\u201cThis is going to add another tool for young people, another skill that they\u2019ll be learning through the Summer Youth Employment program,\u201d says Alicia Modestino, associate professor of public policy and urban affairs and economics at Northeastern and research director of the summer jobs program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already know that the program\u2019s really impactful in increasing academic aspirations, developing soft skills and work readiness, increasing high school graduation rates and reducing criminal-justice involvement,\u201d Modestino continues. \u201cNow, alongside that, we\u2019re going to put skills around financial capability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clements is a longtime reporter and columnist at the Wall Street Journal, penning more than 1,000 \u201cGetting Going\u201d columns from 1994 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2015.<\/p>\n
Columnist Jason Zweig \u2014 Clements\u2019 successor at the Journal and longtime friend \u2014 called Clements the \u201cvoice of reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a crazy market full of propaganda, and bad ideas, and crummy logic, and negative emotion at the bottom of the market and euphoria at the top of the market, he always just counseled people to be prudent \u2014 watch costs, don\u2019t take crazy risks, diversify, buy index funds, etc.,\u201d Zweig says. \u201cHe\u2019s probably helped hundreds of thousands \u2014 maybe millions \u2014 of people achieve greater financial security through the advice he\u2019s given.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Alicia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Alicia-Modestino.jpg\")
Alicia Modestino, associate professor of public policy and urban affairs and economics at Northeastern, will be following how the participants choose to use the money deposited in their new Roth IRAs. Photo by Alyssa Stone\/Northeastern University<\/p>\n
Last year, Clements was diagnosed with a rare and terminal form of lung cancer. He faced it \u201cthe only way he knew how,\u201d as the paper put it \u2014 he offered advice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Zweig and other colleagues and friends want to ensure that Clements\u2019 advice and his legacy endures.<\/p>\n The first thought was to create a journalism award in Clements\u2019 name.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo say he didn\u2019t like that idea would be an understatement \u2014 he hated it,\u201d Zweig says. \u201cHe said the last thing the world needs is another journalism award.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, Clements suggested that his friends raise contributions through a nonprofit to give cash grants to young people from low-income homes to open no-fee, no-penalty Roth IRA accounts. The grants will be financed through donations to the John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy<\/a> and by sales of a book<\/a> of Clements\u2019 columns.<\/p>\n But where to find these young people?\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s where the summer jobs program comes in.<\/p>\n Zweig has focused much of his writing on behavioral economics and, years ago<\/a>, wrote an article highlighting the work of The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)<\/a>. The lab has done a lot of research on the motivational impact of cash grants and was receptive to Clements\u2019 idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n