thanks to all our guests. thanks to you for watching, and for matt welch and kmele foster and sweet little pelosi is fine, read ♪ gerri: we're heating up. we're helping students, parents, grandparents finance a college education. everything from appealing subpar aid packages to digging up free money. first we'll help youg get the bang for your college bucks with cal cheney, president of campus consultants. author of the book, "paying for college without going broke." thank you for coming on the show. always nice to have you o here. this is the time of year when mom and dad, get your acceptance letter,t money, how much money they're willing to give you. what should people think about in terms of affordability? what can c families afford? how do you d do that calculatio?

>> for people, that is somewhat of an individualis thing what yu can afford to pay. that depends on priorities. be careful about the amount of debt. the student can borrow. we'll cosign the loan. we'll take care of later. never borrow over the course of a degree more than what the average starting salary for the career you'rehe interested in. gerri: your total debt shouldn't be more than the first-years salary. students. gerri: you can figure that out. that is not impossible to figure that out. that isit tough for some peoplen some careers to actually do. what careers really pay off for students? >> those tend to be stem careers. those require a lot of discipline, prep work. stem is the engineering and mathematics. some areen even in liberal art disciplines, the mathematics but those are very rigorous courses of study. the average starting salaries are quite high for those jobs. if you can get them. gerri: i know a lot of people, a lot of ceos are pushing the

next generation to go into these fields. 28% now going into stem careers, up from 20% in 1997. we're seeing more and more students doe it. but i have to tell you, there are some really sting co-degrees out there that people spend a lot of time and money getting. what are some degrees that really don't have payoffs? >> in part depends on the student. gerri: that's true. >> liberal arts are difficult. of coursfe some are low-paying professions. art, that doesn't say one shouldn't do that but you should not borrowing a large amount of money assuming you will make the huge big bucks to get out to sustain thatin debt. but soft skills, no matter what you have, that is important, whatever you major in. that is lacking thing in employers, students lack soft skills. critical c thinking. communication skills. develop those regardless what they major in, that they have a better shot getting a job when

they get out. gerri: worst college degrees for return on investment, communications. hello. a lot of people in this build having that. nutrition, hospitality, tourism, religious studies and theology. i know a lot of people in that category number five. hard to make aon lot of money. when you look at schools with best return on investment, same schools all over. harvey mudd college, mit. tell us about these schools where the graduates just do super wellch. >> the top five schools to pay scale, harvey mudd, mit, cal tech, stanford, stevens institute of technology. those of course have high returns on investments because they tend to be schools where there is large stem graduates, a percentage of the graduates. that is one thing to bear in mind, somewhat self-selecting. those are students in high-paying majors that they go there. in returns of looking return on investment, look at your aid package, what are you actually

paying? avoiding the debt. if you go to school, where you don't incurnc a lot of debt you have more flexibility majoring because you're not tied down to certainyo career because you hae to pay off the student loan. gerri: talk about things people do wrong applying for aid. some look down, look at package and will have to get more aid. some mistakes are silly, like putting down wrong social security number but beyond that what are some mistakes people make? >> they think somehow this is altruistic charitable thing. they don't realize a business decision when you apply for financial aid. the college wants you, attractive you will get a better package. gerri: you're a product. the student i is a product at marketplace. >> right. you're looking at colleges and they target you where you live, s.a.t. scores, to target you as likely student to go to the school. you needik to be savvy with the process. remember when you stripi away ivy, you basically have a business. the college will not show you

you how to maximizable. best case advantage. file forms on time. bigpt mistake to accept at schol to apply for financial aid. some people wait until too late. miss priority deadlines. gerri: not too late right now. you can still apply. cal cheney, great advice and great perspective. thank you. we are kicking off day 3 of our users guide to financing your college education. it is that time of year, my friend, when perspective students all over the country are getting financial aid offers from colleges, right in the mailbox. but our next guest says these can be deceiving. how do you decode the offers and pick best one? mark cantor, senior vice president and publisher of advisors network. author of "filing the fam is a".

your work is well-known in this sector and this category. warn folks what they're up against here. not like colleges are necessarily going to tell you anything. in fact when l you get that aid package, they might leave a few things out. likeew what? >> first of all, they might leave out cost of attendance at school. theytt may just list direct coss like tuition and fees but not all other costs, room and board, books and supplies, computers and transportation, personal expenses. gerri: well that is not the whole story. not the whole story, right? mom and dad will have to pay a lot more. you also say there is missing, or misleading information about loans. help us understand that. >> well, the award letter is going to list the financial aid that you're getting but they may not distinguish between loans and grants. it may characterize a loan as though it reduces your college cost, listing just the name of the award and award amount, not identifying it as a loan.

