Before the current The last stretch of summer is here. School calendars are filling, and the decisions you meant to get to back in June are now fast approaching. Remember when we said Labor Day was so far away? This month we sit with three versions of the same idea. Ben Beck, CFP® writes about the morning he taught his son what to do in a rip current, and the wave a few minutes later that put it to the test. Ben and Angel Costanza each took the stage at LPL Focus in San Diego, one on how a portfolio gets built and one on how a firm holds together as it grows. And Jim Bode takes Episode 2 of Nine Under Nine to Oakley with college advisor Eric Simonelli, to find out when college planning really starts and what parents and grandparents can do about it earlier than they think. Preparation is not something you reach for in the moment. It is something you already have or you do not. That is what this issue is about.