It’s show #501, and here’s hoping we have at least another ten more years of Jill on Money on the horizon!

This week we’re back to doing what we do best, answering all your various money questions, which includes a bunch of emails and a caller.

It’s October, which means it’s officially FAFSA season, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid which determines how much students and their families will receive in college grants, scholarships and loans.

So in hour two we’re revisiting a chat with David Klein and Kelly Peeler from CommonBond, a company that positions itself as a place for simpler, smarter student loans for a brighter future.

CommonBond, founded in 2012, has funded over $2.5 billion in better student loans. Their approach is no big secret: lower rates, simpler options, and a world class experience, all built to support you throughout your student loan journey.

Kelly and David firmly believe that student loans should be for fulfilling your dreams, not emptying your bank account. They’re helping you get there by lowering the cost of school and simplifying the process with no more stressful applications or being treated like an account number.

Have a money question? Email me here.

"Jill on Money" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com.

Hard to believe that this weekend is the 500th episode of Jill on Money.

Mark and I started this journey back in January of 2011 when it was a part-time passion project for both of us.

Little did we know that ten years later we’d be cranking out Jill on Money content on a full-time basis!

Although we’ve been a two person team since day one, two people in particular have helped us out along the way.

For this 500th episode, Mark actually chatted with both of them, Harvey Nagler and Craig Swagler.

Harvey was running the show at CBS News radio when he encouraged us to do some demos and ultimately gave us the green light, so a huge THANK YOU to Harvey.

Craig is the current boss at CBS News radio, and when he took over, he could’ve very easily pulled the plug, but he didn’t, and instead is one of our biggest cheerleaders, so a huge THANK YOU to Craig as well.

Enjoy hour one, and a huge THANK YOU to all our listeners!!! Without you, there is no show.

FAFSA season is upon us, so we thought it was a good time to revisit a chat with Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together.

As Erin says, it’s easy to get freaked out by finances. But you’re not doomed to spend your life drowning in debt or being mystified by money. It’s time to stop scraping by and take control of your money and your life with this savvy and smart guide.

The book doesn’t just cover stuff like credit card debt, investing, and budgeting, it also tackles tricky money matters and situations.

If you're looking for a gift for the college grad in your life, consider picking up a copy, it could help that person enter the “new” real world on the right path.

Have a money question? Email me here.

"Jill on Money" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com.

Are you listening to this episode on the website? If so, hopefully you're seeing the new layout...it's slowly rolling out and will hopefully be complete by the time you're reading this.  

If you haven't checked it out, please do! It's so much cleaner and easier to navigate.  

Okay, on to the show.  We started hour one with Ari from NYC, a physician who has done a great job of saving for retirement but is a little concerned about his asset allocation.  Next up was Dianne in Portland who was wondering if she and her husband need to consult with a financial advisor.  Two great calls to start the show.  

This week is another example of how the radio and podcasting world really is like a small fraternity/sorority where hosts often appear on each other’s shows.

Today it’s Felix Salmon, host of the Slate Money podcast, joining us. If you’re not familiar with Felix, I think the best way to describe him is as a contrarian and/or curmudgeon…something he happily admits!

I’m a big Felix fan and have been reading (he did stints at Reuters, Portfolio Magazine and Euromoney) and listening to him for quite some time so I had a list of topics to cover, including:

• Corporate responsibility
• Active versus passive investing
• His ongoing relationship with Anthony Scaramucci
• The student loan crisis
• What’s next for the US economy

In addition to hosting Slate Money, Felix is currently the editor of Cause and Effect. 

If you want some good laughs and top notch commentary, follow Felix on Twitter.

Have a finance related question? Email us here or call 855-411-JILL.

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Ask some Wall Street veterans where they were on October 19, 1987 and they will likely regale you with details of any crisis. My life changed that day in ways that often creep up on me. Indeed, Black Monday was the single worst day in Wall Street history, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging by more than 22 percent in one session--that’s the equivalent of the blue chip index diving by more than 5,000 points today.

It was a “First Class Catastrophe”, according to our first class guest and storyteller supreme, Diana Henriques, who dropped by the studio to help us retrace the events that led up to that day.

Diana joined us on the podcast earlier this year when her book, The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, was made into an HBO movie. This time around Diana is joining us to discuss her latest book, A First-Class Catastrophe: The Road to Black Monday, the Worst Day in Wall Street History. As Diana recounts, Black Monday was more than seven years in the making and threatened nearly every U.S. financial institution.

There were missed opportunities, market delusions, and destructive actions that stretched from the “silver crisis” of 1980 to turf battles in Washington and a rivalry between the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Here’s the crazy thing...you’d think that after Black Monday, lessons would be learned. But in her analysis, Henriques demonstrates how that Monday in the fall of 1987 was the predicate to the financial crisis of 2008. Sadly, investors, regulators, and bankers failed to heed the lessons of 1987, even as the same patterns resurfaced.

This was a fascinating interview for me because I lived through this period. I had just started my career on Wall Street, as the chaos was unfolding. I watched firsthand as my father nearly lost his business. This chat was like going down memory lane and it’ll give you guys a good glimpse of the life I used to live before I started hosting podcasts and radio shows!

“Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment.

