Education Across The Globe: How Globalization Is Upping The Ante For American Students
By Andrew | July 25, 2008
Education Across The Globe: How Globalization Is Upping The Ante For American Students
Globalization - glob’al·i·za’tion (-lĭ-zā’shən) n. : growth to a global or worldwide scale [as defined @ dictionary.com]
This topic has become the center of some hot debate lately. The Olympics are being held in China this year and Neo-Beijing’s world debut to the outside world will stun the hundreds of thousands of visitors who will witness, firsthand, the full-scale 21st century modernization of Chinese economy.
During the technology bubble in the late ’90s investors loaded a tremendous amount of money into wiring the world together with fiber optic bandwidth cables (stretching as far as the entire length of the Pacific Ocean). Verizon Communications has just finished linking a new cable from mainland China to Oregon, and Google (as part of a collaboration with seven other companies) has decided to join the crowd as it has already initiated plans to link Japan to California. Access to overseas labor is only going to increase as time moves on, and though the language barrier can be awkward at times, the price is certainly right. After all, one doesn’t invest hundreds of millions of dollars in something to lose money on it.
As technology companies floundered in the late ’90s, entrepreneurs and investors picked up these fiber-optic communication lines for pennies on the dollar, and since then America has been utilizing this workforce more and more. If there is ever any doubt about whether students in third-world countries are taking this opportunity seriously, check out this excerpt from Education Week from the November 30, 2005 issue that begins like this:
“In one of Chennai’s ubiquitous academic-coaching classes, a hundred 12th graders are crammed into a purple room, about 30 feet long and 25 feet wide. The energy-sapping temperature is well over 100 degrees despite the constant whirr of overhead fans. On a wooden dais, Muthukrishnan Arulselvan draws a triangle on the blackboard, marks angles inside, it, and explains a geometrical formula into a microphone. The students listen, rapt, although it is nearly 10:00 p.m. When Mr. Arulselvan asks a question, the students rush to reply in a chorus. When the tutor poses a problem, they bury their heads in notebooks, chewing on pencils, eager to finish before everyone else. This intensive, seven-days-a-week class represents life as usual for these Indian high schoolers, who are hoping to earn an engineering slot at one of the colleges here in Chennai … When they return home, most will gulp down a cup of strong, sweet coffee to keep them up studying several hours longer … In India, putting a child through engineering or medical college is, for many middle-class families, a life’s mission in a way that is almost unknown in the United States. In the country that invented the decimal scale, such long-dead geniuses of mathematics and science as Srinivasa Ramanujam and Aryabhatta are still revered, and children who do well in those subjects are considered especially prized.”
On page 213 of Thomas Freidman’s instant classic The World Is Flat, he adds:
“True, maybe only 10 percent of this new 1.5 billion-strong workforce entering the global economy have the education and connectivity to collaborate and compete at a meaningful level. But that is still 150 million people, roughly the size of the entire U.S. workforce.“
This Is Truly Staggering To Consider
As technology becomes more and more robust, businesses are learning to utilize systematized, automated processes and outsourcing to leverage resources. The students of today will be entering the job markets of tomorrow. Technology remains in a perpetual stage of exponential growth and will likely revolutionize many industries in years to come. Even some jobs that have been conventional and traditional since the dawn of time will be impacted. McDonald’s, as a very basic example, has already successfully implemented drive-thru windows at which customers place their order with someone working from India in real-time.
Students would do well to take themselves and their own educations very seriously. By the time today’s high school graduate finishes college the competition won’t just consist of every other American graduate - it will include the hundreds of millions of other graduates from all around the world (specifically India and China). Taking the time to thoroughly research the growth potentials for many different industries might help students to decide what sorts of fields they can happily commit their lives to studying and working in, as well as discover which industries are likely to die out. After all, spending $100,000 on an accounting degree as an exponential volume of these jobs are currently being outsourced overseas may not add up after all.
