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| Ask
Dr. Don |
| Don Taylor, Ph.D., CFA, CFP |
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 Dr. Don Taylor, in addition to answering our readers' questions about personal finance, is an assistant professor of business administration at Penn State Brandywine in Media, Pa. He teaches courses in financial services for the university. Previously, Don was an associate professor of finance at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., where he taught course work in financial planning and investments. He is co-author of the textbook "Financial Planning: Process and Environment," now in its second edition. He has professional experience as a treasurer, consultant, financial planner and debt analyst.
Don holds a doctorate in finance and has earned both master's and bachelor's degrees in finance. A Chartered Financial Analyst since 1990, he also has earned his Chartered Financial Planner certificate and is a Chartered Financial Consultant. He is a member of the CFA Institute, the Academy of Financial Services, the Financial Planning Association and the Financial Management Association. He is on the review board of the Journal of Financial Planning and the Journal of Financial Service Professionals.
Read his columns |
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| Bank Shots |
| Jay MacDonald |
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Jay MacDonald has managed to combine a successful and diverse career as a writer and editor with a gypsy life largely spent down roads less traveled. A professional journalist from age 16, Jay has worked at the national level in three disciplines.
As an award-winning feature writer and editor for United Press International in Chicago and Seattle, his work widely appeared in many North American newspapers. As an account executive with Hill & Knowlton Public Relations in Atlanta, his primary account was Arby's.
As a communications officer for Honeywell Commercial Aviation Systems in Phoenix, he was awarded the Gold Quill Award -- the "Oscar" of business writing -- from the International Association of Business Communicators for his work directing media relations, trade shows, marketing materials and video production for the business and commuter jet division.
Jay also has worked as a boat sitter aboard a 110-foot yacht in Seattle; harvested Christmas trees in Vermont; served as executive chef aboard a cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and repaired and rented bicycles in Key West, Fla.
Jay graduated with honors in journalism from the University of Colorado. He and his wife, Kate, live in Austin, Texas, with their two golden retrievers. They move frequently.
Read his columns |
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| Bankruptcy
Adviser |
| Justin Harelik |
|
 Justin
Harelik has been working with English- and Spanish-speaking clients in the personal
finance industry for close to a decade. He has worked as a bankruptcy attorney,
credit manager, debt negotiator and student loan adviser. He has applied his financial
and legal skills to managing the estates of high net-worth individuals, and to
helping improve the financial well-being of hundreds of people living below the
poverty line. Currently he is a practicing attorney in Los Angeles.
Harelik earned his undergraduate degree from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and his law degree from the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
He spent a year studying in South America, and speaks fluent Spanish.
He
is a native of Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, Felicia. He is also
a volunteer Big Brother for the Los Angeles Division of Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
Read his columns |
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| Boomer
Bucks |
| Barbara Whelehan |
|
 Barbara
Mlotek Whelehan has more than 20 years' experience as a journalist, focusing for
the last ten years on all aspects of personal finance. As the senior editor of
Mutual Funds Magazine from 1995 to 2002, she interviewed hundreds of fund managers
and industry analysts as well as dozens of top-level executives at mutual fund
firms across the country. She also received a certificate of specialization in
financial planning after completing the CFP-board registered program at Nova Southeastern
University in South Florida, where she resides.
Whelehan has won
numerous writing awards over the years in national, regional and statewide contests.
The boomer was born in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois in
Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in
journalism.
Read her columns |
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| CollegeMoney
Guru |
| Joseph Hurley, CPA |
|
 Joe Hurley is the founder of Savingforcollege.com LLC, and a certified public
accountant. His experience in the field of finance dates back to 1978 when he
graduated Williams College with degrees in economics and psychology. He began
his career with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell (now KPMG), in New York City, and later
became tax partner at Bonadio & Co. LLP; an upstate New York accounting firm,
where he provided tax-planning services to individuals, corporations, and tax-exempt
organizations. Joe retired from that firm in 2004.
