Topic: Personal finance

Santa Fe New Mexican: Let’s reimagine financial literacy education

Post author By Lucas J. Parker
Post date December 25, 2025
1 Comment on Santa Fe New Mexican: Let’s reimagine financial literacy education

We need to modernize how financial literacy is taught entirely.

Tags APR Education, Compounding Interest, Consumer Finance, credit access, Credit Card Debt, Credit Scores, Debt Management, Economic Education, Economic Opportunity, Education Policy, Education Reform, Financial Curriculum Modernization, Financial Decision Making, Financial Empowerment, Financial Literacy, Financial Literacy Legislation, Financial Literacy Reform, Financial Responsibility, Financial Wellbeing, Gen Z Debt, HB 171, High School Financial Literacy, Household Debt, Interest Rates, Mortgage Education, New Mexico Education, New Mexico Policy, New Mexico Schools, Personal Finance Education, Real World Finance Skills, Responsible Borrowing, Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), Student Debt, Youth Financial Education

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The Need to Modernize Financial Literacy in Uncertain Economic Times

Post author By Lucas J. Parker
Post date December 6, 2025
1 Comment on The Need to Modernize Financial Literacy in Uncertain Economic Times

A modernized financial-literacy framework must equip students with practical, real-world tools to navigate an increasingly complex and often predatory consumer-finance landscape.

Tags Amortization Schedules, Annual Percentage Rate (APR), Consumer Finance, Consumer Protection, Credit Market Instruction, Credit Policy Impacts, Credit Scoring Education, Credit-Market Case Studies, Debt Management Education, Decision-Making Skills, Economic Mobility, Financial Curriculum Redesign, Financial Education Reform, Financial Independence For Students, Financial Literacy, Financial Technology (Fintech) Education, High School Curriculum Modernization, High-Cost Credit Products, Household Debt Burden, Industry Practitioner Insights, Lending Transparency, Loan Scenarios, Long-Term Mortgage Misalignment, Mortgage Interest Accrual, Opportunity Cost Understanding, Payday Loan Risks, Predatory Lending Awareness, Real-World Financial Skills, Regulatory Environment, Risk Assessment Training, Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI), Student Financial Outcomes, Youth Financial Preparedness

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The Real Cost of Homeownership: Beyond the Mortgage and APR

Post author By Ed Harris
Post date October 15, 2025
No Comments on The Real Cost of Homeownership: Beyond the Mortgage and APR

This guest commentary was written by Ed Harris, CEO of Harris Northwest Advisors and a Visiting Contributor at the Southwest Public Policy Institute. In his argument about APR, Patrick Brenner is wrong but inadvertently correct on a larger point he doesn’t address. An APR calculation is mathematically accurate. Most fixed-rate 30-year mortgages are priced similarly, […]

Culture Debt Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Markets and Finance Political Thought Public Opinion Reader Replies Transparency

Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part IV

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 9, 2025
2 Comments on Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part IV

When you publish in The Wall Street Journal, you have to expect a few readers to come out swinging. Some disagree on principle; others on tone. And then there are those who lecture you like you just flunked Econ 101. Read the full series here. Meet Jay Wright, Adjunct Professor of Finance at Georgetown University. […]

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Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part III

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 9, 2025
1 Comment on Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part III

The responses to my article for The Wall Street Journal “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages” keep coming… They’re thoughtful, challenging, and occasionally humbling. What started as a critique of an outdated lending standard has evolved into a larger conversation about financial literacy, honesty in measurement, and the way we misunderstand the true cost of money. […]

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Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part II

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 9, 2025
2 Comments on Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part II

When The Wall Street Journal published my op-ed, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” I expected disagreement. What I didn’t expect was the flood of thoughtful, funny, and occasionally fiery responses from readers across the country. Read the full series here. Some wrote to debate, others to commiserate, and a few to wonder aloud whether the […]

Culture Debt Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Housing Markets and Finance Political Thought Public Opinion Reader Replies Transparency

Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part I

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date October 9, 2025
4 Comments on Compounding Interest: Reader Replies, Part I

After my recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “The Case Against 30-Year Mortgages,” readers had plenty to say. Some were critical, most were kind, and many brilliantly insightful. Below is a selection of responses, shared anonymously for privacy, that reveal how deeply Americans feel about the strange alchemy of homeownership, debt, and the illusion […]

Conservatism Culture Domestic Policy Economic Opportunity Economy Government Regulation Legal and Judicial Life Markets and Finance Political Thought Poverty & Welfare Poverty and Inequality Progressivism Public Opinion Top Issues Updates

The Price of Credit: How Rate Caps Hurt America’s Cash Poor

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date January 29, 2025
No Comments on The Price of Credit: How Rate Caps Hurt America’s Cash Poor

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Tags Borrowing, Congressional Black Caucus Institute (CBCI), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Credit, Independent Women's Forum (IWF), Lending, Small Dollar Loans, SoLo Funds

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Stacy on the Right with Patrick: “No Loan For You!”

Post author By Patrick M. Brenner
Post date June 7, 2023
No Comments on Stacy on the Right with Patrick: “No Loan For You!”

Stacy Washington from Stacy on the Right hosts guest Patrick M. Brenner. SPPI's groundbreaking investigative report "No Loan For You!" is getting even more national attention! Patrick joined Stacy to talk about personal finance, credit access, unicorn loans, and the Seinfeld episode that inspired it all. SiriusXM Patriot Conservative Talk Channel 125 SiriusXM Patriot is […]