The Inspiration to Find a New Way to Teach Teens About Personal Finance
Money Savvy Teen began as a book manuscript by new parents Julie and Robbie Hyman. When their daughter was born in 2009, evidence of Americans' lack of financial literacy was front-page news everywhere – record-high credit card debt, record-low savings and astronomical rates of foreclosures and other serious financial problems. The Hymans realized the previous generation had never received a basic financial education in school, and they feared their daughter's generation wouldn't learn these critical life skills either.
The vision to bring the Hymans' financial training to the web as an e-learning course comes from Wendy Campanella, an entrepreneur who likes a business challenge and loves all things Internet. Wendy understood that today's young people, although not yet trained to be Money Savvy Teens, are indeed Web Savvy Teens – and Wendy had the vision to bring these important personal finance lessons to the place where today's teens are most comfortable and receptive to learning.
The Money Savvy Teen personal finance course has been reviewed by professionals for technical accuracy, relevance to teens, and alignment with commonly accepted psychological principles. This team is led by Dr. Richard L. (Dick) Strayer, a CPA and university professor in business and economics; and Dr. Rita Hyman, a clinical psychologist.
About Julie Hyman
Julie Hyman has been a successful software product manager for over 15 years. Responsible for rolling out large-scale enterprise software products to multibillion-dollar firms, Julie has developed software-training materials and delivered educational sessions to such companies as Motorola, PetSmart, Family Dollar, The Men's Wearhouse, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and Brinker International Restaurants (owners of Chili's, Macaroni Grill and other chains).
Julie is an expert at turning complex concepts and highly technical information into easy-to-understand ideas and principles.
About Robbie Hyman
Robbie Hyman is a professional corporate copywriter who has published dozens of educational articles – in magazines such as Young Money, Working World and Sales & Marketing. He also writes a popular column on improving communication skills for the Washington, DC, publication FedSmith.
Robbie is a partner in Professional Business Seminars, a professional-skills training company. He has written training courses on sales, communication skills and time management – which have been used by several Fortune 500 companies.
About Wendy Campanella
Wendy is an entrepreneur and corporate marketing executive with two decades of product management, business development and marketing experience in networking products and web-based services, delivering solutions to companies like Indy Mac Bank, Washington Mutual and Southwest Airlines. Wendy has also built innovative partnerships with companies such as SkyMall and Home Shopping Network.
Money Savvy Teen is Wendy's third web-based startup. Wendy blogs her thoughts on business at www.thethinktap.com.