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MARKET MATTERS
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Recent statistics show that Americans are not doing a very good job of saving. The U.S. Department of Commerce continues to report a negative national personal savings rate and the December 2006 A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Score survey found that, while 64 percent of adults have a retirement plan in place, solid savings habits don’t seem to kick in until people reach the age of 40.
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MARKET MATTERS
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When talking about investments, you often hear about some companies — or other investment vehicles, for that matter — referred to by interesting nicknames. While you may be familiar with the term “blue chips,” other terms such as “The Big Kahuna,” “The Big Fish” or the “Giants of Wall Street” have been used by some to describe the stocks of companies that are categorized as large cap. But what does this mean?
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MARKET MATTERS
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While all of us would love to be able to predict what will happen with our investments, the market reminds us that it has a mind of its own.
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MARKET MATTERS
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While all of us would love to be able to predict what will happen with our investments, the market reminds us that it has a mind of its own. However, as we look to the future — specifically to the new year just around the corner — we can use certain guidelines to help us at least get an idea of where the markets appear to be headed. By paying attention to these indicators, we can make educated decisions on where to place our investment dollars.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Following the significant increases in short-term interest rates by the Federal Reserve over the past two years, and given the current downturn in the domestic housing market, there’s not much question whether the U.S. economy is slowing down. The big debate now, however, is whether the country will experience a “hard” landing — in other words, a recession — or come in with a “soft” landing by slowing and posting a modest growth rate.
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Play money
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In some households, it’s considered impolite to talk about money. But the consequences of imprudent financial management can be very serious. Poor money skills can result in crippling debt and personal bankruptcy.
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MARKET MATTERS
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To help you save money for retirement, there are a number of options available. One of the most common is the Individual Retirement Account (IRA). While hundreds of investment alternatives are accessible through an IRA, there are some types of investments and transactions that the IRS doesn’t allow in IRAs. Therefore, it’s important that you, as an investor, understand exactly what you can and can’t do with these types of accounts.
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MARKET MATTERS
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No matter how well-versed you are on the subject of investing, it’s important to remember the fundamentals. They help you stay grounded, and keep you from getting too far ahead of yourself. Today, we offer a few cornerstone ideas of basic investing that will help you remember the rules that got you to where you are.
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MARKET MATTERS
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We are all familiar with the need for charitable giving. Oftentimes, not-for-profit organizations host an annual telethon, churches raise money for a member in need, and shelters look to volunteers for support. The spirit of goodwill is obviously the most important factor in these situations, but it is also important to understand the financial implications of your charitable gifts.
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MARKET MATTERS
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When the leaves start to change colors, we’re reminded of the changing of the seasons. And while most people are beginning to turn their attention to the upcoming holiday season, investors should actually begin preparing for another season that arrives in the spring.
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MARKET MATTERS
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After years of accumulating assets to fund your retirement, you eventually reach a point when it’s time to start making use of those funds. When preparing to access your employer-sponsored retirement plan or IRA balances, you’re going to need to make some important decisions. By understanding your alternatives, you can make the appropriate choices for your retirement distributions.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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If you’re changing jobs, it’s important to understand the options you have for managing your IRAs.
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Off go the college kids along with all of your money
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Off to college go the kids. For them, it’s the thrill of independence. For parents, it’s the thrill of victory — and also the “cha-ching, cha-ching” of money, gobs of it, out the door.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Two weeks ago we gave you a half dozen ideas to help your kids learn about managing their money. Here we add to that list, rounding it out with another six simple steps you can use to teach your children good personal finance skills.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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Q: I am more interested in investing for income over the long term rather than in participating in the daily ups and downs of the stock market. What would be a good investment strategy for me?
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It’s never too soon to start saving
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It might seem a little strange to talk to your kids about retirement, but when you consider the pickle many adults are in when it comes to this issue, planning early doesn’t sound so crazy.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Among the many responsibilities of adulthood, managing personal finances is one of the most important skills you can learn. Unfortunately, many of us have had to learn this lesson the hard way, without any formal education on the subject. If you want to help give your kids a headstart on the road to financial independence and success, there are many simple tips you can use to get them started early.
