Microsoft Office 365 for Lawyers podcast

Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog

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PLUS Loans: Parental Pitfalls?

Whether PLUS loans are promoting access to college or putting parents at financial risk was the topic debated by a panel of experts on Jan. 8. The New America Foundationâ��s Education Policy Program hosted this event about the PLUS loan controversy and the subsequent impact on families and students, as described on its event description site. Invited participants were â��stakeholders from American Student Assistance, the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, and UNCF as well as higher education thought leaders,â�� according to New Americaâ��s program description. The public was also encouraged to join the conversation online via Twitter by following @NewAmericaEd and using #PLUSloan. Topics included college affordability, intergenerational borrowing and what it means for student access to higher education. New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan…

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Whether PLUS loans are promoting access to college or putting parents at financial risk was the topic debated by a panel of experts on Jan. 8. The New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program hosted this event about the PLUS loan controversy and the subsequent impact on families and students, as described on its event description site.

Invited participants were “stakeholders from American Student Assistance, the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, and UNCF as well as higher education thought leaders,” according to New America’s program description.

The public was also encouraged to join the conversation online via Twitter by following @NewAmericaEd and using #PLUSloan. Topics included college affordability, intergenerational borrowing and what it means for student access to higher education.

New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Parents and students may watch the almost two-hour event on this video.

PLUS loans

Direct PLUS loans are federal loans made to graduate or professional students and parents of dependent undergraduate students to help pay for education expenses not covered by other financial aid. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is the lender. The maximum loan amount is the student’s cost of attendance (COA), determined by the school, less any other financial aid received. Tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation and miscellaneous expenses are counted as COA, permitting annual borrowing of up to tens of thousands of dollars.

The FAFSA, first available for filing by students each January for the next school year starting in the fall, serves as the PLUS loan application.

The interest rate for Direct PLUS Loans is currently fixed at 6.4 precent. There is also a 4.288 percent loan origination fee when first disbursed on or after Dec. 1, 2013.

Usually borrowers must not have an adverse credit history but may still receive a PLUS loan under certain circumstances according to the ED’s website.

Controversial change in PLUS

In determining whether a PLUS loan applicant has an adverse credit history, ED changed how it evaluates the 90-day debt delinquency, in the fall of 2011. “Ensure parents aren’t taking loans they can’t pay back,” is one of ED’s rationales for the modification, a screen of the downloadable powerpoint presentation mentions.

A direct result of the change was a 50 percent increase in PLUS loan denial rates. Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and for-profit colleges were greatly impacted, another screen shows. This led to decreased enrollment, loss of revenue, delays in physical plant maintenance, furloughs, and layoffs, according to the policy brief of The Parent Trap report about Parent PLUS loans and intergenerational debt.

Students also suffered. Incoming freshmen whose parents were denied loans after they paid enrollment deposits were suddenly faced with a much steeper bill. Upperclassmen relying on prior parent approvals were immediately faced with a huge financial shortfall on their college bill.

The Parent Trap

The Parent Trap report was released in conjunction with the panel discussion. Written by New America policy analyst Rachel Fishman, it explains the history of Parent PLUS loans, recent changes and those most affected by the changes. It concludes with recommendations for Parent PLUS loans reforms such as:

Factor in “Ability to Pay” in addition to a credit check.

Cap Parent Plus loans to prevent over-borrowing and remove an incentive for schools to increase revenue by raising their COA and funding the increase via Parent PLUS.

Prohibit institutions from including Parent PLUS loans in financial aid awards.

Explore including Parent PLUS loans in Cohort Default Rate calculations to make schools accountable for repayment.

End Parent PLUS loan program and increase dependent student loan limits.

College affordability options

Students need access to college but their college dreams shouldn’t put parents at financial risk. Parents should review their finances and have a realistic repayment plan before applying for any government or private education loan because there is no retirement loan.

Here are ten college affordability options for students:

Check the school’s stats before applying (graduation rate, student debt amounts, student loan default rate, average discounts on tuition).

Search for scholarships sponsored by large and/or local businesses, institutions, employers, high schools, private organizations and groups.

Apply for federal and state financial aid.

Carefully compare financial aid awards from schools offering admission.

Appeal inadequate financial aid award from choice college with documentation about true financial situation, through the school’s Financial Aid Office.

Ask the school about grants, scholarships and work-study opportunities instead of loans.

Before borrowing, have an affordable repayment plan considering ability to repay based on lifestyle sought and beginning salaries in field of study.

Students whose parents are denied a PLUS loan may be eligible for additional unsubsidized Stafford loans but should be careful not to join the ranks of students who are drowning in too much student loan debt. The purpose of higher education is to enhance futures not endanger them. Parents can help their students use all tools and checklists available to help them prepare for college, estimate college costs, and pay for college.

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PLUS Loans: Parental Pitfalls?

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Trading is a performance sport.