Students and families must ultimately decide if the investment in a chosen education will pay off or not. Whatever path a student chooses the competition will be fierce, and the ability to quickly absorb and apply large amounts of information consistently will serve him or her well. When considering those in India who are learning English as a second, third, or “nth” language in addition to a computer science masters, they are just the type of people that will be able to thrive in the 21st Century. For American students who decide to be competitive in the global markets, they need to know that talent will only take them so far. Character traits (as stressed by the Greeks) like discipline, desire, and attitude will carry them through even the toughest times.
Topics: Students | No Comments »
Financial Planning 201: How To Not Care If The Economy Sucks: The Golden Rule of Guarding Wealth During Economically Harsh, Inflationary College Years
By Andrew | July 23, 2008
Financial Planning 201: How To Not Care If The Economy Sucks: The Golden Rule of Guarding Wealth During Economically Harsh, Inflationary College Years
Lately there has been a lot of talk and worry about a falling economy, rising consumer prices, and housing indexes. College costs still grew 6% this year, Wachovia and SunTrust are for sale, several banks have already experienced collapse, Starbucks is closing 600 stores, and Lending Houses are tightening up on credit limits all around the nation. It sure does seem like there might be something going on, but then again it could just be business as usual. As families prepare for the high costs of college, Regardless of the current state of the economic affairs, there may still one more investment for a family to consider if they still feel worry or concerned about the economy: gold.
As It Turns Out, There Is One Piece Of The Puzzle Most Families Aren’t Hearing About
The United States Citizenry was always supposed to have owned gold. From the first community of its existence until 1933, gold had always been a medium for exchange of value. In 1933, due to economic woes and political pressure, President Roosevelt signed a bill that made it illegal for the United States Citizenry to own gold. Through the confiscation of the People’s Treasury the Government was able to exchange a Zero-Interest-Bond called a Dollar Bill for an exorbitant amount of Gold Bullion.
Later, on August 15th 1971, President Nixon signed a bill that ceased paying its citizenry in gold altogether. Since that day each new coin minted has lacked precious metal content of any kind - gold, silver, or otherwise. All of the gold and silver in circulation was exchanged for copper and nickel, melted down, and returned to US Treasuries. At the time it was thought that the move would be temporary - maybe a decade or so.
President Reagan supported the gold standard himself and made initiatives to return the system to its original condition, but met with opposition by the Treasury. So the American Citizenry has still yet to be repaid the gold from this event, and now there is an entire generation growing up without any real knowledge or experience about the gold system.
What Does Gold Ownership Represent?
Cliche as it might be, the phrase “good as gold” exists for a reason. Plain and simple - gold IS money. Holding a portion of savings in the form of gold is a great way to form a guard in an uncertain market. The amount of gold extracted via mining over virtually any 10-year historical span has amounted to a historical 2% growth rate, and gold is likely to continue at that same pace for many years to come. Gold, intrinsically, increases on its own annually - separately and completely independent of any other monetary ratio. It will always yield its value in whatever market you are living in.
Even if the United States experiences massive hyperinflation as happened in Post WWII Germany and the cost of bread jumps to $300 per loaf, a holder of gold wouldn’t be altogether in ruins because as long as the gold could be exchanged for an amount of dollar bills, that exchange rate will naturally adjust relative to the strength of the dollar. So in the case of a $300 loaf of bread, the cost discrepancy exists because of the decrease in the actual value of the dollar and not from the value of bread, itself, increasing. In this case, since the issue is that the dollar is simply being worth less, it will take more dollars to purchase the same amount of goods than in the past. This devaluation would be felt across the board as consumers would not be able to buy as much with their money - the same way gas prices feel now.
Owning even a medium-sized quantity of exchangeable gold to ride out the times would prove to be a wise decision. As the dollar drops in value so will its exchange rate with gold. Lately the price of gold has been riding around $970/ounce of gold, but in the case of hyperinflation this balance would grow exponentially to perhaps $10,000/ounce or more in extreme cases. At any rate, those who possess exchangeable gold as they need it should always be able to sleep well at night. By exchanging gold for dollars as needed, the holder will always have the ability to exchange the value held within the gold, itself, at whatever currency markets are yielding at the time of exchange.
