Podcast guest Joanie Connell is the author of, "Flying without a Helicopter." Joanie is a leadership development coach and organizational consultant. She works with high-level and successful clients. Her book deals with current trends in parenting, including helicopter parents who create highly structured and protective environments. There are also lawnmower parents who pave the way for their kids. Joanie's book addresses the consequences of raising kids in these kinds of environments. The kids are less prepared to be in the workplace. And involving the parents is disempowering the kids.

David Galehouse owns Varsity Edge, a website that helps high school athletes pursue their sport in college. He himself was an athlete who went through challenges in being recruited. He was an avid golfer with some aspirations of a college scholarship, but burned out in senior year. He began to play baseball in the spring of his senior year, for the first time since eighth grade.

Needless to say, it was a bit late in the game to hope for a scholarship in baseball, and after some scrambling around," he ended up taking a year off from school. He first attended Rollins college in Florida but his skill level wasn't improved enough, then he went to Fairfield College in Connecticut. He walked onto the team, but was sidelined by injury, and he stepped out of the sport by the time he was a senior.

While reflecting on his experiences, he started to take notes and it formed the basis of what Varsity Edge has become, a resource for parents and students offering information that David felt he did not get in his experience.

Eva Baker's story is especially appealing to parents and students looking at college. She is a homeschooled senior in high school and an avid blogger at the ripe old age of 18, writing the Teens Got Cents blog. Her story also serves as an example to students on how they can tap into what they love to create a business (and an income) for themselves.

The website got started when Eva's mom asked her to do a project for her remaining high school years to develop communication and life skills. Eva enjoyed rock climbing, but opted instead to write about her own experience in saving money as a teen after listening to an audio book from Dave Ramsey called Total Money Makeover. She realized there was a wealth of information online for adults looking to manage their money, but nothing for teens.

We meet Lauren Gaggioli on the podcast today, and she is the founder and chief of Higher Scores Test Prep, which specializes in SAT/ACT tutoring.

Today's episode brings Roger Whitney, "The Retirement Answer Man," to the microphone who will be indeed answering some of our questions on retirement planning with college in sight.

Roger has been a financial planner for 24 years, walking with his clients through the retirement maze. Eventually he developed a podcast and blog on the subject on his website offering tips and guidance along with a free retirement toolkit.

Later, I'll be answering a question about owning a business and its impact on your success in receiving financial aid. You may have gotten conflicting answers from well-meaning friends, so we'll break it down for you.