Have a finance related question? Email us here or call 855-411-JILL.

We love feedback so please subscribe and leave us a rating or review in iTunes!

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http://betteroffpodcast.com/

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"Better Off" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com.

So often on this podcast, and on my radio show, we field questions from recent grads with insane amounts of student loan debt. Sometimes it’s enough debt to wreck a life.

There’s enough blame to go around, but so often it’s a case of students feeling the pressure to go to fancy, high priced colleges to study what seems like an obscure major. But before you think that I am about to argue that every able-bodied student should be studying for a degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) field, read on...

Let me pose a question. What is wrong with a well-rounded liberal arts degree? A degree, which I might add, can be earned at countless reasonably priced colleges.

George Anders, our guest this week on Better Off makes a strong case in his recently released book, You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a "Useless" Liberal Arts Education.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or know how to write computer code to succeed in today’s work environment.

When you really think about it, it’s amazing how many doors a so called “useless” liberal arts education can open.

As George says, you can be yourself, as an English major, and thrive in sales. You can segue from anthropology into the booming new field of user research; from classics into management consulting, and from philosophy into high-stakes investing. At any stage of your career, you can bring a humanist’s grace to the rapidly evolving high-tech future.

If you’ve got kids starting the college application process, who are resisting calls to declare a STEM major or if you’re thinking about furthering your education by going to grad school, listen to this episode before making any decisions.

“Better Off” is sponsored by Betterment.

Have a finance related question? Email us here or call 855-411-JILL.

We love feedback so please subscribe and leave us a rating or review in iTunes!

Connect with me at these places for all my content:

https://twitter.com/jillonmoney

https://www.facebook.com/JillonMoney

https://www.instagram.com/jillonmoney/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillonmoney/ 

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jill-... 

http://betteroffpodcast.com/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/b...

"Better Off" theme music is by Joel Goodman, www.joelgoodman.com.

Kelly Peeler, the founder and CEO of NextGenVest is back on the show to discuss the NEW FAFSA availability date--October 1st! Considering that families leave $2.7 billion of unclaimed financial aid on the table, primarily because they don’t complete the FAFSA form, Kelly says it is important not to procrastinate! Her team at NextGenVest can help students make smart decisions around paying for college in an accessible way. One way they do so is to provide a "Money Mentor" (trained college students) for every high school or college student, who can make the process of applying for college and getting aid much easier…Just TEXT 646-798-1745 “I want help paying for college”

• Download the podcast on iTunes
• Download the podcast on feedburner
• Download this week's show (MP3)

NextGenVest will send you the list of documents that you need to assemble and will help you come up with your specific list of financial reach and safety schools. Kelly also explains that Financial Aid and applications are two separate tracks and details what families need to know about the merit aid/grant/loan process. Here are various sources of college money:

• Family savings/income
• Federal Grants: do not have to be repaid (Pell Grant-awarded annually, so you have to complete FAFSA every year)
• State Aid: TAP – access for in state
• Fed/State/Direct/PLUS loans
• Institutional grant from a specific college
• Private scholarships
• HELOC/Private loan

After graduation, you can go to student.ed.gov to learn about repayment options for federal loans and you can also check out the private student loan refinancing market from companies like SOFI, Common Bond or Earnest.

Check out Kelly’s TED Talk!

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer/Music Curator in the World. Here's how to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

As college acceptances roll in, how can families navigate the web of financial aid and student loans? Guest  Kelly Peeler, the Founder & CEO of NextGenVest.com joins the show to help you scoop up some of the $2.7 billion left on the table every year. She notes that families are befuddled by the complex and time consuming student loan application process, highlighted by the dreaded FAFSA form.

• Download the podcast on iTunes
• Download the podcast on feedburner
• Download this week's show (MP3)

NextGenVest can help by providing key financial aid deadline reminders, form annotations, and on-demand help over text message to get more financial aid in high school and beyond.

NextGenVest's "Money Mentor" will connect students and their families with someone who can coach them through the process. Just dial 646-798-1745 and text "I WANT HELP" and you will be connected. Kelly also discussed the student loan bubble, which could be the next financial crisis. Check out Kelly's TED talk "How to Change the World as a Millennial - Don't Be Stupid with Your Money"

Thanks to everyone who participated this week, especially Mark, the Best Producer/Music Curator in the World. Mark is back in the US and makes another appearance on the show. Here's how to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio

May 1 is "college decision day," the deadline to formally accept an offer of college admission and send in your deposit. It's also the time when families must make choices about financial aid packages, which is why we spend time outlining some of the strategies necessary to maximize the process.

• Download the podcast on iTunes
• Download the podcast on feedburner
• Download this week's show (MP3)

Here are some resources that might be helpful in the college funding and planning process:

• Education Department College Navigator
• CFPB Financial Aid Comparison
• FinAid Guide to Financial Aid
• Edvisors Planning and Paying for College
• 529 Plan Info

Great calls from Holly (college funding), Marchello (saving and investing), Ryan (early retirement plan) and Brian (disability insurance). We also field Chris' e-mail about the "good" annuity company (TIAA-CREF) and a property tax issue from E.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

• Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE 

• Send an email: askjill@jillonmoney.com 

• Tweet us: @jillonmoney and @MTalercio