gerri: wow. so, as you're looking over that list, it is harder for you to distinguish what is the free money and money you have to pay back. if you're going to do any analysis at all of these numbers you have to know both those things. you say there is also an issue with front-loading grants. tell us how that works. what does that mean? >> so, what you need to do is analyze the award letter is look at the net price, which is the difference between the total college costs and just the grants and other gift aid money that doesn't need to be repaid. but, about half of all colleges do what is called frond-loading of grants, they give you better grants the freshman year than during the sophomore, junior and senior year. your net price that freshman year may be lower than it is in subsequent years. gerri: that is important to know, if you're counting on your situation financially to be same every year that may not happen that g way. is there any way to get the school to be honest about it, be up front about it? >> sometimes you can ask them

and they will be honest, ask, are you front-loading grants? other times you might have have to ask grants as senior compared with grants as freshman. use college navigator.gov, look at grants for freshmen and all undergraduate students. if there is significant difference it means the school practices front-loading of grants. gerri: you want to obviously compare offers, right? try to figure out which offers your child is getting is best. how do you do that? >> you compare them based on net price, not the net cost figure. the colleges promote net cost i which subtract entire financial aid package from cost of attendance. that financial aid package includes loans that don't reduce cost. compare with just discounts the grants. it issunt discounted sticker pr. if there are differences less than a thousand dollars, most families go whichever school has thee greatest reputation or the

best academic or social fit. if it is more than $5,000s, they often go with cheaper school. gerri: or best party school is what some kid wantri to do, rig, mark? >>a yes. y gerri: before you go, tell us a little bit about the best types of loans out there. what are the best loans? we talk about free money. talk about money you have to repay. this is money you have to repay. >> witelh loans you want to look at cost of the loan. what is interest rate and fees? are those interest rates fixed or are they going to increase when the federal reserve stops easing and stops quantitative easing? so generally speaking federal loans are the best bet because they have low fixed rates and more available and better repayment terms. gerri: very good repayment terms. in fact sometimes you can get the debt forgiven. mark, thanks for coming on the show. great to see you. really appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you for having me. gerri: did you know many students who qualify for grants don't even apply?$

this story continues. wellto gerri: on to our users guide. we've been talking about all week your loved ones college education and best way to pay for it. filing fafsa forms or decoding misleading offers. if you missed any of this, visit my website, gerriwillis.com for all the cost cutting details. lots of good information there we want to make sure you don't leave any money on the table for college. here with advice finding free money is rob franic, senior vice president ofse publishing t princeton review and wrote a book, best values of college. a pretty nice read. rob, nice to have you on the show. >> good to be here. gerri: what are the sources of this kind of money? where do you get this free money. >> there is a lot of free money, $180 billion this year and consistent with last year. there are four big forms. fafsa, that unlocks federal

scholarship dollars. pell grants or subsidiesed stafford loans. there is lot of money from the bucket. gerri: what do you mean by institutional grants. >> they will also offer for the majority ofll students scholarsp dollars, merit based money you do not have to pay back. gerri: we learned most students don't pay a full freight. might pay a third of cost, maybe more. private employer grants, is there a lot of that money. >> there are some of those things, employer grants where parents are working. research on local level. private money where we get a big myth in there. we have less than 5% of money coming directly from private scholarship dollars. they get a lot of news but pay out very little. gerri: statel grants? >> pretty big bucket. there are tuition assistance programs for new york state students. a lot of individual states will have different state programs fors those students. staying in-state to study. gerri: you have to be very proactive, do this on your own,

look, high school counselor will not help you. why isl that. >> numbers peek for themselves. high school guidance counselors to students, 470 students to everyone guidance counselor nationally. in california, far worse. 1,000 kids to everyone guidance counselor. gerri: i want tools. i want to know where to go on the web to find information. >> we have over 800 different financial aid ratings on princeton review.com. scholarship.com. state scholarships as well. fafsa website, dot-ed, dot-governor. gerri: you have to fill out the damn form. it is super long. i understand a real pain in the butt these days. >> you have pleasure of filling it out once not every year you apply to college. gerri: sorry you used the "d" word. there areso a couple scholarshis people should consider. what are they. >> one of our favorites is the georgia hope scholarship f

you're georgia state student, but the program, get b average, b-pluso average or better, 85% percentile in s.a.t. or act you will got scholarship dollars. gerri: in georgia? >> in georgia. gerri: there are other scholarships youh have to do research to find out. gerri: go to church. local sources. less come picks. those will be pay off. local connections that pay off forio students and families. rob, thank you. >> good to be here. gerri: appreciate it. gerri: up next, you're more than just a number. new moves to give you more power over your personal information. and important info to consider before you cosign a loan for your children. or anybody else.

