Ever since I started paying back my student loans some 20 months ago, I’ve been complaining about how inept and downright rude the people at the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority are on the telephone. Not only do they treat you like you are trying to get away with something, but they fail to understand the basic fundamental purpose of their organization - to provide low-cost student loans to New Jersey residents so they may earn a higher education degree.

Well, it looks like these folks are finally going to get what’s coming to them. The Asbury Park Press reported the other day that an independent monitor will begin looking at the NJHESAA as a part of the national student loan scandal that is unfolding. Good.

I don’t know all of the nitty gritty details of what’s going on at NJHESAA and I really don’t want to know them right now. I’m glad that this organization is being monitored and that new borrowers will think twice about whether or not this is the proper vehicle for their higher education financing needs. If I could go back in time and NOT take a NJHESAA loan, I would do that in a heartbeat. I’d rather have a loan from a large traditional financing institution that sees me as nothing more than a profit on their books than deal with the arrogant, demeaning people at NJHESAA.

And they charge me too much for my loan. Thanks to Dave for sending me this link a few weeks ago.

With all of this talk about the subprime mortgage market meltdown, I hope that this country doesn’t forget about the student loan scandals that are silently rocking higher education. Just as people were duped into loans that were bad for them, many students were duped into consolidating with organizations that provided a kickback to schools that referred a certain number of students.

If America wants to remain a country balanced between capitalism and socialism, then we cannot forget student loans. In other words, if this is a country where the free market can create situations where private organizations trick borrowers into signing mortgages that are inherently bad for the borrower and if this is a country where the people demand our government fix this “injustice,” then this also needs to be a country that does the same with ALL forms of financial contracts. That would include student loans.

Providing a bailout for the unfortunate masses who were tricked into signing these subprime mortgages means that we need to provide a bailout for those students who were tricked into consolidating with companies that had profit motives over the best repayment option for the student.

Thank God for the American federal government! What other organization can bring so many people so many laughs in one fell swoop? You may remember that a few days ago, the government was thinking about sending each taxpayer an $800 check (married couples would obviously receive $1,600). Well, in a move that only our ridiculous government could make, they’ve decided that instead of each taxpayer getting $800, they’ll probably get $300 instead. The reasoning is that the $800 per person economic stimulus package would have only given checks to the 180 million or so Americans who pay income tax. The $300 per person economic stimulus package allows for all Americans to receive a check, including those who don’t make enough to pay income taxes.

In other words…

For those taxpayers who earn higher incomes in the middle class of America, not only are you going to continue to bear the brunt of this country’s weakening economy, but you’re also not going to get the same proportional handout that those in the lower class will receive. For a person who is making so little that he or she doesn’t pay income taxes, $300 is a big deal and really can help in getting a person out of financial rut.

But for the rest of the people who do pay taxes and who are living in the middle class, a $300 check from the government to “stimulate” the economy is bullshit. All $300 does for anyone in middle class America is remind you how screwed you are in the bigger picture. Those who don’t need the $300 will disagree with that statement, but those who needed the $800 will not only agree - they’ll get pissed since $800 isn’t even enough for most people to make one month’s mortgage payment.

We’re all screwed.

The President and the Congress are discussing ways to give America an economic boost. Anyone who is paying the attention to the news and the markets knows that part of this country’s current problems are rooted in the housing bust and part of the problem is due to the fact that banks are becoming more conservative with their lending policies. There’s nothing much you can do about the banks - they’ll do what they want with their money and that’s that. Sucks. And for those of us who have worked in the housing market and studied the housing market, we saw the big downfall coming years ago, but no one listened.

All of that aside, I am glad that the Republican President and the Democratic Congress are working together in a spirit of bipartisanship to give America the boost that it needs. One of the ideas going around is to give all taxpayers an $800 rebate check as early as in the next few weeks. I have to say, this is scary for a variety of reasons.

First, I don’t know what your finances are like, but while I certainly wouldn’t scoff at $800 it really isn’t enough to make a dent in my financial portfolio. And I should preface the previous sentence by saying that I spend between 45 and 60 minutes each day going over my finances and that I’ve made tremendous strides financially in the last 18 months. Still, getting an $800 check would be nice, but it would only remind me how much of a hole that I’m in (thanks student loans!).

Second, I can only think about those bozos down in New Orleans who got free government and charity money to the tune of some $2,500 per person…and then spent that money on alcohol, new shoes, lingerie, and electronics. Folks, while these creature comforts may give you a feel good feeling right now, they’re not going to do a damn thing to help your financial well-being in the long run. I just imagine some 280 million taxpayers getting an $800 check and the only companies that see their profits go up are Nike, Apple, and Sony.

