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Education & Information

A quiz reveals some holes in Americans' financial literacy.

Financial literacy is always important, but in uncertain economic times, it's vital. The financial world is complex and multi-faceted, and there's no exact gauge of what you need to know in order to be considered informed. There are, however, some financial fundamentals that everyone needs to understand on a basic level in order to avoid making catastrophic money decisions and to be able to follow what's happening with the economy on a larger scale.

Unfortunately, many Americans have never taken an economics class and aren't well-versed in things like inflation, investments, interest rates, and other economic realities. To be fair, economics can be confusing even when you try to learn, but without understanding some basic concepts, it can make a huge difference in your financial wellbeing.

financial literacy, money, finances, economics, economyMany Americans need to increase their financial literacy.Photo credit: Canva

The non-profit FINRA Investor Education Foundation surveyed 25,500 adult Americans and asked them to take a seven-question financial knowledge quiz to test their financial literacy. The results were a bit concerning, as only a small fraction of quiz-takers answered all seven questions correctly.

Here are the questions they asked:

1. Suppose you have $100 in a savings account earning 2 percent interest a year. After five years, how much would you have?

More than $102

Exactly $102

Less than $102

Don't Know

2. Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account is 1 percent a year and inflation is 2 percent a year. After one year, would the money in the account buy more than it does today, exactly the same or less than today?

3. If interest rates rise, what will typically happen to bond prices? Rise, fall, stay the same, or is there no relationship?

4.True or false: A 15-year mortgage typically requires higher monthly payments than a 30-year mortgage but the total interest over the life of the loan will be less.

5. True or false: Buying a single company's stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.

6. Suppose you owe $1,000 on a loan and the interest rate you are charged is 20% per year compounded annually. If you didn't pay anything off, at this interest rate, how many years would it take for the amount you owe to double?

a) 0 to 2 years

b) 2 to 4 years

c) 5 to 9 years

d) 10 or more years

e) Don't know

financial literacy, math literacy, economics, finances, money managementSome financial literacy is just math literacy—understanding percentages and probabilities. Photo credit: Canva

7. Which of the following indicates the highest probability of getting a particular disease?

a) There is a one-in-twenty chance of getting the disease

b) 2% of the population will get the disease

c) 25 out of every 1,000 people will get the disease

d) Don't know

"Don't know" was an option for each question, and the average correct score across the Americans who took the quiz was 3.3 out of 7. Nationwide, 27% of people who took the quiz got the right answers on at least five of the questions, and only 4% aced all seven questions.

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Which states fared the best and worst? Here are the 10 top states by percentage of survey respondents that correctly answered five or more of the quiz question:

1. Minnesota (34.78%)

2. Wisconsin (34.46%)

3. District of Columbia (34.41%)

4. Colorado (33.89%)

5. Wyoming (33.85%)

6. Washington (32.54%)

7. Vermont (32.34%)

8. North Dakota (32.00%)

9. Oregon (31.86%)

10 Kansas (31.44%)

And here are the bottom 5 by the same metric:

New Mexico (23.2%)

West Virginia (21.4%)

Alabama (20.2%)

Mississippi (19.2%)

Louisiana (18.1%)

One piece of good news: Americans' understanding of inflation has increased significantly since the last time FINRA did a similar survey in 2021. (Or maybe that's not such good news, as it's likely a better understanding that came from experiencing an inflation crisis, but learning is learning.)

"Overall, the findings show that knowledge of everyday financial concepts remains a challenge for many Americans. The wide disparities in financial knowledge across states demonstrate that more work is required to empower all Americans with the skills and tools to make informed financial decisions and safeguard their investments,” said Gerri Walsh, President of the FINRA Foundation. "The increase in the number of respondents who correctly answered the question about the impact of inflation on savings is an encouraging sign, likely reflecting the impact of lived experience as well as increased focus on the topic. However, continued efforts are needed to ensure all Americans fully understand the effects of economic factors on their personal finances."

Not only does a lack of financial knowledge have the potential to impact people's personal finances, such as getting into credit card debt trouble or choosing unwise investments, but not understanding how things like inflation and the relationship between interest rates and investment markets can lead people to vote for politicians with questionable economic policies. How can you believe a politician will be good for the economy if you don't understand what factors contribute to keeping the economy stable and strong?

You can take the quiz yourself here and see how your knowledge compares.

Education

Grandma shares her must-have device for safe traveling, especially for folks with kids

The grandmother and pediatrician said, “I don’t go to any Airbnb or hotel without it."

A pretty easy and inexpensive travel tips that could save your life

There have been numerous reports of people dying from carbon monoxide poisoning while on vacation, including the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, whose carbon monoxide test showed a saturation level of 64%, well over what's considered lethal.

The main culprit behind these tragedies is a lack of regulation. Airbnb announced back in 2014—a few months after the short-term rental company faced one of its first reported carbon monoxide-related deaths—that it would require hosts to confirm each of their listings had carbon monoxide detectors installed. However, NBC News reported in 2023 that no such mandate has actually been instilled. Hotels don’t seem to fare much better, since not all require that carbon monoxide detectors are installed.

