Ordinarily, your blogstress, who prides herself on making self-induced poverty look glamorous, is in no position to advise the less glamorous on financial matters. However, this AP report about Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's impending resignation counfounds her:
Ridge, 58, has explained to colleagues that he needs to earn money to comfortably put his two children, Tommy Jr. and Lesley, through college, officials said. Both are now teenagers. Ridge earns $175,700 a year as a Cabinet secretary...
Ridge owns an $873,000 home in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Michele, which they bought last year with a $784,800 mortgage, according to property and banking records. Ridge's most recent financial disclosure reports, filed in early 2003, showed that he owned between $122,000 and $787,000 in stocks and funds, including modest ownership in The Walt Disney Co., General Electric, Nike, Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
Memo to Secretary Ridge: Sell the house, and the kids go to Harvard. (Your blogstress knows of a nice living space above a bodega.)
Special thanks to my favorite soundman for the conversation that led to this post.
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