The 2nd Annual Personal Finance Workshop has been cancelled due to COVID-19.

Below please find Workshop materials from our April 2019 Workshop.
 

Session 1: The Basics (Professors Campbell & Dynan)

Session 2: The Working World (Professors Miron & Dynan)

Session 3: Risk & Return (Professor Campbell) 

Session 4: Behavioral & Cognitive Issues in Personal Finance (Professor Laibson) 

Session 1: The Basics (Professors Campbell & Dynan)
 

Part 1—Professor Campbell (slides)

• The problem of financial illiteracy
• Outline of the Workshop
• Budgeting case study
• Interest rates

Part 2—Professor Dynan (slides)

• The basics of credit
• Credit scores
• Credit cards
• Student loans

Suggested Reading:

• Olen, Helaine and Harold Pollack. 2016. The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated. New York, NY: Penguin.
   
• Tyson, Eric. 2019. Personal Finance for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
   
• Campbell, John. 2016. “Restoring Rational Choice.” Ely Lecture to the American Economic Association. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 106(5): 1-30. 
   
• Credit Scores: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/category-credit-reporting
   
• The Institute for College Access & Success. “The Top 10 Student Loan Tips for Recent Graduates.” https://ticas.org/content/posd/top-10-student-loan-tips-recent-graduates
   
• Frotman, Seth and Paul Kantwill. 2017. “Tips for Student Loan Borrowers.” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/tips-student-loan-borrowers
   
• U.S. Department of Education. “Should I Consolidate My Loans?” https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/consolidation#should-i
   

Session 2: The Working World (Professors Miron & Dynan)
 

Part 1—Professor Miron (slides)

• The Life Cycle Model

Part 2—Professor Dynan (slides)

• Features of the real world that complicate the Life Cycle Model
• Taxes
• Insurance: Health, Life
• Retirement: 401k, pensions, health shocks

Suggested Reading:

• Skinner, Jonathan. 2007. “Are You Sure You're Saving Enough for Retirement?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 21(3): 59-80. 
   
• Ariely, Dan and Aline Holzwarth. 2018. “How Much Money Will You Really Spend in Retirement? Probably a Lot More Than You Think.” The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much-money-will-you-really-spend-in-ret...
   
• Modigliani, Franco and Richard H. Brumberg. 1954. “Utility Analysis and the Consumption Function: An Interpretation of Cross-Section Data.” In Post Keynesian Economics, ed. Kenneth K. Kurihara, 388-436. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
   

Session 3: Risk & Return (Professor Campbell) (slides)
 

• Principles of risky investing
• The Efficient Markets Hypothesis
• Home ownership
• Insurance

Suggested Reading:

• Barber, Brad and Terrance Odean. 2000. “Trading is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors.” Journal of Finance 55: 773-806. 
   
• Goodman, Laurie S. and Christopher Mayer. 2018. "Homeownership and the American Dream." Journal of Economic Perspective 32(1): 31-58.
   
• Malkiel, Burton Gordon. 2007. A Random Walk down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing. New York: W.W. Norton.
   

Session 4: Behavioral & Cognitive Issues in Personal Finance (Professor Laibson) (slides)
 

• Introduction to behavioral economics
• Three examples in financial decision-making
  • Present bias 
  • Loss aversion 
  • Shrouding and other types of misselling
• David's 30 Pieces of Advice for a Healthy Financial Life

Suggested Reading:

• Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian. 2018. “Behavioral Household Finance.” In Handbook of Behavioral Economics - Foundations and Applications 1, ed. D. Bernheim, D. Laibson, and S. DellaVigna, 177-276. Elsevier.