gerri: it is a massive trove of data onf you. 3,000 pieces of information and you have no control over it. the big data companies do. your online life, what you buy, where you go, all kind of details. now the feds want to give you more power over that personal information as well. for more on this, john ulzheimer with credit sesame.com. great to have you on the show. federal trade commission says consumers have more power. should they? >> i'm not so sure. i'mwe not so sure if we gave thm more power over this data they would actually do anything about it. we've given them wide latitude over credit reportt data heavily regulated and by and large they don't do anything about it, simply suggesting they will do something because they have control is little bit speculative. gerri: speculative but golly i would like i to know what the marketers think who i am and what my habits. my guess it is about inaccurate as other report about me whether

history of my financial life or anything else? >> well,. you know the interesting, the interesting issue that you just brought up is, we just don't know because we don't have access to the information there is no obligation for the industry to share that information to us, even if we asked for it. now some otf the players in the industry are proactively saying look, if you want it, just ask us we'll give it to you but i imagine 99.9 out of 100 viewers don't know hot players are and wouldn't even know where to go ask for theon information if thy knew it even existed. gerri: achessy yom, corelogic, idn analytics, list goes on. tilly just. more companies getting into it every day because there is big money putting together information. lots of details about each and everyone of us. finally computers can crunch all thighs numbers. >> that's right. gerri: what they're doing now, they're saying some of these companies, i believe, i can't remember experion is doing it, they say you come on our website. you enroll. if you don't like what you see and want to change it, change

it, right? thee problem is now you're givig them more personal details to track you down with. how is this information being used? >>. i would argue that these companies no more about you and your patterns than you know about you andu your patterns these guys are storing thousands of data points about you. everything from, what kind of like, what kind of websites you visit to what kind of potato chips you choose at the store and you simply don't remember all that stuff in a way you can crunch it, aggregate it, normalize it so a company can buy it to use it to market to you. you're right, some of these guys, if you want to stop sharing information just ask us we'll proactively do it. by and large you have very little control over unregulated information. gerri: can you ask them to stop collecting your information? didn't think you could. >>sk you can ask them to stop distributing it. you can't ask them to stop

collecting it. frankly, not to blame anybody in particular guess where a o lot f information comes from they have? comes from people like you and i, when we fill out things like surveys, warranty cards, when we byproducts that information gets aggragated. a lot of places ends up with blg data. they use the information to turn around and market products and services to us. gerri: one of my favorite stories about this is aor fellow who had a young teenage daughter and found out his daughter was pregnant because she started getting marketing baby diapers i believe. >> oh, yeah. gerri: what a way to find out your kid is pregnant. big data was sharing information with target but dad didn't know. that is theha kind of thing i think people is sort of frightening. it is r peering so deeply over your shoulder, so much into your life, not just the offers you get and mark connect you get. itet is what might be withheld from you too. let me ask you this question. say visa finds out you're spending all your money at the bar saturday night and doing things you shouldn't maybe.

do they start withholding credit? do they start cutting your credit lines? will somebody make that kind of decision about your life because they have all these intimate details? >> not only can they, but, they already have. it was widely reported several years ago, wtehen a company called, compucredit was sued. they disclosed that where consumers were using their cards, perfectly legal by the way, you can use your card anywhere you choose to use your card, but where they used their card told a story how risky you were, and they would use that as way to mitigate your risk. using at places like marriage counseling, bars, was causing a problem for the card ish you app issue err. again, how do i know. you tell me i can use my card wherever i want to. i follow your rules but unbeknownst to me the rules are keeping me on shorter leash. gerri: exactly. gives me the heebie-jeebies. thanks for coming on tonight. t is out theremen trying to rein this in.