So, on top of the stresses of airplane travel, people also have this to worry about…which can obviously drain the joy of travel altogether.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

But one grandma (and a pediatrician, to boot) has a simple, yet powerful tip for taking safety into your own hands…literally.

In a video posted to her @Ask.Bubbie TikTok account, Florence Rosen explained why she swears by using a portable carbon monoxide detector, saying “I don’t go to any Airbnb or hotel without it because I don’t trust the carbon monoxide detectors [there] are actually kept in good repair.”

Rosen clearly wasn’t the only one to have discovered this travel hack. One person wrote, “my mom was crazy about ours growing up and now that I’m an adult, I am too.”



Another echoed, “I haven’t traveled without it…ever. US or international.”

A travel agent also chimed in, saying, “I tell all my clients to pack one and we always take one with us to hotels. So important!”

A few showed concern as to whether or not could travel via carry-on, or if it needed to be checked. Travel site AFAR media says airlines allow them in both carry-on and checked bags, but if you have a device that uses lithium batteries, those would have to be removed.

Ranging from $30-$40ish bucks on Amazon, it seems a small price to pay for peace of mind, especially if you’re traveling with kiddos, or are pregnant. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), infants and children have an “increased susceptibility to CO toxicity” because of their higher metabolic rates, with fetuses being “especially vulnerable.”

carbon monoxide at airbnb, carbon monoxide at hotel, carbon monoxide poisoning, carbon monoxide detector, travel, travel tipsA photo of a portable carbon monoxide detector from Amazonm.media-amazon.com

The scariest thing about carbon monoxide is that it’s a silent, odorless killer. Combine that with the fact that with a hotel or Airbnb, you have no idea if precautions are being taken to make sure fuel-burning appliances, such as boilers, furnaces, pool heaters, fireplaces, or water heaters are properly maintained, or that the rooms which contained them are properly vented. Any of these items, when not taken care of, can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. And you’d never know it.

Thankfully, while there should definitely be wider efforts being made to ensure his doesn’t happen, we can take matters into our own hands a little.

Follow Ask Bubbie for even more helpful tips.

Education & Information

Gardener tests whether you can regrow scraps from store-bought veggies to make a full garden

He put viral videos to the test in a real garden with some impressive results.

People try to extend the lives of their veggies by regrowing in the kitchen, but does it work in a garden?

The way plants provide food for humans and animals alike is one of the coolest things about our planet. And the way humans are honing the art of agriculture, learning to farm and garden most effectively (and hopefully sustainably) to feed the masses is one of the coolest things about humans.

Home gardening has long been a supplementary source of food for families around the world, and there's no shortage of books, websites, classes, video tutorials, and more to teach people how to do it. As many beginners find when they get started, gardening is a bit more complicated than simply putting some seeds in the ground and waiting for them to grow. You have soil composition, sunlight exposure, watering schedules, hardiness zones, pests, and other considerations that differ for each plant.

But in some ways, growing food can be less complicated than we might think, as we see demonstrated in viral videos like this one:

@creative_explained

Every day we throw out food scraps, when so much of it can be used in other ways, even regrowing food! 🤩🌱 . #upcycle #savemoney #regrow #kitchenscraps #garden #gardening #plants #plantsofinstagram #gardenlife #lifehack #hacks #diy #recycle #sustainableliving #howto #plantstagram #creativeexplained #magic #organicgardening #instadaily #tiktokstar #plantfood

Regrowing vegetables from portions of store-bought veggies seems like something that might work or might not, or that might only work a little bit for a little while. Even if you can get some romaine lettuce to sprout from a stub in your kitchen, does that mean you could plant it in a garden and have it grow into a full-fledged plant? Is it really that simple?

James Prigioni explored the question, "What happens when you regrow veggies from the store?" on his gardening channel in a video that's been watched nearly 5 million times. For 135 days, Prigioni grew onions, carrots, beets, ginger, tomatoes and more to see how the store-bought stubs would fare in a real garden. Here are the results:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

He started by soaking the veggie scraps in water in a glass cake pan, then planted them in a raised bed with soil. He covered the bed with a shade cloth for two weeks to avoid them budding plants from getting too much direct sunlight. After just two weeks, there was already new green growth coming from everything he planted except the lettuce and cabbage.

In hindsight, he said, he could have spouted the lettuce and cabbage in water first, but he really wanted to see what would happen if he just planted then as is. The one whole onion he planted turned into five onions. The beet top that survived grew into funky-shaped but much larger beet that tasted god. The carrot tops grew some long, thin carrots expanding out from the center. The potato he dropped in the ground whole turned into a harvest of over a dozen potatoes. The tomato top, which included some seeds, turned into a large tomato plant, and so did the ginger. The garlic grew greens, but because of the season, it didn't grow into bulbs.

