FAP609: Expert interview with investor Ira Krakow, Kesley DiTullio
Expert Interview
In another Expert Interview as part of our Expert Interview series, I talk today with Ira Krakow, a prominent investor and contributing author for Stockpickr.com and TheStreet.com. Ira details basic investment strategies, money-saving strategies, and explains how you can achieve 18% returns tax-free, legally. Ira also details ways to get started with investing, and covers in detail a lot of what’s happening on Wall Street now, and how it will impact Main Street, including savings, 401(k) retirement plans, and more.
Podsafe Music
+ …

John Wall, Ronin Marketeer and co-host of the best marketing podcast this side of Route 9, informed me that a competitor is heavily spamming his blog. Nice job, guys.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kelly Miller
Date: Aug 20, 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: [Ronin Marketeer”>MP3 file Comment: “List Management”
To: john@themshow.com
New comment on your post #173 “List Management”
Author : Kelly Miller (IP: 202.134.119.9 , static-ip-9-119-134-202.rev.dyxnet.com )
E-mail : kellymiller001@yahoo.com
URI : http://www.nextstudent dot com/scholarship search/scholarship search.asp [link broken to deprive search benefit”>MP3 file
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=202.134.119.9
Comment:
Student loan consolidation, private student loans, free scholarship …

FAP608: Egg salad CDOs, Class of 2011 mindset, scholarship factory, Ingrid Michaelson
Student Financial Aid News
+ Beware money market accounts, says Bloomberg: Money market funds were invented 37 years ago to offer investors better returns than bank savings accounts while providing a high degree of safety. Most of the $2.5 trillion sitting in these funds is invested in such assets as U.S. Treasury bills, certificates of deposit and short-term commercial debt.
+ Unlike bank accounts, money market funds aren’t insured by the federal government. They almost never fail.
+ Unbeknownst to most investors, …

FAP607: Mega Mail Bag, rates, CIA, low income students, Origen
Student Financial Aid News
+ Bloomberg: The Federal Reserve, in an unscheduled meeting, cut the discount rate to 5.75 percent from 6.25 percent, noting market conditions have deteriorated since it last met Aug. 7.
+ “Financial market conditions have deteriorated, and tighter credit conditions and increased uncertainty have the potential to restrain economic growth going forward,” the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement. “The downside risks have increased appreciably.”
+ The FOMC left the overnight federal funds target rate unchanged …

Quickly as you can, spot what’s wrong with this MySpace profile:

Do you see it?
Even if meant in jest, why would an admissions officer put drug dealer as their tag line on their profile? You’re just asking for the express trip to the unemployment line, given the zero tolerance policies at most colleges and universities.
Please think before you MySpace.
Related article: Matrix 2.0 – What the Web Says About YOU
Personal information withheld to protect this user for all the good it will do.

FAP606: Free stuff Friday, Hispanic financial aid issues, college rankings, Matthew Ebel
Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: As usual, U.S. News & World Report’s annual college rankings, released today, offer a heavy dose of déjà vu. Princeton topped this year’s list of best colleges, just as it did last year, while Harvard remained in second and Yale again took third. And the same institutions as last year rounded out the top dozen spots. But in one possible sign that organized criticism of the rankings is having an effect, the overall …

I’m pleased to say that the Financial Aid Podcast has won a 2007 Podcast Peers Award for Best Business Podcast.
Many thanks to the podcasting community for the honor!

FAP605: Podcasting awards, jaguar cages, how to write lots of personalized cover letters, Hitmachine
Student Financial Aid News
+ The Financial Aid Podcast has won the Best Business Podcast award at the Podcast Peer Awards
+ Inside Higher Ed: Shareholders of Sallie Mae on Wednesday approved the sale of the massive student loan company to a group of private equity firms and banks. Sallie Mae’s announcement said the sale would proceed at the $60 a share price that J.C. Flowers & Co. and the other investors had agreed to pay, although the investor …

FAP604: Interview with Financial Aid Consultant Reecy Aresty
Another great, long interview with Reecy Aresty, a fee-based financial aid consultant whose book, How to Pay For College Without Going Broke, covers controversial tips about how to maximize financial aid. The tips discussed in this interview are, as far as I know, 100% legal, but definitely take advantage of loopholes in the current laws.
Listen Now:
[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/financialaidpodcast/20070815.mp3″>MP3 file
Reecy has also made an offer to give a free 15 minute consultation to anyone listening that emails him at reecy@paylessforcollege.com.
Are there any financial aid officers/financial aid …

FAP603: Preferred Lender Lists still in effect, Facebook parents, mail bag, Catie McKinney
Student Financial Aid News
+ New guide to our Stafford Loan e-Signature process
+ Working on a guide to our application itself
+ Kim Clark writes in: Anyway, if you’re looking for good stuff for your podcase, I thought you might be interested in the story we’ve just posted. I called around to see if the months of headlines about preferred lender list scandals had caused colleges to put lower-cost lenders on their lists. Unfortunately, many are still omitting the cheapest …