Finance
Finance Faculty Earns UHD’s Fourth Fulbright For 2022
UHD is now dwelling to 4 Fulbright Students.
Dr. Rahul Verma rounds out this historic second for the College. He’s the second Fulbrighter within the Marilyn Davies Faculty of Enterprise, and the primary UHD Finance college member to earn a Fulbright.
“It’s an unbelievable honor to be a Fulbrighter,” mentioned Verma. He credit Marilyn Davies Faculty of Enterprise (MDCOB) Fulbrighter Dr. Candance TenBrink and Dr. Charles Gengler, Dean of MDCOB, who inspired him to use and guided him by the method.
For Verma, the award is significant for 2 causes: “Professionally, I’m honored because it is among the highest accolades {that a} college member can obtain in increased schooling. It feels nice to hitch a various world group of completed people,” the Professor of Finance famous. “Personally, I needed to come back out of my consolation zone to reinforce my skilled and profession improvement, to achieve worldwide tutorial expertise, and to embrace being immersed in a brand new tradition.”
In August, Verma is touring to Ajman College (near Dubai) within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). For this Fulbright cycle, greater than 60 disciplines have been accessible for examine within the UAE, from anthropology to sciences and expertise, however solely Scholar slots have been accessible. Verma is the primary Fulbright Scholar within the Enterprise self-discipline to go to UAE because the 2007-08 award cycle.
His analysis space is behavioral finance (how individuals make monetary choices by way of biases and irrationalities). He started to delve into ESG (environmental, social, governance) investments, which is among the hottest subjects in finance – one-third of U.S. belongings beneath skilled administration is invested on this space.
Via his analysis, he seen that the UAE, a historically oil- and gas-based economic system, started diversifying in different areas comparable to banking, tourism, and sustainability. This pattern is remarkably much like Houston’s economic system (power capital of the world), which is diversifying into banking and healthcare.
Verma’s undertaking, “Behavioral Finance and ESG Investing: Pre and Publish COVID-19 Evaluation,” will take a deep dive into ESG investing to find out if it’s rational, irrational, or a fad. “The first driver is danger mitigation because the onset of the pandemic, which has pushed environmental and societal points increased up the danger spectrum,” he mentioned. “The examine will present empirical assessments on the rationality of ESG investing within the U.S. and UAE through the pandemic and analyze the influence of tradition, and can ask questions comparable to: What motivates traders to carry ESG investments? Are arguments selling greater income and higher social returns irrational? Is there hype surrounding ESG investing?”
Along with his analysis, he’ll educate two graduate programs, “Investments” and “Fundamentals of Finance.” “The important thing factor on this planet of finance is to take the subjects and apply them in life,” Verma mentioned. “It’s essential to bridge the hole between idea and the true world, which could be a problem. It’s important for me to remain on prime of world occasions to create a relatable hyperlink for my college students to grasp.”
Verma hopes that his work will probably be impactful for the host establishment and its college students.
“Enterprise schooling is more practical past textbook ideas. I need to share how the ideas are associated and present how the implications and interpretations are extra vital than memorizing a system and calculating numbers. I hope the way in which I instruct my college students at UHD could be simply as efficient on the opposite aspect of the world.” He additionally plans to share what he has realized throughout his Fulbright expertise together with his college students and fellow colleagues again dwelling.
Verma’s arrival to the states, by the use of India, in 2000 was adopted by a Ph.D. in 2004 from The College of Texas – Pan American (now The College of Texas Rio Grande Valley).
All it took was a go to to the College of Houston-Downtown to decide on his tutorial dwelling and his first job.
“After a campus go to, I by no means regarded again,” mentioned Verma. “I’m impressed by my college students’ degree of curiosity and the way motivated they’re.” Along with educating for the Faculty’s MBA program, he additionally has developed a number of programs. “A considerable variety of my college students are profession changers desirous to learn the way enterprise will improve their profession. It feels good so as to add worth to their lives.”
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The start of a new year can bring a surge of motivation around setting new goals, including financial resolutions.