>> oh, yeah. that will make it all better. thanks, gerri. gerri: thank you. ♪ gerri: all right, mom and dad, listen up you may put your own credit score at risk when you cosign a loan for your adult children. according to au new report, two in three millenials relied on mom and dad as cosigner for things like home loans. should parents do this? real estate expert kendra todd. thanks for coming on. is this a good idea? should mom and dad be cosigning? >> well i think it really, really depends on the circumstance. what parents need to really, really consider is the fact that they're equally obligated to pay that debt along with their child. it is very, very common to see a parent cosign, for example, on a car loan. but we're talking about a house. so they have to consider the fact that if their child is late on air mortgage payment, or, sks

a mortgage payment, their credit score is going to be affected. that is not really ideal if you're inching towards retirement. >> absolutely not. you know, what i don't understand, why aren't kids doing this on their own? i know prices have gone up in a lost markets and houses are expensive and may be difficult to get that down payment together but, maybe mom and dad help with that but not helping them get the loan. why areha they doing this? >> well, there is a couple of instances where ito actually makes sense. and there really is a trend in thehe market. for example, we have situation right now we have a client whose parents are cosigning on the loan. but sheo- is in nursing school. she is getting ready to graduate. a year from r now she is guaranteed a very high-paying job. so the thing about it is, young professionals are attracted to this opportunity because if you doesn't have at least two years work experience, none of your income counts. so parentsp who know that their

children are fiscally responsible, are will have a high-paying job, soon or, you know, they're in dental school, they will be a lawyer or doctor it may make sense. the other situation where it makes sense is actually parents who are purchasing a home for a child that has a disability, or ifd you want to purchase a home for your aging parents. those are other instances where cosigning or even signing on their behalf really does make a lot of sense. gerri: so tell me, kendra, what the ticktock okay, for mom and dad who sign? let's say little joey, gets a little carried away at the shoppingtt mall, can't make mortgage this month. how soon do mom and dad get called in? hown soon does it take? >> if you have 1:30-day late on mortgage payment, everybody's credit gets dinged. it is something where a parent will really have to know their child is responsible. they can afford to make those paints and that they will come to them if they can't it could

have negative impact on everyone's credit history. i've seen the situation actually in reverse where the parents ruin the child's credit. it is not a one-way street here. gerri: goodness. i want to show some other facts from this ex-person i don't know study. -- >> peer i don't know study. 15% didn't know right away the kid was in trouble. you know that is true, right? does junior call from across the town or across the country and uh-oh, i'm having a little trouble here? finally 12% suffered dented credit scores as you were describing. this is y not just maybe bad moy management. this is also bad family management in my view. what do you think? >> yeah. i would agree. like i said, it really is, it is a judgment call but it is a decision that i would think very, very careful about if i were a parent. you know, i do talk to a lot of

millenials we work o with. they consider this idea. a lot say, you know what? ii want to stand on my own two feet. i don't want to ask mom and dad for help. during the mortgage crisis this wasn't even an option. you couldn't even go down this path. i think if you want to way a home, it is important to be in a position where you can afford to qualify for the mortgage. gerri: words of wisdom from kendras todd. thank you for coming on. appreciate your time. >> likewise. gerri: coming up next, new research on running that won't exactly put a spring in your step. the doctor is in the house next. whole foods is out of favor? have we all given up on the organic food craze? stay with us. ♪

our veterans need you. there are more than 8 million enrollees in health care at the department of veterans affairs. that's more than 2 percent of the entire us population.

this includes veterans from previous generations and veterans from today's wars. challenging medical condition ever increasing technological breakthroughs and more returning women than ever before are redefining the type of care va professionals are providing. serve those who serve our nation. provide patient centered evidence based care. bring your exceptional medical and health care skills to the veterans health administration. america's heroes need you. join the conversation at #workatva or visit vacareers.va.gov gerri: so you probably heard the phrase, too much of a good thing? well now the mantra could be used, we're talking about running. new research showing that people

who are participate pate in excessive running like marathon runners may have more heart problems than the rest of us. why is this so? how can you run safely? dr. kevin campbell, assistant professor of medicine at the university of north carolina has some ideas. kevin, welcome to the show. so, really? i can't, marathon and eating a hamburger, they're comparable? how so? >> i really don't think that is accurate. eating a hamburger has lots of fat and calories and it is just not very good nutrition for you. running a marathon can be a great thing for your health, but, it can also be detrimental if you overdo it just like with most things folks enjoy. gerri: are there limits how much you should run and still stay safe? s >> this new data, this new research looked how much is too much. the number they came up with, if you're running more than 30 miles a week, you probably may be running too much. these folks were shown to have higher rates ever heart disease

