Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Stanley Targosz, President and Founding Member of The Responsible Brand Discussing Student Loan Myths & Misconceptions

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

As the President and Founder of The Responsible Brand, Stanley is dedicated to bringing financial education back to families and the industry. He believes that responsible solutions begin with a knowledge base that can be applied to each phase of life, helping individuals have more control over their current and future financial decisions.With over 20 years of experience in helping families understand how to afford the next step after high school without affecting their life goals, he also solves the extreme college debt issue organically, using a knowledge-based solution that everyone can implement. His mission is to put the family at the center of the solution, ensuring everyone wins.Learn more: https://theresponsiblebrand.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-stanley-targosz-president-and-founding-member-of-the-responsible-brand-discussing-student-loan-myths-misconceptions

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have with the Stanley Targos, who's the founding member of the responsible brand and will be talking about student loan. myths and misconceptions. Stanley, welcome to the program. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate being here. You know, I'm interested in hearing these myths and misconceptions on student loans because I know that real time you look at the news and it seems like everyone has perspectives and opinions and

things change and this new news came out. So I want to dive into that. But before we do, give us a little bit of your background and your story and how did you get into the financial services business? Yeah, absolutely. Well, what's amazing is 20, 25 years ago, someone introduced me into this industry, and I thought, I'm not the person who wants to go sell or provide financial services. I didn't have any experience on my own, but I was blessed to have some excellent mentors and got introduced to a lot of successful people who took time to mentor me and coach me. And I learned that I was passionate about helping people understand how money works in their lives.

As I jumped into that realm, I quickly found that my true passion was, helping people manage and understand how to pay for college. And in the 15 years or 17 years that we were doing the college planning and understanding how money works and really why people struggle with paying for college, became super passionate about helping people understand how to pay off the debt. I think 98% of every family that I met had a student loan and a parent loan and very few of them had a solution and hoping and praying that the government does a solution or that you get forgiveness or something without a strategy felt more like a fantasy than hope. And we wanted to provide real solutions that gave people an opportunity to know what they were getting into

and to have a responsible solution to get out of the debt that was created to invest in their kids. You know, I feel like there's too much debt in the world from consumer to college and all of that. And I like that crusade that you're on. Talk a little bit about some of those common myths and misconstitutional. about student loans because I know that there's all kinds of types. You know, there's the parent loan. There's this type of student loan. There's a federal loan.

There's a Sally Bay. So what are some of those types of loans and some of the common misconceptions that people have? Sure. I think one of the things that people come to my, come and talk to us about when it comes to student loans, everyone wants to talk about which loan has the best interest rate and how are we going to pay for this? And I'm not going to send my kids to college. they have to get loans, my kids are going to figure out how to get through college on their own back

because I figured out how to pay for college on my own back in the late 90s or early 2000s. The reality is student loans is not a student problem. It's a family problem. That's why we've been helping people understand that of the $1.8 trillion in college debt, it's almost 50-50 between parents and students. And in the next 10 years, it's probably going to be more parent debt than students. debt. So the misconception is my students going to figure this out on their own because I did. Well, the truth is, if a student's going to pay for their own college, they have to work 40 hours a week at more than a minimum wage job in order to pay for the tuition, which means they don't have time to go to school

or have a place to live. So mom and dad actually have to be involved in this process from the beginning, and mom and dad have to put their name on the line for some of the loans. The misconception that when my kids graduate, they're going to own the debt, that's not true. true either. When I looked at the student loans that were out there, the people who were missing their payments, it was affecting mom and dad if it was a parent loan, and it was affecting the student if it was a student loan. So the misconception that my kids are going to figure this out is not really, that doesn't exist. That's not a solution. I think the second thing is people get really hung up on the interest rates, and they want to shop private loans, government loans,

Stafford loans, federal loans. That's that movie Moneyball. Mike, did you see the movie Moneyball with baseball? Yes. Remember, the whole Major League Baseball was basing their teams on batting average. And the Oakland Athletics had the smart numbers person who said, no, we should be basing it on on-base percentage. Well, when they did it on-on-base percentage,

they ended up having the most number of wins on the lowest-salary team in Major League Baseball history or something like that. when we talk about student loans, focusing on the interest rate is like focusing on batting average. We want to look at the whole picture and focus on the on base percentage when it comes to the student loans and find out what loan is actually the right loan for the family. Should they get a parent loan that's through the government? Should they get a student loan through the government? Should they get a non-government loan? Really, it comes down to, does the family have the financial means to commit to a 10-year payment with no flexibility?

