Category: Education
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New way to pay student loans – tax free!
I’ve been practicing in the employee benefits field for 37 years and I can’t remember being as surprised as I was reading IRS Private Letter Ruling 201833012 released on last Friday. Never before has there been any tax advantage to student loan payments (typically made to an outside financial company) through connection with an employer plan.…
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Graduate students outraged by tax change
The tax reform process has triggered uncertainly and angst while final negotiations are worked out. Many groups, including graduate students, have good reason to be concerned. The proposals that passed by Republicans in both the House and Senate change the tax treatment of employer-provided educational benefits. Scholarships that are now tax-free for employees would be…
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Sad end to the ‘realness’
OnlineAdviser and OnlineNavigator services end public access for incoming call telephone support. Unscheduled telephone calls will no longer be accepted due to a share rise in scam attempts. Perhaps the most significant career contribution I’ve made to the business world is the establishment of OnlineAdviser and OnlineNavigator nonprofit services that have addressed tens of thousands of consumer…
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My prayer for America
I’ve been a huge supporter of ongoing lifetime education. I take, on average, the equivalent of ten continuing education courses in a year along with time set aside for associated readings. I’m not just talking about continuing education for my profession. I’m not talking about the education available in our high schools, unfortunately, or even…
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More on the education divide in the U.S.
I’ve written in an earlier bog post about the unprecedented ‘education divide’ where the level of formal education is now the most highly correlated indicator of a person’s political beliefs. Yesterday The Wall Street Journal ran a story about that same phenomenon with a series of findings by the Bowling Green State University National Center for Family…
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‘Ignorance is bliss’ but stay away from public leadership
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” – Albert Einstein One in three Americans admits that they did not read a book in the last year. Donald Trump is among them. He reportedly admits that he hasn’t read a book in 50 years. I suspect that his supporter…