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Guest Commentary By Victor Kamber
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President Bush is famous for putting his foot in his mouth. In the midst of the Hurricane Katrina debacle he turned to the incompetent FEMA director and said: “You’re doing a heckuva job, Brownie.” I didn’t think he could ever top that. But he did, just this week. With Labor Day on the horizon, he beamed at the television cameras and said: “Things are good for American workers.”
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Guest Commentary By Dan Rizzi
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As employees across the country take a break for the Labor Day holiday, employers should consider three particularly significant ongoing developments: a dramatic increase in the diversity of the U.S. workforce, spiraling employee health care costs and aggressive union organizing efforts, which, if not handled in a timely and effective manner by employers, may very well make the difference between a company’s competitive success or failure.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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As you approach retirement, you will quite likely be assessing your financial situation to determine if you have saved and invested enough to afford a comfortable future. Generally, financial professionals advise that to maintain your current lifestyle you will need approximately 70 percent to 80 percent of your current annual income each year in retirement, although your own situation may differ based on your personal goals and finances.
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MARKET MATTERS
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To build a secure retirement, you will likely take advantage of multiple building blocks to establish your overall plan. Two of the important pieces people most often take advantage of are Social Security and Medicare. Unfortunately, while many will eventually rely on these programs to assist in their retirement funding, relatively few have a good understanding of how these programs work. Following are the answers to a few commonly asked questions, to help educate you a little more on the subject. We’ll also provide sources you can turn to for more information about these programs.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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The typical American worker can easily hold a dozen or more jobs in his or her lifetime. The result is often a confusing array of retirement plan statements from multiple employers.
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MARKET MATTERS
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In a time of super spenders and discontinued company pension plans, saving for retirement has become an increasingly difficult task. Because we must rely primarily on our own plans and estimates, it is quite common for us to look to conventional wisdom when planning for life after we’ve quit working. Personal finance literature, savings programs and expert advice may seem endless, each offering ‘tricks of the trade,’ but it is important to examine each of our unique personal circumstances before settling with the standard. After all, nesteggs come in many different sizes and situations.
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Chill out, talk taxes
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Summertime generally brings thoughts of vacations, pool parties and relaxing in the shade, but certainly not taxes.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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When you decide to invest in the stock market, how do you refine the huge list of available equities down to just the most promising candidates?
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MARKET MATTERS
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As any seasoned investor will tell you, the markets are constantly fluctuating. As a result, deciding when to invest can sometimes be a complicated process. And usually few people “win” when they try to time the market. To help alleviate the stress of making such difficult timing decisions, you can use a strategy known as dollar cost averaging to maintain a regular pattern of investing and help smooth out the effects of market fluctuations.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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As you approach retirement, you will quite likely be assessing your financial situation to determine if you have saved and invested enough to afford a comfortable future. Generally, financial professionals advise that to maintain your current lifestyle you will need approximately 70 percent to 80 percent of your current annual income each year in retirement, although your own situation may differ based on your personal goals and finances.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Not that long ago, a good number of workers in this country would spend an entire career with one employer and retire with a company pension plan. In many respects, that scenario is a thing of the past. Not only are traditional pension plans disappearing, chances are you may end up changing careers — not just jobs — at least once or twice before you’re ready to retire.
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Rolling the dice on a college education
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Once you get accepted into college and go on to get a degree you’re set for life, right?
Wrong.
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Guest Commentary By Dr. Darius G. Gagne, CFA, CFP
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Markets go up, and markets go down, but over the long run, markets go up.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Juggling all the important responsibilities in your life, it’s easy for things to get complicated in a hurry. Even with all the advances in technology that were supposed to make things simpler, some days it seems like there are too many demands on your time. With so many things competing for your attention, you probably welcome any opportunity to simplify things wherever you can. While there are many areas you could choose to work on, one good place to start may be your family finances.
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Giddy graduates gearing up to enter the real world
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This summer, 1.4 million new college graduates will be flooding into the job market after receiving their diplomas. The good news is that it’s the strongest job market we have experienced in five years. The bad news is that many of those graduates will be unprepared to begin careers successfully.