One way to help those goals become reality, financial experts say, is to make them as specific as possible. Then, track your progress, while allowing flexibility for unexpected challenges.
“It’s easier to track progress when we know where we are going,” says Sylvie Scowcroft, a certified financial planner and founder of The Financial Grove in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
That’s why she encourages her clients to set clearly defined goals, often related to paying off a specific debt, saving a certain amount per month or improving their credit score.
Here are more tips from financial experts about crafting 2025 financial goals:
Pick your top priorities
Trying to accomplish too much can feel overwhelming. Instead, pick your priorities, says Cathleen Tobin, CFP and owner of Moonbridge Financial Design in Rhinebeck, New York.
She suggests focusing on those big, often emotionally-driven goals to find motivation.
“It’s more compelling than just a number,” she says. For example, do you want to make sure you’re on track for retirement or save money for a house? “Start there.”
Be as specific as possible
Scowcroft says she sees clients get tripped up by selecting overly broad goals, such as “get better with money.” Instead, she encourages people to select specific action items, such as “sign up for a budgeting tool and set aside time each month to learn where my money is going.”
That level of specificity provides direction so you know what steps to take next, she adds. For example, if your top priority is to become debt-free, then your specific goal might be to pay off an extra $200 of your debt balance each month.
Tobin says labeling savings accounts so they correspond with goals can also help. An emergency fund could be named something like “Peace of mind in 2025,” so you remember why you’re saving every time you make a transfer.
“It’s more motivating than just ‘emergency fund,’” Tobin says.
Get more financial clarity with NerdWallet
Monitor your credit, track your spending and see all of your finances together in a single place.
Track your progress
Measuring your progress as the year unfolds is also a critical component of successful goal setting, Tobin says.
She compares it to weight loss. If you want to lose 20 pounds by June, then you need to lose about a pound a week for the first six months of the year. Similarly, she says it helps to break savings goals into microsteps that specify what you need to do each week.
Schedule a weekly or monthly check-in with yourself to make sure you are meeting those smaller goals along the way. You might want to review your debt payoff progress or check your credit score, for example.
“Being able to break it down into steps that can be done each week or twice a month really helps,” Tobin says.
Automate where you can
If your goal is to save more money, then setting up an automatic transfer each month can help turn that goal into reality, as long as you know you have the money in your checking account to spare.
“It reduces the mental load,” says Mike Hunsberger, CFP and owner of Next Mission Financial Planning in St. Charles, Missouri, where he primarily supports veterans and current members of the military.
He recommends starting small to ease into the change.
“I wouldn’t jump to double what you’re currently saving,” he says. For example, when it comes to saving in a retirement account, if you’re starting with a 3% contribution, you might want to bump it up to 4%, then slowly increase it from there.
“My number one piece of advice is to start small, but make sure you scale over time,” Hunsberger adds. “Because it’s gradual, you probably won’t notice it impacting your lifestyle.”
Adjust as needed
“Stay flexible,” Scowcroft says. “Part of it is just being kind to yourself and not being too rigid.”
When unexpected challenges come up, such as a big unplanned expense, you might have to pause making progress on your goal and reset.
You might even need to change your goal. Scowcroft says that doesn’t mean you “failed,” just that life changed your plans. Dwelling on any negativity won’t help your forward progress.
Team up with a friend
Sharing your goals with a friend can also make it easier to reach them, Scowcroft says.
“It really helps to have an accountability buddy,” she says.
She suggests putting a regular “money date” with your friend on the calendar so you can ask each other how you’re doing, brainstorm any challenges or even budget together side-by-side.
“It’s a fun excuse to meet up with a friend.”
Get more financial clarity with NerdWallet
Monitor your credit, track your spending and see all of your finances together in a single place.
If you asked me what the process for setting up a Roth IRA looked like, I doubt I could offer you a thorough response. The same goes for mortgages and loans and interest. When I had to fill out my first W-9 form, I was admittedly more than a bit confused.
In short, financial literacy isn’t my forte. And that’s because, like many Massachusetts public school students, I’ve never had to take any sort of personal finance class.
