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Financial literacy is not a math problem

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Financial literacy is not a math problem

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Traditionally personal finance has focused on helping students understand math related concepts like calculating compound interest or the difference between APRs & interest rates. While this knowledge is important, a growing body of research suggests that behavior may be even more so in shaping financial wellness.

Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money, explains it this way: "Financial success is not a hard science. It's a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know."

So in teaching financial literacy, we must help students understand how our behavioral tendencies affect our own financial wellness. This is why it's important for students to understand behavioral concepts such as identifying "sunk costs," automating financial decisions, and that financial success is more about the freedom to control what we do with our time than what it can buy in material things.

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JumpStart's research supporting PD for financial literacy education

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JumpStart's research supporting PD for financial literacy education

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What happens when teachers become more financially literate themselves?

They are able to make more informed financial decisions that positively impact themselves and their families.  But it gets even better:  they also are more effective in helping their students become more financially savvy.  So, if you need more evidence to convince your school community that investing in the financial literacy of teachers in order to positively impact students’ financial literacy skills, then check out this study by the JumpStart Coalition.

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Financial Literacy is critical to reducing stress and health risks

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Financial Literacy is critical to reducing stress and health risks

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Some students want to take a personal finance class because they want to get rich. That's fine, but the reason we teach financial literacy is because it has great power to improve lives.

Research continues to underscore the link between financial well-being and physical and mental well-being:

A recent meta analysis found that financially stressed individuals are 74% more likely to die by suicide.

A 2025 report by the American Psychological Association showed that 4 out of the top 11 stressors were finance related.

The APA study also reported that financial security and stability were at the top of the list of Americans' future dreams, rating higher than improving health.

These are just more reasons why promoting financial literacy in our schools is so important.

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Unsure about how to get started integrating economics or personal finance into your elementary curriculum?

Complete this short session on elementary integration, complete with lesson ideas and connections to national learning standards.

This self-paced session is provided by the Federal Reserve Education program.

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The Federal Reserve offers high quality professional development designed to help you strengthen or build expertise in economics and personal finance.

The Fed offers both live events and also self-paced programs and modules that include certificates or digital badges for completion.

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Webinars from the Council For Economic Education

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Webinars from the Council For Economic Education

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CEE provides hundreds of on-demand webinars:

What: webinars cover an array of personal finance and economics topics

Who: grades K-12

When: on-demand

Credit: you will receive a certificate of completion within 24 hours

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Stanford University's Personal Finance Teacher Training Institute:

What: help teachers implement a robust personal finance course for a diverse student population.

Compensation: There is a travel allowance, multiple meals provided, CEUs awarded, and a $500 stipend for attending.

Who: for high school teachers

When: July 13 to 17, 2026

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Quick lessons to integrate financial literacy into any class

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Quick lessons to integrate financial literacy into any class

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NextGen's "Question of the Day"

Lessons from the Federal Reserve - including elementary level lessons

EverFi's short modules for students

Fincap Fridays: short videos & Kahoots on financial current events

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Maine's Personal Finance and Economics standards guide

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Maine's Personal Finance and Economics standards guide

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Click here to read Maine's standards and to access resources to support your students.

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This classic lesson on compounding can be adapted for many grade levels.  Tell your students that you are going to hire them this summer to work a job for 30 days, 8 hours/day, and that there are two options for payment:

1) $100 per hour

2) one cent on day-one, and double that payment for each of the next twenty-nine days on the job

Then have them do the math by hand and check it via calculator.  If using this on-line calculator, have students click the “Advanced Version” button at the top right-hand corner.  Input “-.01” in the “Present Value” field; put in 100% in the “Rate” field and change “Annually” to “Daily”; put “29” in the “Periods” field and change “Monthly” to “Daily”; change “Compounding” to “Daily.”  Then press the “FV” button.  They will see that the penny compounding daily at 100% over 29 days results in almost $5.4 million.

There are many lessons here. You can discuss what "compounding" means and what its power is. You can also analyze how small changes in behavior can have big impacts, beyond money:

Reading just five pages a day would lead to reading several books a year.

Exercising for just 5 minutes a day can improve one’s health (here’s another study from Nature).

Spending 10 minutes a day meditating can improve outlook and health.

Spending a few minutes a day writing down things you’re grateful for can improve well-being.

Spending a few minutes a day on a new skill can lead to improvement.

Ask students to connect one of these ideas, or their own, to the concept of compounding.

And here's a handout on the penny exercise from the Treasurer of Vermont.

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I came across this table on a financial advisor's website. The table, with hypothetical rates of return, is a great way to help students learn some important lessons about saving & investing:

1. Green numbers: Quintupling one's investment from $100 to $500 leads to a quintupling of the final portfolio value - no surprise there.

2. Yellow numbers: Getting started investing early can pay off - investing $100/month over 40 years (total investment of $48k) results in the same final portfolio value as investing $500/month over 20 years (total investment of $120k).

3. Blue numbers: Just a 1% difference in returns can make a huge difference over time - over $1 million in this case. This highlights the importance of having an appropriately aggressive portfolio and how what seems like a small fee (1%) can significantly hurt investment returns over time.

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Saving & Investing: playing the stock market game

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Saving & Investing: playing the stock market game

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A stock market simulation in your classroom can be a great way to help students learn more about the risks and rewards of investing. MarketWatch offers a free game that is easy to set up.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating a stock market simulation in your classroom:

Give students a relatively small amount of money to invest with, like $1000. This makes the game feel more "real" than if students start with $100k.

Have students put some of their money into a global stock market fund (like the ticker “VT” from Vanguard). This can help students see that investing doesn't have to be complicated.

Have students buy stock in their twenty favorite companies.  This will help them learn how volatile individual stocks are and how difficult it is to predict which ones will do well.

Have students keep a "journal" where they write one sentence explaining why they a stock trade, which can help them see that many financial decisions are made on a whim.

These steps can help your students avoid common behavioral pitfalls when it comes to investing.

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Over the past 100 years, the stock market has returned a compound growth rate of around 10% (even though this 100-year period includes the Great Depression, no one knows what future returns will be).

Today, a young person can easily make $15 an hour working a relatively low-stress job.  Suppose that a student worked just one day a week for 8 hours.  Then they took $100 of those earnings and invested it at 10%, and spent the remaining $20 on themself.

