BURLINGAME, Calif., April 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The community of teachers who use resources from financial education nonprofit Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) hit a milestone of 100,000 members this week.
NGPF’s mission is to guarantee that, by 2030, all high school students receive a personal finance course prior to graduating. The organization produces high-quality, engaging personal finance curriculum and professional development at no cost to educators. Next month, NGPF will celebrate its tenth anniversary.
“The growth in educators seeking personal finance resources for their classroom reflects the increase in support from advocates and policymakers across the country who want to ensure high schoolers graduate with a foundational understanding of how to navigate their finances,” said Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of NGPF.
Advertisement
Demand for NGPF’s resources has mirrored the proliferation in state policies guaranteeing a Personal Finance course. In 2020, only eight states guaranteed a personal finance course to all public high school students. At the end of 2023, 25 states had enacted laws.
NGPF teacher accounts more than tripled in the last four years. At the end of June 2020, NGPF had nearly 33,000 account users. Now, at least 84% of students attend a U.S. high school where a teacher has an NGPF account.
“As a former high school teacher and principal, one of my favorite things about personal finance education is that students want to learn it,” said Jessica Endlich, co-founder of NGPF. “They see the immediate connection to their lives, they can share the knowledge with their friends and family, and they’re truly motivated to engage with the materials. That’s a win for any school or community.”
According to a survey by the National Endowment for Financial Education, more than 88 percent of adults support requiring financial education in high school.
“As an early adopter of NGPF resources, the collaborative community fueled my professional growth, inspiring me to continuously innovate in my classroom and improve my own content knowledge,” said Amanda Volz, the first teacher to create an NGPF account, who now works as NGPF’s Director of Professional Development. “This led to transformative learning experiences for my students as they benefited from the high-quality NGPF resources that have been, and always will be, free for everyone.”
Advertisement
Of the teachers with NGPF accounts, 37 percent identified as personal finance teachers, 20 percent as math teachers, nine percent as Economics and eight percent as Career Prep.
“I recall the initial days with NGPF vividly. It was astonishing to discover a company offering such a wealth of pertinent content for my students completely free of charge,” said Brenda Martin-Lee, Business Educator at Seneca High School in N.J., who was the second teacher account with NGPF. “As time passed, I gradually incorporated the majority of these excellent resources into my Personal Finance classes.”
Research has clearly demonstrated that a Personal Finance course improves long-term financial decision-making and positively impacts student debt decisions and credit scores, helps graduates avoid predatory lenders, helps to increase savings rates among teachers, and even generates positive spillover effects on parents.
“I simply can’t say enough about the positive impact NGPF has had on my life. It goes far beyond the curriculum, the professional development, our Fellows group, scholarships, and the advocacy,” said Jacqueline Collins, a business educator at Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Mass. “NGPF built a community of amazing, like-minded colleagues that I speak with each day, whether through Finlit Fanatics or in our FinLitFam text group. It’s priceless!” Collins was the fourth teacher to create an account with NGPF.
A recent report from Tyton Partners found that taking a one-semester course in personal finance results in an average per-student lifetime benefit of approximately $100,000. The report also found the cost of implementing a standalone course can be kept low given the availability of high-quality curricular resources and teacher professional development made available by providers at no or minimal cost.
Advertisement
About Next Gen Personal Finance
Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) is a nonprofit committed to guaranteeing that all high school students receive a personal finance course prior to graduating. NGPF has become the number one source for 100,000 educators looking for high-quality, engaging personal finance curriculum to equip students with the skills they need to thrive in the future. NGPF invests in teacher professional development with live Virtual Professional Development, 10 Certification Courses, and 40+ asynchronous On-Demand modules. NGPF has been recognized by Common Sense Education as a “Top Website for Teachers to Find Lesson Plans” and “Best Business and Finance Games” and also named NGPF a “Selection for Learning.” Visit ngpf.org for more.
