Financial Literacy Highlights Podcast

Investing

Investing is when you invest in a company. A stock is a share of ownership in a company. Stocks are also called shares, or shares of stocks. Owning stocks in a company means that you actually own a piece of the company. Someone who owns a stock is called a stocks holder or a share holder. The stock market is difficult to get into, but its a good way to make money fast.

Consumer Fraud

Consumer fraud is when someone steals your identity or any piece of information from you and tries to manipulate it. They may take out lines of credit or, if they get a hold of your credit card, they may take out all of the money in your account. Some government laws like the Fair Debt collection Practices Act or the Fair Credit Reporting Act helps to prevent identity or consumer fraud. To prevent this from happening, you should get a credit report to check if someone made any suspicious transactions with it. Also, don't give anyone your SSN. If it doesn't seem like a legit call or website, don't give them your information.

Taxes and Insurance.

Taxes is a payment someone has to make to the government so that the government can fix the city or town. When you pay taxes, it comes out of your pay check each month. Insurance helps you protect the tings you own, like a car, house, or belongings in your apartment.

Renting vs. Owning

Renting and owning are two totally different concepts. Renting is when you pay for something to use temporarily. Owning is when you, well, own it. It just means its yours and renting means its yours for a temporary time.  You can rent apartments or condos, and you can buy houses and condos.

Financing Higher Education

Financing higher education is just a fancy way of saying paying for college. Some ways that you can pay for college is with student loans. One way to apply for students loans is FAFSA. FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which helps students find loans and grants. Another way to finance higher education is grants and scholarships. The difference between loans and scholarships/grants is that you have to pay back grants, but scholarships and grants are technically free money. Financing higher education is simple if you take your time and research about they ways to go about doing it.

Credit Score

A credit score is a numerical rating of your credit-worthiness. Your credit score can go from 300-850, 300 being the least and 850 being the most. Your credit history is a record of a person's borrowing and repayment activity. Taking out loans or lines of credit goes to your credit history.