Have your students use this financial calculator to figure out how much money they would have for retirement if they did this for 40 years:

1. Plug in "-100" in the "Payments" field (use a negative because this money is coming out of the student's pocket)

2. Plug in "10" in the "Annual Rate" field

3. Plug in "2080" in the "Periods" field for the total number of weeks in 40 years

4. Change the "Compounding" field to "Weekly" since the student is investing each week

5. Press the "FV" button to calculate the future value

Then, your student can experiment with different savings amounts and also can account for inflation by reducing the 10% return to 7%.

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Getting started investing today is easier than ever. It's important for students to learn that they don't need any specialized knowledge about individual companies to get started investing. For example, one can simply invest in a low-cost global stock market fund like Vanguard's VT fund.

But if students are interested in researching individual companies, FINRA's resource on evaluating individual stocks can help ground students in reality by prompting them to look at the actual fundamentals of a company instead of just investing in an impulsive fashion.

For example, FINRA's resource prompts students to investigate:

How does the company make money?

Are its products or services in demand, and why?

How has the company performed in the past?

Are talented, experienced managers in charge?

Is the company positioned for growth and profitability?

How much debt does the company have?

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Saving & Investing:  crashes may be good for young people

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Saving & Investing:  crashes may be good for young people

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I use this hypothetical graph to help students understand that while stock market crashes are scary, they can be incredibly beneficial to young people.

I ask my students which investment path they would prefer. The invariable say "Path A."

Tell your students that this is the wrong answer and then ask them to hypothesize why.

If a young person is investing, say $50 per paycheck, a stock market crashes allow one to automatically buy more shares than they could otherwise with that $50. The mistake that many investors make is that when the stock market crashes, they stop investing.

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Ask students if they've checked the interest rate on their savings or checking account.  It's likely to be close to zero, and if not, they likely have to jump through hoops to get a decent rate.  Why is this a big deal? Ask your students the following question:

Suppose you have $1000 today and you leave it in a bank account earning .1% interest, and inflation is 3%. How much will your $1000 be worth in 10 years?

1. Go to this on-line calculator.

2. Plug "-1000" into the "Present Value" box (negative because the money is coming out of your pocket and going into the bank).

3. Plug "-2.9" into the "Annual Rate" box (.1% minus 3%, which is the "real" interest rate after inflation - don't miss the negative sign).

4. Plug "10" into the "Periods" box.

5. Change the "Compounding" option to "Annual."

6. Then, click the "FV" (future value) button.

Students will realize that in 10 years, while they will log into their account and see that there is more than $1000 in the account, in reality that $1000 would only be worth $745 after inflation.

In order for students to protect their savings from inflation, they will want to try to get the highest interest rate on their savings account.

While it’s a good idea to have a local bank account, have students evaluate these high-yield alternatives for holding most of their savings:

Fidelity’s cash management account:  free checks, debit card, and withdrawals at any ATM

Vanguard’s cash plus account

Here are several other options: just watch the fine print

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Debt:  paying the minimum on a credit card balance

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Debt:  paying the minimum on a credit card balance

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Use this calculator to help your students understand how costly it can be to carry credit card debt.

Have your student assume that they have purchased a $1000 television on their credit card that has a 30% interest rate.

Then have them compare the total cost of the television under the following two scenarios (don’t forget to remind them to add the interest charges to the original $1000 cost of the television):

1. They just make the minimum payment required by the credit card company each month

2. They pay $50 per month

Then, ask them to consider why the credit card company is more than happy if the student just makes the minimum required payment.

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Many students today are betting on sports as the on-line gambling industry explodes.  Help them to think more like an economist to make smarter decisions when it comes to betting on sports and in life in general.

Economics focuses on costs.  One cost that economics can help us better understand is that of “sunk costs.”  All of us have a hard time with this concept because we have emotional attachments to the decisions that we’ve made in the past, but to simplify how economists think about sunk costs:  “don’t cry over spilled milk.”  In investing and in gambling we tend to make decisions in the present based on outcomes in the past that can’t be changed.  For example, when a gambler loses a bet, they try to make back the losses, often by taking on more risk.  However, economics tells us that one should only make the next bet, if one expects the bet to pay off.  One shouldn’t make the next bet because they lost the previous bet.

Have students watch this video to identify the various types of costs involved in gambling (sunk costs, implicit costs) that are apparent in the clip.  In particular point out the part of the clip where Drake says:  “We’ll take an 18 again [and] we will get our money back” and have your students evaluate how this type of thinking reflects the “sunk cost fallacy.”

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Smarter decisions:  Documentary on investing in the attention economy

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Smarter decisions:  Documentary on investing in the attention economy

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This free documentary, "This Is Not Financial Advice," provides students with an engaging look into the attention economy. The film follows how four "influencers" approach investing with very different philosophies. Part of the film focuses on the meme coin, Dogecoin, and other cryptocurrencies. The film can be used to help students learn critical investment skills and attitudes in an age of ever-present shiny things!

There is foul language in some parts of the film, but you can also just use dedicated modules in the educator portal to show standalone segments from the film. There are also dedicated discussion questions created by Next Gen Personal Finance for each module to use with students. The discussion questions present financial and ethical dilemmas to engage students.

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Smarter decisions:  Prioritizing savings

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Smarter decisions:  Prioritizing savings

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In the following exercise, students determine how to allocate an additional $100 of income.  This exercise can make for a healthy discussion of how to think like an economist.

While students’ answers will vary, there are some important learnings here:  comparing rates of return on investments to interest rates on debt (does it make sense to invest in the stock market if you have high-interest credit card debt), having an appropriate emergency fund even if it doesn’t have a high return, understanding the difference between investing in a Roth IRA vs. a taxable account, etc.

Scenario: After six months at your first job, you get a $100/month raise.  You’ve decided that you will put this money into one of the following seven options.  Rank each of the options from one to seven, with “one” indicating the highest priority, and “seven” the lowest.

Your taxable investment account that has historically returned 10% annually.

Your Roth IRA investment account that has historically returned 10% annually:

Your credit card debt that has an annual interest rate of 30%.

Your private student loan that has an annual interest rate of 8%.

Your federal student loan that has an annual interest rate of 5%.

Your 401k that has a dollar-for-dollar employer match.

Your emergency fund:  6 months of expenses is recommended, but you only have 1 month of expenses, kept in a high-yield account with an annual interest rate of 3%.