Vegetables GIFGiphy

With a couple of exceptions, the experiment was a rousing success. Apparently, you can grow a lot more vegetables from vegetables than people may realize. The one thing he recommends is to buy organic veggies if you're going to try planting scraps, as non-organic produce sometimes has sprout inhibitors on it that might interfere with your experiment.

People in the comments are sharing their own experiences with growing veggies from veggies:

"Last year, I bought a 1.5 lbs bag of purple baby potatoes in my local ShopRite. I couldn’t find purple potato seeds, so I decided to take a chance. There were 22 baby potatoes and all of them had eyes with some growth protruding, so I knew they would take off. Sure enough, I got an excellent crop out of those 22 baby potatoes. We enjoyed them until the end of year and then somehow forgot about them. When in March I realized we had still about ten pounds of potatoes, they had already started to sprout. In April, I planted some and the rest donated to the community garden. Both – us and the community gardeners – enjoyed huge crop of delicious purple potatoes. In the past, I occasionally planted store-bought potatoes when they were sprouting, but this was the first time I deliberately purchased a bag of potatoes just for planting. I am glad I did."

potatoes, growing potatoesIt's surprisingly simple to grow potatoes from potato parts.Photo credit: Canva

"As a child of a potato farmer, if you cut that potato in 3rds so that each had a sprout, you end up with 3 plants."

"My Mom was a farmer's daughter from the Depression Era and taught me to grow potatoes from the eyes or sprouts. You simply cut them, making sure each cut has an eye, and plant them into the soil. I did this and ended up with more than I needed. My mom and I canned potatoes for days. One of my best memories."

"I love how easy tomatoes are to grow. We planted some tomatoes and when they grew our dog started going over, picking one off, walking a few steps and eating it. After she passed, tomato plants started growing all over the yard. It was like a little gift from her."

"I'm 69, when I was a little kid, my elderly neighbors, threw all their scraps, from veggies in a certain spot of the garden, they would get food from there, it amazed me, I thought that was so cool!"

"Have been doing the same kind of replanting...onions, carrots, tomatoes, beets, and now cilantro, pak chop, etc. When I clear out the fridge...anything that looks like it will regrow goes in the raised bed. It is fun."

You can follow The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni on YouTube.

1960s interview with factory workers debunks today's nostalgia

There has been a lot of emphasis on manufacturing work, whether it's where a product is manufactured or ways to bring manufacturing back to America. It seems that the topic continues to be brought up as a means to bring more jobs to America and lower prices. However, nearly all mentions of manufacturing jobs appear to be heavily coated with the rose colored tint of nostalgia, with some seemingly longing for the days of this glorious factory work.

Except, some of those longing for the opportunities that manufacturing plants bring have never actually worked in one. When harkening back to days past, it's hard to imagine the reality if you don't have a proper frame of reference. In an interview first aired in 1964, an automobile assembly line worker, Herbert Slater, shares the reality of working in a manufacturing plant. His interview is candid, showing just how challenging factory work can be and not for the reasons some may think.

One of Slater's biggest gripes is how monotonous and boring his job is. Early in the interview he laments that there's no real thought that goes into working on the assembly line feeling. It's as if someone just flips a switch on his back so he can do his work.

assembly line, work, working, factory, manufacturing, workersassembly line vintage GIF by US National ArchivesGiphy

"Most of the men working in this plant, like myself, are forced into the job in the first place. Mainly because once a man gets in there, if he's got a family, he's stuck there. He hasn't got the education to get a better job," Slater says before further explaining that the work on the line is so busy that he has no idea who the people are around him are. "The few men I have working around me, I don't know because we don't have time to actually meet each other, can't get a chance to talk so I don't know their names and I don't know if they know mine."

At the time, it was obvious that automated machinery would be taking over the jobs done by Slater and his coworkers, much like Artificial Intelligence threatens the previously secure jobs of today. While the young father in the interview doesn't particularly care for his job and sounds quite depressed, he also fears he does not have the skill or education for anything else.

The level of dissatisfaction along with the threat of automation had managers looking for alternatives for their employees in hopes to stay ahead of what was to come. It wasn't an easy time for the supervisors or the factory workers needing to be retrained in order to maintain stable employment in the future.

"One problem we talked about is, ya know, can you help people, can you direct them, can you guide them, can you counsel them, can you befriend them, can you be concerned about their welfare and at the same time, you know, get the product out and make money for the company," one manager shares during a meeting with other managers. "And what happens when you try to guide, and educate and counsel 3,000 people?"

assembly line, factory work, manufacturing, workers, factoryPlants Growing GIF by Archives of Ontario | Archives publiques de l'OntarioGiphy

It seems while some romanticize days long gone, the reality of those well-paying factory jobs is much different than expected. The truth is that many of the jobs back then were being phased out for automation and the people working on the assembly line were much less happy than the manufacturing propaganda videos of the past let on. In this interview it appears that everyone from the workers on the line all the way up to the CEO were stressed about the happiness of the employees and stability of the job market without a clear path forward.

While the thought of manufacturing jobs coming back to America is nostalgic, the dose of reality from the past may make some reconsider.