Alvin Hall
Encyclopedia
Alvin D. Hall is an American
financial adviser
, author
and media personality.
, one of seven children to a family of farmer
s, day worker
s and fishermen
. He grew up in severe poverty. He studied for a Bachelor of Arts
in English at Bowdoin College
and a Master of Arts
in American literature at the University of North Carolina
. After a period of unemployment and working as a college professor (teaching literature), he started to take an interest in finance.
He is the president of Cooperhall Press and designs and runs seminars for financial institutions around the world.
He has written books and articles on saving and investing and debt management. He presented Your Money or Your Life on BBC2 and has made various television and radio appearances. He has also appeared on The Apprentice: You're Fired as a panelist on several occasions.
He also edits a money column in the UK's Reveal magazine. He has written Money Magic for the charitable organisation Quick Reads which encourages people to get back into the habit of reading.
He was involved in Jamie Oliver
's programme, Jamie's Dream School
. On the programme, Hall taught the pupils mathematics
.
.
, which often broadcast in the period when Radio 4's personal finance programme Money Box
is off-air.
Alvin Hall won the presitigious Wincott
Award for business journalism for his 2006 documentary Jay-Z: From Brooklyn to the Boardroom in which he interviewed and profiled the entrepreneurial rap star Jay-Z
.
2011
2010
2009
2008
2006
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
financial adviser
Financial adviser
A financial adviser, is a professional who renders financial services to individuals, businesses and governments. This can involve investment advice, which may include pension planning, and/or advice on life insurance and other insurances such as income protection insurance, critical illness...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and media personality.
Early life
Hall was born in Tallahassee, FloridaTallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
, one of seven children to a family of farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s, day worker
Day labor
Day labor is work done where the worker is hired and paid one day at a time, with no promise that more work will be available in the future. It is a form of contingent work.-Types:Day laborers find work through three common routes....
s and fishermen
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
. He grew up in severe poverty. He studied for a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English at Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
and a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in American literature at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. After a period of unemployment and working as a college professor (teaching literature), he started to take an interest in finance.
Financial adviser
Hall started buying shares a little at a time and his ability to translate complex financial concepts into simple English through the use of slices of cake led to him becoming director of course development at Leo Fleur, a company selling training materials for Wall Street examinations. In 1986 he became director of marketing for the Chicago-based Longman Financial Services Institute in creating and implementing marketing campaigns for training programmes and products and consequently was executive director of the New York Institute of Finance.He is the president of Cooperhall Press and designs and runs seminars for financial institutions around the world.
He has written books and articles on saving and investing and debt management. He presented Your Money or Your Life on BBC2 and has made various television and radio appearances. He has also appeared on The Apprentice: You're Fired as a panelist on several occasions.
He also edits a money column in the UK's Reveal magazine. He has written Money Magic for the charitable organisation Quick Reads which encourages people to get back into the habit of reading.
He was involved in Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
's programme, Jamie's Dream School
Jamie's Dream School
Jamie's Dream School is a seven-part British television documentary series made by Fresh One Productions, first aired on Channel 4. In it, Jamie Oliver enrols a group of teenagers with fewer than five GCSEs into his "Dream School" - a school in which lessons are taught by celebrities who are...
. On the programme, Hall taught the pupils mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
.
Art collector
Hall is a private art collector and his collection includes pieces by Carroll Dunham, Victoria Morton, Tina Barney, Lee Friedlander, Carrie Mae Weems and Mel KendrickMel Kendrick
Mel Kendrick , is an American artist, known primarily for his sculptural work in wood, bronze, rubber, paper and, most recently, cast concrete. Kendrick's work reflects a deep fascination with process, space, and geometry...
.
BBC Radio
Alvin Hall has presented several finance-related radio programmes for BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, which often broadcast in the period when Radio 4's personal finance programme Money Box
Money Box (radio)
-History:Money Box began in October 1977 with Louise Botting as presenter. It was the first personal finance radio programme, and even today in the UK, it is one of the few. The programme You and Yours, also on Radio 4, also includes much about personal finance, fraud and scams...
is off-air.
Alvin Hall won the presitigious Wincott
Harold Wincott
Harold Wincott CBE was a British economist and journalist.Wincott edited the Investors Chronicle for twenty-one years and was a columnist for the Financial Times. He was awarded a CBE in 1963 and wrote pamphlets for the Institute of Economic Affairs, a free-market think-tank...
Award for business journalism for his 2006 documentary Jay-Z: From Brooklyn to the Boardroom in which he interviewed and profiled the entrepreneurial rap star Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
.
2011
- Poorer Than Their Parents: four programmes in which Alvin Hall assesses whether today's youth will be worse off than their parents.
- Episode 1: Jobs
- Episode 2: Pensions
- Episode 3: Inheritance
- Episode 4: Housing
2010
- Alvin Hall's Generations of Money: Alvin Hall helps four different generations plan for an uncertain future and explores the economic bonds that tie them together
2009
- The Money Grab: Alvin Hall examines the continuous rise in executive pay.
2008
- Alvin Hall's World of Money: Alvin Hall asks where investors put their money during the time of a credit crunch.
- Episode 1: Commodities
- Episode 2: Wine
- Episode 3: Art
- Episode 4: Film
- Episode 5: Property
2006
- Jay-Z: From Brooklyn to the Boardroom: Profile of the rap entrepreneur Jay-ZJay-ZShawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
. - Alvin Hall's Secret Collection: Alvin Hall gains access to remarkable private art collections.
Politics
Hall is a Democrat and supported Barack Obama in the 2008 US Primaries. It was his view that Obama would win the Primary to become the Democratic nominee, but that race would play an important part in the November 2008 General Election and that Obama would not reach the White House.External links
- Official site
- Alvin Hall On Small Spending
- BBC raw Quick Reads - Money Magic by Alvin Hall
- Alvin Hall's World of Money on Money box for BBC Radio 4