Then maybe go for a private loan. But if you need some flexibility built in, even though you might pay a little bit higher interest rate or a little bit higher origination fee, sometimes that flexibility built in to be able to defer, have hardship or forbearance during a season and maybe qualify if the federal government does pursue the option of student loan forgiveness. It's not through private lenders. It's through federal loans. So there's a lot of misconceptions and people get hung up in the wrong details. and then they wake up after their kids graduate thinking, how did I get myself in this mess? Well, they were distracted.

So we want to make sure that people look at the loans and look at the realities of the impact it has on their family and their ability to eliminate the debt in a reasonable amount of time. You know, it makes me think when you describe, you know, the parent loan or the student in whose name, how do you help parents decide whose name it should go in? Should it be in the name of the student? Should it be in the name of the parent?

Or should there be some in each? Well, Mike, what's fascinating is the maximum amount that a student can receive in their name under normal circumstances, meaning there's been no bankruptcy or no financial tremendous hardship on the family. If that's the case, the student applies for more. But for most families who've not gone through big financial trauma, the maximum. that a student can get in their name is 27,000, which means even if you find a reasonable college at $25,000 a year total, that's $100,000 over four years, the maximum the student can get in their name is $27,000, which means mom and dad are on the hook for 73. Multiply that by two or three kids and tell me if it's a student loan problem we have or a parent loan problem we're facing. Yeah. I mean, it might make sense to, you know, cap out under the limit there and then have the parents step in. And that gets down to strategy. And I know that that's what you work with your clients helping them figure out. So that's kind of like why you formed your, you know, acronym basics. Tell us a little bit about that concept. Yeah, the basics of student loans and debt. The reason we came up with the basis.

was people were getting focused on interest rate. And interest rate is one of the four or five components that really need to happen that define a loan. But this is the one people most focus on. So when we think about the basics, it's the balance of your account, it's your active economy, it's the savings strategy that you utilize, it's the interest rate, it's cash flow management, and it's a side hustle. What are people doing to make extra money? Let me give you an example of cash flow management. A family who's got money saved for college and says, I don't want my kids to have any student loans.

So I'm going to take my savings in the first year. We're going to pay for college. And then we're going to pay for part of the second year. Now we're out of money. Cash flow management means let's take the emotion and the pride. And I don't mean that in a negative way. But it is sort of nice to say, yeah, I paid for my kids first year of college. They got no debt.

That feels good. The problem is it feels good at the expense of what? Here's what happens when we manage cash flow the wrong way. We lose the ability to go back and get the dollars that are cheaper and more efficient in the student's name and we push it off to make the parents have to take it later on. So when we manage cash flow from college, we look at how much does the parents have saved to pay? How much can the parents afford to pay on a monthly basis? How much additional debt can mom and dad not want, but do they need or are they willing to take?

and then we add all of those things together and we devise a plan over a four or four and a half year period to make sure that we're taking the right amount of debt in the student's name, the right amount of debt in the parents' name, and we're managing the cash that they've saved and the cash flow they have available on a monthly basis to not have a third and fourth year blow up where they feel like they have to pull their kid from college because suddenly they've got more debt than they've ever thought possible and they feel uncomfortable. So the basics really gives people the ability to look at the six different areas when we manage someone's personal economy, especially during the college years. So the basics helps people look at the big picture and decide what's comfortable and then put a plan in place to manage the debt after. And the college debt, I love talking to families who are wanting to be responsible and they're willing to invest. The extreme end of that is, I'll sacrifice everything for my kids. I'll refinance the house.

