Young people must navigate a financial world filled with manipulative traps. How we help them become smart consumers? Media and financial literacy become critical skills. Jim Wasserman and Jiab Wasserman address this educational challenge in two exciting new books “The Social Media Diet “and “Behavioral Economics.”

Both bring a wealth of knowledge to this endeavor. Jim Wasserman is a former business litigation attorney who for the past two decades has been a media literacy, economics and humanities teacher. Jiab Wasserman is a former industrial engineer and Vice President at Bank of America. I am thrilled to have a chance to talk to them about how teachers and parents can provide needed guidance as students face their own financial crossroads.

Last year I was asked by personal finance writer Jonathan Clements, who founded and edits the blog https://humbledollar.com/, to submit an essay about my own financial journey. The process required considerable personal reflection. His recently published book My Money Journey – How 30 People Found Financial Freedom provides many interesting stories. It inspired me to conduct interviews with other contributors. This is the fifth episode of a series of talks with these writers.

My guest Anika Hedstrom is a certified financial planner who co-founded the advisory firm Uplevel Wealth. Her previous work experience included international and domestic investment trading.  In her essay “Margin for Error” written for the book My Money Journey, Anika shares how she faced unexpected medical and financial challenges with her young family.  This profound experience helped shape her business vision, while she grew her advisory practice.

Last year I was asked by personal finance writer Jonathan Clements, who founded and edits the blog https://humbledollar.com/, to submit an essay about my own financial journey. The process required considerable personal reflection. His recently published book My Money Journey – How 30 People Found Financial Freedom provides many interesting stories. It inspired me to conduct interviews with other contributors.  

This is the fourth episode of a series of talks with these writers. My guest Jiab Wasserman, grew up in Thailand, and received an engineering degree at a top university in her native country. Two years later, she moved to the United States to pursue her MBA degree.  

Overcoming challenges as a frugal, single Mom who worked in a traditional male field,  Jiab became a successful financial services executive.  At the peak of her career, she retired at the relatively early age of 53, to travel and live overseas with her husband.