© Provided by The Manila Times Anagel “Jay” Ledesma

First of 2 parts

"COLLEGE graduates spent 16 years gaining skills that will help them command higher salary, yet very little or no time is spent helping them save, invest and grow their money." (Vince Shorb, CEO of the National Financial Educators Council, USA)

In my last article, I wrote about the younger generations, Gen Ys and Zs, being more financially aware and conscious than we were at that age. How a good number of the youths today are more empowered to take control of their own finances. But at the same time, how majority of these generations still lack the proper financial education that can guide them through their lives.

When you ask these young people how they learned to manage their own money, most of them will say they learned it only when they started adulting. It was only when they started earning and spending their own money and making money decisions by themselves, did they learn about financial management. They were just learning to swim while already in the middle of the ocean. It was a case of sink or swim. There were some who learned and swam out of it successfully while many failed and drowned in their financial woes.

Sad to say, but most of the financial problems we are now experiencing were rooted in our ignorance of money matters growing up. If only we knew about money management early on, it would have been a different story for many. If only we were guided about it when we were young, many would have gone through it properly. If only the adults in our families modeled us the way, many would have avoided the warning signs. If only we learned the basics of financial management as we were learning the basics of writing and reading, many would have developed the right finance skills. If only...

But we now have the opportunity and the power to break this ignorance among our children, grandchildren and the generations to come. And because the world has changed and will continue to change dramatically, children today must be more financially educated. Managing money is no longer just a concern of, and therefore should only be handled by, adults. It is now considered an important life skill, which children should learn and develop early in life.

Financial literacy is all about teaching children the basics of money management, such as saving, budgeting, spending, giving and investing, among others. Knowing these ABCs sets the building blocks for our kids to develop strong money habits early on and avoid many of the mistakes that the earlier generations committed.

But like all other kinds of learning, financial education is a process which should start in our childhood and continues all the way to our retirement. Unfortunately, for most of us, the education came much later.

Starting our children early on would mean an active involvement of the two very important institutions, where children learn the most: the family and the school. Child development experts say that many of our financial habits are set by age 7, during which much of our exposure and influences come from our family. How can we as parents teach our children some key money lessons?

Involve your kids in money talk. Kids tend to be a lot more perceptive than we think. They observe and absorb what they see around them.

And because kids today have more access to information, they are more knowledgeable and can participate in informed discussions. Even when our children were much younger, they were already aware of where the main household income is coming from, why both of their parents have to work, why they cannot have or buy things even if we can, or how much we need to save for our next vacation, etc. If they see us making prudent decisions, and somehow involved in making those, then they're likely to imitate those behaviors later in life.

Teach them to save. No matter how small it is, our kids have to learn the value of savings, either to buy something they want or for rainy days.

Our kids had their own piggy banks where they put their savings from their allowance. We incentivized them by matching the amount they saved at the end of the year, which they then put in the bank. Later on, we transferred them to mutual funds where they see how their money grows. Up to now, both of them are making their own investments.

To be continued next Monday, February 27, 2023

February 16, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer

Cohasset High School seniors recently participated in a Credit for Life Fair, where they learned helpful real-life budgeting and money management skills as they prepare to head into life after high school — whether to attend college, enter the military or workforce, or another career path and throughout their lifetime.

“This was an eye-opening experience for our students,” Principal Brian Scott told the Cohasset Anchor.

This is the second fair hosted by CHS, with this year’s event sponsored through a Cohasset Education Foundation grant.

“The students learn these skills as part of an interactive experience that leads them through a series of real-world [scenarios] — paying for college, getting a job, interviewing, applying for a loan, and determining living and transportation expenses, among others,” Scott said.

With the goal of learning to live within their budget, participants choose their professions, are assigned monthly take-home salaries, and then navigate various checkpoints to make “purchases” utilizing imaginary cash, credit, or savings.

The event began with a panel of six community members — including some Cohasset business owners — who answered questions about possible career paths and gave the students advice about money management and defining what success means to them.

“There are a lot of resources in our community, and people were very generous about sharing their experiences and advice,” Scott said. “The students — all seniors — then participated in a series of tasks (outlined above), after which they determined if they were able to live within their means.”

Math teacher Nicole Fitzgerald organized the event, and Hailey Santos, a junior, took care of many of the event logistics.