The Gold Standard is something that the free United States Citizenry has to decide it wishes to be paid with as a democratic majority. Whether or not that every actually happens matters not, since any citizen with the discipline and diversity enough to invest partially in gold won’t be completely effected by most any market condition short of absolute famine or plague. The right to own a portion of net worth in the form of gold is a decision that any free American can make and one that, once made, will certainly help alleviate any anxiety associated with economic uncertainty. So what if the dollar drops ten fold in value? Gold, itself, will be unaffected since gold will always hold true to its intrinsic value. Some say the economy is as strong as its ever been, and others say that economic chaos lies just on the horizon. Want to be able to say, “I don’t care one way or the other”? An investment in gold might be just what the doctor ordered for those worrisome economic woes.
What Type Of Gold Should Consumers Consider Investing In?
There are three types of coins that are generally collected: historical coins, bullion, and foreign currency. Having various quantities of each will vary from person to person, family to family. Evaluating what sort of protection and results are desired on a personal basis will yield a concentration in one of the three.
For more immediate, liquid gold holdings that are sure to increase in value as time passes, historical coins (pre-1933 Roosevelt) are a good choice because of their rarity and historical significance. If the accumulation of bulk gold weight is the goal then there are a couple of good options. In the first place, purchasing gold bars or US bullion coins are efficiently sized for personal treasury holdings. Gold bars are sold in various weights, and bullion coins like the Buffalo contain a full ounce of gold each. Foreign currencies that are generally well received are also good options for accumulating bulk gold weight. A few that come to mind are the Swiss 20 Franc Helvetia (pre-1933) Swiss Francs and virtually any pre-1933 South American gold coins.
What Could The Worst-Case Scenario Look Like?
If it comes down to a “no-holds barred” situation with hyperinflation, it is unlikely that the government will be able to get away with another nation-wide confiscation of its citizenry’s gold. What is a most-likely scenario is one in which the government places capital controls on the movement of gold by making it illegal to sell gold to anyone other than the United States Government. In this case, they will ensure a one-way-into-the-treasury flow of gold at the expense of monopolizing the gold trade. Ultimately, for those preemptive enough to take action today, “He who has the gold makes the rules.”
Topics: Financial Planning, College Planning, Advisors, Parents | No Comments »
Looking For Scholarship Money? Know Dice : College Admission Strategies - What Should Students Be Doing?
By Andrew | July 21, 2008
Looking For Scholarship Money? Know Dice : College Admission Strategies - What Should Students Be Doing?
Lately there has been a lot of talk in South Carolina about whether or not to legalize gambling as a way to generate revenue for educational purposes. All moral and ethical discussions aside, there is something to be said for “Putting your money where your mouth is.” Growing up in Las Vegas was an incredible experience - one that, ultimately, taught street smarts and emphasized a high esteem for mastering the odds. Whether or not gambling should be legalized becomes a backburner issue when stacked next to the why there is such a lack of emphasis on strong mathematical fundamentals.
Most Students Today Are Encouraged To Outsource Their Arithmetic Skills To A Calculator
There is a certain way of thinking about things that can make all the difference. As an example, most students today are told in school that they do not need to master arithmetic because they can just use a calculator. Mental arithmetic is rarely encouraged within schools and, increasingly, more and more energy is placed upon the passing of a class instead of the true acquisition of the material. Telling students they don’t need to master arithmetic because they can use a calculator is like telling them they do not need to master reading because a machine has been invented that will read a piece of text for them. In a very real way calculators have become a mental crutch that weakens the normal minds of millions of students every year which are perfectly capable of acquiring arithmetic as second nature.
Logic And Mathematics Skills Are Like Muscles, The More They Are Used The Stronger They Get
Howard Gardner, lead researcher of multiple intelligence at Harvard, has shown that mathematical and logical intelligence can be grown and developed in any normal mind, just as any normal body put through a workout regimen becomes stronger. By encouraging the use of calculators in the classroom for arithmetic, students lose the opportunity to develop a complete understanding of the fundamental concepts of number. Arithmetic provides the foundation for Number Theory, and to suggest its Exodus from the classroom unnecessarily handicaps millions of students annually.
