Making informed financial decisions

Stanford’s Mind Over Money program offers a series of video seminars that provide a wealth of information about financial management.

Managing your finances can seem like a complicated process and a time-consuming burden when you’re juggling school and work.

But fear not.

Stanford’s Mind Over Money program – part of Student Financial Services – is here to help alleviate your concerns and guide you to financial well-being. Although Tax Day has come and gone, the program’s services and resources are available to students year-round. From financial coaching to budgeting workshops, there are many opportunities to improve your financial literacy  –  and you don’t even have to leave the couch.

The program recently published a series of video seminars from the Design Your Financial Future series led last November by tax director and alum Chris Canellos, as well as several guest speakers. The videos cover six topics: financial planning and debt, taxes, personal risk management and insurance, equity investing, real estate investing and retirement planning. For convenient viewing, each session is broken down into short 2- to 10-minute videos that focus on subtopics such as the portion of fellowships that are taxable and the difference between term and permanent life insurance.

The video seminars are the latest in a treasure trove of financial literacy resources provided by Mind Over Money. It recently launched a financial coaching program that gives students the opportunity to share their personal financial circumstance with university-trusted individuals.

On May 12, Mind Over Money will host the Women & Money Conference featuring keynote speaker Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, president of the Charles Schwab Foundation. The conference, which was inspired by research showing that women are generally less confident than men in making financial decisions, will address subjects such as credit, investing and negotiating.

The goal of the Mind Over Money program is to provide students with the knowledge they need to strengthen their financial skills and decision-making, director Kelly Takahashi said.

“We want to make financial information available to all students, regardless of their backgrounds, and we want to create a campus culture in which students feel comfortable talking about financial issues.”