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Smarter decisions:  Maine's warranty law

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Smarter decisions:  Maine's warranty law

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Even if you new iPhone stops working a month after the warranty expires, you may still be covered!  Maine is one of 12 states with a consumer protection law that can save you a lot of money and may be another reason to skip buying an extended warranty.  Under Maine law, both the retailer and the manufacturer are responsible for replacing or repairing a defective product up to four years after purchase.

Have students read Maine’s warranty law (click on Consumer Goods and Maine Express and Implied Warranty Laws) and then evaluate the following:

1. Section 4.2 states that Maine’s warranty is an “implied warranty” law.  What does “implied” mean?

2. What goods are covered by this law?  Which are not?  Are used goods covered?

3. What is the standard that a product must meet in terms of its functioning?

4. Review the full paragraph at the top of page 4-4.  What must be true about a good that you purchase to be covered by this law?

5. What does it mean if you buy a used car “as is”?  Look this up.  If you buy a used car “as is” in Maine, is it covered by Maine’s law?  What if you buy a used Apple computer from Best Buy "as is"?

6. Read section 4.3:  For how long does Maine’s warranty law apply to a good purchased in Maine?

7. Look at the title of section 4.8:  Who is responsible for repairing, replacing, or refunding defective goods?

Apply Maine law to Apple’s warranty:

1. Read the first two sections of Apple’s express warranty.

2. For how long does Apple warranty its products?

3. Apple’s warranty states:  “THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY FROM STATE TO STATE...”  What is the significance of this sentence?

4. The warranty also states:  “APPLE DISCLAIMS ALL STATUTORY AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES....TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.”  Look up what a “statutory warranty” is.  Apple says that it “disclaims” these warranties, but at the end of the same sentence it says that it can only do this “to the extent permitted by law.”  So does Maine’s law apply to Apple’s products?

5. Why might the language in Apple’s warranty be confusing to the consumer?

6. Does this mean that you shouldn’t buy “Apple Care” for a new phone?  Look up what “Apple Care” covers.

More resources:

WGME news clip on Maine's law

Washington Post article on extended warranties

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Justice Matters:   income tax inequality

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Justice Matters:   income tax inequality

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Help students understand inequality in the tax code.

Warren Buffet (billionaire investor) said many times that his secretary paid twice the rate of taxes that he pays.  You can use this simple tax calculator to help your students understand how our tax code makes inequality like this possible.

Your students can run the two scenarios below where the first person makes half the income as the other person, but not only pays more in total taxes, they also pay an effective tax rate three times that of the person who makes twice as much money:

Single person #1:  $50k in W-2 income; pays $7,696 in taxes & a tax rate of 15.39%

Single person #2:  $100k in capital gains income; pays $5,385 in taxes & a tax rate of only 5.38%

There is a lot of learning here. Students can discover that:

1. There are different types of income:  earned vs. unearned income

2. Different types of income are taxed differently:  earned income vs. long-term capital gains (a type of unearned income)

3. Different types of taxes apply only to certain types of income (i.e. Social Security tax)

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Justice Matters:  general tax inequality

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Justice Matters:  general tax inequality

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Financial inequality is a complex and poorly understood topic.

Use this video to help your students think more critically about the role of tax inequality:

1. At what levels of government do Americans pay taxes?

2. Define the different types of taxes Americans pay:  consumption taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes, corporate and property taxes, income taxes

3. What are "progressive," "regressive," and "flat" taxes?

4. Would Adam Smith, the "father of capitalism" be in favor of regressive, flat, or progressive tax rates? Why? Read here to find out.

5. Which taxes do poor and rich people pay as a higher percentage of their total income? Why?

6. According to the analysis in the video, who pays a larger percentage of their income in taxes overall, the poorest 10% or the billionaire? Why?

7. What is the bias of the video?  What questions about tax inequality would you want to further investigate?

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Justice Matters:  Immigrants & the economy

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Justice Matters:  Immigrants & the economy

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The above poll from Pew Research, provides an interesting look at how Americans view the impact of immigrants on prices in the US economy.  You could start by asking students why they think Americans hold these views and how accurate they may or may not be.

Next, you could have students research what economic studies have to say about the impact of immigration on a number of economic factors, such as prices, jobs, crime, government spending, etc.

Two sources that might provided a starting point:

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine:  New Report Assesses the Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration

The Cato Institute:  The 14 Most Common Arguments against Immigration and Why They’re Wrong

First, you could first ask students to look up these two organizations and to assess the bias of each of source.  Then, after reading and annotating all or parts of the two articles, students could have a Socratic discussion of how their understanding of immigrants’ impact of our economy may have changed due to these economic studies.

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In 2021, the median wealth of a white family in the United States was $250,400, while the median wealth of a black family was about a tenth of that.  Many probably don’t realize the future implications of this disparity.

If your students understand the concept of compounding, they can use this understanding to grasp the future implications of the wealth gap.  This can also help build empathy and a better understanding of potential solutions to this problem.  You can use this lesson from NextGen Finance to help your students build these capacities:  https://www.ngpf.org/curriculum/racial-discrimination-in-finance/

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The following is a list of resources from the Federal Reserve's education website:

Kiddynomics: An Economics Curriculum for Young Learners, Lessons for Grades Pre-K-K: Links to an external site.

This set of lessons is designed to introduce young children to the economic way of thinking.

Personal Finance, Language Arts, and Mathematics: Kindergarten Curriculum UnitLinks to an external site.

The lessons in this unit employ active-learning strategies that engage young children. Each lesson is based on a story about two cousins—one who lives on a farm and one who lives in a city.

Sample Lessons for Teaching Grades Pre-K to 1

Monster Musical ChairsLinks to an external site.

Mr. Cookie BakerLinks to an external site.

Sheep in a ShopLinks to an external site.

Sample Lessons for Teaching Grade 2

What Makes a CommunityLinks to an external site.

A Chair for My MotherLinks to an external site.

Peanut Butter and CupcakeLinks to an external site.

Sample Lessons for Teaching Grades K-5

Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State BuildingLinks to an external site.

Beatrice's GoatLinks to an external site.

Uncle Jed's BarbershopLinks to an external site.

Economics Videos for K-5: explore various short videos that introduce elementary-age children to economic concepts.