Logic: A Rare Topic Discussed In School Nowadays That Really Pays Off
Having a fully-mature sense of number leads to incredible intangible advantages in the working world, let alone the classroom. Students adept at mathematics will yield unmatched time advantages during standardized tests like the SAT or ACT. Often, mathematics becomes one of the only mediums in school through which logic is directly taught - Geometry, as an example, is one of the only subjects in high school that students are asked to use deductive logic (not rote computation) to solve problems. Other opportunities may come during Trigonometry while studying the Pythagorean Identities or in college in a Contemporary Mathematics or Abstract Algebra course.
What Can Students Do To See Improvements In Their Results?
At the end of the day, students who want to perform well in any mathematics-based application (school, SAT, ACT, or otherwise) would do well to know the dice. Taking time out of every day to practice mental arithmetic, learn a new shortcut for computing values, or pick up another new divisibility rule or factoid will yield bountiful results during crunch time. Because there is only a finite amount of general information in regards to what is actually tested, it won’t take long to become a highly skilled mathematician. The amount of additional scholarship money earned by picking up an extra 150 points on the Math section of the SAT, alone, will make it more than worth the time.
Topics: SAT Prep, Students | No Comments »
College Board Gives Students The Choice To Report SAT Scores: SAT Prep
By Andrew | July 18, 2008
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College Board Gives Students The Choice To Report SAT Scores: SAT Prep
Students who experience high levels of test anxiety finally have a reason to relax. College Board, the administrators of the SAT, have made a policy change on score submissions that will predominantly effect every high school class starting with 2010. While 2009 class seniors will still be in school during score submission option dates for the March 2009 SAT, chances are they are a day late and a dollar short if they are waiting around for that exam date. This is great news, however, for every other class.
Should Students Of The Class Of 2010 Or Later Take An SAT Before The March 2009 Date?
While it is tempting to take the exam before this date to get a feel for what a real SAT test feels like, it will likely prove more beneficial for a student to spend time reading good books and developing logic skills instead of getting mentally geared up for an early SAT. Often students become more adept at solving puzzles and acquire a stronger vocabulary over time anyway, so waiting until later on in a school year after they have been exposed to more ideas really makes a lot of sense. Perhaps the only reason for a student to take an early SAT would be in the case where he or she is considering an early graduation, however those students are most likely already doing quite well on their own and in many cases already have the scores they need.
After The March 2009 Date, How Many SAT Tests Should I Expect To Take?
This is more of a moving target than a rule of thumb. Generally speaking, a student should expect to take an SAT test toward the end of the Junior year and then at least once more during the Senior year, though perhaps later in the year after getting back in the academic grind instead of immediately following the summer. In some cases it might make sense to take the SAT a third time, but no later than the January SAT date for seniors. Usually, if there must be a third SAT attempt it should be the December date just in case there is an extreme case where a score increase is an absolute necessity and so a fourth go-round comes into play. In this case, the January SAT will be the final hoo-rah.
Remember: The Student Must Make The Choice To Take Advantage Of The New SAT Score Submission Policy
Students who have already signed up for SAT dates for March and later can modify their registration forms after the February launch of the program and is an optional service. Students MUST be sure to make the appropriate selection on their registration forms to take advantage of the optional score reporting to the colleges, otherwise the score will be automatically reported.
Topics: SAT Prep | No Comments »
Is Technology Actually Making College Planning More Advanced? A Brief Look At The Advantages And Pitfalls Of College Financial Planning Tools.
By Andrew | July 16, 2008
Is Technology Actually Making College Planning More Advanced? A Brief Look At The Advantages And Pitfalls Of College Financial Planning Tools.
As technology grows more and more sophisticated, the question often arises: Does the enhanced sophistication in technology lead to more sophisticated College and Financial Planning? The answer to this question may not seem as straight forward a question as it first appears. Certainly the connectivity of the web is making “business as usual” more efficient and instantaneous. There’s no doubt about it - information pertaining to the entire field of College Planning has exploded into a sub-science of it’s own within Financial Planning.
Let’s Start At The Beginning: What Can The Average Consumer Really Expect Out Of Any College Financial Planning Tool?
