Morgan Stanley’s Alix Magner Buys 30 Copies of LAUNCH For Her Clients
Below, the Top 9 Questions Parents Are Asking Me About This Book
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To see a list of the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH —along with detailed answers—scroll to the red print below.
When Morgan Stanley’s Alix Magner calls you, you sit up a little straighter in your chair.
Alix is a high-powered, Stanford educated wealth management advisor who works with Minneapolis area families who have millions in assets—and families who are strategizing to get to that point.
When Alix told me that she’d read my book cover-to-cover and wanted to buy 30 copies for her clients, I jumped out of my chair.
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How to Get a Teen to Read a Non-Fiction Book
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In a world where kids seem perpetually tied to their phones, how can you get a teen to read a non-fiction book?
In some homes, families are starting up a revolutionary new family tradition.
They’re giving each family member an actual, physical book as a gift, and then setting aside a one-hour period of time on the holiday where everyone (adults and kids alike) untethers from electronics, sits down together, and reads. Just one quiet hour .
“An hour of reading? My kids won’t want to do that.”
Your kids might groan at this idea at first, but if you give them a couple of weeks notice that this will be happening, (and pay them to comply if necessary), you may find them actually enjoying it.
When the reading hour is over, say, “That was fun. Now—who wants some cookies?”
The conversations you have over this particular cookie tray might be some of the most fascinating ones you have all day. All you’ll have to do is ask, “What’s the most interesting thing in your book so far?”
Remember—during the reading hour, you’re planting seeds.
You’re providing space and opportunity for the people you love to be pulled into their book, to be captivated by it, and to develop thirst to read the rest later. It’s one of the best ways to get a teen to read a non-fiction book.
Wondering what books to get for the people you love?
Take a look at this list of 9 books I most love for students and parents.
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Top 9 Books I Most Love For Parents and Students
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Starting a New Job? 3 Important Items To Bring the First Day
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Your daughter is starting her first real job after college. Or maybe it’s you, the parent, starting a new job. No matter the age of a new full-time employee, bringing these three things on the first day of a new job makes a strong positive impression, and sets an employee up for maximum future success.
1. Bring a clean, blank notebook and a pen to the first day of a new job.
You’re going to be learning a lot the first day, week, and month, right?
Pull out your notebook and take notes on what you’re learning. Write down passwords and assigned tasks, and note the names and titles of people you meet so that you can greet them by name when you see them, and later, connect to them on LinkedIN.
In the back of the notebook, make a list of tasks and projects you see at your new job that you might be able to take on at some point. There’ll be many times in the future when you’ll be able to say to those who supervise you, “I noticed that this needs to be done. How about if I take that on?”
When the first day of your new job is behind you, continue to take notes on what you’re learning each day, always including the day’s date at the top of each page. Review your notes each night. You’ll be viewed as a careful person who can be trusted with details—because you’ll actually be a careful person who can be trusted with details.
“Can’t I just enter the things I need to know about my new job into my phone?”
No, don’t do that.
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The Meme Every Kid Needs to See
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Here it is—the meme every kid needs to see.
Copy and forward this meme to the kids you love right now.
Tweet this meme out to the people who follow you!
When you’re a parent, it feels great to know you’re taking practical steps to set your kid up for successful college and career life.
For clear, step-by-step help getting your kids through college debt-free, get your copy of my book:
You can “Look Inside” the book on Amazon for free by going to:
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Should You Fill Out the FAFSA on Your Phone?
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Should you fill out the FAFSA on your phone?
On October 17th, 2018, I was invited to guest post on the blog of Certified Financial Planner™ Mike Branch of Focus Financial in Minneapolis. Mike has been an extraordinary mentor to me as I’ve plumbed the depths on how to get kids through college debt-free. You can find Mike at Focus Financial in Minneapolis, on the Approved Consultants tab on this website, or at one of the many FAFSA info sessions he presents in high school auditoriums each year.
The guest post I wrote for Mike is below.
Are you parenting a student of any age who’ll be in college next fall? If so, one of your most important tasks this year will be to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon after October 1st as possible. This applies to every student and every parent—no exceptions.
Are you convinced that for you, filling out the FAFSA will be a waste of time—because you make far too much money to qualify for any college aid? Check out this article on 7 Reasons to Fill Out FAFSA Even if You’re Rich.
And then get out your smartphone.
As of October 1st, 2018, you can fill out the FAFSA on your phone.
For years, students and parents filling out the FAFSA were required to complete the form using desktop computers. In 2018, though, a new, mobile-friendly version of FAFSA was released.
Here, 8 things you’ll need to know before you fill out the FAFSA on your phone.
1. It’s a little easier to avoid overwhelm when you fill out the FAFSA on your phone, because you see only one question per screen.
2. Families can start filling out the form on one device, and finish it on another.
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The Sweaty Truth About Sports Scholarships
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Parents of athletes fork out thousands to cover sports expenses over the years. Many wonder, “Is all this time, effort, and money going to pay off big when this kid gets to college?” Here, the sweaty truth about sports scholarships.
1. The truth about sports scholarships: They can make it next to impossible to succeed academically.
Student athletes are typically required to devote up to 40 hours per week to practices, travel, conditioning, and games. This article by NextStepU calls it “an unbelievable commitment in time and dedication…you may…be practicing at 6 a.m. or midnight or even twice a day.”