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Next Gen:  Comprehensive curriculum and lessons on personal finance

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Next Gen:  Comprehensive curriculum and lessons on personal finance

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https://www.ngpf.org/curriculum/

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It is important that students not only understand how to make better financial decisions to improve their own future, but it is also critical that our students understand the barriers that fellow Americans face in doing so.  This understanding helps to build empathy.  It also helps our students become better critical thinkers as they work to understand solutions to the complex roots of socio-economic barriers.

Consider using this lesson from Next Gen Personal finance to go even further in your quest to build up your students’ financial competency.

Click here for the lesson on “ANALYZE:  Inequalities in Investing.”

For access to the “answer key,” go here and click on “ANALYZE:  Inequalities in Investing” on the right-hand side of the page.

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https://maine.ja.org/

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My #1 go-to resource!

https://www.ngpf.org/

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Looking for resources to match the Maine Learning Results? Here is your ready-to-go activity guide!

https://mejumpstart.org/maine-financial-literacy-framework-and-resource-guide/

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Hi there!  My name is Mark Ashe and I am the Financial Literacy Teacher Leader Fellow for the Maine Department of Education.

I have taught Economics at the college and high school levels over the past twenty-five years.  I have a Master’s degree in Economics; I'm a licensed investment advisor; and I teach AP Macroeconomics and Personal Finance & Economics at Cape Elizabeth High School.

I am excited to use the Teacher Leader Fellow platform to empower you to help your students become more financially secure and more aware of the financial challenges that Americans face.  I plan to focus on three areas:

1. Help a young person plan for the future: I plan to help improve our understanding of financing higher education and how young people can make their future more financially secure.

2. Take care of yourself too:  I plan to help you become more financially savvy so that you are more confident in sharing your own financial understandings with your students, regardless of the age of the students you serve.

3. Justice matters:  As a Social Studies teacher, I am passionate about social justice and I plan to use financial literacy to further students’ understanding of economic disparities. This builds both compassion and awareness of how disparities can be addressed.

Important disclaimer: The information presented on this website is for educational purposes only and is not personal financial advice. Always consult an investment, tax, and legal professional for personalized advice when making decisions. Past performance may not be indicative of future results.

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https://mejumpstart.org/

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Click here to access high-quality lessons, infographics, student modules, curriculum, professional development, and more - all from the nation's central bank.

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Read Mark's articles in the NEA Today and Maine Educator magazines

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Read Mark's articles in the NEA Today and Maine Educator magazines

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Road Map to Retirement

How to Manage your Money in Uncertain Times

Retire with Dignity

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Click here to email me: mark.ashe@maine.gov

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If you are saving for retirement through your school department, the odds are that your school’s 403(b) plan is “garbage”.  The reasons are likely high fees and low-quality investments.  Watch this 4-minute video to see how choosing the right 403(b) plan can mean the difference between hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement.

(Please note that the 403(b) contribution limits referenced in the video are much higher this year.  See this update from the IRS. )

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Pay for college with free money:  a "529"

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Pay for college with free money:  a "529"

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A Guaranteed Return

Maine's Nextgen education savings program provides families with a matching grant of 30% on the first $1000 contributed each year to Maine's 529 college savings plan.  A 30% guaranteed return on the first $1000 that one contributes each year isn't bad, as that is three times the average historical return in the stock market!  And if a family has more than one child, they will receive this matching grant for each child for whom they make contributions.

Since 1972 the US stock market has returned a compound annual rate of return over 10%.  Of course there's no guarantee that the future will follow the past, but if one could invest $1000 a year at 10% for the next 18 years (coupled with the matching grant of 30%), one would have about $50,000 saved up from this single yearly contribution.  And even if one wanted a more conservative investment than stocks a 30% return is still amazing. And if you can't dedicate $1000 to college savings each year, any amount up to that will earn the 30% matching grant.  There's no other investment that I can think of that will generate a 30% guaranteed return in a single year!

Click here for Maine’s NextGen 529 college savings program

Click here for additional one-time grants, when you set up automatic investments

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Pay for college with FEDERAL tax credits

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Pay for college with FEDERAL tax credits

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The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) is a federal tax credit to help Americans pay qualified education expenses for the first four years of higher education.  The way it works is that the first $2000 of qualified expenses, you receive a dollar-for-dollar credit.  In other words, if you have $2000 in qualified expenses (and meet other requirements), you will get a $2000 tax credit.  Then you can get a 25% additional credit on the next $2000 of qualified expenses (up to another $500).

Here's how you can leverage this credit for your student:

Over time, save up $2000 in a high-yield savings account or some other appropriate investment.  Then use $2000 to pay for part of your student's tuition.  Then when you file your taxes, take the $2000 credit you received and put it back in the high-yield savings account to use again to get the credit next year.  Keep in mind that you can’t claim this credit on expenses that you paid using money from a 529 account and you must meet certain income guidelines to qualify for the credit.

See these resources for more information:

Click here for more details on this credit from the IRS.

Click here for more info on this and other tax credits from FAME.

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A state tax credit called the Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit (SLRTC) provides a $2500/year tax credit, up to a lifetime total of $25,000 over ten years.  One just needs to have obtained a degree and to be living and working in Maine to be eligible, even if the student didn’t go to school in Maine or never lived in Maine until they started working here.  They just need to make the minimum amount of income to qualify ($13,712 for the 2025 tax year).

So if one has a student loan payment of $208/month or less, and is working and living in Maine, this tax credit could eliminate that monthly payment.  That's a good deal!

Also, if you have a student in college and they think they may end up living and working in Maine after college, depending on their circumstances they might consider not paying off all of their student debt sooner than necessary.  That may sound strange, but the Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit (SLRTC) might make this a sound financial strategy, depending on the interest rate on their loan(s).

For more information visit the state's website.  See the FAQ link on that page, which may provide answers to other questions you might have about this program.

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Picking the right college is challenging and stressful.

One way to make the process more manageable is understanding the true cost of a college education by looking at the "net cost," not the “sticker price.”

For example, the University of Maine at Orono has a sticker price of $30,000 for tuition, room & board, fees, books, and estimated travel costs.  For comparison, Colby has a total about $90,000, which seems outrageously out of reach for the average student.

However, it is critical to look at the “net cost” of attendance, which is the cost of the college after subtracting out expected grants and aid that does not have to be repaid.  At UMO, for a family that makes $140,000 per year and has “typical assets,” the net estimated cost paid by the family is around $24,600, whereas the net estimated cost of attendance for this family at Colby would be only $18,500.  This is just a single illustrative example, but the moral of the story is:  don’t weed out schools because they seem expensive at first glance.