Finally, the cost of living isn’t stabilizing - it’s going up! The cost of a gallon of gas is getting higher each month, the cost of milk (yes…milk) is going up, and the cost of general groceries is going up. If it is used wisely, getting an $800 check today will help put food on the table tomorrow. But will it provide food for our tables this summer? Next fall? Next year? Unlikely.

Unfortunately this is one of those situations where there are no easy answers. Part of me wants to say that we, as a country, made this bed for ourselves and now we have to lie in it. Mortgage borrowers largely knew that their subprime loans were loaded with risky features and they knew that they were buying houses that were too big for their budgets. Yes, there was some chicanery in some housing markets, but of the millions of subprime loans only a fraction fall into that category. So in this respect, part of me believes that we have reaped what we’ve sewn.

Believing that, however, isn’t going to kick the economy in the ass. What should we do to stimulate the economy? Those $800 checks are a good start, but reducing the cost of living for all Americans will be a great second step.

Yes, you read that right. The “victims” of Hurricane Katrina are suing the US Government for $3,014,170,389,176,410. In the written word, we’d call that three quadrillion, fourteen trillion, one hundred and seventy billion, three hundred and eighty nine million, one hundred and seventy six thousand, four hundred and ten dollars. This is absolutely disgusting.

I was among the first to say that the US Government really bungled the clean-up efforts with Hurricane Katrina. It was obvious and we all watched it happen on every cable news network.

However…

We watched BEFORE the storm as thousands of residents said they were not leaving their homes in New Orleans no matter what. We watched BEFORE the storm as local politicians allowed dozens and dozens of school buses to sit empty on school property as opposed to transporting out those residents who did want to leave. We watched AFTER the storm as roving street gangs fired gunshots in the air to ward off other street gangs. We watched AFTER the storm as residents who were given relief debit cards to buy food and clean drinking water spent that money on alcohol, Victoria’s Secret, and $100+ sneakers.

If this case isn’t immediately dropped as soon as it hits a judge’s desk, then I think the rest of America has the right to file a one hundred quadrillion dollar case against New Orleans. That’s right…one hundred quadrillion dollars!

This whole thing is so stupid it actually makes me sick.

The folks at MSNBC.com finally posted something worth reading. The other day they had an article that talked about how charities are finding it harder to plug the holes in their budgets with donations. As someone who makes a lot of donations each year and also works in and studies the nonprofit industry, I found this article very interesting. For me, one of the best parts of the article was:

It costs more to acquire new donors than to retain them, experts say. But churning through donors also makes it harder to woo benefactors. “Donors don’t want to be funding fundraising,” says Sargeant. “They want to be funding the work you’re trying to do.”

And they’re demanding much more accountability from the nonprofits they bankroll. If they don’t get it, they walk, says Penelope Burk, president of the fundraising consultancy Cygnus and Associates.

This is it - this is what the nonprofit industry comes down to. First, are you asking for someone to make a donation that goes to a cause or goes towards paying for salaries? Second, are you willing to explain your expenses and why money is put in certain places as opposed to others? Third, are you doing what you actually said you would be doing?

The answers to these three questions are why I donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. When I donate to the SPEF, I am giving a tax-deductible donation to two specific funds (both of my choosing) that are managed by people I know on a first-name basis and can e-mail at 1:00pm and receive a personal response by 2:00pm. These funds are under the oversight of a Board where I know many of the members on a first-name basis and have many of the cell phone numbers in my phone.

That level of trust is hard to come by in the nonprofit sector.

I helped put these two funds together and I know where each dollar is spent. I know how much of the fund’s earnings are spent on administrative expenses and I know how much goes back to the overall end-user and it what forms (scholarships for the undergraduate fraternity brothers). At any time I can pick up the phone and call the President of the SPEF and have a discussion with him.

There’s a level of trust and reliability there that you cannot build very easily. Hell, my own company is a nonprofit and I’ve yet to donate or invest any money with them! I’ll be changing that in the New Year, but it has taken me the better part of 16 months as an employee to even reach that level of comfort.

So be sure that you know the places that you’re donating to and be sure that you know where the money is being spent. And hey, if you feel like you can’t make an impact with any organization, then donate to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation! It’s a good group with a good cause which I’d be more than happy to talk to any of you about!

One of my co-workers read this book last spring and she was very high on it. I picked up a copy around April because it was in the bargain bin and I admit, it’s a good read. Most of the information is dated (the book was published in 1996), but the core financial principles are universal in scope.

The authors of this book, Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, have been studying millionaires for decades. They study everything about millionaires from their automotive decisions to their shopping habits to how they treat their children, where they live, where they work, and a multitude of other variables. The end results are fascinating. Most millionaires are the people living next door to you!