and plaques in the heart arteries. gerri: okay, i'm safe. i'm not running more than 30 miles a week. i'm finally doing the right thing! but so, if it is 30 miles a week, about that is really the limit why are some people getting sick? they think they can eat anything because they're exercising so much? >> i think it has more to do with the training. when you train your body is in constant state of inflammation. we know that -- gerri: what does that mean? >> inflammation means blood cells are active. you may be able to see more clotting factors. you may see blood cells sticking together inside of the heart arteries. gerri: everything expand and get in way of everything? >> it's a response to an insult. and we need to have a day or an hour or something where we rest to give our body a chance to recover. inflammation i development of heart disease. if you exercise so much with no down time it may have to do with inflammatory markers.at

gerri: i don't understand inflammation obviously. how can i tell from the outside that somebody has it or i have it? >> one of the things to look for listen to your body. if you develop shortness of breath, out of proportion what you're doing. chest page or passing out or dizzy spells, that could be real sign that you have underlying heart disease you didn't know about. gerri: shortness of breath. maybe i should spend all my time on the cough, dr. kevin? is that the moral of the story here? >> absolutely not. that is one thing we can't take away. obesity and obesity-related illness in the u.s. is $150 billion worth of w health care costs. we must move around get off the couch. too much is bad for you. tough find the sweet spot. gerri: sweet spot. half a million marathon finishers, nearly 600,000 last year. did they do everything wrong or can you actually do a marathon and still be healthy. >> i think you can absolutely do

a marathon and be healthy. when you tra for a marathon, try to keep training under 30 miles a week until couple weeks before the marathon where you make sure you run a couple marathons during that time. be smart about it. listen to your body. talk to your doctor and make sure you're fit to train for a marathon. gerri: i knoew people that do te 100-mile runs. i can't imagine stress on the body. must be intense. >> absolutely. gerri: we'll keep it all under control. n guaranty you i'm not running over 30 miles a week. dr. campbell, thank you. >> thank you so much. gerri: up next the supermarket guru is with new analysis that consumers may be giving up on organic food. a special report where there's a will there's a way. people who had comeback from extraordinary hardship. how do they turn it around? how do they turn it around? still ahead. life an everyday miracle of survival today the future of all life on earth hangs in the balance

what happens next depends on us ♪ well you done done me and you bet i felt it ♪ i tried to be chill but you're so hot that i melted ♪ i fell right through the cracks ♪ now i'm trying to get back ♪ before the cool done run out i'll be giving it my bestest ♪ and nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention ♪ i reckon it's again my turn ♪ to win some or learn some ♪ but i won't hesitate no more, no more ♪ it cannot wait, i'm yours ♪ open up your mind and see like me ♪ open up your plans and damn you're free you'll find that the sky'snd yours ♪ so please don't, please don't, please don t ♪ there's no need to complicate ♪ cause our time is short

♪ this oh, this oh, this is our fate ♪ i'm yours

gerri: remember whole foods? used to be the in place for shoppers and investors but not anymore. the stock is the worst performer in the s&p 500 this year losing a third of its value. consumers are not flocking to whole foods like they used to. so what's going on? let's ask phil from supermarket guru.com. phil, welcome back to the show. >> thank you, gerri. gerri: is organic not popular anymore? >> it noise not organic. remember what whole foods model was. what whole foods first started they didn't have any competition except that little health food market had somebody barely stand up not keel over selling you grains and stuff like that? that was their model. so what they did, almost like, netflix and blockbuster and so on. it is evolved. we as consumers need to be listened to. we want more organics. we wan ot more fresh. however fresh market, sprouts, kroger, safeway, everything is selling the stuff less expensively an whole foods. gerri: let's get to that.

my friend call whole foods whole paycheck, it seems like the price points alire higher. how much higher are they than some of the grocers you were just mentioning? >> well typically a grocer makes 1 1/2% net profit a year. whole foods makes about 8%. so they're doing well. they're doing about four to five times betterim than the traditional store. so as a result of it, consumers are shopping around. walmart announced their new wild oats program. 25% less expensive than other stores including kroger and safeway on organics. target getting into partnerships on organics. everybody wants to sell healthy food. they're responding to us. we want more transparency. we wantpl simpler ingredients. we want better-tasting food. frankly if you look at whole foods, they marketed themselves as first organ supermarket. the realitiering in whole foods is not organic.