Trading is a performance sport.You have to actually trade to see how things work, just knowing does not make you money.When you read a trading book or watch video or subscribe to a site you might get an idea on how to trade but unless you can perform it yourself it is of no use.Performance can be learned in many ways, but all the ways involve something which you can not avoid. And that is actually performing the act hundreds of time and getting it right every time.If you perform say 500 trades using momentum burst method you will develop performance skills. It will become effortless. You will know the intricacies of it.A basketball player, tennis player or golf player any other player …

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Trading is a performance sport.

You have to actually trade to see how things work, just knowing does not make you money.

When you read a trading book or watch video or subscribe to a site you might get an idea on how to trade but unless you can perform it yourself it is of no use.

Performance can be learned in many ways, but all the ways involve something which you can not avoid. And that is actually performing the act hundreds of time and getting it right every time.

If you perform say 500 trades using momentum burst method you will develop performance skills. It will become effortless. You will know the intricacies of it.

A basketball player, tennis player or golf player any other player is in same category. What they indulge in is in performance sport. Knowing how to serve a top spin and watching how to do it on Youtube and reading a book about it will not even qualify you to become a ball buy.

And then the individual investors think they can trade knowing nothing or by just trying few things. It does not work that way and it will not work and it has not worked for hundreds of years.

Yet come January lot of individual investors will attempt it , they will try it for few weeks or months and give up. How many of the people do you think will persist till say March or June. Even if they persist how do you think will do.

One of the first starting point of performance sports is you need equipment and facilities. You can not play tennis unless you have a tennis racket and court to play on. You can not be a golfer unless you have clubs and golf equipment.

Same way you will not be able to perform as a trader or investor unless you have proper trading tool and broker and willing to pay for it.

In the beginning of every year I get lot of emails from newbies or individual investors who want to get into the game. The first advice I give them is first get the right software and broker.

Some understand that , majority do not. They want to as far as possible avoid paying for a software or use proper broker. They will go to great length to try and find a way around it. They feel it costs too much.

Which to a large extent is fallacy.

The same people spend over 100 dollars on their cellphone or pay 100 dollar or more for TV service for sitting on their butt and 100 dollars or more per month for their kids or spend more in many other services without blinking an eyelid. But don’t want to spend 20 to 30 dollar on data service for trading.

Or look for some shitty brokerage service that offers them free trades.

There is no polite ways to tell these people that you are unlikely to ever make it in investing or trading unless you are willing to spend for basic things. It is like trying to play football without having a football.

Performance skills have another attribute to them. There is a degree of complexity involved in them. And you need to start at right level and build from that level before attempting highly complex thing.

Every year in my daughter’s dance class they have a dance show performed by dads of the girls called Dancing Dads. Dads spent around 6 months preparing for this with weekly practice and more frequent practice closer to the event. The dance teacher tries to keep things as simple as possible so that amateurs can do it easily.

Inspite of that it takes serious practice and commitment to do those basic things. She constantly supervises individual dancers. Corrects the flaws. Shows steps hundreds of times. If someone is struggling she spends special time doing it with that person multiple times.

All performance skills are like that.

If you understand and appreciate it that it is performance skill then you will also set your goal accordingly. You may want to win the Olympic gold medal in Tennis , but if you do not have right equipment and skills you will go nowhere.

I get lot of beginners asking me they want to be position trader. Wow! Great.

Why . Oh I am very busy in my office or business and I don’t have much time.

Seriously think about this.

If investing and trading is performance skill and you want to learn it and you are going to do it only 3 to 5 times in a year (position traders hold positions for long time and have very few trades in a year), what are your chances of success.

It is like saying I don’t know much about golf but I just want to participate in Masters and the Ryders cup.

You can dream about it but it is not going to happen.

To learn to trade if you do 100 to 500 trades your chances of learning performance are high. If you do it 3 times in a year , there is not going to be enough learning to correct your own mistakes. You can not win or come anywhere closer to winning a tennis match by serving 3 times in a year.

In order to learn to be a position trader start by doing basic simpler things like trading a week or few weeks swings. Master that first and then graduate to next level.

Those who understand that will be around till year end rest of the enthusiastic beginners will be out by March or even earlier.

Performance skills like trading can only be learned by performing them , watching others perform them and emulating them, and by constant coaching to improve performance.

www.stockbee.biz If you are serious about your trading and want to build an enduring edge the Stockbee Member site might be for you. One of the most recommended site for learning to trade. 2200 members and growing everyday… www.stockbee.biz

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Tips to Help Maximize Your Aid Eligibility

In an earlier post, I talked about how schools determine aid eligibility based on your expected family contribution (EFC). Your EFC is based on a combination of income and assets that belong the student and, typically, her parents. Your chosen college’s financial aid office, along with the federal government, throws all this information into a calculation called the the federal methodology to arrive at your individual EFC. the higher your EFC (or the closer it is to the estimated cost of attending your college), the less eligible you are for federal financial aid. Here, we’re going to take a look at some ways that you can legally lower your EFC, apart from being declared an independent student, and thus increase your eligibility for aid. Student…

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In an earlier post, I talked about how schools determine aid eligibility based on your expected family contribution (EFC). Your EFC is based on a combination of income and assets that belong the student and, typically, her parents. Your chosen college’s financial aid office, along with the federal government, throws all this information into a calculation called the the federal methodology to arrive at your individual EFC. the higher your EFC (or the closer it is to the estimated cost of attending your college), the less eligible you are for federal financial aid. Here, we’re going to take a look at some ways that you can legally lower your EFC, apart from being declared an independent student, and thus increase your eligibility for aid.

