“Our older daughter just got into Yale,” Brian, a client prospect was saying to me on the phone.  It was the first thing on his mind, and though he was very proud of her, he was worried sick.

“We need to figure out how we are going to pay for it.  We’ve been trying to save for retirement and we really couldn’t afford to save much for college too.  Everyone told us that it wasn’t worth saving for college because it would reduce how much financial aid we’d get.  But we didn’t get much aid, only $5,000.”

“My wife, Beth,”  he continued, “is particularly concerned about how much money we lost in the recent stock market crash.   She hasn’t been very involved in our investments until now, but she would like to know if we’re invested appropriately for our age.  We’re in our late 50s and it’s feeling like retirement is around the corner.  I’ve been managing things so far, but I don’t feel any confidence any more that I can make wise decisions.”

So Beth and Brian set an appointment for a couple of weeks away in hope that I could help them plan how they will pay for their daughter’s college education. In addition they want  me to review their retirement investments so that they can be more wisely invested.