Tawni Hunt Ferrarini

Lindenwood University · School of Business and Entrepreneurship

Through his job in the school district office human resources department, Jose has encountered a disturbing number of teachers in his district with substantial credit issues or even judgements applied to their paychecks. This chapter introduces the basic concepts around credit asking the provocative question, “Is credit from heaven or hell?” The co...

Makayla did what? The small audience in the law firm’s conference room learned that this 40-year veteran high school chemistry teacher had left $1.2 million in her will to a local clinic. She had never worked outside of education and she had moved to a sunny coast after retiring. Makayla’s financial success was not built on chasing after money. Rat...

This chapter introduces a fabulous charter school math teacher facing a retirement savings problem. Donna barely has anything to show financially for her teaching work so far, even after 15 years on the job. Teachers in some charter schools and private schools and colleges may have to take more responsibility for saving for retirement, compared wit...

Eric will retire at fifty-two with a salary-for-life very close to what he was making teaching high school history. He, and many other teachers, are able to achieve such freedom by making good choices throughout their careers. This chapter introduces ideas for increasing your educator income. Investing in human capital, considering part-time work,...

Tom did not go into teaching to become rich, but it turns out that by making a series of good choices, he is anticipating a comfortable retirement for himself and his family. In some ways, he is more financially secure than some of his non-teacher friends! Tom, like most teachers, plans to rely on three key sources of retirement income: state retir...

Maria joins the Peace Corps after graduation from college and pursues her passion for teaching in the developing world. While on this assignment Maria is shocked by the levels of abject poverty presented in many places in the world. This chapter introduces the basics of a market economy. It explains how wealth is created and how it generally has ve...

Terry and Megan had the same $349 monthly car payment, but everything else was different about their car strategies. Megan’s smart strategy put her on a path toward an additional quarter-million dollars of lifetime wealth, compared with her fellow teacher Terry, who would always be leasing a new sport-utility vehicle. This chapter builds on Megan’s...

Meet Margaret. Due to her intelligence, solid academic preparation, and flexibility, she overcame being an “academic wanderer” and landed a tenure track assistant professorship. That is the good news. That bad news is like many doctoral students (and other college grads), she has a student loan problem. How can Margaret successfully pay off her stu...

Meet Liam. After substitute teaching and doing volunteer work at school, he finally landed a full-time teaching position. Now that he had a stable income, how could he become financially secure? Liam followed some financial advice from an unusual source to begin his journey. To provide an incentive to start saving, he began by writing down two fina...

Clayton and Katrina have had uncommonly good fortune as homeowners. Their success in housing decisions, however, is not rare and can be achieved by teachers by following the strategies outlined in this chapter. The “rent or buy” decision, housing affordability, and the idea of stretching to a bigger home than is financially comfortable are all expl...

This chapter shows how insurance decisions can have a major effect on teachers’ financial fitness. Jayden and Alyssa, the subjects of the opening case study, did everything right concerning insurance – or so they thought. In fact, by over-insuring and failing to shop around for coverage they paid too much. Their biggest mistake was buying costly wh...

This chapter begins with the story of Penelope who suffers a crisis unexpectedly – the loss of her husband in an accident. Nothing could have prepared her for that. And yet with sound money management and a smart relocation, Penelope finds a secure job. As a single mom, she goes on to successfully raise her son, send him to college, and become fina...

Emma, an elementary school technology specialist, learns that she is inheriting $20,000. She now has the pleasant problem of deciding what to do with it. Her first thought was to invest it all in technology stocks. But then she learned some basic rules about investing which stressed to start early, buy and hold, and to diversify. That last rule – t...

Anthony’s success as a multimillion-dollar entrepreneur had modest roots—an activity in his middle school classroom. His teachers led students through the basics of sound money management and what it takes to launch a successful business. More importantly, they encouraged Anthony to take control of his own future. You already know that what happens...

This book uses relatable case studies to dispense practical financial advice to educators. Written by an expert team of four award-winning economics educators, the book provides an engaging narrative specifically designed for teachers and their unique financial needs. Educators are attracted to the teaching profession for numerous reasons. Prospec...

This paper focuses on how government action in the market is presented in Economics Principles textbooks. It looks at whether the government’s role (and failure) is addressed in two topics, price controls and trade barriers, which are presumed by many outside of the economics community that they are strategic uses of government resources and will b...

A close look at the topic of foreign trade—its pros and cons—can give students a deeper understanding of why economists and politicians often disagree on the matter.

Most undergraduate students come into contact with an economics class only in passing. The textbook will thus be the basis for their economic understanding, and what is included in these books will have a large influence on how they view the workings of the overall economy. Guided by the Council for Economic Education's Voluntary National Content S...

Today's multitasking media generation of students, the M2 generation, has widespread and historically low-cost access to media players, smartphones, computers, and gaming units. This article explains how content that is rich in economics can help instructors connect in meaningful and purposeful ways with students through television and movie clips,...

What students learn in the Principles of Economics course may become the permanent lens through which they view and understand how the economy works. While most textbooks cover a core of material in a consistent manner, the same cannot be said for the treatment of government failure. We review twelve principles of economics textbooks to analyze the...

Everyone under the age of 20 who has grown up in North America has lived in the common market created by NAFTA. This article leads students in investigating the effects of NAFTA on economies of the United States and its neighbors.

Recreational use of MP3 players, cell phones, computers and/or video game units is on the rise among today’s students. This article helps teachers integrating economics into their classrooms plug into this M2 frenzy. It identifies numerous high-quality resources with economic content that are readily available in the media at relatively low costs t...

This study measures the relative importance of selfishness and social capital motives using resource allocation data collected in hypothetical surveys and non-hypothetical experiments. Social capital motives allow an agent's well-being to be influenced by his sympathetic relationships with others. The assumption that selfishness can explain nearly...

Universities commonly mention global components in their mission statements. Many governments endorse the concept of global preparedness for its industry and people, and support student and faculty mobility. Yet not all students have the resources or motivation to study abroad, though still value an international experience. This 3-year study, base...

In 2010 the College Board and Educational Testing Service (ETS®) administered 134,747 Advanced Placement (AP®) microeconomics and macroeconomics exams to high school students. The exams are designed to represent the introductory-level micro and macro courses taught in college, and students can earn college credit if they “pass” the exams. The prese...

From 1999-2003 a five-year higher education study on student attitudes towards course-related Internet usage was conducted at a Midwestern public university. The study focused upon Internet integration into traditional courses using tools such as syllabi posting, links to online readings, and class emails, rather than web-delivered, asynchronous co...