Practicing Financial Planning for Professionals by Sid Mittra et al has got to be one of the most challenging books for me to acquire since I started attending school. The school's bookstore didn't have any copies neither did Amazon, nor Borders, nor Barnes and Noble, nor Alibiris. One of my schoolmates informs me that one of the local porn stores that he contacted (accidentally, right...) didn't have it either. I finally located a copy at half.com. I don't really like shopping there because you never know when the book will arrive. My hand was forced this time.. it was the only copy available unless I wanted to pay >$200. Anyhow, the book arrived yesterday leaving me with a week's worth of reading. Most of it in the ever so interesting area of life insurance planning. I never really realized that college, from a parental and financial planning perspective, was quite this labor intensive. It's not really difficult once you think about how it should be done... It's just labor intensive. Our main project for this class is a financial plan for someone... I've chosen to do one for C and myself. Compiling all of the information needed is difficult, the questionnaire is about 15 pages, but having it all in one binder will be helpful when the time comes to purchase a house. Which reminds me... When last in Barnes and Noble I saw a book that was really a collection of amortization tables for standard mortgages. It was depressing to see what we'd probably wind up paying since we're just crazy enough to purchase property in SoCal. It's the American Dream, yeah? A home of your own, 2.5 kids, a dog, a cat, and debt up to your eyeballs. Ok, so maybe the debt part isn't part of the dream but more and more Americans act as if it were.