If your kid has an important test scheduled at the same time as travel back from a game, he’ll likely be told, “Too bad, you’re on a sports scholarship. Buck up and show that you’re all in on this sport.” Your daughter needs to study? She’ll likely hear, “Bring books and notes and study on the bus on the way.” Lack of quiet study space, pressure to repeatedly skip college classes, and sheer exhaustion from the schedule can wreak havoc with a student’s ability to focus on academics—the very reason he or she is at college in the first place.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy writes this, in Moneywatch:
Officially, D-I teams aren’t supposed to practice more than 20 hours a week though travel and other extra obligations aren’t included. In reality, the time restriction is often a joke. Conditioning or weight lifting, for instance, might be called voluntary, but the coach takes attendance and the kid who spends that time in the library could end up on the bench.
In the consulting work I do at GetIntoMedSchool.com, one of my clients explained his “B” in Organic Chemistry to me this way: “We flew home from a game, and I ran down the concourse and dove into the back of a taxi. I screamed at the driver to rush me to the building where my O Chem final was going on, but I was still 45 minutes late. The professor had no sympathy for my situation, and refused to give me any extra time. She said I should have made it a priority to be at the exam on time.”
2. The truth about sports scholarships: They’re not as lucrative as you think.
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Do Families Need to Hire College Consultants? Really?
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The dad sitting by you in the soccer bleachers tells you that he’s not worried about his kids’ college planning—because he’s hired a $5,000 college consultant to engineer the whole thing for him. You wonder, “Is this what parents have to do nowadays? Hire college consultants that cost as much as used cars? If parents don’t hire college consultants, do they shortchange their kids?”
It’s not necessary to hire college consultants—but it can be helpful in some cases.
Here are 10 things parents need to know before they hire college consultants.
1. College consultants vary wildly in quality.
Some are fantastic, and some are terrible. Many high buck college consultants you see on the internet are simply moms or dads who went through the college application process with their own kids last year, and now they see themselves as experts on college planning and financing.
2. Ask a ton of questions before you pay a dime.
Ask lots of exploratory questions about how long they’ve been in business, and how much of their service includes walking you through strategies that really work to get kids through college debt-free. Ask what career planning tools they use to make sure your kid ends up being employable after college.
3. Be sure to ask your prospective college consultant this critically important question.
Ask him or her to explain to you the two huge changes Barack Obama made to the US college financing system on September 13th, 2015—and how those changes will dramatically affect your kid when he or she is a sophomore in college. If your prospective college consultant can’t answer this question, run away and don’t look back.
4. Look for this very good sign.
If a college consultant hands you a copy of the book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward and says, “We’re going to be walking through the steps in this book together,” consider that a very good sign. It means you’ll have excellent one-on-one support for the journey, and you won’t miss a single debt-free college or career planning strategy along the way. (College consultants, financial planners, and wealth managers who do this can be found on the “Approved Consultants” tab on this website.)
5. Don’t hire college consultants who tell you this:
Don’t hire college consultants who say, “Oh, we don’t worry about career goal at this point. We’ll just get your son into a good college, and then he can take random college classes to see what he’s interested in. We’ll hope it’ll all come together into some kind of career five years from now.”
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Manage All Your Kids’ College Planning—Mostly By Yourself
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If you’re concerned that you’re currently LATE to college planning, read this article now.
College planning can feel like being lost in a jungle. And sadly, your kid’s high school guidance counselor (nowadays more properly called a “school counselor,”) can’t help much with hacking through the underbrush. Oh, he or she would love to, but budget cuts have slashed the amount of time counselors get to spend with college bound students, in some cases down to just eight minutes per year.
And your child, smart as he is, isn’t in any position to handle the complexity of college planning either. The stakes are high, both financially and career wise, and his brain won’t be fully developed until age 24.
And the internet? You sure don’t want to depend on the internet for college planning advice.
Don’t rely on the internet for college planning advice.
It’ll take you years to sift through everything the internet has to say about college planning. The bits and pieces of info and conflicting messages you hear from online resources will drive you insane. Plus, a huge percentage of what’s currently on the internet regarding college planning is sorely out of date, since President Barack Obama drastically changed US college financing on September 13th, 2015, and most of the world has not yet caught up.
You need a resource that will give you fast, accurate, specific instructions that the internet can’t provide. (I’ll provide a resource for you, below.)
7 things to do when you feel lost in the jungle of college planning
1. Don’t put off college planning because you feel overwhelmed.
I understand that you feel overwhelmed by the college planning process. Every parent does. But if you wait until your kid’s sophomore or junior year of high school to get started on college planning, 75% of the strategies you could have used to get your kid through college debt-free will be gone. Starting early is the best strategy, even if you can’t save a penny.
(If you’re worried that you’re currently late to college planning, read this article now.)
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The Key College Planning Strategy That Most Surprises Parents
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Recently, a school district that’s bringing me in to speak interviewed me so that students and parents could get to know me better. This article includes the best portions of that interview.
To zoom straight to the key college planning strategy that most surprises parents, scroll to #4, below.
1. Jeannie, what originally inspired you to want to help parents get their kids through college debt-free?
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“Oh, No—We’re Late to College Planning!”
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It happens to every parent—it’s not just you. The first day of school ritual goes like this: 1) Pack lunches. 2) Take smiling first-day photos at the front door. 3) Wave goodbye. 4) Panic that your child is suddenly another year older, and you feel like you’re late to college planning.
You are not alone. Almost every parent feels this way.
What can you do right now, if you feel like you’re late to college planning?
1. Don’t worry right now that you haven’t saved enough money to pay for college.
Fear and worry can be paralyzing. Some parents feel so fearful about not having planned earlier that they repeatedly put college planning on the back burner.
Don’t be that parent.
Let go of fear and worry over what you haven’t done, and look closely at all the clever, creative strategies you can use right now.
2. Don’t jump to the conclusion that a state university will be the bargain answer to all your problems.
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