gerri: do you think there's brand loyalty in this category anymore? people talk about costco. they seem to be loyal to costco but are people loyal to other brand names? >> they are and they're not. when it comes to price, when it comes to the price of food and you and i talked about this a lot, you know, people are pinching pennies. however, one thing that whole foods has that no other food retailer has, they have more of a presence on social media, facebook and twitter than anybody else. what they really need to do is start mining that. getting those people to come back into the store that haven't been there for a while. gerri: you know, i've been a fan because i can find things there that i couldn't find previously than anywhere else. i'm starting to find some of these goods on other supermarket chefs. they're sort of everywhere. now i'm starting to go to price comparisons. whole foods cut some prices but have they done a good job becoming competitive? >>d no. they have not. they have cutpe some prices. they have given some, you know,

lip service to the whole idea but their 365 store brand is properly priced, is high quality. so they need to push that as well. but even on amazon, go to amazon.com or amazon fresh, look at their prices on organics and some of these other more natural foods. it is terrific. you could frankly save 20, 30, 40% over the price at whole foods. gerri: will tell you, i think i'm last person in the world who still finds grocery shopping entertaining. it is pathetic. i like to eat, i like to cook, i like to shop. you too? thanks for coming on tonight. good to see you. >> good to see you, gerri. gerri: up next, where there's a will there's a way. real-life stories how to turn your finances around when all seems lost. no more runaround by the airlines. a new technology to make sure your luggage never gets lost. your luggage never gets lost. we'll be right back.

gerri: you saw it, right? where there's a will there is a way. we're looking for real people, you and me, whatever, who have come back from extraordinary hardship. have you faced financial ruin and turned it around? we want to hear from you to inspire all our viewers. message me or email me gerri@foxbusiness.com. we have a special guest, who not only lost everything but lost it multiple times. he didn't let it get in way of his success. larry smith, independent associate for legal shield. larry, i read every word of your story and it is truly inspiring. let me tell you, i admire you so much because you got up every time you got knocked down.

that is what i really like about it. start with the story from the beginning. you had a great start. you were on a role as very young man. >> yes i was, gerri. i started with the pillbury company back when i was with in my 20s. with them for 10 years and left with a friend to another company and spent five years there i didn't start putting money into 401(k) and think about retirement until i was in my mid 30s. that is how i got started with good businesses, good companies, good company cars an benefits. gerri: once you left pillbury and a second job, you ran into some headwinds. tell me about that because it was tough times. you actually i think had a paper route at one point? >> yes, ma'am, i did. at 38 i decided to start a business of my own so i cashed in my 401(k). gerri: wow. >> to start a business and spent a year doing that and made a living but didn't really make enough money. so i decided to go back to corporate. when i got offered a job. i accepted it. when i got there they had to

withdraw the offer because company lost one of its major suppliers. all of sudden i'm going through a lot of stressful times. couldn't find work. only $3,000 to my name and started throwing 3:30 a.m. paper route and sacking groceries and crazy things to put food on the table. gerri: that's what i like about the story. you will just get it done. that is what successful people do i believe. they find a way, over that hump, around it, under it, some way to get the work done. you had kids you had to support and a wife. she also went back to work as i understand. is that right? >> yes, ma'am. she did. she went back to work until i found a job for 40,000 a year less than what i was making when ima left my last job because i d to do something. got so tough i ended up in bankruptcy in 1989. gerri: bankruptcy, that has got to be hard. i tell you, did you ever think you would pull out of that? >> you know, i never really got disgusted bit. i was frustrated and disappointed i had to go through it.al reality you can think about

things in your past or focus on a your future. i elected to focus on the future and knew i could do it and go back again. gerri: what you eventually did was s started your own business. slow steps. you ran it out of your house at first. but it grew and i it grew. you had a epiphany what age you needed to save for retirement? >> well, i realized i needed to save for retirement mid 30s. i didn't start doing it closer to 50. gerri: wow. >> it was fun, because, what happened when i started my own business, i started giving my own business the same work ethic and discipline i gave the corporate jobs. literally within two years i was making twice as much money i made at any corporate job. gerri: wow. >> i started funding my future. gerri: i love to hear that. tell me your advice for other people who might be having a hard time funding their 401(k). maybe they lost a job. they're facing other financial headwinds. what do you tell them? >> first thing you have to make a decision that you have to save. you can't put your financial

future in the hands of one person. have to put money away. i think along with tithing, paying yourself 10% and building six month emergency fund and don't run into snag of borrow money to stay in debt. get rid of your debt. put 30% of your money into investment accounts, doing that in the process, read 10 pages after good financial education book every day. because you will read 10 to 12 books a year. you will be passionate investing instead of spending. you find your niche in the investment markets. gerri: larry, love your advice. thanks for coming on tonight. pleasure meeting you. hope we hear from you begin. thank you. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. gerri: up next, it is like a gps tag for your luggage. new technology would let you know where your bags are at all times. stay with us.

