Index Card Finance and Valentine's Day

Index Card Finance and Valentine's Day

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

  • Feb 12, 2016 10:00 pm
  • 1:44:33 mins

Index Card Finance (1:02) Guest: Harold Pollack, PhD, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Chicago, Co-Author of "The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated" There’s an entire industry dedicated to helping us manage our money, make it work for us, plan for retirement, and get rich off the stock market with our best interests in mind. These financial advice companies give the impression that getting it right is enormously complicated and not something any sane person would undertake without help from a professional. But Harold Pollack says it’s just not true. He’s a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago and he off-handedly mentioned to a financial reporter a few years ago that everything most people need to know about money management could fit on a three-by-five card. Then he actually wrote it down on a three-by-five card. It went viral online and big name finance experts started agreeing with him. It was such a phenomenon that Pollack, and the original journalist he mentioned the card to, expanded the idea into a book. It’s called “The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated”, and it’s just out. Valentine's Day and Modern Love (52:16) Guests: Brian Willoughby, PhD, Researcher and Professor of Family Life at BYU; Barbara Rusch, Victorian Ephemera Collector; Bruce Forbes, PhD, Author of “America’s Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories” Love and courtship has changed over time. In the Victorian Era, American courtship included exchanging flirtatious cards to evade the disapproving eyes of parents and chaperones. Here’s an example from a young man: “May I be permitted the blissful pleasure of escorting you hope this evening.” Imagine the hearts a young man could set aflutter passing out cards printed with that sentiment! After looking at love and courtship at the turn of the century, we jump ahead to 2016 for look at how kids are flirting and falling in love these days. Texts and emojis have replaced those Victorian cards. You probably think Valentine’s Day started with St. Valentine, who was somehow known for his loving acts, but our guest, Bruce Forbes says you’d be wrong on that front. He’s a professor of religious studies at Morningside College and author of the book, “America’s Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories.”