NEW COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCAM REVEALED!
Parents Reportedly Gave Up Custody Of Their Kids
To Help Them Get College Scholarships
by
Nick Visser (Huffington Post, July 29, 2019)
Dozens of wealthy families in Illinois have reportedly been using a controversial tactic to help their children pay for college: They give up legal guardianship so the teenagers can claim dramatically lower incomes and earn need-based financial aid, according to reports from two news organizations published Monday.
ProPublica and The Wall Street Journal each detailed the efforts in separate articles after uncovering dozens of applications filed by Chicago-area parents to financially divorce themselves from their kids over the past year and a half.
As part of the strategy, wealthy parents allegedly file paperwork to transfer legal custody of their kids to other relatives, friends or even co-workers. When the transfers are complete often during their junior or senior years of high school students are then able to declare themselves financially independent on college applications. In one instance detailed by the Journal, a student whose parents owned a $1.2 million home only had to declare $4,200 in income from a summer job.
That student was able to obtain about $47,000 in scholarships and federal Pell grants to attend a private university that costs $65,000 per year.
The practice is legal, but the Journal notes that the Education Department is looking into the matter. The agency did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
“It’s a scam,” Andy Borst, the director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, told ProPublica. “Wealthy families are manipulating the financial aid process to be eligible for financial aid they would not be otherwise eligible for. They are taking away opportunities from families that really need it.” Borst also spoke with ProPublica.
ProPublica noted that laws in Illinois governing the transfer of legal guardianship are broadly written and that as long as the parents, children and the court agree, a judge can approve the transfer even if parents are able to financially support their kids.
Almost all of the cases cited by ProPublica and the Journal echo language that says the new guardians “can provide educational and financial support and opportunities to the minor that her parents could not otherwise provide.”
It’s unclear if the tactic has been used in other states. The Education Department does not mandate students report their parents’ income on federal financial aid forms if they have been legally delared independent.
The reports come just months after the unfolding of a college admissions scandal that saw more than 50 people charged with allegedly buying their kids’ way into elite universities around the country. Celebrities including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were named in the investigation, and many parents were said to have paid $200,000 to $400,000 to secure their children spots at universities such as Yale and Georgetown.
Investigators called it the largest admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Justice Department, and it set off a nationwide reckoning regarding everyday access to elite colleges that have grown more competitive in recent years.
MILLIONS OF AMERICANS KEEP THIS DIRTY LITTLE SECRET FROM THEIR PARTNERS!
1 in 5 People in New Survey Say Financial Infidelity Is Worse Than Physical Infidelity
by
Quentin Fortrell (Market Watch, July 31, 2019(
Do you keep track of the contents of your beloved’s purse or wallet? And would you recognize all his or her plastic if you emptied it out?
Nearly 20% of people are keeping a savings, credit-card or checking account hidden from their live-in partner, according to a recent survey released by CreditCards.com. The company polled 1,000 adults, including 636 who are currently married or living with a partner.
Millennials (ages 18 to 37) are twice as likely to say they’re hiding a bank or credit-card account from their partner (28% versus 15%). Other more common offenders are people in the South (22%) and West (21%), compared to those in the Northeast (16%) and Midwest (12%).
More than half of people who live with their partner say keeping a secret bank or credit-card account is as bad as actually cheating on someone.
More than half (55%) say keeping a secret account is as bad as actually cheating on someone, and 1 in 5 say it’s worse than physical infidelity. Older people with higher incomes and education levels were more likely to believe that physical cheating is worse,
“Talking about money with your spouse isn’t always easy,” Ted Rossman, CreditCards.com industry analyst, said. “You can still maintain some privacy over your finances, and even keep separate accounts.” But keeping secrets? “Your financial union is doomed to fail,” he said.
The good (and bad) news: Americans who live with their partner are generally confident about their own personal money management skills: 44% percent believe they are a better money manager than their spouse/partner, and just 12% think they’re worse.
Rossman warned against over-confidence, citing statistics about how woefully under-saved many Americans are for emergencies, retirement and even college. “If you don’t know where your money is or where it’s going, those already lofty financial goals will become even harder to reach,” he said.
More than 77% of people consider credit-card debt an unattractive trait in a mate, according to a recent survey released by personal-finance site Finder.com. On average, people say $11,525 in credit-card debt is enough of a red flag to swipe left or walk away from a potential partner.
Payday loans, which can have astronomical interest rates as high as 400%, are the second most unacceptable forms of debt for daters after credit-card debt. As such, it only takes a payday loan of $1,830 to turn off a would-be mate.
Some couples make a point of not talking about their respective purchases, and rely on old-fashioned trust instead – and do so successfully.
Co-mingling finances or at least leaving your credit card lying around can also be problematic. This woman recently wrote into MarketWatch’s Moneyist advice column that her husband racked up $7,000 in credit-card debt on her credit cards. “I only make $12 per hour,” she said.
But some couples don’t talk about their respective purchases, and rely on old-fashioned trust instead – and do so successfully. Michael Hayes, 60, an architect, and Jamie Brickhouse, 50, a writer, told MarketWatch that the secret to their finances is that they don’t talk about them.
