Take-Aways From AFCPE Symposium Recordings-Part 1

 

A great feature of the annual Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education (AFCPE) Symposium is that AFCPE records all the breakout sessions and makes them available online to attendees for one year. Long gone are the days when you needed to 1. choose one session from multiple topics of interest and miss hearing others, or 2. buy cassette/DVD recordings of missed sessions.

 

Over the past ten months, when I had time, I slowly made my way through video recordings of parts of the 2025 Symposium that I was interested in. This post provides a very eclectic summary of my key take-aways from the “rest of the 2025 AFCPE Symposium.”

Money Mindsets- Relationships with money last an entire lifetime; actually longer via estate planning decisions that affect others. A good way to change a difficult money relationship is to flip the script. Example: “I’m bad with money” to “I’m working on my relationship with money.”

 

Heirs Property- This is where a property owner dies, heirs do not have a deed or will, and land or a home are underutilized. Someone pays property taxes but real property cannot be sold or borrowed against without clear title. The best solution is an honest family conversation about moving forward.

 

Youth Financial Education- Research has found lower credit card delinquency rates and better post-secondary education loan decisions linked to financial education graduation requirements. In addition, teachers’ finances are positively impacted by personal finance professional development.

 

Buy Now, Pay Later- BNPL, where payments for something are spread into future installments, is most attractive to young adults and people with income constraints. It can lead to overspending and impulse buying. Research found that BNPL use is associated with decreased long-term planning.

 

Trauma-Informed Financial Education- Trauma is not the same as stress, which tends to dissipate over time. Trauma sticks around. Financial trauma is caused by persistent financial instability and multiple negative experiences (e.g., homelessness, domestic abuse) result in complex trauma.

 

AI for Professionals- People who know how to use AI are valued. Benefits of AI include time savings, a “cool, trendy factor,” and brainstorming ideas and content. Cons include incorrect output called hallucinations, math errors, and environmental concerns (e.g., water, electricity, and noise).

 

Reverse Mortgages- 95% of borrowers still have equity in their homes when they pass away with a reverse mortgage (RM). At least one borrower must live in the home for six months and a day or a RM loan comes due. A RM line of credit is based on the age of the youngest borrower. Heirs of a RM house have three options: sell it, purchase it, or give the house to the lender and walk away.

 

Debt Relief Options- If it is not possible to repay existing debt, people have six debt relief options: 1. Direct negotiation with creditors, 2. Debt consolidation (refinancing), 3. A debt management plan (DMP) through a non-profit credit counseling agency, 4. Debt settlement, 5. Bankruptcy (Chapter 7 or 13), and 6. Debt forgiveness, where a debt is cancelled (e.g., Public Service Loan Forgiveness).

This post provides general personal finance or consumer decision-making information and does not address all the variables that apply to an individual’s unique situation. It does not endorse specific products or services and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

 

Take-Aways From a NGPF Virtual Conference

 

I recently attended parts of the 2026 Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) “Back to School” Virtual Conference. Keynote speaker Beth Kobliner discussed trends in personal finance from 1996, when she first wrote her book Get a Financial Life, to the 5^th edition available in 2026.

Yanely Espinal from NGPF led a breakout session about teaching about sports betting and prediction markets.

Below are some of my key take-aways:

 

Young Adult Personal Finance

 

New Book Topics- New topics in the 5^th edition of Get a Financial Life (and the world of personal finance) include social media influencers, online gambling and prediction markets, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) purchases, peer-to-peer (P2P) apps like Venmo and Zelle, and “frictionless’ payment methods (e.g., mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay) where people don’t feel the “pain” of spending money like they do when they pay with cash. Money in P2P apps is not FDIC-protected.

 

First-Time Homebuyer Age- In 1996, the average age of a first-time home buyer was 28 years old. In 2026, it is age 40. This means twelve fewer years of home equity building and a greater probability than previous generations of carrying mortgage debt into retirement.

