Greg Ward
Certified Financial Planner
Financial Finesse
What if telephone access to a HELP desk staffed by certified financial planners were an employee benefit? Fortune 500 companies are already there.
What is the educational and employment background of a HELP desk staffer at your firm?
We hire certified financial planners who have a minimum of ten years of industry practice. As a matter of fact, we hire fewer than two percent of the candidates we interview. To eliminate any bias or any conflicts of interest, a sucessful candidate must abandon his or her private practice.
Who are the Fortune 500 employees you talk to most often?
We have more than 400 corporate clients who buy our services for their employees. Those employees run the gamut from factory floor to clerical through middle and upper management.
What do those Fortune 500 employees want to talk about most often?
This past year the majority of calls have been in reaction to a personal circumstance, as opposed to planning. The vast majority of calls are about debt -- debts they've already incurred. Primarily credit cards and student loans. Also auto loans and mortgages.
What do recent college graduates want to talk about?
If their actual earnings don't amount to what they expected, they often call for advice as to which bills to pay first. Or not to pay at all. If they've landed a high salary, they may want some financial planning advice. Among callers, it seems they consider a car loan to be part of car ownership. Just as they viewed a student loan to be part of their college attendance. Interestingly, I sense no resentment that their student loans are consuming too much of their current income.
Where is college planning for your callers' children in their personal priorities?
Unfortunately, the majority of their calls are for help planning for college once they're already been accepted or enrolled. Or for help after they've received their financial aid offer. An occasional caller will talk with us when his or her child is still in diapers.
Do you recommend college savings plans to them?
It's a dilemma. Saving is always honorable. But college savings present an obstacle to later financial aid eligibility.
Among those parents, how strong is the desire to make a college purchase for their children?
They feel it's important for their child to attend college. What's changing gradually is their mental attitude as to who should pay. Many parents are expressing a preference to pay a portion, and have the child pay the rest.
What alternatives to a college purchase are they considering?
If it's budgetable, the college expense competes with many other lifestyle choices, like vacations, a new car, home maintenance or remodeling. In more severe circumstances, they forego retirement savings.
What is your prognosis?
Borrowing seems to be an unsustainable way of paying for college. Yet the decline in the stock market and consequent reduced value of 529 ownership, along with the scarcity of home equity loans, will increase student borrowing. I suspect Americans will borrow past a reasonable ability to repay.