So what does this New York City couple fight about when they fight about money? “We don’t because we’ve never had a joint checking account,” Hayes said. “He’s been pretty reliable. If he did get himself into a situation where he was carrying short-term debt, he was able to pay it off.”
“Neither one of us talks about the bank account of the other one,” Brickhouse added. “When I started on my own, he would pick up the slack. He would never say, ‘You spend $200 on lunch or Bed, Bath and Beyond? What’s that about?” The couple has been together nearly 30 years.
FROM CODEPENDENT TO INDEPENDENT!
A Dynamic And Affordable Online Course
by
Mary Joye, LMHC (Daily Om, July 25, 2019)
Do you find yourself constantly trying to please other people, and seek their approval? Are you the ‘go to’ person for everyone else’s problems? Or maybe you’re afraid of being alone or abandoned, so you put up with unhealthy relationships to avoid it? All these things are symptoms of what is called Codependency, and by definition it’s a loss of self because you’re too busy taking care of others. What’s important to remember though is that you’re a human BEING, not a human DOING–and you simply can’t do everything for everyone. This course explores and tackles ways that codependency has impaired your life and, more importantly, it will show you how to repair it. You’ll be brought through a process of realization so that, finally, you can start to live YOUR desired life-on your terms.
The world needs giving, loving, compassionate and empathic people like you. However, you also need to receive love, kindness, and compassion in return. The concept of the cycle of receiving and giving is sometimes difficult for people who are codependents, because they’re often in one-sided relationships. However, you’re disabling yourself from your authentic path and purpose when you continue to enable others this way–and despite your best intentions, you’re also depriving the person you’re sheltering of the lessons they need to learn and grow. The truth is; you can only give so much for so long before you start suffering and need help yourself. Your ‘need to be needed’ is actually an embedded fear of abandonment somewhere in your subconscious, but you can transform any fear of abandonment into abundance.
Some of the symptoms of Codependency include:
- Approval seeking, or people pleasing.
Fear of being alone or abandoned. - Feeling selfish, or guilty for not meeting the needs of others. • Feeling not good enough, or “too much” or “too little.”
Irritable when others don’t take your advice. - Diminishing yourself in order to lift up others.
- Being everyone’s “go to” person.
- Getting caught in others’ trauma and drama.
- Rescuing or fixing others, to your demise.
- Giving ultimatums, or nagging to keep others out of trouble.
- Covering or taking a fall for others.
- Enduring unhealthy relationships to avoid loneliness.
- Giving of your finances and other resources to depletion.
- Having an addict, user, abuser, or narcissist in your life.
- Having self-limiting or self-sabotaging beliefs.
- Over-responsibility or doing more than your fair share
I CAN DO ANYTHING BUT I CAN’T DO EVERYTHING!
The 21 Lessons Include:
- The Roots of Codependency.
- Regaining a Sense of Self.
- The Neuroscience of Codependency.
- Healing Family Secrets.
- Inner Child Healing.
- Compassion Fatigue Protection.
- Spiritual Healing.
- What do YOU Want?
- Revealing and Healing Unhealthy Relationships.
- Healthy Connections.
- Enlightenment of Your Gift of Giving.
- Developing Safe Boundaries.
- Servanthood vs. Servitude.
- Approval Seeking and People Pleasing Intervention.
- Zero Tolerance=Infinite Possibilities.
- Financial Independence.
- Peaceful and Powerful.
- Emerging Independence and Interdependence.
- You Are Good Enough.
- Belonging and Wholeness.
- Abandonment to Abundance.
To learn about or to sign up for this affordable course, see: From Codependent to Independent Course!
TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY
A Reflection on Amazon’s Recent Prime Day(s) Sale
by
David Yaffe-Bellany (New York Times, July 15, 2019) I’M QUOTED
Today (July 15) is the start of Amazon Prime Day, the e-commerce giant’s annual discount bonanza.
It’s ever more international. Besides in the U.S., Prime Day is held in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
Amazon expects to take in billions of dollars and sign up more Prime members over the 48-hour event. Wirecutter, a Times Company site, will be sorting through the deals for you.
For recovering shopaholics, the Amazon sale is something else entirely.
“It’s like the Super Bowl if you’re an alcoholic,” said Terrence Shulman, who runs a support group for compulsive spenders. “This is going to be a challenge for people.”
Last year on Prime Day, one member of Mr. Shulman’s network, a 63-year-old woman from Georgia, spent around $400, shelling out for discounted gardening shears and satin pillowcases. “I could’ve done without those,” she acknowledged.
This year, she has a plan: no browsing, just checking for discounts on items already on her Amazon shopping list.
The only problem? It’s 478 items long.
YOUR BRAIN ON MONEY: THE DANGERS OF RETAIL THERAPY
by
Joel Schlesinger
(June 20, 2019 Vancouver Sun) I’M QUOTED
A little ‘retail therapy’ from time to time is a good way to blow off steam.
But too much spending can have the opposite effect, causing stress and anguish come credit card statement time.
