Personal Finance

A renowned author, advisor and academic, Dr. E. Thomas Garman was a Fellow and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Virginia Tech University, where he directed the National Institute for Personal Finance Employee Education. He subsequently founded the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation. Author of 40 books and 200 academic research articles, Dr. Garman directed several funded research studies that link the financial fortunes of employers with the financial health of their employees. His research consistently showed that decreasing employee financial stress and improving personal financial well-being led to positive outcomes for workers and employers. Dr. Garman has worked for a U.S. senator, in economic development in West Africa and for a national non-profit credit counseling organization. He was a Distinguished Fellow of both the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education and the American Council on Consumer Interests. Dr. Garman served on advisory boards for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, International Board of Standards and Practices for Certified Financial Planners, American National Standards Institute, National Foundation for Credit Counseling, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and National Advertising Review Board. His record of consulting includes work for Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America, Manulife Financial, AT&T, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Garman's work has been featured in hundreds of publications, including USA Today, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and U.S. News & World Report, and he has appeared on National Public Radio and NBC Nightly News. Jonathan Fox is the Ruth Whipp Sherwin Endowed Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and Program Leader in financial counseling and planning at Iowa State University. He has taught comprehensive family financial planning for over 30 years at the University of Maryland, Ohio State University and Iowa State University. His research focuses on the effectiveness of financial education interventions. He has served as principal investigator for several financial education evaluations and his publications appear in journals such as Financial Planning Review, Financial Services Review, Financial Counseling and Planning, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Financial Therapy and Journal of Consumer Affairs. Dr. Fox has worked closely with the Certified Financial Planner Board's Center for Financial Planning in their efforts to connect research and practice within the profession of financial planning. He holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland in consumer economics and a General Course degree from the London School of Economics. Dr. Suzanne Bartholomae is an associate professor of financial counseling and planning in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Iowa State University. She is also an Extension State Specialist in Financial Health and Well-Being in Health and Human Sciences Extension and Outreach, helping fulfill Iowa State University's three-prong land-grant mission of research, extension and education. Dr. Bartholomae's research focus is on financial education initiatives and financial well-being. The goal of her engaged scholarship is to help individuals and families reduce their financial stress and achieve financial freedom and independence. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles on these topics in academic journals such as the Financial Planning Review, Family Relations, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Consumer Affairs and, most recently, in the Handbook on Financial Literacy and Handbook of Personal Finance. She serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Family and Economic Issues.