“I teach them ‘index funds, index funds, index funds.''
To enter the five-story red brick building that houses the Olney Charter School, you have to walk through a metal detector. Once inside, you can’t go many feet without encountering yet another security guard. But also inside? You’ll find one of the most innovative financial literacy programs in any high school in the country.
‘You can come from humble beginnings, live frugally, invest as much as you can, save 10% to 20% of your paycheck, invest in low-cost ETFs, and become a millionaire.’ —Dan LaSalle, Olney Charter School’s assistant principal Not many students in the U.S. learn about personal finance in school, regardless of the income-level where they live.
“I teach them ‘index funds, index funds, index funds,’” LaSalle said when we first spoke about the program. I recently spent a day with LaSalle and many of the program’s students, and he teaches them a lot more than that. Taliah Watt, a 17-year-old 11th grader, was also motivated to join the program because she could get a job and get paid. But it’s had a much broader effect on her life. The program has not only taught her about the importance of saving and using one credit card to build up her credit score — it’s also inspired her to attend school more regularly and improve her grades.
Since then, he has started opening accounts for students at American Heritage credit union, which he found out about when another teacher took students there on a field trip. He now opens checking and savings accounts for students there, but at times he still has to use Wells Fargo because it allows students to open accounts even if their parents don’t have a bank account.
So he entered a teacher grant competition and was given $15,000 from the Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders to start the program. He said other teachers were asking for laptops for their schools, but he had something unique. “I went in front of a panel and said, ‘Kids need Roth IRAs, the stock market is not the same as a roulette wheel, and low-income students need this.’”
One of the program’s donors is the former NBA player Troy Murphy, who recently started the financial firm Sweven Wealth to help people deal with sudden wealth. Murphy will donate all of Sweven Wealth’s profits to LaSalle’s program and another financial literacy program, The Giving Project, which was created by Kerri Herrild at De Pere High School in Wisconsin.
He says they’ve all been patient and supportive, and Aspira’s lawyers wrote the waivers students have to sign, saying they won’t sue over anything related to the bank accounts or investments they have through the program. Since the school can’t give students paychecks, it pays them as sub-grantees, so the money comes directly from the donors.
He is grateful for LaSalle, who he calls a mentor. And LaSalle is grateful for him, in part because of what happened one day at school. Merricks says his first check from the program was for $100. “I just ran through it completely. It was me pulling out money for clothes and food because I was hungry,” he says. Then his account went five dollars into the negative. LaSalle gave him $50 from the finance program’s funds to get back into the positive, and he learned from it. He put $25 into his savings and $25 into his checking.
Österreich Neuesten Nachrichten, Österreich Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
U.S. Student-Loan Program Now Runs Deficit, CBO EstimatesU.S. officials no longer think the government will make money off the federal student-loan program and now project it will cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in coming years.
Weiterlesen »
How many bank accounts you need to keep things simple, according to a financial plannerRegardless of how many credit cards, kids, or houses you have, you can probably keep things simple with just two bank accounts.
Weiterlesen »
Mark Cuban-backed start-up LuminAID helps first responders in an innovative wayStudents Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta came up with the bright idea of inflatable solar lights to help with disaster relief efforts.
Weiterlesen »
Betsy DeVos: It's not about me, it's about students'As much as many in the media use my name as clickbait or try to make it all about me, it’s not,' Betsy DeVos said. 'Education is not about Betsy DeVos nor any other individual.'
Weiterlesen »
Program to Relieve Student Debt Proves UnforgivingMore than 73,000 people have applied for debt forgiveness this year, according to Education Department data, but just 864 have had their loans erased.
Weiterlesen »
Google launches Israel program to help startups grow globallyAlphabet Inc's Google said on Tuesday it has launched a four-month program ...
Weiterlesen »
Worsening U.S.-China trade tensions rattle financial marketsStocks’ losses on Wall Street accelerated as investors remained on edge over President Trump’s threat to increase tariffs on imports from China.
Weiterlesen »
Fed flags high U.S. business debt, asset prices in financial reportU.S. stock prices are 'elevated' and business debt is at historic leve...
Weiterlesen »
Perspective | When to cut off financial help to adult childrenStudy: 51 percent of Americans are sacrificing their retirement savings to free up money to assist their adult children.
Weiterlesen »
Special teams at U.S. universities try to identify students at risk of violenceLast week's shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte that ...
Weiterlesen »
Vodafone presses Germany for more help in broadband rollout: Welt am SonntagVodafone wants the German government to facilitate the rollout of ultrafast fibe...
Weiterlesen »