Every week I love to highlight anecdotes that demonstrate the value of financial education. Thanks to Debbie, Courtney and Jackie for sharing!

From Debbie Dwoskin Jacoby: I saw a former student of mine at our school's musical recently. He will be graduating college in May and was so excited to show me his $20,000 portfolio on his broker account on his phone. Proud teacher moment :) 

From Courtney Poquette: In a different class, students were assigned speeches on a defining moment in their lives. They could share anything they wanted. One of my former students spoke about how taking a Personal Finance class changed his life as he started saving the money from his part-time job and then investing it to earn higher returns.

From Jackie Prester:  After learning about credit reports and annualcreditreport.com, one of my students went home and checked his credit with his parents. They were all shocked to see a fraudulent mortgage on his report. They were thankful to know about it and to take care of it before filling out all of the paperwork for FAFSA!

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.