So much for the silver lining. Most of my financial planning peers and I hoped the upside of the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s would be a newfound fervor to save.

Not exactly. The economic crisis of 2008 apparently didn’t last long enough to create significant change in attitudes about personal saving. The amount Americans save out of their paychecks was almost zero at the peak of the credit bubble. Near the bottom of the recession it rose to 6.4%. In April, it fell to 2.7%, its lowest level since the crisis began in the fall of 2008.

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I’ve traveled to an educational event four out of the last five weeks.  I am ready to give my brain a break!

Last week I was at the national convention of NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.  This is the association of financial advisors made up exclusively of advisors who are fee-only, meaning they do not sell financial products.

Some of the more interesting sessions I attended included a half-day on Roth Conversions, another half-day on the new health care bill, and a half-day on analyzing annuities.  In addition, I attended presentations from Chris Davis of the NY Davis fund,syndicated columnist  Jean Chatzky, and Gary Bradt, a psychologist. Continue Reading »

Every year I attend the NCAA Men’s Final Four with my father.  Of course, no avid final four fan can resist filling out a bracket and entering their office pool or the bracket contest sponsored in the local paper.  So, like I’ve done for the past 19 years, I filled out my bracket and entered the contest.

My father thought three of my picks were pretty good: Kansas, West Virgina, and Duke.  But he just shook his head when he saw I had picked Butler.  As it turned out, I did pretty well, except for Kansas.  I had also picked Kansas to win it all, so I didn’t give my bracket much hope.

You can imagine my surprise when I received a call a few weeks ago from the Rapid City Journal notifying me I had won the local contest for the winning bracket!  I am applying $500 prize money to next year’s trip to Houston!

We don’t know all the consequences the health care bill may have for business owners, but it isn’t too early for employers to start now to consider the possibilities.

The health care bill includes no meaningful malpractice reform, no reduction in drug patent lives, no incentive for insurance companies to reduce premiums, no limitation on end-of-life health care procedures, nothing to encourage consumers to shop and compare services, and no meaningful incentives to encourage healthier habits.

As a result, it is reasonable to expect insurance costs to continue increasing for the foreseeable future. Employers need to consider options for coping with those higher costs. Continue Reading »

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Even its title is complex. The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 is so complicated that we can’t know all the ways it will affect our daily lives over the next few years.

The good news is that starting this year, all plans are required to extend dependent coverage to age 26, prohibit rescissions of coverage, eliminate pre-existing condition exclusions, increase coverage of prescriptions under Medicare Part D, and eliminate lifetime and annual limits on coverage.

There is also bad news. The combination means consumers should consider some new planning strategies. Continue Reading »

What a difference a week makes!  Ten days ago a server failure left us with only phone service. Nothing else related to technology worked for the better part of four days, except our copier.  Today, we are about 75% complete in moving our operation from our old office server to a hosted server we will access via the Internet.  This is a move we’ve wanted to make for several years, as it will give us easier access to our systems and reduce the possibility of a disaster shutting down our operation for an extended period of time. Continue Reading »

The ancient civilizations of Greece gave us the example that provided the foundation of our democratic government. Today, Greece is giving us an example of what happens when a country goes on a spending binge.

Greece currently owes 124% of its gross domestic product, or national income. Today’s budget estimates put the US debt at 94% of GDP. Just four years ago our debt level was at 64%. If the US continues to accumulate debt at our current rate, it is not inconceivable that what is happening in Greece will happen here before the end of this decade.

I’m not the only one thinking this way. Continue Reading »

Last week and this week I spent a day at the offices of American Century, Kansas City, and AQR, Chicago, meeting with their portfolio managers. I gained a number of insights into their projections for the economy, strategies they are implementing, and the philosophy behind some of their funds. 

I have planned several other trips in the near future to visit with other fund managers that we also use in implementing our investment strategy.  This is all part of our due diligence commitment, to our clients, to use the most effective managers possible in implementing our portfolio asset allocations.

Will health care reform help or hurt your retirement?  “Seniors could see relatively better premiums under the legislation, which restricts pricing variations for different levels of healthiness,”  is what Rick Kahler, CFP, told Janet Kidd Stewart, columnist, for the Chicago Tribune.  Find out if the new health care bill will leave you a winner or a loser.  Read the entire article by clicking here.