The College Solutions Blog

April 6, 2008

I just wanted to share the comment that I sent a father, who reacted favorably to my latest post, Getting Into College in California. To see what he said, just click on “1 Comment” below that post. Here’s my response to Bill: I couldn’t agree with you more. If Californians would just entertain the possibility of looking at wonderful colleges...

April 4, 2008

If you’re the parent of a teenager, you may not have heard the good news yet. The number of high school graduates, which has been growing every year, is peaking this spring. The numbers will continue to shrink until about 2015. Of course, this won’t seem like much of a consolation if you’ve read the annual media dispatches that bemoan...

March 28, 2008

Someone emailed me today and asked when my book was going to be available. Even though my marketing skills are sadly inadequate, even I realized that the question provided me with a way to plug my book. Actually, it’s a timely question since I received two cartons of review copies of my book via Fed Ex this week. I’ve been...

March 21, 2008

Just about every morning, I spend time at the gym. Many mornings I read The New York Times on the Stairmaster, which I hate. The Stairmaster, not the NY Times. One of the regulars at the gym is an older man, who happens to be a multi-millionaire. He usually likes to kid me good naturedly about the fact that I...

March 15, 2008

This week, I heard from a Navy retiree, who wondered what he should do with the stockpile of cash he built up in his Thrift Savings Plan, the federal government retirement plan that looks a lot like a 401(k). My recent blogs on finding a financial planner was fortuitous because he has been grappling with the sort of daunting decisions...

March 8, 2008

If you are bewildered by the number of mutual funds on the shelves, selecting a financial advisor has got to be an even more excruciating process. The nation’s inventory of mutual funds exceeds 8,100 and if you multiply that number a few times, you’ll get some idea of the staggering number of people trying to hack out a living in...

February 29, 2008

About two years ago, Smith Barney, the brokerage giant, announced that it would start calling its stockbrokers “financial advisors.” Most Smith Barney clients, if they heard this pronouncement, would probably have greeted it with some variation of “duh.”  These investors already assume that the brokers, who handle their accounts, are advisors. While the clients would have been puzzled by the...

February 24, 2008

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about finding good financial advice. In fact, I’d say that 90% of the questions I receive revolve around this issue. I was reminded of how important it is to find a smart ethical advisor this week when a neighbor told my husband and I of a scam his father and brother got...

February 16, 2008

I don’t know why I continue to be surprised by the ingenuity of the financial industry to develop and peddle products that will endanger the financial prospects of anybody who falls for them. Maybe I should stop being surprised. Ever again. The dubious investment that caught my eye recently is an old dog wrapped up in a new package. I’m...

February 9, 2008

It’s been two months since I last posted anything on my blog. I was feeling increasingly guilty about it. It was the emails that I received inquiring about my absence, however, that prodded me to return now. Actually, there was a reason for my absence. At the time I disappeared, I was juggling two books deadlines simultaneously. I helped write...