Licensed Insolvency Trustee Lana Gilbertson of MNP 310-DEBT has certainly seen the negative effects of overspending with many of the clients she sees in her Vancouver practice at their debt-load breaking point. “I would say discretionary spending is a big issue for many.”
In large part, she adds families are already stretching their income to pay for ‘needs’. But paying for the ‘wants’ is another matter, she says. “They use credit, and frequently take on debt for discretionary spending.” Indeed, many Canadians may have an overspending problem, according to MNP Consumer Debt Index data released in the spring, which found four in 10 people regret the debt they carry. Almost the same number cannot pay their monthly balance in full. And many are nearing their breaking point. In B.C, the survey found one in four would be facing insolvency if they fell $200 short of income each month.
Of course, the remedy is to earn more, spend less and use savings to pay down debt. But the growing field of behavioural economics suggests this is easier said than done.
In her practice, Vancouver-based therapist Megan Sutherland works with compulsive spenders, manifesting extreme behaviour. Yet she says almost everyone has emotional triggers causing them to spend more than they should.
“Retail therapy is pretty widely accepted as something that is fine to do from time to time, and if it happens without major impacts, who are we to judge?” says Sutherland, whose practice is Willow Tree Counselling. “But sometimes it can be hard to discern when it’s a problem and when it isn’t.”
Like many experts helping people with overspending, she notes often individuals buy when anxious or depressed. That’s all fine and good until those shopping pick-me-ups make the situation worse.
Adding fuel to the flames is that it’s easier than ever to overspend because we can shop online 24/7 and credit is widely available, says Terrence Daryl Shulman, a therapist and founder of the Shulman Center for Compulsive Theft, Spending and Hoarding in Michigan.
“It’s magic money.”
He adds spending with plastic is increasingly seamless, noting that consumers now need only tap their cards or phones on the terminal – no need for a PIN anymore on many purchases. While convenient, experts argue it’s too easy because it eliminates the immediate pain of payment.
According to research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied in 2008, paying with a credit card – for example – makes people spend more readily than with cash because of the delay between the purchase and the consequence.
Laurie Campbell, CEO of Credit Canada Debt Solutions, says our consumer culture often encourages overspending, even more so thanks to social media. “There’s that FOMO effect,” says Campbell, based in Toronto. “We convince ourselves by not having that ‘something’ we’re missing out.”
Remember keeping up with the Joneses? Well, Shulman argues “keeping up” is on steroids in the age of Instagram. “The old Joneses were your neighbours down the block,” he says. “Now they’re Beyoncé and the Kardashians.”
He further adds we are often faced with mixed messages. On one hand we’re told to be financially responsible, and on the other we’re encouraged to consume. “I don’t know if it’s quite the same in Canada, but here it’s like ‘Be a good American; spend money and help the economy.”
Certainly, consumption is unavoidable. We need to spend money to survive, and discretionary spending is not in and of itself a vice, Sutherland adds. “But lines are crossed and people often spend money they don’t have.”
The drivers can be external like social media, “Or sometimes it’s family patterning, what people have been exposed to while growing up.”
Often our current emotional state and impulsivity play big parts too. “Nice clothing, vacations and nice cars- these things do make people feel good, right?” Gilbertson says. Except credit, she adds, allows people to spend ahead of actual income.”And if there isn’t a plan in place to repay, or no big raise around the corner, this spending can spell trouble because debt often snowballs.”
Sutherland suggests people can discover other, less costly methods to feel good. “Often those may feel a bit lame at first until the brain can recalibrate to really find the new hobby satisfying.” But with time, they often prove more fulfilling.
Just as important, individuals need to develop more self-awareness and accountability at the till and ask themselves: ‘Do I need this? What will its impact be on my finances?’ Otherwise, it’s too easy to slip into the pitfalls of the buy now, worry later culture, Sutherland says.
“If you’re in that fugue state of mindless spending, you are likely to go on forever until some horrible consequence occurs.”
According to research, paying with a credit card makes people spend more readily than with cash because of the delay between the purchase and the consequence.
Need help staying on track with spending?
Consider these tips from Lana Gilbertson, Licensed Insolvency Trustee at MNP 310-DEBT.
Set financial goals: Budgeting is all fine and good, but it’s unlikely to work well without goals underpinning it.
“If you tie financial goals to income, debt and actions, the chances are you’re going to be more successful.” Track spending: Without literally writing it all down, or using an app to track spending, it’s far too easy to let yourself off the hook and remain ignorant of shopping behaviour.
Limit buying power: Use debit instead of credit, and if you still buy more than planned, go to cash only for discretionary shops.
Put savings to work: Take money not used on spending to build emergency savings (at least three months of basic living costs). Don’t forget, however, to repay debt at the same time. As a rule of thumb, Gilbertson suggest 80 per cent of free cash flow to debt, and 20 per cent for emergency savings.
Attack the debt: When faced with multiple debts, Gilbertson recommends using one of two strategies. First is the snowball method: You eliminate the smallest debt first, and then you on to the next smallest. This gives you a sense of accomplishment and motivates you to keeping going. The other strategy is the avalanche method, which involves paying highest interest debt first. Afterward you take on the next highest balance. With every payment, more money goes toward eliminating debt while reducing interest costs.