I'll drain my retirement accounts. I'll work an extra job so that my kid can get through college without debt. Well, the reality is the misconception, one of the misconceptions is your student needs a college degree at your future lifestyle expense. That's not the case. So we have to look at it from what God would say. We need to be good stewards of the gifts we've been given. That means our kids and our money. So if we're honoring God with what we're doing and we don't want to be irresponsible, how do we put

a family plan in place that attacks this problem, allowing the student to survive and thrive, allowing mom and dad to maintain their lifestyle and their future without sacrificing their conscience or compromising their conscience along the way or creating a problem for the students when the parents are older and don't have enough money and need to borrow from the students. I mean, no parent wants to go back to their kids and say, I paid for your college, now you got to pay for my retirement. Yeah. but yet that is what is happening. Yeah,

there's some of the fun statistics are there's over two million senior citizens receiving social security that are still making student loan payments. There's a couple hundred thousand of them that are getting their social security checks garnish to make the student loan payment. And that might change a little bit with the new administration and how they're handling things. But the point is people 30 years ago, people never thought of retiring making a student loan payment. today, that's more common than you and I would expect. Yeah, you would think that it was, you know, hey, you'd need to have your house paid off. Hey, you'd need to have no credit cards. But that third, fourth, fifth level of student loan debt, that should have long been taken care of and it's not.

And I like how you say your approach helps transform debt from a lifestyle into a temporary season. Talk a little bit about that because to me, that says mindset. Yeah, it's what happens with a lot of families, especially if they have more than one child, going through college is the biggest expense you're going to make. Oftentimes, if you have two or three children, paying for your kids' college is more expensive than the house you bought, especially your first house, but maybe even the current home. So when we go through seasons of debt, that means we're not going to settle for debt as a lifestyle forever. It means it's a season. But think about this. We're going to talk a little bit more down a little bit later, but your student's 18 years old.

And in 18 years, you didn't save $150,000 to pay for their college. What makes us think that it's reasonable to pay off college in four years if we hadn't saved that money in 18? It's not reasonable. So debt has to be a part of the process. And I love the people who say pay cash for everything and never get into debt. That's not the real world we live in. That's an idea that sounds awesome. That's altruistic.

but that doesn't exist today. So debt as a season means this. You have two or three kids that are going to college. The misconception is I need to have their college paid off by the time they graduate or I need to sacrifice and not fund my retirement to pay for their college. But those years have to be a season where we balance between taking care of today without sacrificing tomorrow, taking care of today and continuing to fund tomorrow. We might need to change how the dollars work a little bit during a six, eight, or ten year window,

but it's not a forever choice. It's not a forever decision. It's a season. When we look at it as a season, oftentimes we can palette a strategy that makes us uncomfortable today but preserves tomorrow. It's much better to be uncomfortable for five or ten years than to live the way we want for five or ten years and then be uncomfortable forever after that. 100%. And I think all of this that you're talking about just takes having a plan. So talk a little bit about that forward thinking, begin with the plan in mind in making sure that the student loan debt does not negatively long term affect retirement or buying a home or ultimately becoming debt free.

Yeah, the plan is fantastic. One of the questions I like to ask people is when you're planning a trip, what's the most important thing that you need to know? and people often answer where you're going. The reality is, if I'm going to Hawaii, if I'm going to Alaska, if I'm going to Thailand, it doesn't matter. Where I'm starting from is the most important piece because that determines how I get there. Where I'm going is the goal. So a plan has a beginning and an end. And what we need to do with every family that we sit down with is find out exactly what's going on today so we can organize their economy so we can get

where they want to go without derailing their current plans. If I solve the college problem and you're happy with it, but I create five other problems down the line, that doesn't really solve the problem. That just pushes the problem down the road. When we talk to a family and we find out the plan, it is a lot about money because money drives it. And money is, how do you fund your retirement? What impacts are you, how are you funding your retirement that impacts your FAFSA? putting money in a 401k while your kids are going to college has an impact on your FAFSA. And if you're at a break point where you might get more money by not funding a 401k, but by funding a Roth, why wouldn't you do that?