Resources:

You can use the College Board’s BigFuture website to search for schools based on affordability.  Start your search with schools that meet 90% of student need.

Then you can use the “net price” calculator found on most college’s websites to estimate your cost of attendance.  For example, here are the calculators for UMaine and Colby.

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The Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) recommends that students only use free scholarship programs and websites. Be sure to avoid dubious or paid programs. Students and families can find scholarships using these free resources recommended by FAME:

Maine-based scholarship programs:

Finance Authority of Maine scholarships

Maine Community Foundation scholarships

National scholarship programs:

FAME's national scholarship database

"Access Scholarships" for scholarships & help navigating your search

"Big Future" from the College Board

"Fastweb" for college and trade schools

"Peterson's" for scholarships, grants, & prizes

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Build wealth: Females & personal finance

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Build wealth: Females & personal finance

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Personal finance literacy is crucial for all, but especially for females. This is due to the fact that females:

live longer than males on average

are more likely to need long-term-care at the end of their lives.

spend less time in the labor market and face labor market discrimination

are more likely to manage household finances

tend to be less confident making major financial decisions, even while they tend to be more successful investors

These factors mean females will earn less money over their lifetimes, will need more assets in retirement, and may need more confidence-building early in life. This underscores the importance of financial literacy that focuses equally on knowledge and behaviors.

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Build wealth: understand compound returns in the stock market

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Build wealth: understand compound returns in the stock market

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Over the past 100 years, the stock market has returned a compound growth rate of around 10% (even though this 100-year period includes the Great Depression, no one knows what future returns will be).

Today, a young person can easily make $15 an hour working a relatively low-stress job.  Suppose they worked just one day a week for 8 hours.  Then they took $100 of those earnings and invested them at 10%, and spent the remaining $20 on themself.

If a young person could do this for 40 years, assuming 3% inflation, the young person would have over $1 million – and that’s after accounting for inflation!

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529 accounts are a great way to save for college, but a law called the Secure 2.0 Act makes them even more valuable.

As long as the 529 account has been open for 15 years and the money that was contributed has been in the account for at least five years, the young person can move up to $35k from the 529 account into a Roth IRA over time, once they have adequate earned income.

This is a big deal because the limits on 529 contributions are very high and when funds are moved into a Roth IRA, the investments continue to grow tax free forever. Also, IRS rules allow a first-time homebuyer to remove $10k from a Roth IRA to purchase a home.

The moral of the story:  529 accounts can help a young person (or even a newborn) get started on the way to financial security, and if the student or a family member ends up needing all or some of the 529 money for college, it can obviously be used for that purpose at any time.

Here are some further resources that might be helpful:

-Maine's 529 program:  https://www.nextgenforme.com/

-Moving a 529 to a Roth IRA:  https://www.nextgenforme.com/rolling-unused-funds-from-a-529-account-into-a-roth-ira

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If your school's 403(b) plan is "garbage":

1. Advocate: Show your business department how costly bad 403(b) plans are for employees and remind them that they are likely also saving through the same plans. Show them the numbers from 403bWise. If they still resist, see your union about including low-cost 403(b) providers like Fidelity or Vanguard in your bargaining agreement.

2. You have options: If your school district offers a 403(b) match, getting free money in a bad 403(b) is still worth it, but consider only contributing the minimum to get the match. Then, consider investing on your own through a Roth IRA (be sure you follow IRS rules) or a taxable investment account (which provides a lot of flexibility before and during retirement).

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Justice Matters:  credit score inequality

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Justice Matters:  credit score inequality

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This 14-minute video from CNBC does a good job of explaining how credit scores work and the problems inherent in the system.

You can use this video to help your students understand:

1. What is a credit score? What factors make up a credit score, what do they mean, and how much weight are they given?

2. What is the importance of a credit score?  What does it allow one to do?  What are the pros of America's credit score system?

3. What are the criticisms of America's credit score system?

4. Further research: how does the US credit scoring system compare with China's "social credit" system?

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JumpStart:  Database of comprehensive financial literacy programs for all ages

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JumpStart:  Database of comprehensive financial literacy programs for all ages

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https://jumpstartclearinghouse.org/

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EverFi:  Short modules for students on many financial literacy topics

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EverFi:  Short modules for students on many financial literacy topics

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Click here for a great resource where students can work at their own pace and you can support and monitor their progress.

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Easy way to integrate financial literacy into any class:

Click here for the most recent “Question of the Day”

You can also search for past questions by topic, including "Buying a Car, Investing, Cryptocurrencies, Paying for College, etc.”  Each topic provides a thought provoking question to get students thinking.  Interesting statistics and additional questions are also provided for further discussion, along with a few pre-built slides to display to students.  The questions can be used in a variety of different classes, from Math, History, and beyond.

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Next Gen:  Short videos on financial current events with a quick Kahoot for discussion

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Next Gen:  Short videos on financial current events with a quick Kahoot for discussion

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Click here to access free lessons on current topics that will get your students' attention.

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A 403(b) and a 401(k) are similar, but differ in one critical way.

How they’re similar:

Both are workplace retirement accounts that allow employees to save for retirement in a tax advantaged way.

Both often allow pre-tax (aka “Traditional”) or post-tax (aka “Roth”) account options.

Both have relatively high contribution limits (unlike IRAs).

Neither have income limits (unlike Roth IRAs – though this is generally not a problem for school employees).

Both generally provide multiple investment options for employees to choose from.

How they’re different:

401(k)s are regulated by a federal law called ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act), which places a fiduciary responsibility on the employer to act in the best interest of the employee.  The employee can sue if the employer doesn't uphold this responsibility.  Thus, 401(k)s generally offer simple, low-cost, high-quality investment options like target-date retirement funds.

403(b) plans are generally not subject to ERISA.  So, even if they offer simple investment options like target-date retirement funds, the 403(b) company often tacks on outrageous fees.  Also, if the plan is run by an insurance company, salespeople may push expensive, complicated annuities on employees.  These differences can cost a school employee hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What you can do:

1. You or your union can advocate for your school department to provide low-cost providers like Fidelity, Vanguard, and MaineSTART (from MainePERS).