Life happens fast. The ability to run information through a program that instantly creates reports and illustrations is perhaps the greatest advantage of modern College Financial Planning Tools - this single feature saves countless hours of by-hand calculations per case. Visual Aids and Educational Widgets are also a common feature among the most advanced programs, and are commonly praised for their simplicity and intuitiveness. College Advisor Pro, the most sophisticated College Planning Tool on the market at the time of this writing, can analyze and illustrate all of the following scenarios:
* Comparing and contrasting each College’s costs against one another
* Adjusting for multiple students entering College
* Additional years of College in the case of five-year or Graduate programs
* Analyze virtually every debt consolidation strategy known to mankind
* Illustrate how inflation effects retirement nest egg over time
* Provide side-by-side EFC comparisons with the before-and-after scenario builder
* Print off the completed official Government Formula for obtaining a family’s EFC
For more information about College Advisor Pro you can visit their site.
What Might The Future Of College Planning Look Like?
As the web becomes a more stable platform the industry is likely to see a boon in web-automated services that can streamline any College Planning practice. Parents and students will be rewarded with increasingly interactive and collaborative college planning tools that will educate them and offer tips and suggestions for what they can do to improve their financial and social circumstances. Perhaps the greatest advantage will be the increased communication between families and planners to ensure the proper implementation of financial plans as the web matures into a true platform for interactivity. In many ways technology is still catching up to demand. The industry still lacks an accountability system between parents, students, and advisors, and there are literally hundreds of college prep programs, standardized test prep programs, college financial planning tools, and professional college planning programs.
What Makes An Effective Carpenter: Possessing A Hammer, Or Knowing How To Use One?
But with all this increase in sophistication, is it actually making a difference in the individual lives of people as a whole? Sometimes, as with the use of calculators in high school, there is a false sense of security that can develop as great faith is placed upon technological advances rather than in truly understanding the process of diversification and cashflow management. As technology is bred to automate more and more of our lives there is an inherent danger in relying on systems to automate personal finance. At the very basic level, there is a loss of “gut instinct” to market conditions and global monetary affairs. Ultimately one may possess an entire workshop full of hammers, but without a true understanding for its nature and use there will likely be injury, waste from bent nails, and extra time and energy exerted in completing the project.
The Trifecta of “Best Practices” of College Planning
From the consumer’s point of view there are three elements that determine the effectiveness and overall success of any College Plan:
1.) The savvy consumer can expect to reap the greatest rewards. There are a lot of moving parts to every situation and the more of those moving parts that a family is aware of the more opportunities can be spotted and gained. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
2.) Having a strong support team that can provide objective 3rd party advice is critical to the success of a college plan in a number of ways. Not only does it create accountability toward setting and reaching goals, there are often many tax law changes and new products that come on to the market all the time that might be just the thing to solve a problem. Having a core-competent team that is in the know can often create opportunities and gains that would otherwise never be realized. A very simple way of finding people who are good at what they do is to ask respectable people in the community who they use or recommend.
3.) Utilizing the most efficient tools available can offer huge advantages to those who don’t have the time or interest in performing thousands of calculations by hand to compare and contrast different financial scenarios. Due diligence is a good idea here. Picking a program that is well documented and supported should be an important consideration as well as ease of use.
Topics: College Planning | No Comments »
The House of Equity Harvesting - a Good Idea Truly Divided : Home Equity Management
By Andrew | July 14, 2008
The House of Equity Harvesting – a Good Idea Truly Divided : Home Equity Management
Lately there has been a lot of debate about whether or not Equity Harvesting is a suitable personal finance strategy for many families. Many Broker-Dealers (B/D’s) who are required by FINRA (formally the NASD) to oversee the sales of securities of their representatives must now make a decision on whether the strategy of taking out a home equity loan for investment purposes is a suitable security transaction. Based on the position of FINRA all of these type transactions are unsuitable. Ask the compliance officers at various B/D’s, however, and there is still no unanimous consensus that 100% of the time this type of strategy is wrong for every investor.