MEDIA CONTACT Tim Ranzetta NGPF Mission 2030 Fund Next Gen Personal Finance [email protected]
Reader question: My spouse has little interest in our financial position. As we age, this concerns me. I try to share some basic information (income, spending, account balances, debt, and so on) each month but rarely get a response. I think graphs or charts might be of more interest to her than a bunch of numbers. What recommendations would you have for illustrating our financial position so that I am not the only person aware of how we are situated? Thanks!
Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.
Online tools and mind maps
Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s Portfolio X-Ray tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.
A mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various softwaretemplates for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.
Advertisement
Other ways to communicate about money
A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.
I like the idea of putting together a net worth statement that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.
Many couples also put together a binder (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.
A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap
Advertisement
Finally, you could consider working with a good financial adviser, who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.
_____
This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.
Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.
Related links:
Advertisement
What If This Turns Out to Be a Terrible Time to Retire?
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Mayer Brown is a proud sponsor of Proximo Congress 2026. This senior meeting of the US energy, infrastructure, and digital infrastructure finance community is shaped around the questions credit and investment committees are actually asking in 2026: how asset classes are converging, how risk is being priced in a recalibrated policy and geopolitical environment, and how public and private capital are being structured together to deliver projects at scale.
Mayer Brown has also been recognized for three separate awards which will be presented during the event. These awards include:
Proximo North America Transport Deal of the Year 2025 – SR 400 Peach Partners
Proximo North America Rail Deal of the Year 2025 – Brightline West
Proximo North America LNG Deal of the Year 2025 – Port Arthur LNG 2
If you have ever taken out a mortgage, you’ll know there are a lot of requirements to meet. You may need to put down a certain amount and have a debt-to-income ratio below a certain threshold. You may also run into limits on how much you can borrow or what sources of income the lender will count.
These rules do not apply to all mortgages — just to conforming mortgages, which is what the majority of borrowers take out. However, mortgage lenders are increasingly offering what are known as nonconforming loans, or mortgages that do not “comply with every one of the strict standards put in place after the housing crisis,” said The Wall Street Journal. While “still a small portion,” the “share of mortgages using alternative lending practices” has “doubled in size over the past three years.”
What are nonconforming loans?
A nonconforming mortgage is a “type of home loan that doesn’t meet some or all of the guidelines that make them eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Bankrate. These are the government-sponsored entities that “support much of the secondary mortgage market in the U.S.,” meaning they often purchase resold mortgages.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Advertisement
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Latest Videos From
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have “federal rules that limit the purchase of loans deemed relatively risk-free,” said Investopedia. Loans that meet these guidelines are conforming loans; loans that do not are nonconforming. To be a conforming loan, a mortgage must fall under a certain loan amount, and the borrower must meet specific criteria when it comes to their credit score, debt-to-income ratio and loan-to-value ratio.
Effectively, any home loan that does not align with these stipulations is considered nonconforming. Examples include jumbo loans, government-backed loans, bridge loans and interest-only loans.
Why do people get them?
There are a wide range of reasons people may opt for a nonconforming mortgage. For one, “you may have no choice but to choose a nonconforming jumbo loan if you want to buy an expensive property,” said Rocket Mortgage. These loans can also provide more flexibility when it comes to the type of property you purchase, your credit score and your down payment amount.
Advertisement
Nonconforming loans additionally “offer an opportunity for home buyers who might not otherwise qualify for traditional loans because they are self-employed or hold their wealth in assets such as real estate,” said the Journal.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
What are the drawbacks?
For starters, there are fewer lenders offering them “since they pose a higher risk to the bank or mortgage lender,” said Yahoo Finance. That said, availability can vary depending on the specific type, as “some nonconforming loans (like FHA mortgages) are common, while others (like USDA loans) can be harder to find.”
Nonconforming loans also “generally carry a higher interest rate for the borrower,” said the Journal, given the increased risk to the lender. Still, this can vary by loan type. For instance, “FHA, VA and USDA loans usually have lower interest rates,” while “less common nonconforming loans, such as bridge loans, often have higher interest rates,” said Yahoo Finance. There is also the possibility that a nonconforming loan “could have an unusual repayment schedule or other features that make it harder to repay,” said Bankrate.