Student Earnings

One of the criteria that has the most effect on your EFC is your income both before and during your college years. This doesn’t mean that you should immediately quit your job and throw yourself on the couch with the remote and a bucket of ice cream as you wait for the Pell Grant check to clear. Not at all. In fact, please don’t. But what you do need to do is remember that in the eyes of the financial aid powers, a percentage of what you are earning is expected to be used for college. So, yes, you could lower your income in order to be more eligible for aid, but you would be shooting yourself in the financial foot. It would be frankly silly to earn $5,000 less per year so that you could qualify for an extra $1,000 in federal student aid. Right?

The better (less fun, more prudent) course of action is to save as much of what you earn as you can for use in paying your college expenses. If your income is going to count against your EFC, which it will if you need federal aid, you need to allocate as much of it as you can toward paying for college. From the frugal perspective, this strategy has the added benefit of reducing the amount of outside aid you will actually need, most particularly loans. Which, in the long run, is financially way better. So, if you use what you earn to by less pizza while you’re in college, you will be able to buy a lot more of it (and other things) with your post-degree job and reduced student debt lifestyle.

Trust Your Parents

Another way to reduce your EFC is to transfer some of the assets that you own in your name to your parents. The only things you need to worry about are the types of assets that will be included in the federal methodology calculation, such as savings accounts and accounts of which you are the beneficiary, like 529 savings plans, etc. If you choose to look into this way of increasing your eligibility for federal student aid, be sure to talk to a financial adviser to make sure that it is a permissible transfer. You will also want to make sure that you change the ownership long before you submit your first Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) so that there is no question of who is legal owner of the assets.

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The Workplace is Changing; Is Your Business Ready?

The Workplace is Changing; Is Your Business Ready?Nov 21st, 2013 · 0 CommentThe Workplace is Changing; Is Your Business Ready? For the past ten years or so, as cloud-based devices and platforms have become more ubiquitous, and a growing population of working age people have become accustomed to working on the go, there’s has been a very noticeable shift away from traditional workplace attitudes and setups.Businesses are increasingly looking for ways to work smarter and more innovatively, relying on a new generation of workers who have literally grown up with the digital age. These people are more accustomed to flexible, collaborative work environments that often involve working outside of the office. This means more co-working spaces instead of the traditional office and cubicle set up. …

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The Workplace is Changing; Is Your Business Ready?

For the past ten years or so, as cloud-based devices and platforms have become more ubiquitous, and a growing population of working age people have become accustomed to working on the go, there’s has been a very noticeable shift away from traditional workplace attitudes and setups.Businesses are increasingly looking for ways to work smarter and more innovatively, relying on a new generation of workers who have literally grown up with the digital age. These people are more accustomed to flexible, collaborative work environments that often involve working outside of the office. This means more co-working spaces instead of the traditional office and cubicle set up. It means work schedules that incorporate a significant amount of flextime, and it often means allowing employees to work …

via FastUpFront Small Business Blog:

For the past ten years or so, as cloud-based devices and platforms have become more ubiquitous, and a growing population of working age people have become accustomed to working on the go, there’s has been a very noticeable shift away from traditional workplace attitudes and setups. Businesses are increasingly looking for ways to work smarter [...]

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The Workplace is Changing; Is Your Business Ready?

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Magento Expert Needed by outsourcingted

L’acquisto di uno SmartPhone rappresenta sempre un momento particolare…AJAXAjax is the acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and is a group of interrelated web development techniques used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications. With Ajax, web applications can send data to, and retrieve data from, a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page. Data can be retrieved using the XMLHttpRequest object. Despite the name, the use of XML is not required (JSON is often used instead), and the requests do not need to be asynchronous. AJAX is not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing standards. AJAX is the right way of exchanging data with a server, and updating parts …

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Only Indian Candidates should apply We are located in New Delhi and would prefer someone from New Delhi but other experts from India can also apply. But definitely those will be preferred who are in delhi and if they can come to our office, that’s even better… (Budget: $250-$750 USD, Jobs: AJAX, Javascript, Magento, MySQL, PHP)

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Magento Expert Needed by outsourcingted

Only Indian Candidates should apply We are located in New Delhi and would prefer someone from New Delhi but other experts from India can also apply. But definitely those will be preferred who are in delhi and if they can come to our office, that’s even better… (Budget: $250-$750 USD, Jobs: AJAX, Javascript, Magento, MySQL, PHP)

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Magento Expert Needed by outsourcingted

L’articolo Magento Expert Needed by outsourcingted sembra essere il primo su Ajax Time.

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Magento Expert Needed by outsourcingted

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