Financial Literacy

• The corporate world is trying to fill in the void in financial literacy among their employees. According to a WorldatWork survey:

“70% of the 326 employers surveyed currently offer financial well-being benefits and more than half intend to expand such offerings in 2020.”

• According to FinTech Times, FinTech businesses are also feeling compelled to fill the financial literacy gap among their customers with education initiatives.

Investing/Economics

• This Bloomberg article dives into why so many things cost “zero.” Lots of food for thought in this one.
• Beginning March 1, the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) is changing its data releases (like employment figures) by taking the media out of the middle and just releasing the data straight to the public over its website. Bloomberg examines the implications of the change, especially for those who speculate/trade on that data.
• Looks like people are feeling pretty positive about their financial situation in 2020. (Bankrate.com)
• JP Morgan Chase had record profits last year. How did other banks do? (The Economist) (There is a great comparative graph in this article.)
• Alphabet hit the $1 Trillion market valuation this week for the first time. (CNBC)
• Does it make sense that Tesla has a higher market cap than Ford and GM combined? (Business Insider) If the stock increases another 10%, Musk will make $1 billion. (MarketWatch)
• Ask your students this: if they had $150,000 to invest, would they think a DREAM share would be a good investment? (Spencer Dinwiddie’s token based investment backed by his $30.4 million dollar contract—he’s trying to collect is all upfront!) (Morning Brew or Forbes)
• Stock Ownership in a picture: the top 10% of the population holds 84% of all stocks held by households.

• So where is everyone else putting their money if they have it? Looks like money market funds.

(Graphs appeared in an Investopedia Market Sum newsletter by Caleb Silver)

Higher Education

• Here is yet another article referring to the debate on the value of a liberal arts education—if you look over the long-term, it’s ROI beats out the return to all colleges by about 25%. (Inside Higher Ed)
• There is great inequity in graduate student borrowing, according to the Center for American Progress. Read this Inside Higher Ed article to dig into the details of their findings.

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