♪you may say i'm a dreamer ♪but i'm not the only one ♪i hope someday you'll join us ♪and the world will be as one ♪imagine no possessions ♪i wonder if you can

♪no need for greed or hunger ♪a brotherhood of man ♪imagine all the people ♪sharing all the world ♪you ♪you may say i'm a dreamer ♪but i'm not the only one ♪i hope someday you'll join us ♪and the world will live as one♪

gerri: say good-bye to lost luggage. some airlines are developing new technology that would allow passengers to check the whereabouts of their missing bags. so how would this work? here to explain is the president of airfarewatchdog.com. george, welcome back to the show. so, okay how would this work? >> basically, gerri, we'll have these high-tech bag tags that will have gps-enabled. you will put them on your bags and using your smartphone you will be able to track your bag anywhere around the world. we may even see some luggage that has built-in gps tracking as well. gerri: sound expensive. who picks up the tab? >> well, you know, airlines lose millions of dollars a year in lost bag charges. the government requires that they pay $3400 for even a delayed bag. and it costs about $100 to reunite somebody with a delayed bag once it's found.

so it does cost the airline something. we don't know exactly who will be paying for this. it might be passengers will buy the tags. they might be quite cheap. eventually under $30 eventually once manufacturing gets going. maybe airlines give them for free. because it will really save them money. gerri: here is why it would save them money. because they have to pa$3400 ona bag is lost or stolen. that's a lot of dough. paying 30 bucks for a gps tag might make more sense of the number of misdirected bags, 26 million a year. is that a large proportion of the total or not so much? >> well, depending which estimates you believe, every 1 in 150 bags or one in three bags are lost or misdirected. so quite a few. gerri: do you consider that a big number what i'm asking? 26 million to me sound like a very big number, but when you look at comparison to total amount, maybe it is not that

much? >> depend if it is your bag that's lost. then it is a big number. but, you know, even those paper bag tags that they use which by the way have been here since the 1930s, really time that this industry, even those paper tags cost airlines a lot of money. so it is not like even the paper tags are free. so it is no the just a lost bags but also the tags which have to be issued every time. so these, these bag tags, gerri, these new bag tags are permanent so, the airlines don't have to keep on printing them every time you send a bag through the bag check. it will save airlines money. gerri: that is very interesting. i was thinking that may be another way for airlines to raise my air fare. gerri, we gave you gps tag for your bag. add another 100 bucks. but you say no. it might work exactly the other way.

i think your other point a little tag for the airport. lax. old school, really, really old school. that is shocking it hasn't been upgraded. >> computer systems are ancient. only planes, even some planes are not that new, gerri. very technologically backward industry. a lot of reservation systems developed in the 1960s. this will be a great leap forward. i imagine not too distant future we'll all have permanent bag tags that we can program ourselves. we can track the bags. we can use our smartphones to program them. we'll be entering city, destination city ourself rather than relying on somebody else to enter the destination. a lot of bags are misdirected because the airline people send it to the wrong city. gerri: george, i respect you. i know you know what you're

talking about. airfarewatchdog.com. big website, but i don't know if i'm going to be programing my own bag. i can't even program satellite tv right now. so thanks for coming on. it was good to see you. maybe i get smarter. i don't know. it could happen. things improve. george, thanks. >> thanks. gerri: first what you're tweeting me about the poll question. have the airlines ever lost your luggage? sergeant tweets this, all of our family luggage never arrived to our vacation! airline asked, was the luggage ever outside of your possession? sound familiar. steve tweets this. only take carry-on. that is good. flag posting on my facebook page, yes. we were moving. all my lost luggage it should be dramatic. jim posted, they lost mine. bugged them for three weeks. no results. i provide ad claim for proof of value with most items.

claim was 1,000. in three days i had my luggage. it was held in frankfurt, germany the entire time. that is it for "the willis report." have a great night. charles ?