2. Speak to your local and federal representatives about regulating 403(b) plans.

3. Consider saving through a Roth IRA instead (be sure to follow the rules) or through a taxable account.

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If you are a teacher, Ed Tech 2 or 3, you are likely a member of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MePERS).  So how much will your pension be when you retire?  Depending on when you started teaching in Maine, your “normal retirement age” is likely 62 or 65.  Generally speaking, those who work until their normal retirement age will receive an annual pension equal to 2%, times the number of years they’ve been in the system, times the average of their highest three years of salary.

So to make the math easy, a teacher with 25 years in the system and a highest-three-years of salary of $100k, will receive an annual pension of $50,000 per year.

Resources:

You can use this calculator to estimate your pension based on when you plan to retire.

Here's a link to the comprehensive pension guide at MePERS.

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Assuming you qualify for a MainePERS pension, you might wonder:  will it be enough to support me in retirement?  Even if this isn't your only source of income in retirement, the answer may be “no.”

Assume you work 25 years and the average of your highest three years of salary is $70k.  That means your pension will be half of that, or $35k per year.  Will you be able to live off half of your salary?

It gets worse.  Under the LePage administration the amount of a pension that receives a yearly cost of living increase was reduced.  For 2026, that amount is around $27k.  That means that likely only a portion of your pension will keep pace with inflation. So every year for the rest of your life, your pension will be worth less, and less….. Even if you worked 50 years and started out receiving 100% of your salary, your pension will still be steadily eroded by inflation.

What can you do:

·  Consider investing in low-cost index funds in a Roth IRA (check IRS eligibility), a taxable account, or a 403b.

·  Contact your state representatives and tell them to fix the pension system so that 100% of your pension gets a cost of living increase each year.

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Investing:  how much to save for retirement?

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Investing:  how much to save for retirement?

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This is a difficult question.  The problem is that no one knows how long they’ll live, or what will happen to the pension system, to Social Security, to one’s health, etc.   However, we still must plan in some way.  So, these steps may be helpful to come up with an estimate of how much one needs to save for retirement.

1. Estimate your retirement income: your pension can be easily estimated (here’s a MePERS calculator), as can your Social Security estimate at SSA.gov.  If you have other anticipated income, add it in.

2. Estimate your annual expenses in retirement.  Studies indicate that the average retiree spends about 75% of their pre-retirement income.

3. Subtract the spending from the income.  If your expenses exceed income, this is the “gap” one needs to fill with a portfolio.

How big of a portfolio would one need to fill this gap each year of retirement?  It’s impossible to know for sure, but there are studies on this.  Researcher Bill Bengen determined that one could have spent 4.7% of one’s portfolio (see his details on the type of portfolio) every year, adjusted each year for inflation, and would not have run out of money in the worst thirty-year period over the past one hundred years.  (There are other “rules of thumb” like this one from an internationally recognized financial planner.)  Using the “4.7% rule,” with spending of $60k per year and income of $36k/year, one would divide the gap of $24k by 4.7%.  That would mean that, according to Bengen’s research, in the worst case in the last 100 years, a portfolio of $511k would have lasted 30 years.

While we don’t know what the future will bring, this simple calculation might provide a starting point to think more clearly about the problem of how much to save for retirement.

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Investing: don't let your IRA gather dust 

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Investing: don't let your IRA gather dust 

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According to Fidelity, 40% of individuals with an IRA don't invest their contributions once they deposit them into their account.

This may be due to a fundamental difference between personal investment accounts (like IRAs) and workplace accounts (401k or 403b). Often workplace accounts have a default investment, like a target-date retirement fund. So when your employer sends money to the account, it is automatically invested in the default asset or the asset(s) you choose.

This is not the case with IRAs. With most brokerage companies, you need to manually purchase a fund when you deposit money, otherwise you are likely to lose big to inflation over the long term.

While this is not personal financial advice, some common investments are (past performance may not be indicative of future results.):

A total bond market fund like BND (Vanguard's index fund) - less risk and historically less growth:

A total stock market fund like VT (Vanguard's index fund) - more risk and historically more growth

A target-date fund that gets more conservative as one gets closer to retirement (see some options here)

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source:  Portfolio Visualizer - https://tinyurl.com/58auum7c

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Today, some investors are wary of a potential stock crash due to the “AI bubble.”  Of course, no one knows what will happen, but an interesting question to ponder is:  how bad would a crash be for those people ten or so years from retirement?  The answer depends on a lot of factors, but it might not be quite as terrible as one might think.

From 2000 through 2009, a $10,000 investment in the US stock market was worth about $9,700.  This was a terrible stretch with the market dropping over 50% at one point.  But how would someone have fared who was planning to retire at the end of 2009, started 2000 with a portfolio of $100k, and was saving $500/month?  That hypothetical investor would have ended up with a slightly positive rate of return and would have had $164k at the end of 2009.  That’s not great once you take inflation into account, but it’s not as horrific as one might have thought when investing through the tech crash of 2000 and the financial crisis of 2008.  A portfolio that was diversified with bonds and international stocks did even better during this terrible period, which is not surprising.

The morals of the story:  crashes may not be as catastrophic as one might think, and diversification has tended to pay off during difficult market conditions, though we never know what the future will bring.

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Those of us with our own children care deeply about their future financially security.  However, sometimes this leads parents to sacrifice their own financial security.  This can take the form prioritizing saving for college education or paying for a pricey college (see this report from Fidelity) over one's own retirement.  However, taking care of yourself first may be a real gift to your children down the road.

Here are some reasons why:

1. Studies indicate that prioritizing college savings can harm a parent’s ability to retire.  For example, a parent who saves $500 per month for 18 years for college is giving up adding more than $200k to their retirement accounts over that 18-year period (assuming a 7% rate of return).  And parents in the same scenario who borrow $40k per year to pay for four years of college at an interest rate of 5% for ten years, will forgo adding $300k to their retirement account over those ten years.  And these costs continue to compound as retirement nears.

2. While you can’t borrow money for retirement, your child can always borrow money for college.  And there are many programs to help them pay for schooling – and it’s very possible to find colleges that meet 90% of a student’s financial need.

3. Parents’ financial strain can have negative impacts on their children, and parents who haven’t saved enough for retirement can end up being a burden on their own adult children.

Before prioritizing money for college:

Ensure that you an appropriate emergency savings fund.

Ensure that you are on track for retirement.

