From Well-Heeled
1. Bury your head in the sand. Given the doom and gloom of the news lately, it’s hard to blame anyone who wants to turn off the TV and just tune out the news for the next 12 months. But while hibernation works for a bear, it won’t work in this bear market. Now is not the time to be blissfully ignorant of what’s going on. Right now IS the time to stick to the boring basics of personal finance: get out of high-interest debt, refrain from taking on new debt, and start, or add to, your emergency fund.
When I graduated from college my mother presented me not with a hefty envelope filled with cash or the keys to a brand new CR-V and definitely not Happy Graduation Jewelry. Instead she presented me with Suze Orman’s The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke. I had just returned - literally 36 hours prior - from a six month trip abroad where I spent every single cent to my name plus God knows how much provided by both of my parents up until the last night I was there when I was begging for more euros so I could end my trip in style: table service at a club in Madrid. So I was feeling less than fabulous, really freaking broke but less than young since I was being allowed to enter the real world without any sort of adult supervision. The only guidance provided was Suze Orman’s book and a threat to pull every single hair out of my head if I didn’t get a job. 
My professional background concerns the whys and wherefores of sending your babies to college, which, let’s be honest, makes for pretty dull barstool conversation, and well, as an INSIDER, I’m not really supposed to share the REAL loopholes because how embarrassing would it be to get a beat down at the hands of some vengeful financial aid advisors ‘cause I let loose their trade secrets? It’s not like they lift weights.
