In Part two of College Education month, we will explore questions that you might want to ask when you visit a college, talk with a college recruiter, or meet with a college admissions counselor.

If you Google “college interview,” you will find tons of websites on how to prepare for your college visit, but it’s from the angle of the college, not the student “hiring” the college.  Here’s the thing, you are hiring the college, they are NOT hiring you or your child.  So I propose a different approach on selecting a college to attend.  We think we are privileged when accepted at the college of our choice, but in reality, the college is the one benefiting from attendance and payment of such!

What questions do you ask when you are interviewing a person that you want to add to staff?  Why wouldn’t the questions be the same?  I suggest that you approach it that way by asking a series of interview questions that include, but are not limited to:

“OMG, I have finally discovered what’s wrong with my Brain: on the left side, there is nothing right, and on the right side, there is nothing left…” ― Minion Quote

Speaking of food...And so the backyard barbeques will soon begin.  The celebrations of summer and both College and High School graduations will soon be in full swing.  Perhaps you have one of these events to attend, or simply attending makes you think of your own family situation with regards to college costs?  Even if your kids are grown, are they still paying down their own college debt, which prohibits them from saving for other goals? A few big questions might be, how much do I need to save, how much will college cost, what can be done to reduce those costs?  My goal this month is to educate you on these options. Throughout the month of May my theme will be focused on college planning.  

“#1-Make Money. #2-Use that money to make more money. #3-Repeat.”  ―Anonymous

I always look forward to the end of April, not for the reasons most people look forward to it, but I love this week because it's Money Smart Week.  The week where education about money takes a front row seat in the news.  Even better, towards the end of the week, on April 28th, it's “Teach Your Child to Save” Day.  Money is the leading cause of stress for Americans with nearly three out of four adults reporting that they feel stressed about money at least some of the time.  There is so much interest in this week that the Money Week Facebook page has over 38,000 followers!

To many of my New York clients, happy Spring Break!  I love Spring, for me personally, it is the start of my “new year.”   This year is an exceptional new year too!  We are excited to be approaching the first birthday of Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies on May 9th.  This past year has been transformational and we are so very thankful for your support, business and feedback!  I want to give a special shout out to the Corning Gaffer District for their continued efforts to support the growth and visualization of the business; each quarter they continue to amaze me with their amazing designs in the Corning office windows - this quarter is an amazing tribute to Ernie Davis put together by a local student.   We hope you stop by and admire the display!

As we say goodbye to the month of March and the end of the first quarter of 2017, we want to say thank you for your business!  Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies is approaching its first anniversary in May - we have some fun planned around the anniversary, so stay tuned.

Wow, I can't believe it is Spring and less than a month away from Tax Day!!!

We have some pretty exciting news rolling out of Irvine Wealth Planning Strategies!

First we are very excited to announce that Debbie Konopski has joined the team!  In her part-time capacity, Debbie will be your service ambassador.  Upon our return this Spring, she will be working Monday and Wednesday at the office, which will allow for Brent to scale back to Tuesday and Thursday.  Debbie was born and raised in the Corning / Beaver Dams area and currently lives in Painted Post with her husband Kevin, whom she's been married to for 33 years. She is the proud mother of two grown children and an adorable one-year old granddaughter that is the light of her life. She has several amazing talents in addition to her personality, such as sewing, knitting, and crafts.  In fact, she helped in large part, decorate the office on Market Street.  We are excited to add her to the team and think you will love visiting with her when you call or stop by.

O’ the fun holiday of St. Patrick’s day will fall upon us at the end of the week.  This is a holiday where all of us find some Irish roots (or make them up for a day) and join in the festivities of all things green and the good luck of the Irish.  

Thanks for all the great feedback on last week's blog!  So now I know, comparing investing to food helps you understand and shows you all have a great sense of humor!  For those of you just joining in on the blog, in late January, I had a great conversation with a client about "learning" how to invest so that our conversations would be more engaging.  This prompted me to ask a few more clients if they would be interested in an investment 101 series for the month of February; the feedback I received was a resounding YES. So, I decided to break the series down into four-parts:

Happy Valentine's Day Eve!  Did you know that this "holiday" tradition started back in the days of the Roman's as a festival called "Lupercalia?"  Here's an interesting two-minute video on Valentine's Day Facts from this history channel:http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/valentines-day-facts.

I had a great conversation with a client this past week about "learning" how to invest so that our conversations would be more engaging.  This prompted me to ask a few more clients if they would be interested in an investment 101 series for the month of February; the feedback I received was a resounding YES.  I've broken the series down into four-parts:

The topic I delivered was called, "10 Financial Tips in 30 minutes."   I delivered tips 1 - 5 last week and here are the remaining 5:

Last Tuesday, I had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to speak to a wonderful group of women via the Corning Area Woman's Club.  This club was organized in 1918 and is the oldest women's organization in the Corning area.  For those of you that live in New York, you may recall that the weather that day was less than favorable, yet the room was full of women eager to share in a common goal of fellowship and fundraising.  This was my first introduction to the group, and I was extremely impressed with their organization of the meeting.

I saved this question for the final installment of the mailbag blog because I thought it deserved a separate and focused answer. 

What are steps that someone can take to help financially assist during a lay-off, illness, or another reason that puts them out of work?

•  I love this question – it is at the core of why I decided not to charge people for my services based on assets only.  As Tom Hanks said in the movie Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." 

Are Christmas clubs a good idea?  When do you open them? What type of financial commitment is necessary?  Or do you have another recommendation for savings?