“I think it is so important for high school students to learn about financial literacy so they can be prepared for their futures and start making positive saving, spending, and budgeting decisions,” Fitzgerald told the Cohasset Anchor. “Through this fair and our Principles of Finance class, we aim to better prepare students for life after CHS and help expose them to budgeting for common expenses like rent, a car loan, student loan payment, health insurance, etc. and also teach them how to avoid financial pitfalls such as overspending on credit cards and student loan forbearance.”

Integrated into the panel discussion and fair experience this year were professional headshots and mini-interviews to help promote college and career readiness as well as money management skills.

“Students visited all the mock expense and financial scenario booths, checking out with the credit counselors at the end,” Fitzgerald explained. “Most of the students had to revisit multiple booths to adjust their spending options in order to rebalance their budget.”

Booth themes included housing (rental and home ownership), transportation, insurance (auto, health, and home), nutrition and health (deciding on a monthly food budget), clothing, recreation and entertainment, “Reality Check” (simulating unexpected events that can lead to major financial consequences, with an emphasis on the importance of an emergency fund), savings, investments, student loans/college planning/scholarships, mock interviews, and credit counseling.

The panel and fair volunteers played a big role in this year’s fair “and made it such an enriching experience for students with their advice, words of encouragement, and guidance through the budgeting process,” Fitzgerald explained.

Scott noted that participants also got a sense of the financial difference between paying state and private tuitions.

Fitzgerald also coordinated CHS’s first fair in 2019 (none were held during COVID), and this past fall Hailey completed an Independent Study with Fitzgerald to help plan and Strengthen this year’s fair. “Hailey had a vision for the student experience from the very first day of planning, and her motivation and attention to detail made it come to life,” Fitzgerald said.

Hailey explained that her goal for this year’s event was to make it to “more relevant to our location and current student interests,” expanding the booth materials to offer more of a selection for expense options.

“I also wanted the event to feel like a professional fair, so I helped with planning new signage, headshots, interviews, and the panel discussion,” she said.

Once students had taken a survey for their future career, she and other volunteers made the individual budget sheets and Hailey organized the portfolios with the budget sheet, raffle tickets, nametag, and other helpful information for the fair.

“After a few busy months, it was great to see how the fair played out and how much students learned from it,” Hailey said. “I feel it is so important for students to learn about finances so they can start to make better spending and saving choices now and after high school. I am very excited to attend next year and am already thinking about my budget!”

The Cohasset Education Foundation grant and the Massachusetts Office of Economic Empowerment’s Financial Education Innovation Fund grant allowed CHS to expand this year the number of booths, to purchase professional signage, redo booth materials to make the experience more realistic, and add in raffle prizes and food for the students, “all contributing to the success and fun of the day,” Fitzgerald said.

At the end of the fair, students continued to discuss their budgets — “big takeaways from the panel discussion and fair booths, and not only how much they learned but also what sparked their interest and what they wanted to learn more about,” according to Fitzgerald. “As many volunteers and community members have shared, we all wish we had this program in high school and feel it is so beneficial for our students today. This year’s Credit for Life Fair was truly an authentic learning experience for students, and we couldn’t have done it without our school and support from [dozens of] CHS parents, donors, community members, and faculty volunteers who ran the booths, helping students prepare for their financial future.”

CHS students were “really fortunate to have this opportunity to learn from people they know and trust, thanks to the generosity of the state and the Cohasset Education Foundation,” Scott said, adding praise for the organizers. “Nicole and Hailey did a phenomenal job.”

Thanks goes to the following:

Community Volunteers and Donors
Caitlin Appleton
Jeffrey Baker
Krysten Barbour
Kelly Basile
Dan Boyle
Anne Burke
Dave Burke
Mary Burnieika
Tim Burnieika
Kristin Carcio
Brandy Chapman
Jay Cody
David Elwell
Jack Fitzgerald
Amy Fleming
Kelly-Anne Fluevog
Steph Fortin
Heather Frank
Michelle Gardiner
Montse Garriga
Kellie Gillis
Jodie Goff
Marina Gustafson
Jaclyn Hartshorn
Jean Healey Dippold
Lisa Healy
Robert Jeffers
Stephen Kaczmarek
Diane Lawson
Dan Leahy
Kate Linhart
Sarah Livermore
Kelly Lowell
Francine Lyons
Ashlee McClary
Kelley McGhee
Scott McGhee
Alyssa McNamara Reed
Sarah McSweeney
Tracey Merrill
Paul Moriarty
Kimberly Mulcahy
Art O’Keeffe
Patricia Pattison
Jeanine Perrone
Alisha Pollastri
Jenny Pooley
Logan Pratt
Kate Rennie
Bronwen Santacroce
Melissa Schorr
Matthew Scott and Team
Patrice Smith
Mike Stevens
Alexandra Sullivan
Ron Tam
Joanne Tully
Maria Wilson
Laurie Wimberly
Ben Yemini

CHS Faculty volunteers
Abby Arenstam
Allison Battista
Alison Daisy
Jon Fortin
Laura Giuliano
Laura Humphrey
Jason Kelliher
Jeff Kotter
Chris Luvisi
Kate McAlarney
Jason McCabe
Kevin McGowan
Stephanie Moriarty
Karina Nelson
Eileen Norton
Tara Noyes
Marybeth Reardon
Ed Savage
Suzanne Schaub
Brian Scott
Jennifer Scott
Mike Stapleton
Caitlin Stromberg
Laura Struzziery
Lauren Svensen
Mike Welch
Jim Willis

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Feb 19, 2023 (The Expresswire) -- [126 Insights] Top “Higher Education Learning Management Software Market” Size 2023 Key players Profiled in the Report are [, Open edX, Apereo, Moodle, Schoology, Teamie, Blackboard, D2L, Instructure,] most important, influential, or successful companies, brands, or individuals within a Higher Education Learning Management Software market 2023 to 2029.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Learning how to manage your finances is an important skill, but one educators believe many young people lack.

A bill in the Idaho Legislature would work to fix it with financial literacy courses for high school students.

Todd Christensen, chief marketing officer for CapEd Credit Union, which has branches in the Treasure Valley and Magic Valley and works to teach young people about finances, said research shows they lack knowledge of many basic money management principles.

"Recent surveys indicated that over 82% of high school seniors felt as though they didn't receive enough information to be prepared around financial literacy," Christensen reported. "Checking accounts, saving accounts, debit cards, credit cards."

The legislation passed the House unanimously this week and has moved on to the Senate. It would require high schools to provide one or more courses in personal financial literacy. Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield is among the bill's supporters.

Christensen noted money management skills are important like other skills people learn in school.

"We talk a lot about emotional intelligence," Christensen pointed out. "In this case, it's financial intelligence of how do you earn money and how do you best expend that money?"

Idaho's credit unions provided nearly 3,800 hours of free financial education to students and adults in 2021.

The College of Health Sciences’ online Master of Population and Health Systems Management is getting national attention less than a year after it began. The program has been honored with this year’s Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education’s George and Regi Herzlinger Innovation Education Award. Program director Jenni Gudapati will receive the award at the American College of Healthcare Executives Congress in Chicago in March.

The award focuses on invention, evaluation and adoption of innovation in health care, recognizing and encouraging schools that are bringing innovation education to healthcare management programs.

The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education is the leading accreditation body nationally for healthcare management education programs. The Boise State program, a collaboration with the Healthcare Financial Management Association, is one of five programs leading the way nationally with accreditation of population health management programs.

What sets this program apart from the rest?

In this video, learn more about the program from current faculty and students. Closed captions are available and a descriptive transcript is provided.

Shaping healthcare education and future healthcare practices

The Boise State program is shaping healthcare education through the lens of population health, risk mitigation and finance with the aim of delivering a quality, real-world experience focused on the patient journey. Content bridges the gaps between the clinical, operational and financial fields.

“Our goal is to create an interactive learning community dedicated to building healthcare innovators, trained in synthetic thought, to transform the current system,” Gudapati said. “The goal is to better the health of the communities and patients that we serve, and advance healthcare management principles and education.”

The program is taught by industry experts in multidisciplinary fields and connects students to guest lectures weekly to bring real-world experience into every learning outcome.

“We have today’s healthcare leaders preparing and training the future healthcare visionaries,” Gudapti said. “We explore the relationship between epidemiology and actuarial science in the context of population health and then operationalize the theory. We’re bringing to practice the business intelligence and management skills necessary for professionals to be successful in the changing healthcare landscape.”