 

Money Mindsets- People want quick cash without the preparation, work, and time needed to build wealth. This can lead to risky behavior by young adults (especially males) because so many things like housing seem out of reach. Ms. Kobliner also cautioned viewers not to buy sale items on a credit card with a higher APR% (interest) than the sale percentage off.

 

Sports Betting and Prediction Markets

 

Opportunity Cost- Gambling products are designed with a negative expected return for participants in the aggregate. The true cost of gambling is not just a losing bet but the compound interest on an investment that was never made. Research has found that young adults are redirecting money originally earmarked for investing into sports betting, thereby slowing possible wealth accumulation.

 

Normalized Behavior- Online gambling is a form of entertainment but not an investment strategy to build wealth. However, surveys have found that young adults normalize gambling because they believe it is a form of investing. With gambling, people take a risk on a chance-based outcome where loss is built in. With investing, people take a risk to own an asset that can potentially grow over time.

 

The House Edge- This is a casino’s or betting platform’s built-in mathematical advantage. Some people get lucky in the short-term, which encourages them to keep playing. However, the longer they play, the more the house edge eats away at their balance. Prediction markets want a high volume of bettors because they earn a percentage on each bet made.

This post provides general personal finance or consumer decision-making information and does not address all the variables that apply to an individual’s unique situation. It does not endorse specific products or services and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

 

Take-Aways From a Class About AI

During the past 3.5 years, I have used AI and taught about a dozen classes and webinars about AI use to both professional and consumer audiences. I also like to attend programs about AI to learn more myself. Below are eight take-aways from a recent AI class that I attended:

AI is Not Going Away- The genie is out of bottle, so to speak. AI is not going anywhere. Job security is a big concern but the biggest issue is not losing a job to AI, but losing a job to a person who knows how to use AI. There will continue to be less human interaction for business transactions. If people don’t get on board, they will be locked out.

 

The Two Sides of AI- AI can be both awe-full (i.e., a deep amazement of something that is very grand or powerful) and awful (i.e., very bad, ugly, or unpleasant). On the positive side, AI use enhances productivity and is like having a personal assistant. AI concerns include impacts on water and electricity and misuse by bad actors that program AI to do bad things.

 

AI Improvements- When the generative AI program ChatGPT launched in November 22, it was basically a one-way experience. Users posted a query or directions to create something via a prompt and received a response. Flash forward to today and AI is holding conversations with its users, often suggesting extensions of the content that was initially requested.

 

Sobering Comparison- The class presenter compared the potential for AI misuse to another frightening discovery, the creation and use of the atomic bomb during World War II. Both have the potential for severe consequences if misused.

 

AI Characteristics- Users need to know that AI can hallucinate. This is where it produces content that seems well-written but is incorrect. In addition, AI output may contain biases such as racism, agism, and misogyny. Therefore, AI content must always be reviewed by a subject matter expert. AI also tends to be sycophantic and agree with what others have said, instead of offering challenges.

 

AI Availability- Unlike human workers, AI is available 24/7/365. It never takes vacations or retires. Some free AI platforms cut users off for a day or so after excessive use within a short period of time. Some people like AI (vs. a human agent) for financial questions because they don’t need to feel ashamed to ask a “dumb question.”

 

AI Summaries- AI can be used to summarize books and articles. Just include in the prompt the link for a specific publication.  AI can also be used to summarize email exchanges and online Zoom calls (with meeting notes). Some people also use AI for medical research so they can have a more informed interaction with their doctor.

 

Other AI Uses- AI uses that were mentioned include 1. Providing data about people and searching for an obituary to find out if they died, 2. Creating recipes from food on hand, 3. Summarizing a book, play, or movie, 4. Using AI as a companion to stimulate conversation (AI will respond and ask you questions), 5. Creating letters, emails, and poems for personal or professional use, and 6. Creating personalized graphics like the one for me above.

This post provides general personal finance or consumer decision-making information and does not address all the variables that apply to an individual’s unique situation. It does not endorse specific products or services and should not be construed as legal or financial advice. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.