Consider saving for college in a taxable investment account instead of a 529. No, you won’t get the same tax benefit as saving in a 529 account, but this fund can be used for non-college expenses if you should need it.

Sometimes being “selfish” can be an act of selflessness.

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1. Have an appropriate emergency fund in a high-yield account.  Vanguard recommends 3 to 6 months, though your needs may differ depending on your job security and your exposure to the likelihood of unplanned expenses.

2. Identify areas where you can reduce unneeded spending.  Write down and track your spending on recurring & non-recurring expenses and discretionary vs. necessary spending.  Consider using a spending and budgeting app for a month or two to help.

3. Can you increase your income (something that is difficult for teachers to do without leaving teaching)?  Will more education increase your earning potential?  Do you have time for a side gig that capitalizes on your skills?

4. Automate your savings and investing.  Behavioral factors are one of the biggest obstacles to financial security.  Consider automating your investments into low-cost, high-quality investment funds (consider a simple target-date index retirement fund) at brokerage firms with no fees, like Vanguard or Fidelity.

5. Make sure you have appropriate, cost-effective life insurance.  You may just need term-life insurance, which you can likely buy at a very low cost from MainePERS through your school department.

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Financial Security: don't let savings burn

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Financial Security: don't let savings burn

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Have you ever checked the interest rate on your savings or checking account.  There’s a good chance that it’s close to zero, and if it’s not, you likely have to jump through hoops to get a decent rate.  What this likely means is that every year your savings is being burned away by inflation.

If you hold $10,000 in a savings that pays no interest, with an inflation rate of 3%, you would have the equivalent of only $7400 after 10 years. Your money lost 26% of its value!

While it’s a good idea to hold on to your local bank account, consider some high-yield alternatives for holding most of your savings, like:

Fidelity’s cash management account:  free checks, debit card, and withdrawals at any ATM

Vanguard’s cash plus account

Here are several other options: just watch the fine print

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Financial Security:  how Maine educators can optimize Social Security with minimal side work

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Financial Security:  how Maine educators can optimize Social Security with minimal side work

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Following the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), Maine teachers and Ed Techs (II and III) are no longer financially penalized for receiving Social Security. Because of this change, earning a relatively small amount of Social Security covered income can yield an incredibly high return on your investment.

Here is how the math works in your favor:

The Eligibility Threshold: To qualify for retirement benefits, you need a lifetime total of 40 credits (roughly 10 years of part-time work).

The Low Cost of Entry: You can earn a maximum of 4 credits per year. In 2026, you earn one credit for every $1,890 you make. Earning just $7,560 in a single year maxes out your credits for that year.

The "35-Year" Advantage: Social Security calculates your benefit based on your highest 35 years of earnings. If you only work 10 years under Social Security, the remaining 25 years are averaged as "$0."

The Big Payoff: While a low 35-year average results in a smaller absolute check, it triggers Social Security’s progressive formula. The system replaces a much higher percentage of income (90%) for low earners than it does for high earners. If your average is low, 100% of your earnings are rewarded at the highest rate possible.

One thing to watch out for: If you are self-employed or work a "gig" job as a contractor, you will likely be required to pay both your and the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare taxes, about 15% of your pay, though half of these taxes may be deductible on your tax return. And these taxes may be a worthwhile investment in unlocking Social Security benefits if you are close to the 40 quarter mark.

The Bottom Line:

If you work just enough to earn your 40 credits—which you could do via summer jobs, side hustles, or even post-retirement work—you could be rewarded with $162/month in today's dollars for the rest of your life.

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There are some good reasons to do so.  Going into retirement without a mortgage can reduce financial strain, especially if the interest rate is high.  However, as of 2025, over 50% of mortgages had an interest rate under 4%, and over 20% of mortgages had a rate under 3%.  Historically speaking, these are very low rates and paying off a mortgage with a low interest rate isn’t always a good financial decision.

Over the past 50 years, the “classic” 60-40 stock-bond portfolio has compounded at an annual rate of 9.5% (past results don't guarantee future results) and more conservative investors can currently lock in a 10-year Treasury bond at over 4%.  Hanging on to a mortgage with a low interest can actually help a retiree because if you pay off your mortgage, your money is “stuck” in your house.  To get it out you'll need to take out a home equity loan, downsize, or do a reverse mortgage.  On the other hand, if your money is in a well-diversified portfolio, it is much easier to access to meet your living expenses in retirement.

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Pay off high-interest credit card debt.

Credit cards can carry interest rates up to 30%.  Many don't realize that paying the minimum payment on a $1000 purchase will ultimately cost about $2800, almost triple the original cost of the purchase.

Historically, the stock market has returned around 10%, yet some people are putting money away for retirement while carrying credit card debt month to month.  Why make, at best, 10% on your money in a retirement account when you can make 20% to 30% on your money by paying down a credit card?  That is an amazing return!

Steps you can take to address credit card debt:

Prioritize paying down high-interest debt by reducing spending where you can and/or temporarily reducing saving for retirement

If your credit score is high enough, consider a credit card offering a 0% interest-rate balance transfer (usually banks charge a balance transfer fee of 3% to 5%, which is still a great rate for almost two years of 0% interest).  Some options are listed here at NerdWallet.

Call your credit card company and ask them to lower the interest rate on your current card.  Read more here from Experian.

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Build wealth:  open an investment account

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Build wealth:  open an investment account

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There a few options here for a minor (under age 18 in Maine):

Custodial Roth IRA:  This is an option if the minor has earned income.  Many brokerage firms offer these accounts, like Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, etc.  The adult (custodian) has control of the account until the minor reaches the age of majority.  Under current law, a Roth IRA provides for tax-free growth forever.  Contributions can always be withdrawn at any age without taxes or penalties, but the withdrawal of gains before age 59.5 will result in taxes and penalties (except for certain uses such as a first-time home buyer or for educational expenses).  Roth IRAs have no impact on college financial aid, unless the funds are withdrawn to pay for college expenses.

Uniform Gift to Minor Act (UGMA) account:  This is an option for minors who have no earned income, and the contribution limits are much higher.  However, these accounts have tax implications for the student and the parent, including impacting college financial aid to a greater degree than assets held directly by the parent.  You can find more information about these accounts at brokerage firms like Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab.