Learn more about this unique and innovative program.

BEL AIR, Md., Feb. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Joseph Conroy, CFP®, an independent LPL Financial advisor at Harford Retirement Planners in Bel Air, today announced his inclusion in LPL's Patriot's Club. This elite award is presented to less than 7% of the firm's more than 21,000 financial advisors nationwide*.

Learn more about Harford Retirement Planners' advocates in financial planning by visiting harfordretirement.com/about/ourteam

Angela Xavier, LPL executive vice president, Independent Advisor Services: "This is an impressive achievement that Joe has earned as a top performer and showcases his dedication to his clients. It is an honor to support Joe with robust technology, integrated products and differentiated services so he can run a thriving practice. We wish Joe and his entire team continued success as they create meaningful impact in the lives of their clients."

Conroy serves clients primarily based in Maryland and provides a full range of financial services, including:

• Retirement and financial planning

• Individual money management

• Individual stocks and bonds, mutual funds, annuities and more.

Joseph Conroy, Owner of Harford Retirement Planners: "The team and I at Harford Retirement Planners work very hard to serve our clients and we have great pride in receiving this award."

Conroy is affiliated with LPL Financial, a leading wealth management firm. LPL provides the resources, tools and technology that support advisors in their work to enrich their clients' financial lives.

About LPL Financial
LPL Financial (Nasdaq: LPLA) was founded on the principle that the firm should work for the advisor, and not the other way around. Today, LPL is a leader in the markets we serve**, supporting more than 21,000 financial advisors, including advisors at approximately 1,100 institution-based investment programs and at approximately 500 registered investment advisor ("RIA") firms nationwide. We are steadfast in our commitment to the advisor-centered model and the belief that Americans deserve access to personalized guidance from a financial advisor. At LPL, independence means that advisors have the freedom they deserve to choose the business model, services, and technology resources that allow them to run their perfect practice. And they have the freedom to manage their client relationships because they know their clients best. Simply put, we take care of our advisors, so they can take care of their clients.

Story continues

*Achievement is based on annual production among LPL Advisors only.

**Top RIA custodian (Cerulli Associates, 2020 U.S. RIA Marketplace Report). No. 1 Independent Broker-Dealer in the U.S. (Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine 1996-2022). Among third-party providers of brokerage services to banks and credit unions, No. 1 in AUM Growth from Financial Institutions; No. 1 in Market Share of AUM from Financial Institutions; No. 1 in Market Share of Revenue from Financial Institutions; No. 1 on Financial Institution Market Share; No. 1 on Share of Advisors (2021-2022 Kehrer Bielan Research & Consulting Annual TPM Report). Fortune 500 as of June 2021.

LPL and its affiliated companies provide financial services only from the United States.

Contact:
Laurie Hacke
info@harfordretirement.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/joseph-conroy-cfp-honored-as-one-of-lpl-financials-top-financial-advisors-301750091.html

SOURCE Harford Retirement Planners

Imarticus Learning, an educational firm, enters into the MENA region, including nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Morocco, and Bahrain, according to an official statement. Furthermore, the firm has introduced two new courses tailored to the worldwide employment landscape – the General Management Programme from IIM Ahmedabad and the Global Senior Leadership Programme from IIM Lucknow, the statement added.

According to the statement, the course has a duration of 11 months and is designed to offer a range of valuable benefits to participants. Additionally, the course claims to provide networking with peers from around the globe, as well as access to 11 masterclasses led by experts in the field. Two, five-day campus immersions are also included, along with a 2-day executive conference that takes place in Dubai, the statement added.

The 21^st General Management Executive Program, in collaboration with IIM Ahmedabad, is a flagship course for working professionals with a five-year work experience after graduation and those willing to secure management positions. 

The duration of the course would be seven months, and it includes a 10-day on-campus immersion out of which six days will be in Dubai and four days on the campus of IIM Ahmedabad.  “The courses aims to bridge the gap between training in India and that provided worldwide.  Our chosen pedagogy keeps the learner at the centre of the market’s specifics and then ace their leadership skills” Nikhil Barshikar, founder, Imarticus Learning, said.