Savingforcollege.com
LLC began operations in the Spring of 2000 with Joe delving ever deeper into the
strange and mystical world of 529 plans. Their improvements came into being with
the signing of the 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act, which made major revisions to the
rules surrounding 529 plans. Joe immediately recognized the new Section 529 as
one of the most remarkable tax provisions in the Internal Revenue Code and worthy
of a book-writing effort.
He published, in January 1999, "The Best
Way to Save for College -- A Complete Guide to 529 Plans"
and now spends all his time researching, writing, speaking,
and consulting on the topic of 529 plans and other college-planning
issues. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Accountancy
and The CPA Journal, and he has appeared at hearings, in Washington
D.C., to provide comments on the proposed regulations under
Section 529. Joe is one of nine individuals recognized by
Financial Planning magazine as 2005's "Movers and Shakers."
Read
his columns |
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| Debt
Adviser |
| Steve R. Bucci |
 Steve
Bucci is president of Money
Management International Financial Education Foundation,
a nonprofit organization that operates to educate the general
public on sound personal financial skills and money management
principles by developing, delivering and supporting programs
that teach those skills and principles. His weekly column
is distributed nationally by the Scripps-Howard newspaper
syndicate. Steve was formerly president of Consumer
Credit Counseling Service of Southern New England. He
is the founder of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of
Rhode Island, developed in the wake of the 1991 Rhode Island
banking and credit union crisis. Steve also founded and was
the former managing director of the University
of Rhode Island Center for Personal Financial Education.
The center is a joint venture with the University of Rhode
Island to raise the level of financial literacy through innovative
mass education programs and research.
Steve graduated from East Providence
Senior High School and the University of Rhode Island at Kingston,
where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees. He and his wife,
Barbara, live in the seaside community of Narragansett, R.I.
Read
his columns |
|
| Driving for Dollars |
| Terry Jackson |
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For more than 25 years, Terry Jackson has been driving and
testing each year's crop of new cars, from the latest economy
sedans to exotic sports cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis.
Each year he evaluates more than 100 vehicles.
He has written a syndicated column about automobiles
and issues involving car buying and maintenance for some of
the nation's major newspapers, from The Sacramento Bee to
The Miami Herald.
A winner of several national automotive journalism
awards, he has also served as editor in chief of Auto World
Magazine and NOPI Street Performance Compact. His work has
also appeared in Automobile Magazine, Road & Track, AutoWeek
and Car and Driver.
Since 2003, he has written regularly for Bankrate.com on a wide range of automotive-related topics. He also races a vintage Mustang in SCCA competition.
Read
his columns |
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| Real
Estate Adviser |
| Steve McLinden |
|
 Steve McLinden has written on virtually all aspects
of the real estate world for the past 15 years. His writings have appeared in
newspapers around the country on the Scripps-Howard and Knight-Ridder business
wire services. A resident of Arlington, Texas, McLinden spent seven years covering
real estate for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, winning multiple writing awards.
At present, he is a correspondent for National Real Estate Investor, Shopping
Centers Today and REO magazine. He has also written for Urban Land and Tierra
Grande, a quarterly published by the Texas A & M University Real Estate Center,
plus covered real estate beats for business journals in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area.
McLinden is a native of Peoria, Ill., and a graduate
of Bergan High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Western
Illinois University.
Read
his columns |
 |
| Tax
Talk |
| George Saenz |
|
 George
Saenz is a certified public accountant living in Miami. With more than 15 years
of experience in income, corporate and estate taxes, George brings a real-life
perspective to tax problems. He's a member of the Florida and American Institutes
of CPAs and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.
George earned a bachelor's degree in accounting
from the University of Florida, and continued graduate studies
at Florida International University, where he is a member
of the university's advisory board for its Executive Masters
of Science in Taxation program. George also is a licensed
life insurance agent and a Series 6 Registered Representative.
Read his columns |
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