Beth makes it difficult every week to cut down her curated list of articles that help teachers stay abreast of the financial world. I try and slim down to the top 10 but it gets more difficult every week. So, here's 15:)

Reading list week 18-10

High School and Beyond

• Nicholas Wyman of Forbes makes a case for bringing back vocational training to better serve the 30+% of high school students who do not pursue and advanced degree.
• How about becoming a bricklayer?  The NYT Upshot discusses the state of bricklaying today: a worldwide shortage and the introduction of robots to do the work.
• A third article on the topic from the WSJ discusses how young adults grapple with the decision to go for college or a trade.
• It’s resume writing time for soon-to-be graduates.  Here is some Fast Company advice.  What you have done is more important than where you have worked.

Paying for College

• We start with a WSJ Quiz on your student loan knowledge.
• Here is the article on comparing financial aid packages that accompanied it.  
  • NGPF prepared a Critical Thinking blog for you this week on this article/subject.

Personal Finance

• The age old question for those entering the housing market - to rent or to buy?
  • NGPF has an interactive that walks students through that decision-making process. 
• Are you ready for an Amazon checking account? CNN and the WSJ discuss Amazon’s plans to enter the banking business with JP Morgan.
  • Here is NGPF's QOD on the subject!
• It’s tax time (aargh!), and Forbes has a handy 2018 tax guide.

Investing

• Millennial retirement savings: a bimodal distribution. Those that are saving are doing well, but too make aren’t saving at all.
  • How to get young people to care? How about this interactive (How long will you live?) to get them thinking about how they are going to pay for their long retirements!
• Spotify is about to list their shares so investors are trying to figure out how to value them. Are they the Netflix of music? How to compare Spotify and Netflix.
• Remember the QOD about Weight Watchers?  How much did Oprah Winfrey have to do with that run up of value?  She sold her 25% of her stake this week and profited greatly!

LIFE

• Where do you get your news? Farhad Manjoo of the NYT turned off his alerts and got his news only from newspapers.  It was life-changing.  Along the same lines, this research may convince you to leave your phones at home occasionally.
• A fascinating look at how Facebook collects all that data on you, what happens to it, and where those ads come from. And if that doesn’t make you paranoid, do you realize that your location data is being sold.  I turn mine off as much as possible.
• Marketplace and Edison Research have come up with an Economic Anxiety Index.  While down overall, certain segments (women and minorities) are more anxious, not less.
• Here is a description of digital allowances down under.  Sounds similar to FamZoo in the US.  Both help parents give their kids a jump on financial education.

Who owns who on the web? It's a consolidating online world. Trace the acquisitions of the Giants (Facebook, Google, Amazon) from the inside of the infographic and work your way out. Any surprises?  

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