I hope this Wednesday is treating you well. It’s mid-April and we all know what that means – your tax filing is due in a few days. If you are in rut and need more time, get an extension. Don’t feel bad about it either. I will get an extension this year as life has gotten busy and I have no shame in my game. In fact, I’m jumping up for joy. Now, if you are expecting a refund, you’re probably rushing to file your taxes so I support you in meeting the 4/15 deadline.

This week’s chatter…

What really got me boiling this week was Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s move to allow guaranty agencies to charge a predatory 16 percent fee on defaulted student loans. Huh?

These agencies administer the federal guaranteed student loan program and collect payment from borrowers. DeVos’s move reversed the course of the Obama Administration, which prevented these companies from gauging borrowers who defaulted on their loans.

Talk about BAD move in my book – if there are little provisions to protect people from incurring more debt, how are people supposed to climb out of debt and build wealth?

I’m almost done ranting.

Before I stop completely, please make sure you know your student loan repayment options. If you need assistance, check out www.studentloan411.com, which provides advice to assists borrowers with payback options that could result in lower payment in the shortest amount of time.

On a more positive note…

Emily, a member of the Charisse Says community, shared a story about her family in response to my “Creating a Wealth-Building” blog post. Here’s an inspiring snippet:

What I find interesting is how, in these later years of her life, [my mother] seems determined to direct how that wealth will make an impact beyond her years – not just for building wealth, but also for strengthening family bonds. She has begun purchasing real estate…[Read More]

Over the last week, I have also had a lot of conversations with Charisse Says members who have a desire to build wealth by starting a social enterprise or investing in one.

Don’t know what social enterprise is? No worries.

I wrote about social enterprises for American Express’s OPEN Forum. One of the biggest challenges in starting a social enterprise is obtaining the right financing. In that vein, here are 3 takeaways:

• Impact investing means different things to different people, so find out what’s mutually important from the owner and investor perspective

• Place-based investing in social enterprises is growing

• In addition to financing, you might also need straight-up advice to scale

So, hopefully you’re all excited now!

For my Christian brethren, happy Holy Week and enjoy the Easter holiday. For those of you of the Jewish faith, Happy Passover!