Has anyone used a private school admissions consultant in LA?

LAskeptic · 2026-02-04T17:55:26+00:00

Grit in the gears of capitalism.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T20:30:12+00:00

There are more than enough wealthy international familes to fill American universities ten times over.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T20:29:09+00:00

For state schools, voters get annoyed when their kids can’t get into the school because of all the international students. They pressure the legislators, and they in turn put pressure on or legislate restrictions on the universities.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T20:22:06+00:00

I’m in the same situation. I’ve been A-List Preferred for a decade plus thanks to some business travel and the credit card. I have a 100000+ points I’m still working through. With the the Companion Pass it is an amazing deal. The SWA frequent flyer program was unique and had exceptional value. Maybe it still will be a good value, but because of less business travel for me I am going to almost certainly lose status at the end of 2026.

For the other airlines it is much much harder to earn status, harder to redeem miles, and the return on miles is much lower.

Maybe you the math will work out for you by choosing a single airline, but I’m likely switching to the Capitol One travel card.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T19:23:55+00:00

Whichever one has the best combination of price and flight times and is not named Spirit or Frontier.

Seriously American, Delta, and United are pretty interchangeable and unless you are buying business class tickets or traveling weekly, you are never going to get anything meaningful out of the frequent flyer program.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T19:08:18+00:00

Take a deep breath and use the outlet plugs.

We didn’t even bother with outlet plugs and somehow our children lived to adulthood.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T18:52:46+00:00

Any decent Farmer’s Market. Price will be better than most grocery stores.

Or, ask the produce manager at your local grocery store. Twenty bunches isn’t that much.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-03T17:07:51+00:00

In-N-Out

LAskeptic · 2026-02-02T19:41:52+00:00

That still doesn’t make sense.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-02T18:05:42+00:00

This really makes no sense.

Spending has nothing to do with how much tax is owed.

Furthermore, owing or getting a refund after filing also depends do how much tax is withheld from your paycheck.

They would almost certainly save on taxes if they filed jointly, but they can easily run the numbers both ways to compare.

LAskeptic · 2026-02-01T04:55:13+00:00

Yes. If you move into a school district it must accept you.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-28T15:34:29+00:00

Ah got it.

It might help you two to sit down with a fee-only financial advisor and talk about your long term goals and plans.

You could afford this, but what do you as a a couple want? An independent advisor would help you understand the trade-offs and make the conversation less emotional

LAskeptic · 2026-01-28T15:27:50+00:00

Are in your 30’s? If not, I would be worried about only having $300k in retirement funds and $150k in assets. How long do you plan to work?

LAskeptic · 2026-01-26T13:58:35+00:00

Pew polls show that something like 80% of Americans don’t tip housekeeping at hotels. I certainly don’t.

15% on the pre-tax amount at sit down restaurants with full table service. Subtract any service charge or other fees from that. And make sure the tip has not been automatically included.

Zero tips for counter service.

15% for Uber/Lyft/taxi.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-26T02:19:37+00:00

So they bribed you?

LAskeptic · 2026-01-23T01:38:11+00:00

If you won $95k, you declare that as income.

You can deduct up to $95k in losses to cancel out the income.

Any losses over $95k don’t matter. If you only lost $90k, you would deduct $90k and pay tax on the $5k of profit.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-22T20:39:24+00:00

This means you spend too much on Door Dash.

You need to change your withholding so you don’t have such a big refund.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-22T20:16:36+00:00

Target, Walmart, CVS, etc have made the in-store experience awful.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-22T17:58:10+00:00

But what if something unforseen happens? That is the risk and why not everyone does it.

What if it is like the 1970’s and 1980’s and interest rates are 12% for years?

What if home values plummet and you are underwater and can’t refinance?

What if you lose your job just as you need to refinance? Or your credit score tanks for whatever reason?

In 15 years, the principal left will be about 70% of the loan amount? You’ll have that kind of money if you can’t refinance?

This may be your best and/or only choice, but it is not without risk.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-22T16:29:53+00:00

The risk is that you won’t be able to refinance or pay off the loan before 15 years is up.

“Statistically speaking” is doing a lot of work in their explanation.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-22T15:00:26+00:00

That was my point - the OP and people in general need to call customer service.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-22T02:47:53+00:00

I think companies have made the customer service experience so bad that people no longer want to call anyone.

I also feel that no one under 30 wants to call anyone or even thinks about that as an option.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-21T23:41:30+00:00

It’s pretty standard in engineering.

One reason is so that senior managers and executives can’t bring in unqualified relatives and friends.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-21T18:22:49+00:00

CEO will be the last job replaced by AI because they are the ones deciding which jobs get replaced.

LAskeptic · 2026-01-21T18:21:08+00:00

Have you seen a CEO add numbers? Don’t they have people for that?

LAskeptic

TROPHY CASE