Stanley and Danko make some large, common sense generalizations about how to become a millionaire: spend frugally, research large expenses before they are made, be ware of get rich quick schemes, teach your children to be careful with money, don’t spoil your kids, don’t spoil your adult children, save for the future, etc, etc. All of these are basic principles that we each know (whether you realize it or not), but sometimes hearing real-life stories that back-up these principles can be very powerful. Stanley and Danko create a very powerful book by using excellent examples.

I highly suggest reading this book if you are interested in money or growing wealthier. It’s a quick, easy read that you will find hard to put down once you get to reading it. And hey - you never know…you might learn something about money!

Believe it or not, it’s almost Thanksgiving Day! At the beginning of this month, I bookmarked an article on CNN.com that I wanted to blog about and I just haven’t gotten around to it until now - so forgive me if this information and my opinions are dated!

Over at CNN.com they posted an article talking about how major retailers are luring in holiday shoppers with huge discounts. Well, I combined this article with the great information that I found over at one of my favorite holiday websites - BFAds.net - to come to a general realization: today’s retailers have no idea what the public wants! I’m sure anyone can come to these conclusions on their own, but looking at the “deep discounts” that are listed on the Black Friday advertisements is appalling.

I guess what really gets me is that while there are discounts on a variety of items in each of the stores, you don’t see any of the stores really cutting prices on items that people in my age group would want. For example, Circuit City has great DVD discounts, but not really on the programs that I’m looking for on Black Friday. On the same token, all of the stores have some semblance of a sale on the next generation of video games (Wii, X360, and PS3), but none of them are going out on that limb and reducing the prices $50 or $100 below the competition. Granted, there are some restrictions in terms of how much money the various companies expect to receive with each sale, but isn’t that a basic premise of marketing and advertising? Draw the customer in with a blockbuster, financially-bad deal for company and then make up the difference (and then some) with other sales during the customer’s visit.

Looking through the Black Friday ads it just doesn’t appear that retailers understand this concept. What will it take for a profitable Christmas season? Deep discounts on quality items that will bring shoppers into your specific store. Simple, right?

Well, let’s see how it goes on Friday…

Earlier today a news brief was posted on the Daily Record’s website that spoke about the increase in students attending county colleges. Below is an excerpt of the release, which I’m sure will be made into a fuller article in the coming days:

The New Jersey Council of County Colleges says there are 158,152 students taking classes this fall. Nearly 81,000 are full-time, a 4.6 percent increase over last year.

County colleges previously had more part-time students. But the group says that trend has changed as tuition climbed at four-year schools.

Tuition at New Jersey’s county colleges averages about $2,500. It’s $9,500 at four-year schools.

This is great! Not only are New Jersey students saving some money by attending the county colleges, but as more and more of them make the 2-year pit stop at “county” before heading off to the larger schools, there is less and less of a stigma attached to the schools. County colleges often get tagged with the “13th Grade” moniker or other derogatory nicknames. I’ve never attended classes at a county college, so I wouldn’t know what the classroom atmosphere is like though I can’t imagine it is too much different than attending a smaller class at Rutgers, Monmouth, Rowan, or TCNJ.

As a side note, if this means that more New Jerseyans are going to college, then that is another great outcome of the county colleges!

USA Today had a great article a few days back that talked about the rapidly declining PC and laptop sales in the Japanese technology market. It’s a pretty interesting read so you may want to check it out if you get a few free minutes.

The article makes a great point regarding the growing internet capabilities of handheld devices like cell phones and video game systems. It also points out the new abilities for digital cameras to connect directly to televisions and to printers without having to go through a computer.

Again, it’s pretty interesting so take a read if you get a chance, but from my view - I don’t think that the PC is going the way of the dinosaur any time soon. There are too many uses for the machine for it to become obsolete. I do, however, think that prices of new computers need to drop dramatically. And I’m not talking about paying $250 for a personal computer with a 15 inch LCD screen and substandard parts, either. I mean when Dell announces a new XPS and HP announces a new high-end laptop, these things can’t be priced at $2,000! There’s no way to keep the larger home computer market sustainable at that price range - it just can’t happen.

Granted, there are increased costs with creating a higher-end computer and that is understandable, but when computers that were high-end 3 or 4 years ago are still priced out of the general consumer market, that’s a problem. That said, Best Buy is offering a $200 computer for Black Friday, but the specs on it don’t look all that exciting.

First of all, it’s an eMachines computer. I know many folks (old college buddies) that have had problems with these computers, though I also know fewer folks who have not had a problem with them. As the article linked above says:

Don’t expect the world though. The PC is rumored to be powered by an Intel Celeron running at 2.66 Ghz (meaning no efficient and powerful ‘Core’ for you), comes with 512 megabytes of RAM (which is the bare minimum for doing just about anything on a computer these days), has a measly 80 Gigabyte hard drive, and it has no DVD burner.

No DVD burner? It’s 2007, right?

Anyway, check out those articles - they are pretty interesting reads.