Finding personal finance angles on any beat: Self-guided training

Show them the Money!

‘Finding personal finance angles on any beat’ gives you tips and resources for adding consumer interest to your business and finance stories.

Freelancer and Reynolds Center blogger Melissa Preddy teaches the 5-part course which you can take on your own here.

Day 1: Personal finance basics. Even if you don’t aspire to a career as a consumer columnist, you need to know the go-to, reputable sources on pocketbook issues ranging from stock markets and investing to personal income taxes to credit card use and debt counseling. Layering your stories with input from consumer watchdogs and advisers will always make them more digestible to readers.

Day 2: Real estate. This could turn out to be the most upbeat spring selling season since the start of the recession … or the market could double-dip back into gridlock. We’ll discuss how to transform abstract statistics into compelling print and multimedia packages that illustrate the human toll taken by falling prices and stagnant sales, as well as how to keep readers informed about stimulus programs, tax credits and other home-buyer helpers.

Day 3: Transportation. Cover consumer news from the world of airlines, automakers, trucking and rail systems. Traveler concerns range from gas-price spikes to the lease-or-buy auto dilemma to the a la carte in-flight and baggage services in the airline industry. Everyone travels, commutes or at least buys or makes goods that must be moved from place to place; we’ll talk about how to show the impact of transport costs on everyday expenses.

Day 4: Health care. It eats up than 15 percent of our GDP and probably at least that much of our readers’ worry-time. How to get the most bang for routine medical costs by using tools such as Flexible Spending Accounts, how to navigate private and public insurance systems and what the result of health-care reform means to the average family are among the topics we’ll discuss.

Day 5: Financial services. From the corner credit union to the global credit-card processor to the 401(k), the typical family can have half a dozen or more financial-services firms nipping at its pocketbooks. And despite recent reforms to bankruptcy and lending laws, the unwary consumer can be nickled-and-dimed – or worse – by making ill-informed saving, borrowing and investing decisions.