This post was originally published on this site.
The Poole College of Management is launching a Financial Literacy Program for adults. The program is free and open to the public, regardless of your connection to NC State University.
Srini Krishnamurthy, program co-founder and associate professor of finance at Poole, says the goal of the program is “to equip participants with the knowledge and confidence to address financial decisions they face in everyday life, such as understanding interest rates and inflation, performing loan and mortgage calculations, budgeting, saving, investing through mutual funds, and planning for retirement.”
The curriculum is based on the most up-to-date financial research available, translated by professors into easy-to-understand practices and tools for use by anyone.
Real Research Impact
The idea for the Financial Literacy Program took root in 2022 during Krishnamurthy’s participation in an NC State faculty initiative called Strengthening the Impact of Research (STIR). “The program’s goal was to help faculty translate their research expertise into meaningful benefits for the broader community,” he says. “As part of the program, each participant was required to develop and present an idea with real-world impact.”
Around this time, college affordability was a hot topic. It was an issue that hit home for Krishnamurthy — several years earlier, when his daughter was applying to colleges, the two discussed what offers cost in practical terms.
“I built a spreadsheet that incorporated tuition, scholarships, and long-term implications, and walked her through the numbers. Equipped with this information, she confidently chose to attend NC State for computer science and graduated with very little college debt. That experience made clear to me how transformative basic financial knowledge can be, and how rarely it is accessible in a clear, practical form.”
Financial Literacy for All
Knowing that not every family had the knowledge or skillset to evaluate finance – after all, not every college-bound high school student is lucky enough to have parents with terminal degrees in finance – Krishnamurthy teamed up with another faculty member in the STIR program to address that.
They developed a successful financial literacy program for college students and delivered it through the Wake County Library systems and a Wake County Public School System high school. When the opportunity arose to start a similar program at Poole aimed at adults, Krishnamurthy said he was “eager to expand this effort.”
Classes are taught by current Poole professors, including Krishnamurthy, Umut Dur and Denis Pelletier. Topics include (but are not limited to) budgeting, investing basics, time value, loans, credit and retirement planning. Data from participants shows that comfort with major financial decisions increased by 45% by the end of the program, and objective understanding of investments and fees increased by 20%
The first set of classes are on Jan. 26th and 28th. Register using this Google Form.