I have to hand it to Match for their witty interpretation of dating this year as Satan and 2020 get matched on the app and have a wonderful date stealing toilet paper, exercising in empty gyms and watching a movie. If you can’t laugh about this year, well, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmb5ENInqVk   In related news, we release a timely podcast today where we talk student debt, college choices, higher...

Over the last couple weeks, as the buzz about going back to school picked up, I would ask students of all ages “What are you most excited about?” The answer: “seeing my friends.” Among the many reasons online school is not a viable long term option, not hanging out with friends, not meeting potential mates (for life or for the evening), not going to parties and not growing up are the largest. So when universities put plans together to welcome students...

It turns out that some people are just better than others. Better looking, more athletic, more charming, a better leader, smarter. It’s no fault of the person, it’s the fault of their parents who didn’t do a very good job of mating. In the nature versus nurture context, there are levers that can be pulled. Work ethic. Access to health care, education, role models, scholarships, internships, travel. But the key is that all these things have to be done while...

It’s sad that with all the other issues getting attention, our leaders aren’t talking about the ones that will last well beyond Covid. Today, I’m talking about K-12 education. There is a world of resources available at the touch of a button, with an infinite number of tracks kids can take to achieve their fullest potential. Are schools using them? If so, which ones? If not, why not? I am a huge supporter of public education but in March, when school...

“If the school is closed, the money should follow the student so the parents and families are in control of their own decisions,” Trump said. “So I would like the money to go to the parents of the student.” It’s the best idea I’ve heard. I strongly support public schools but I support students more. They are the future. And if school administrators are electing that children should stay home, the money that usually follows kids into schools should follow...

From 1911 to 1986, bringing a canary with you into the coal mine made up for the lack of other PPE. Not surprisingly as the saying foreshadows, the canary would die when levels of toxic gas would reach levels that indicated danger for humans. Indirect, but effective. Similarly, applications to MBA programs may be the canary in the school mine. Not as a direct measure of sentiment towards the cost/benefit of college, but as an indirect one.  Last year, at...

I put money in my sons 529s this year so I had my financial planner do some modeling. Apparently- they want to go to Michigan and Harvard. How cute. The planner came back, handed me the model and told me it will cost $390,000 per kid. Not a typo. I’ll send the model if you want. Think about that! What job with what degree pays that debt? At 5%, you have to make $30,000/year before tax just to pay the interest! Way back when, I...

My son and I were in Philadelphia for a hockey tournament this weekend.  We went to Independence Hall, the American Revolution museum, toured Villanova and Penn and we accidentally drove through a neighborhood we most certainly did not mean to visit. There were houses half standing, boards on windows and one clearly had a major fire that reduced the living space to one room - which was being lived in.  I’m sure I could have purchased half the cars we saw for the cash that I...

When those of us who are over 30 were kids - we ran around the neighborhood, seldom saw our parents during the day, climbed trees, biked everywhere and generally self governed. Kids of today - mine included - spend more time inside, more time with their parents supervising (or at least in proximity), less time with peers and more time in organized activity. And none of that to mention the access to knowledge and the world on their smartphone. What does this...