirement and financial independence
12) Income taxes (personal income taxes)
13) the impact of investing on taxes (IRAs and similar)
14) small business (s corps, LLC and similar and how they impact all of the above)
15) Calculating interest rates and rates of return
16) Financial fraud and contracts (like cell phones and other services with a contract)
17) Banks vs credit unions vs other financial institutions (like brokerages)
18) Flexible spending accounts and Health Savings Accounts
19) Car Insurance (Liability vs deductable vs collision)
20) Credit Scores
21) Life insurance
22) Inflation
23) Net worth
24) Social Security, 1099, cash based business


Problems to solve at various points in the course:
1) pay down mortgage or invest
2) which debt to pay off first
3) how much money will I have after X amount of time
4) How do I open an account
5) How much will a payday loan cost, and what is the interest rate being charged?
6) How much does a tax refund loan cost?
7) Setting financial goals
8) Buying a car and negotiating prices
9) How to open a 401k
10) How to open an IRA
11) How to roll an old 401k into an IRA
12) Roth Conversions

Online materials for course
FDIC: Money Smart - A Financial Education Program
Covers
1) Banks
2) Borrowing
3) Check it out (Checking accounts)
4) Money Matters (tracking money)
5) Pay yourself first (how to save)
6) Keep it safe (consumer rights)
7) To your credit (credit history)
8) Charge it right (make credit card work for you)
9) Loan to own (how to borrow)
10) Your own home (home ownership)

Planning & Research - T. Rowe Price
Covers
1) Investing 101 (how investing works)
2) Asset Allocation
3) Retirement Planning
4) College Planning
5) Tax Planning
6) Estate Planning
7) Publications and Videos (opinions on financial markets)
8) Research and Analysis
9) T Rowe Price insights (T Rowe Price fund managers commentary)
10) Charitable giving
11) Tools and Resources

If you see other points to add, feel free. I plan to spend a decent amount of time focusing on these topics

1) Budgeting
2) compound interest (both with debts and with savings- same concept)
3) rates of return and interest rates on debt (calculating them and seeing tax implications)
4) income taxes (basics)
5) risks (like interest rate risk, inflation risk, market risk) to point out NOTHING is risk free.

Special thanks to all which replied, I went through each post as I built that final list.

 

[clifp]

Make sure to include lots of pictures of scantily clad celebrities. TMZ is generally an excellent source. Important not to lose the audience. Bonus points if you can connect them to personal finance.

Seriously, this is one course that I think would be fun to teach. So I am curious how it goes.

 

[jIMOh]

A few issues cleared up

Class is for adults
Classes need to be flavored for occupations- meaning I have to relate topics to various occupations to help people see if they are interested in a career in that field.

I proposed two courses and suggested that insurance agents, financial planners, stock brokers as well as heads of households would be interested in taking them. For the personal finance course I also added bankers and mortgage brokers to the list.

Once course was on Personal Finance for Individuals and the second course was Retirement Planning for Individuals. About 5 of the topics overlapped, but the level of detail each topic is covered would be different in the courses, and neither course has any pre-requisites.

The proposal was sent to the school admin, and I am now waiting to hear if the courses make the docket for the quarter which starts in Mid October.

 

[Free To Canoe]

jIMOh,

Any news on your course? It is a darn good idea.

Free to canoe

 

[jIMOh]

jIMOh,

Any news on your course? It is a darn good idea.

Free to canoe

They did not pick it up this semester... but I have a few other leads I am chasing down for 2011 using same material.

 

[meierlde]

Most hourly planners I know have either quit their business or allied with a wealth management group. Hourly planners that don't get compensated any other way will be extinct in 5 years.

Given that discount brokers have elimiated the shills of the full service brokers (brokers), then who gives advice. Clearly then there are not enough people needing advice to justify it, or perhaps estate planning lawyers are getting to them first. (Law and a CPA provide a good way to provide one stop service give advice and draft documents)

 

[yakers]

A lot of really good suggestions. One thing I would add is that people learn and see things differently, not everyone can engage with the numbers. Include alternate readings like The Richest Man In Babylon or YMOYL. Give advice for those who are not numerically inclined like, LBYM, or like the sig line from a fellow on the VG site:"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." My Dad was not much with numbers but he essentially communicated that debt is slavery. He never had any debt his whole life, including saving & buying a fixer-upper house for cash. Not that I believe this is the only way to behave financially, I have borrowed money for a mortgage, but it is a good lesson to hate debt to counter the market inducements to live on credit.

 

[FinanceDude]

Given that discount brokers have elimiated the shills of the full service brokers (brokers), then who gives advice. Clearly then there are not enough people needing advice to justify it, or perhaps estate planning lawyers are getting to them first. (Law and a CPA provide a good way to provide one stop service give advice and draft documents)

So, you want CPAs to give financial advice? First, most of them are not licensed to do so, and secondly, many of them are concerned about conflcit of interest and liability............

Same thing with estate planning attorneys...........

 

[jIMOh]

Given that discount brokers have elimiated the shills of the full service brokers (brokers), then who gives advice. Clearly then there are not enough people needing advice to justify it, or perhaps estate planning lawyers are getting to them first. (Law and a CPA provide a good way to provide one stop service give advice and draft documents)

The advice most people need is spend less than you earn. If you put the rest in a savings account, 50-75% of the people in debt now would be so much better off.

CPA or attorney's would charge too much for such simple advice.


Most lower income people get advice not from attorneys or CPAs, but either from their HR block tax professional, or Dave Ramsey/ Suze Ormon.

The advice from a place like HR block would hardly be "objective" and the advice from a radio talk show host would be more to effect of one size fits alls and the purpose of a course like this is to make people see what size they are and fit advice to their situation. See a problem, and know what type of person solves it. 90% of the solutions are "personal" (as in spend less, manage credit, know your budget), 10% are "get help"- mortgage broker, bank loan, car loan, investment advisor etc...


My understanding is many churches have classes like this available and the courses are often taught within the community, you just need to find them.

 

[Free To Canoe]

Most lower income people get advice not from attorneys or CPAs, but either from their HR block tax professional, or Dave Ramsey/ Suze Ormon.

The advice from a place like HR block would hardly be "objective"....

My understanding is many churches have classes like this available and the courses are often taught within the community, you just need to find them.

As a newer H&R Block tax professional, I must say that so far, requests / opportunities for advice have been very limited. Most do not seek it.
Block is completely out of the financial products business as of last year so it is now strictly tax preparation.

I have not seen any courses of this type offered in this area. It is hard to get community info out here so I could be missing them. Good idea, though.

Free to canoe