#  Sessions & Readings 

 



## **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](/file_url/103))

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

**Part 2—Professor Dynan** ([slides](/file_url/104))

- 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 &amp; 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-borrowe…](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 &amp; Dynan)**  


**Part 1—Professor Miron** ([slides](/file_url/105))

- The Life Cycle Model

**Part 2—Professor Dynan** ([slides](/file_url/106))

- 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-re…](https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much-money-will-you-really-spend-in-retirement-probably-a-lot-more-than-you-think-1536026820)
- 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 &amp; Return (Professor Campbell)** ([slides](/file_url/107))  


- 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 &amp; Cognitive Issues in Personal Finance (Professor Laibson)** ([slides](/file_url/108))  


- 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.