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LIVING AND WORKING in Beverly Hills, I’ve become all too accustomed to fashionably clad twentysomethings styling down Rodeo Drive, cell phones pressed firmly to their ears. Arranging a business meeting? Perhaps. Arranging another “loan” from Mom and Dad? More likely. Not to disparage today’s young people, but too many have come to expect their parents’ unequivocal support, financial and otherwise. Blanket approval and a blank check.

As an investment adviser, I hear parents’ incessant lament: “When will my kids start pulling their own weight? When will they stop coming to me with their hands out?” The answer is as simple as it is difficult to employ. Kids do what we teach them to do; when we start saying no, they’ll learn to take no for an answer–perhaps not immediately, but eventually. The temptation, of course, is to continue supporting …

WE’VE ALL ENCOUNTERED SERVICE ANIMALS–THE DOGS, CATS AND horses trained to help those with disabilities accomplish the myriad tasks of daily life. Certainly we know the all-stars: the handsome Seeing Eye dog, its skill and dedication shining through as it guides its master or mistress along a busy city street, stopping at traffic lights, negotiating sidewalks, curbs and crowds of people.

Most of us are also aware of the dog’s less famous service brethren–the hearing dogs who alert hearing-impaired people to telephone rings, smoke alarms or babies’ cries; the specially trained dogs, cats, birds and rabbits that visit people in long-term care homes and help alleviate their loneliness and depression; even the horses that help disabled children and adults gain vital strength and coordination as well as new confidence through therapeutic riding programs across the country. According to the Delta …