My travels took me to Chicago and New York recently and here are some images related to personal finance that I captured:

• Thanks to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for recently co-hosting the Financial Literacy Summit with VISA. I enjoyed moderating the panel on Expanding Access to Financial Education Programs (video for Session 6  here):

• Would you take tax advice from a “tax truck?” Seen on the streets of New York the weekend before Tax Day:

• What is a collateral loan broker and how does their ad on the side of a truck try to “lure” you in?

• Good reminder to set up those account alerts to warn you when your checking account balances are running low. We developed an activity for that. 

• A good philosophical question to kick off your personal finance class. See what your students come up with. Here’s how one teacher addresses the values issue in her course.

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Why not have your students complete a similar activity where they spend a week capturing 5-10 finance-related images in their life? This assignment will open their eyes to all the different messages they encounter on a daily basis; each trying to get them to take a specific action. What might some examples be:

• Maybe it’s a trip to the grocery store with their parents
• Using their debit card at the 7-11
• Seeing an ad on the web that has been customized based on a recent search they did
• The vending machine at school
• The snacks set up at the check-out counter of most retail stores
• The marketing messages that bombard them every day

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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