California’s Bad Bet on School Finance Leaves Too Much to Chance

It’s the Already-Fortunate Who Are Most Likely to Luck Out in the State’s Public Education System

Californians may think we have a system of public education. But what we really have is a state system for rationing public education.

I got a personal taste of this in the spring, when I took my five-year-old son to our local school district offices to determine his educational future. This being California, the determination was made not by a test of his abilities or an assessment of his educational needs. Instead, it was a lottery. A school administrator pulled names out of the hat to determine whether he would …

By Joe Mathews | September 15, 2016

Inside a South L.A. Union Hall, a Tool for Saving Money—and for Fighting Predatory Payday Lenders

Traditional Lending Circles Get a Modern, Credit-Building Makeover for the City’s Service Workers

By Melissa Chadburn | July 7, 2016

To find an old way of saving that is new again, head to the line of mortuaries along Los Angeles’ Washington Boulevard, between Hoover Street and the 110 Freeway. One …

When Secret Societies Sold Life Insurance

Before the Great Depression, Fraternal Lodges Offered Financial Security Without the Stigma of Charity

By Lisa Hix | March 22, 2016

Once, when I visited my brother, who lives in a small Texas town, he took me down a winding road to a turn-of-the-20th-century cemetery in a forest clearing. There, we …

My Modest Retirement Is Not Bankrupting America

Retired State Employees Like Me Aren’t Living It Up, But We’re Getting By—Which Is More Than You Can Say for the Next Generation

by Drew Mendelson | March 23, 2015

I’m a Boomer or close enough, born in December 1945. My parents, who grew up during the Great Depression, told me that financial security, especially in retirement, was the most …

Financial Writer Tom Petruno

Highly Inquisitive, Motivated to Improve

January 7, 2015

Tom Petruno was a longtime financial columnist for the Los Angeles Times who is now an independent investor, writer, and consultant. Before moderating a panel on young Californians and retirement, …

L.A. Financial Empowerment Initiative’s Olivia Calderon

Finding Beauty in Authenticity

January 6, 2015

Olivia Calderon directs the City of Los Angeles Financial Empowerment Initiative. Before participating in a panel on young Californians and retirement, she talked Thanksgiving, enchiladas, hummingbirds, and her first summer …

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