Fidelity’s Youth Account:  Fidelity offers an account for children between 13 and 18 years old.  This account is similar to a UGMA account in that the child doesn’t need to have earned income to put money in the account, however a big difference is that the child controls the account from the get-go (though the parent can monitor the account).  Once the child turns 18, the parent can no longer monitor the account.  This account also impacts a student’s college aid more than assets held in a parent’s name.

A highly flexible alternative is to use a 529 account. See the post above.

Once a student turns 18 they can open up their own IRA or taxable brokerage account.

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Check out these sources for rich visuals related to personal finance:

Federal Reserve infographic posters

The Visual Capitalist

4 key infographics for your personal finance classroom

Posters & decorating ideas for your classroom from NextGen

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The IRS rules that govern IRAs can be cumbersome, but there are two rules in particular that young people need to be aware of when using a Roth IRA.

The first rule is that the young person must have “earned income.”  This means that they actually work a formal job, such as at a restaurant, or work "informally" through a baby-sitting gig.  In the baby-sitting example, the young person won’t receive a W-2, so they or their parent should keep careful records of the dates and hours worked, and wages earned.  This is crucial in case the IRS were to come calling.

Secondly, there are contribution limits.  The annual limit is $7000 in 2025 for individuals under 50.  However,  an individual can only contribute $7000 or the total of their earned income for the year, whichever is smaller.  So, a young person with $3000 in earned income can contribute $3000.  And one doesn’t have to deposit the very dollars that they earned.  For example, if in the same calendar year, one earned $1500 from working and spent all of that money.  Then grandma gave them a check for $1500.  The young person could deposit that $1500 gift into their Roth IRA.

This article from Fidelity provides more information about IRAs for minors.

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While the more obvious forms of financial discrimination, like "redlining" in this video clip, may seem behind us, not long ago, the U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement with SunTrust Mortgage for discriminating against Black and Hispanic Americans. The U.S. government alleged that SunTrust charged minorities significantly higher interest rates on mortgages than non-Hispanic white borrowers.

Have your students use this mortgage calculator to determine how much more interest a family would pay over 30 years for a $300,000 loan at 8% interest versus 6% interest. Then ask them to discuss the personal and societal implications of such results.

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A decade ago, the average first-time home buyer was 31 years old.  Today, it's closer to 38. It has become more challenging to own a house.  And while there are costs to renting, there are many advantages, such as the flexibility to move for a career opportunity, rent a home on the beach during off-season months, or to easily move when the neighbor turns their front lawn into a junkyard......

Owning a home is not objectively superior to renting.  However, there is one thing that renters sometimes don't do, or are unable to do, and that is to “rent like a homeowner" by paying themself equity.

Economic theory suggests that the cost of homeownership should equal that of renting.  There are many explicit costs of home ownership that renters don't pay:  property taxes, replacing the roof, interest on a mortgage, etc.  The homeowner gains equity by paying all of these expensive costs as they pay down the mortgage over time.  In other words, they build wealth.  This wealth is helpful for all kinds of things, including acting as a safety net or to tap through a home equity loan.

Renters don't pay property taxes, roof repairs, or mortgage interest, but they should act as if they do by paying these costs to themself, by investing the money they would have spent on these costs.  This way the renter also builds "equity.”  To economists, this is what equates the total cost of homeownership with that of renting.  And this will help you build wealth as a renter, just as a homeowner does. Of course, in today's economy this is more easily said than done.

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Build wealth:  prioritize financial decisions

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Build wealth:  prioritize financial decisions

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Sometimes young people want to start investing without evaluating whether they are in a financial position to do so.

Before jumping into saving for retirement, it is important to first determine if the rest of one's financial life is in order. FINRA provides a series of modules to help individuals make this determination.

Here's a summary of the steps that FINR suggests:

Consult: Talk to partners to align goals and see your HR dept. or an expert for help.

Calculate: Quantify your goal and set interim targets.

Calibrate: Balance your objectives against risk, time, and your resources.

Compartmentalize: Divide long-term plans into individual, immediate steps.

Automate: Automate your investments to ensure steady progress.

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Public Student Loan Forgiveness - What changed?

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Public Student Loan Forgiveness - What changed?

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PSLF is a federal program that forgives a portion of federal direct student loans if you work full-time in qualifying public service employment.  It doesn’t matter what you do for work, only who pays you.  Both a teacher and a school bus driver may qualify for PSLF if they are paid by a qualifying employer such as a public school.  The employee must have direct student loans and be on an income-driven payment plan.

Changes to the program:

In 2023, the Biden administration created the SAVE program to replace an older repayment plan.  The SAVE plan was generally cheaper for borrowers than the previous plan (some borrowers had a payment of $0) and it reduced the payment period for forgiveness to ten years.

In 2024, citing legal challenges to the SAVE program, the Congress and President Trump phased out SAVE.

Those on the SAVE plan must move to either another preexisting plan income-driven plan (some of these will eventually expire too) or to the new plan that the Congress created to ultimately replace these other plans, called “RAP” (Repayment Assistance Plan).

Starting on July 1, 2026, the federal government will begin issuing notices to those on the SAVE plan that they have 90 days to select a new qualifying plan.

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While the SAVE program has been eliminated, the older income-driven plans (such as IBR, PAYE, or ICR) will also be phased out, though in various phases. The only one of these three older options that an existing borrower can remain on, if they don’t take out any new loans is the IBR plan.  Anyone taking out loans after July 1, 2026, must be on the new RAP (Repayment Assistance Plan) program.

If you are on SAVE and won't be taking out new loans after July 1, 2026:

You must move to either RAP or one of the older plans (IBR, PAYE, or ICR) within 90 days of receiving your notice.

If you don't take action to move, you will not be automatically be switched to the new RAP program and your payments may not count toward PSLF.

If you haven't been making payments under SAVE, you can buy back these months so that you make additional progress toward forgiveness.

If you are on ICR or PAYE and don't take out new loans, you can stay on these plans until July 1, 2028, at which time you can move to the IBR plan or to the new RAP program.

If you are on the IBR plan and don't take out new loans, you can stay on this plan until your loans are paid off, or move to the new RAP program.

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The new Public Service Loan Forgiveness landscape is very confusing. Fortunately, the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) provides free counseling to Mainers to help them determine which option they should choose to ensure that they are in the best PSLF program for them.

FAME offers free student loan counseling through The Independent Student Loan Advisors (TISLA).

Contact them through this website to get free help figuring out what to do.