The Web: Promises and Pitfalls for Personal Financial Planning: An Overview


The Web: Promises and Pitfalls for Personal Financial Planning: An Overview



Resources Related to a Panel at the 1996 Meeting of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education

Y. Regina Chang, University of Missouri-Columbia


Sherman D. Hanna, The Ohio State University


Sandra J. Huston, University of Missouri-Columbia


Jing, J. Xiao, University of Rhode Island


(Authors are listed in alphabetical order)


Target Audience




Development of the World Wide Web has increased the
popularity and use of the Internet. To financial
practitioners and educators, the Web offers promise of a
means of effectively advising and educating clients. But,
the “pitfalls” associated with the Web have drawn much
attention from government, consumer educators, and others
concerned with consumer protection issues.



Objectives/Purpose




The Web offers potential for efficient use of resources
(time and money) and up-to-date teaching tools and
information. However, given an overwhelming selection of
sites and an increasing number of advertisements on the WWW,
finding relevant information can be very resource intensive
and frustrating. Also, users may not have adequate skills
or background to process, utilize, and adequately assess
quality and usefulness of information available on the Web.
The purpose of this forum is to share experiences and
stimulate discussion on various positive and negative
aspects of the Web for personal financial planning.



Description




Three presentations are included in this forum, each
focusing on use of the Web for personal financial planning.
First, a report of college students’ experience and
reactions to using the Web in searching for, and evaluating,
sites related to personal financial planning is discussed.
Second, potential pitfalls of the Web are explored. Teaching
students skepticism about deceptive claims on the Web and
other media are discussed. Effective means of locating and
structuring personal financial information on the Web are
examined. The last paper presents an overall survey and
evaluation of sites related to the personal financial
planning area.



Updated September 3, 1996


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