By: Laura Walton AFC® That was my reaction when I saw the article titled “Financial Illiteracy and the Ineffectiveness of Financial Education Programs.” The TCI Foundation runs a financial education program, the 3rd Decade. Are we irrelevant? No, thank goodness, but… the eye-opening take-away from this was that financial education only affected 0.1% of later financial…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I spent yesterday morning talking about investing with a high school Personal Finance class. This is a classroom that the TCI Foundation has been visiting for the past three years – this time was different. Many teachers use The Stock Market Game and their teacher had received a grant to bring…
By: Laura Walton AFC® I often say this isn’t “rocket surgery” – personal finance really just boils down to spending less than you make over your lifetime. On the other hand, that’s easier said than done. Maybe, one day, my blog will detail all the financial mistakes I’ve made along the way. Want to know the most…
By: Laura Walton AFC® We’ve all experienced sticker shock at the grocery store now and then so it came as a big surprise to me that our spending on food is a fraction of what it has been historically. Today we spend about 13% of our income on food. In 1900, we spent 43%! And, we find…
By: Laura Walton AFC® It’s one thing to splurge on something you want but another thing to waste money. Eight in ten Americans admit they waste cash but, even so, they’re not necessarily interested in changing their behavior! According to a recent study, the top four financial wastes involve food: Nearly 70% admit they spend too…
By: Laura Walton AFC® You had to be there! This is a line taken from the recent movie Hell or High Water. The scene is set in a small café in a dusty west Texas town. Two Texas Rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) are studying the menu when the waitress approaches – that’s when it…
By: Laura Walton AFC® In recent blogs I’ve shared some excerpts from Jack Bogle’s webinar celebrating his 65 years in the investment business. By now, you all know who he is – founder of Vanguard and credited with launching the first index mutual fund open to the everyday investor. He’s an inspiration both professionally and…
By: Laura Walton AFC® Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard and credited with launching the first index mutual fund making investing more affordable for you and me, celebrated 65 years in the investment business this summer. Like most visionaries, he has strong views and opinions. I’ll share some of his thinking, captured in a Vanguard webinar,…
By: Laura Walton AFC® It’s predictable. When I give a presentation or tell people what I do, they often ask “what should I invest in?” This morning I talked with a group of 40 college freshman and, yes, they asked that question. I know that investing is the sexy part of finance but it’s putting…
By: Laura Walton AFC® For the past six years, the editors of Financial Planning magazine along with the Foundation for Financial Planning, a non-profit dedicated to the delivery of pro bono financial planning, recognize those advisors who have gone over and above in providing financial planning services to people who might otherwise not meet with…