Finance

Mastering Money: Personal Finance Courses Now Offered

Sean Karaman, a freshman at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, didn’t always track his credit card spending. After taking a personal finance course last fall, he now prefers to pay as he goes. “I’ve become best friends with my debit card,” he said.

More than two-thirds of states require high school students to take personal finance, and now many colleges are offering similar courses, often as electives. This trend is being supported by a new initiative from Stanford University. “There’s a real need for students to understand personal finance,” said J. Daniel Chi, finance chair at U.N.L.V.

Annamaria Lusardi, a financial literacy expert overseeing the Stanford program, notes that today’s workers must manage their own retirement savings, making financial knowledge essential. Despite this, many Americans struggle with financial literacy, answering only half of basic finance questions correctly, according to the P-Fin Index.

The Stanford initiative, backed by a donation from Charles Schwab, aims to increase access to personal finance education, especially for first-generation and low-income students. As research grows in the field, more colleges are adopting personal finance courses. At Harvard, John Y. Campbell uses personal finance to teach basic economics, while at Stanford, Michael Boskin covers topics like stock options and venture capital. Other schools, like Dartmouth and UC Berkeley, have introduced courses covering financial decisions and psychology.

TECH

CES 2025 Wrap-Up: Tech That Thinks, Cleans, and Evolves

As CES 2025 wraps up in Las Vegas, its expansive halls will soon be cleared of the booths and displays that attracted over 150,000 attendees and media representatives from around the world. The event showcased groundbreaking tech innovations that could transform consumer electronics in the year ahead, with notable advancements in display technology, AI-powered computing, and home automation. Among the key highlights was LG's G5 OLED TV, which replaces the previously used Micro Lens Array technology with a cutting-edge four-stack OLED panel design. This new approach boosts brightness by 40% compared to the G4, offering a significant improvement in overall screen brightness, not just in HDR highlights.

CRYPTO

Crypto Giant Ripple Plans Stablecoin Debut: A New Contender for Market Share?

After making its initial debut on a handful of smaller crypto exchanges last month, Ripple’s stablecoin is set to launch "imminently" on much larger platforms, including Coinbase, according to a company executive. This move marks a significant step as Ripple aims to expand its reach and solidify its presence in the competitive stablecoin market. By transitioning to major exchanges, Ripple's stablecoin could gain much wider adoption and visibility, potentially capturing the attention of institutional investors and crypto enthusiasts alike.