There Is Still A Split Decision On Whether Equity Harvesting Is A Suitable Investment
As with many financial strategies there are two polar opposite opinions on levering an asset like Home Equity to grow other assets. First, there are those who believe that Home Equity should never be leveraged, and that the home should be paid off as early as possible, thereby minimizing the risk of loss. On the other hand, there are many good reasons why Equity Harvesting should not only be implemented - it should be carefully considered by every homeowner as part of a wholistic strategy for building wealth.
Those Who Are Willing To Learn About Maximizing Home Equity Management Strategies Will Reap Bountiful Rewards
There have been numerous excellent books written on the subject of Equity Harvesting, and anybody who is disciplined enough to consistently bring in more money than goes out on a month-to-month basis will reap great rewards toward becoming independently wealthy. For those financially disciplined, Equity Harvesting can be a powerfully suitable strategy for them to leverage an asset to grow positive returns and wealth. It is outside the scope of this article to discuss the intricacies of proper Home Equity Management except to say that in some cases it is marginally viewed as too much of a good thing.
Home Equity Management Might Be Too Much Of A Good Thing
In many ways, being able to utilize the equity held within a property as fuel for any type of interest bearing account is incentive enough to take a serious look at home equity harvesting as a viable wealth-building concept. After all, the rate of return on any equity held within your home is paramount to ZERO. Now imagine converting that zero percent interest-bearing value into a tax-advantaged vehicle for long-term growth. Suddenly the numbers really do start to add up, and those willing to develop the discipline of positive cashflow will experience a bonanza of benefits in the years to come.
A New Hybrid Philosophy Emerging In The Home Equity Management School Of Thought
Because of this, there has recently been a sort of “middle ground” that has emerged from this discussion - a hybrid of thought leaning slightly toward increased restriction. Some are now saying that Equity Harvesting should only be allowed in the case where there is an increase in cashflow capacity through a loan consolidation program. In essence if you can pull out a reasonable sum of home equity and still increase cashflow as the result of refinancing your debt then and only then should you consider “harvesting” and investing into interest bearing accounts - an interesting position to consider.
An Educated Consumer Is The Real Deciding Factor In Successfully Implementing A Home Equity Management Strategy
For now it seems that each B/D has its own position on the matter, deciding if they can trust their client to make wise decisions investing the equity in their home. At this time FINRA does not believe that Average Joe can be trusted with this responsibility. Ultimately, the power and effectiveness of the strategy will lie with each individual person’s aptitude and capacity for implementing the strategy. To learn more information about Home Equity Management try a Google search, or a good book to start with would be Missed Fortune by Douglas Andrews.
Topics: Home Equity Management | No Comments »
CollegePlanningU Official Site Launch!
By College Planning U | May 5, 2008
CollegePlanningU Goes Live - Cinco de Mayo, 2008!
Well the long-awaited time has finally come to unveil the CollegePlanningU Platform. We are launching the Community as a Beta, and while it certainly isn’t perfect (be sure to check out the forums to stay up to date on upgrades, new features, and events), we are very excited to bring you This Next Generation Collaboration Point for College Planning. Long gone are the days where you are limited in your access to expert advice and guidance. You will be able to:
- Share Experiences and Gain Insights From Veterans in the College Planning Arena
- Make Your Mark as You Pass Along the Knowledge and Wisdom You Have Gained From Your Years of Experience
- Learn How to Be More Effective In Your Local Community Of Schools, Businesses, and Churches
- Give You and Your Business an Image That Your Clients and Comrades Can Find and Interact With
- Take Advantage of the Opportunity to Leverage the Web as a Strategy for Enhancing Your Company
- Open The Lines of Communication to Give and Receive Support Along a Seamless Continuum
- The Open-Source, Collaborative Platform Ensures You Remain Cutting Edge and On Top of Your Game
- The System IS The Support
We can hardly wait to announce all that we have in store for you in the coming weeks and months! Thank you in advance for your patience, grace, and support as we work diligently to fix any known bugs and implement suggestions for improving the site. This project is made possible by the help of tens and hundreds of people all around the nation (and the world!) that have a passion for helping families master their finances and ensuring that future generations start off on the right foot as they grow into the leaders of tomorrow.
Please check out the forums and post any questions or comments you might have.
Topics: Site News | No Comments »