Indeed, throughout the debates over eliminating MCAS as a graduation requirement for high schoolers, we heard quite a bit about the state’s educational gold standard. So is it not the least bit shameful, or at least embarrassing, that our state does not require high school students to take a financial literacy class when a majority of states do?
Absolutely. And it needs to change.
Twenty-six states, including Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, have passed legislation making a personal finance course mandatory for high school students. Meanwhile, Massachusetts received an “F” from the Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy, which released a report card in 2023 evaluating how each “state delivers personal finance education in its public high schools.” In addition, a 2023 report card(link?) from the American Public Education Foundation gave the state a “C” for its financial literacy requirements — a score worse than or equal to all but six states.
Meanwhile, across the state, credit card and student loan debt have spiked to eye-popping levels. As of the second quarter of this year, the average Massachusetts resident had a credit card balance of $8,556 and $33,710.38 in student loan debt. The latter is particularly troubling for young people like myself. For the next four years, countless high school seniors throughout the Commonwealth will be attending college, paying tens of thousands of dollars on top of day-to-day expenses.
The need for personal finance courses in Massachusetts is tremendous — a need that, as per a 2021 report from the state’s Office of Economic Empowerment, is recognized almost universally among teachers and, importantly, students.
Yet, as a result of being taught next to nothing about personal finances, many of us are left ill-prepared for these new circumstances. Our understanding of credit cards is limited to, as State Treasurer Deb Goldberg so eloquently articulated to GBH, “The parent puts a plastic card into the wallet and boom: out comes money.” And so the cycle of taking out loans, accumulating massive debt, and working for years before being able to pay it off persists.
Why perpetuate the cycle when it is so clear that these classes work? According to a 2021 Ramsey Solutions survey, among the teenagers who have completed a personal finance class, nearly 80 percent said that they’ve created a monthly budget for themselves, 94 percent felt confident about saving money, and 87 percent understood how to pay income taxes. And, as noted in the OEE’s report, personal finance courses are tools that “increase social mobility for low-income or immigrant students.” Requiring such classes really couldn’t make much more sense.
At my own high school, Brookline High School, financial literacy is offered in the form of a popular elective, “The World of Money: Practical Studies in Finance and Investment,” which “integrates the basic principles of economics, money management, investing, and technology,” according to the course catalog. Every spring, as course selection rolls around, hundreds of students eye this semester-long course, but with only so many spots, most cannot take it — and, consequently, miss out on an opportunity to learn about financial literacy.
Recognizing the imminent need to educate ourselves on matters of taxes, loans, investments, and more, several members of Brookline High School’s Student Council, including myself, have proposed amendments to our student handbook that would incorporate a financial literacy component in our graduation requirements and incorporate personal finance lessons into our weekly advisory classes. Our work would ensure that such important life skills are accessible to all students, not merely for those lucky enough to find a place in the class.
But while such efforts are certainly a step in the right direction on this issue, they are not enough. Financial literacy should not be a privilege for schools with a proactive student body; it is a fundamental aspect of our lives, and our state’s education system must begin reflecting that. The state must require personal finance courses for graduation — it’s the smartest investment we can make.
Ravin Bhatia is a senior at Brookline High School.
DALLAS, Dec. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE: NREF) (the “Company”) today announced a dividend for its 8.50% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (NYSE: NREF PRA) of $0.53125 per share. The dividend will be payable on January 27, 2025, to stockholders of record at the close of business on January 15, 2025.
About NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc.
NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc., is a publicly traded REIT, with its common stock and Series A Preferred Stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NREF” and “NREF PRA,” respectively, primarily focused on originating, structuring and investing in first-lien mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, convertible notes, multifamily properties and common equity investments, as well as multifamily and single-family rental commercial mortgage-backed securities securitizations, promissory notes and mortgage-backed securities. More information about the Company is available at nref.nexpoint.com.
CONTACTS
Investor Relations
Kristen Griffith
IR@nexpoint.com
Media Relations
Prosek Partners for NexPoint
pro-nexpoint@prosek.com
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexpoint-real-estate-finance-inc-announces-series-a-preferred-stock-dividend-302339003.html
SOURCE NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc.
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