But most people don't know some of those nuances. How much money do you have in savings? Are you adding to the savings account? Are you funding a 529? What's the limit? What's your budget to pay for college moving forward? That's the starting point. As we have those conversations,

not only are we talking about money, but we're helping the student. Think about this, Mike. If I can give you a 25% reduction in college, just by implementing a strategy based on knowledge, would you take it? I would think so. Absolutely. So when I sit down with a family and I say, listen, you've got a budget of $100,000, but you've got a $150,000 problem, how do we reduce that?

Well, I can't go to the college and say, I'm in financial trauma, I just came out of an issue, reduce your tuition costs, what I can. can do is say while your students attending four-year university, let's take advantage of the free community college in the summers between their freshman and sophomore year, sophomore and junior year, and knock out 18 credits. That not only saves you 18 credits, that saves you almost more than a full semester of tuition. That could be a $30,000 savings right there that doesn't cost anybody, anything other than taking a class at a community college. It's a fantastic way to go. And that's one of the best we had to the plan.

That's a really great point. And I think a lot of times people think how much is the school that times four years is X. Let me get loans for that. And they just earned that track. But in reality, like what you just said is there are ways to kind of, you know, maybe get dual credits or AP or going to community college, all of those things. Something else you mentioned statistics is what is the current statistic of students that actually graduate in for? years versus longer. Yeah, the average is closer to five and a half for six years. And really the universities, their goal isn't to have people there for six years, but their process is key people

there for six years. And the decision makers aren't deceitful, I believe. I think it's just the process. They don't have the right classes, the right schedules, and it takes kids longer. And there's no mentoring on the front end teaching them what they should be going into. Mike, when I went to college. I sat in a room with 300 people. They said, pick your major. I thought, pick my major. I thought I just started. And I put my finger down on the page and it landed on marketing. And I didn't even know what that was. But it's a good thing that worked out. But most people, they choose a college that they think is going to solve their problem. They get two years in and realize the college that they're at doesn't offer the program they want and they need to change

schools. That adds one semester to a full year onto your college process. They take the wrong, not wrong, but they take classes they're interested in as electives in the very beginning and push off their other classes till the end of their sophomore year or their junior year and they lose the ability after 60 credits to take classes at community college. Well, there's a tremendous advantage into taking certain classes at community college that you might not be strong in, especially if you have to maintain a certain GPA to get into the program you want at the university. And that's part of the plan. How do you plan for success for your students? How do I put them on a path so they can graduate in four years and use their God-given skills and talents to be productive members of society instead of being slaves to the debt they created while they work at Home Depot? You know, Stanley, all of these things that you're mentioning, it feels so myopic to say student loan missing misconceptions. That's the tip of the iceberg.

The things you're talking about is having a plan going in, picking the right school, knowing your major so you don't waste time a year, year and a half, and then having a time. a change of major, making sure your class schedule is structured to where you can get done in four years, and that minimizes the amount of student loans you may need. And then all the actual tips and techniques about student loans. So it's way more than I feel like parents even understand. So I feel like right here would be wonderful to say, if someone is listening to this thinking, what can I do? I've got a high school sophomore, junior, we should probably get ahead of this. What's the best way that they can learn more and reach out and connect with you? Sure.

Our website is the responsible brand.com. And that's a great place to go. We have some resources, some options there. And we really help people focusing on how to pay for college. So we're not going to help your student get into college, but we will help put a plan in place that succeeds for everybody, and it's a custom plan. I've been doing this for 10, 15 years, been in front of 10,000 plus people.

I've never seen two scenarios and solutions that were the same. which tells me everybody needs a custom solution. So the responsible brand.com is a great place to go. You can get all of our contact information there. And because we partner with so many education places, companies, and programs, all of our information that we give away, we give away for free because we want you to spend all of your money

paying for college, not paying someone to teach you how to pay for college. Yep. Excellent. Well, Stanley, thank you so much for coming on today. It was a real pleasure talking with. you. I appreciate it, Mike. Thank you very much and God bless your day. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.

www.Influential EntrepreneursRadio.com.