NGPF Podcast

Happy New Year! I am excited for another year of podcasts (and hope that you are too). This week's guest, Jonathan Joseph, is an award-winning economics and personal finance teacher at his alma mater, White Plains High School in White Plains, New York (proving that you CAN go home again!). He shares his secrets to engaging ALL students through an innovative curriculum he built which uses examples from sports to demonstrate economic principles. Who knew the NFL salary cap would find its way into a high school classroom? You will also learn how he develops empathy for his students starting on day one and how he uses this to create a class that addresses their economic anxieties.

Thanks to Allan Roth for recently joining the NGPF podcast. I got to know Allan a few years ago when I needed an advisor to help me "tune-up" my portfolio. I appreciated his candor, his analytical chops, his thoughts on asset allocation, his laser focus on fees and his willingness to challenge some of my assumptions. One of his best suggestions was that I create an investment policy statement which serves as a guide to my asset allocation during those turbulent market conditions that try mens' (and womens') souls. He wrote a provocative book that I recommend, How A Second Grader Beats Wall Street, which describes the simple strategies needed to be a successful investor (you will find out exactly who this second grader is during the podcast). Listen to this podcast and you'll walk away with some ideas to make you a better investor. Enjoy!

What does a retired bankruptcy judge do to fill his "golden years?" If you are Hon. John Ninfo, you write a weekly column and visit hundreds of classrooms in upstate New York to teach young people about what it means to be financially responsible. If that isn't enough, he also created a non-profit, Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE), to bring bankruptcy professionals into classrooms throughout the U.S. to share their experiences. Storytelling has an important place in the personal finance classroom (it is personal after all!) and John's years on the bench in western New York provide him with engaging material to share about the causes of financial distress. In this podcast, you will also hear from the CARE team of Anna Flores and Ian Redman about how you can bring CARE to your classroom. Enjoy!

What does an extraordinary educator do during their one-year sabbatical away from the classroom? If you are Brian Page, star educator at Reading High School in Ohio, the answer is "a lot of things." In his return visit to the NGPF podcast, Brian shares how he spent his year away from his beloved classroom. You will learn why he has come back to the classroom even more energized (which, for those of you who know Brian, is saying something) and eager to implement new ideas to engage his students. I encourage you to keep up with Brian on his Twitter feed @FinEdChat. Enjoy!

Thanks to Pat Page for the great conversation we recently had on the NGPF podcast. Pat shared her insights and expertise on many topics that financial educators will find helpful. You will learn about Pat's approach to using technology in her classroom, teaching spreadsheets, using pithy phrases to focus student attention and telling stories that bring financial topics to life. You will also hear the inspiring story of how a group of students at her high school lobbied the Rhode Island legislature to make financial literacy a priority in the state. Enjoy!

I had the pleasure of talking to educator Laura Falk recently on the NGPF podcast. Laura participated this summer in the inaugural NGPF Summer Institute and we met up again at the recent Jump$tart National Educator Conference. Laura has this infectious energy and passion for her work at Fairbanks High School in Milford Center, Ohio. In the podcast, Laura shares how she develops career readiness skills in her students through job shadowing, career exploration and a project-based learning method. Enjoy!

If you want to hear the story of a passionate entrepreneur in a highly competitive and fast-changing marketplace, then you must listen to this podcast with Vicki Zhou, the co-founder and co-CEO of Wise Banyan. Billed as "the world's first free financial advisor," WiseBanyan brings low-cost financial planning to the masses. In our conversation, Vicki shares how she went from getting patents on medical devices while in college to taking the leap to Wall Street and then to co-founding her current venture. She describes the differentiation strategy she is pursuing to stand out from the crowded field of robo-advisors. We also learn about the financial goals that her users set when they first sign up on her site and how they have fared at achieving them. Learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur in this fascinating corner of investing that will become the new paradigm for your students (and also get a lesson in trees too!) Enjoy!

I really enjoyed the conversation that I had recently with Dan Kadlec on the NGPF podcast. With over thirty years as personal finance columnist (you've probably seen him in TIME and Money), we had a lot to talk about. When his dreams of being a sportscaster didn't come to fruition, he focused his efforts on the business beat during the go-go 1980s. Dan describes what motivated him to shift his focus to educating young people about money through his work as a journalist, author and Dad. He shares his favorite columns, the advice he gives to young people about investing and how he brings the topic alive for young people. You will also learn about his new project to serve as an information hub cataloguing the global efforts underway to improve financial literacy. I look forward to meeting Dan in person this weekend as he delivers the keynote address for the Jump$tart National Educator Conference in Dallas. Enjoy!

I know that you will enjoy my recent conversation with Dr. Julie Heath, the Director of the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati. An accomplished educator (Professor of the Year awards abound), researcher and passionate advocate, Julie has been at the vanguard of bringing financial education to elementary school students throughout the U.S. She founded SMART Tennessee in 2006 which has brought financial education to over 75,000 students in the state of Tennessee. We discuss her earliest memories of trips to the local bank ("unlocking the barrel,"), as well as the key skills that young people need to maximize their financial capabilities. Enjoy!

Thanks to Ami for joining me on the NGPF podcast for the second time (we had to scrap the first one due to a bug in the recording software). No, that's not a typo in the title but rather a play on Ami's home state of Maine. Ami teaches at a small school (listen to hear how small the school is), Forest Hills Consolidated in Jackman, and is passionate about getting more financial education to Maine students. She shares the thought process that went into designing her course, how she teaches about careers beyond Jackman and how she implements her favorite project which students talk about years later. Enjoy!