Happy Super Bowl Weekend! 

In case you missed this week's FinCap Friday, Credit Crunch details how the FICO methodology will impact millions of consumers. 

Personal Finance/Financial Literacy

• This article from the NY Times “Smarter Living” section got some attention this week in social media. “Does Personal Finance Still Work in our changing Economy?” contains a great discussion of the findings of the book The Financial Diaries (Rachel Schneider and Jonathan Morduch), including how variable income can be not just from year to year but from month to month. Personal Finance has to be “Personal.” The “rules of thumb” we often hear (and teach) will not work for all, especially those with such variable income.
• A TransUnion study finds that Gen Z (born after 1995) are in much better shape financially than millennials were at the same age. (MarketWatch)

Behavioral Finance

• The CFA Institute has made available a PDF of Meir Statman’s Behavioral Finance: The Second Generation.  Add this to your "to be read" list.
• Adam Grossman’s recent piece in Humble Dollar explains seven paradoxes that muddy financial decision-making.

Budgeting

• Paperwork can be overwhelming, especially for those who rely on government support. Here is an interactive quiz—see if you could manage it—or skip the quiz and get straight to the stats. (NYTimes)

Taxes

Tax season officially opened on Jan 27 – the first day the IRS started accepting tax returns for processing. As a follow-up to the newly updated NGPF Tax Curriculum, here are a variety of tax articles that appeared this week on the subject.

• Six things that can mess up your tax refund. (Dontmesswithtaxes)
• Deductions you can take without itemizing. (Dontmesswithtaxes#2)
• There was much confusion last year regarding tax preparation under the new law. The NY Times discusses what to look out for this year and how to avoid issues with under withholding (a big problem last year). It even includes a calculator!
• A law professor explains why he thinks people should pay (more) inheritance tax. (This might make for a good class debate.) MarketWatch

Paying for College

• Parent Plus loans now account for a quarter of federal borrowing for undergraduates. There is growing concern about their ability to repay. (Inside Higher Ed)

Insurance

• You can listen to or read this eye-opening NPR story on how even people with health insurance are often faced with huge drug costs when insurance won’t cover the drug they were prescribed.

Stress/mental health and finance

• Results of a study by Capital One and Decision Lab Mind over Money study “sheds light on how stress can impact financial decision making, but even a quick change in perspective can help us feel more in control of our finances, save more and budget better.” (Capital One)

Technology Corner

Here are two VOX/Recode articles addressing those creepy ads that pop up and make you think Facebook and Google are listening to you or reading your mind!

• Number one explains how to delete what Facebook knows about your activity outside of Facebook.
• Number two explains how your brick and mortar shopping are not free from the feedback ad loop either.

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