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A mediocre career will only beget a mediocre life
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A recent study sponsored by the Society of Human Resource management showed that up to 80 percent of employed adults are somewhat to totally dissatisfied with their job and career.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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When professional security analysts evaluate a stock they usually focus on a number of considerations, two of which are fundamentals and underlying valuation. You may wish to take into account those evaluation methods when considering a stock for your portfolio. You can find the information you need from annual or quarterly company earnings reports, from reading the newspapers or by asking your financial advisor for more information.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Changes in the economy occur regularly, but unfortunately they rarely follow any set schedule and they can be hard to predict. At times you might wish you could figure out some way to know when economic conditions were about to change, or what adjustments you should make in your portfolio when a shift appeared to be on the horizon. It’s a tricky topic, and even economists disagree about the nature and causes of economic cycles. But we can at least take a look at some of the issues you need to be aware of, and help familiarize you with how it all works.
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Business Briefs June 8, 2006
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Need a lawyer?
Seafood operation expands
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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It’s never been more important for the children in your life to receive a college education. Studies show that over a lifetime, the earning gap between a person with a high school education and one who has a college degree may exceed $1 million, according to The College Board, a not-for-profit educational association.
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DAILY RECKONING
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Every great public spectacle begins with a lie, develops into a farce, and often ends up a tragedy. We read the newspapers and wonder where the war in Iraq stands in the sequence. Certainly, the lies are behind it. The Bush administration told the lies it needed to tell to get the war underway. Now, no more lies are needed. But, does that mean we are in the farce stage? Or have we already moved to tragedy?
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Market players needn’t lose touch
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In addition to a well thought out investment plan, successful equity investing requires a feel for what is going on in the real world that we all refer to as “the market.”
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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World markets have begun to wobble.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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It seemed that all anyone needed was a modem and a point of view just a few short years ago, when the stock market was reaching all time highs and stock valuations were out of whack. Alas, valuations were recalibrated. Investors are abandoning the self-directed approach to investing in favor of a more disciplined investing strategy. In fact, the total volume of online trades fell to 50.6 million by mid-2001, from a high of 82.3 million in mid-2000, a decline of 39 percent.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Even if you weren’t glued to the constant news coverage, you’re probably well aware of the tragedies that have unfolded throughout our nation and around the globe as a result of natural disasters. All of those catastrophic events have served as a reminder that we can be significantly affected by unexpected events at any time. Whether a major disaster, or even a fire in your home strikes, it’s important to be prepared financially ahead of time for such an event.
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Spelling the boomers
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If you want to see the future, check out the classifieds.
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All in a day’s work
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To measure up to his official title of “marketing guru” at an Internet company, Mark Hughes hatched and rejected a lot of gimmicks before finally deciding that the business, Half.com, should pay the town of Halfway, Ore., $100,000 to rename itself Half.com for a year. The national publicity was enormous.
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College grads will face harsh realities
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This spring, 1.4 million new college graduates will be flooding into the job market after receiving their diplomas. The good news is that it is the strongest job market we have experienced in five years. The bad news is that many of those graduates will be unprepared to begin building their careers successfully.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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When considering individual stocks for your portfolio, a company’s size is one of the key ways of categorizing potential investments. Generally, companies issuing common stock fall into one of three size groups: large-cap, mid-cap or small-cap, based on the total stock market value of the company that underlies the stock. This is commonly referred to as “market capitalization.”
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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From the Financial Times comes a report on the sorry state of U.S. federal finances — the “President’s Budget” shows a deficit of $319 billion for this fiscal year. But the president’s financial intelligence is subject to the same persuasion as his strategic intelligence. His budget shows not what is, but what he wished were
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MARKET MATTERS
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For the millions of taxpayers who have recently completed their income tax filing, another annual ritual is beginning — the anticipation of waiting for a tax refund. If you’re one of those who will be receiving a refund this year, you may already be making plans for how you’ll spend that money. But before you get caught up in the excitement of spending that check right away, you may want to consider some other options that could provide you with significant benefits down the road.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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The Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Businesses (SIMPLE) is a retirement plan designed to help employees working for small businesses save for retirement on a tax-favored basis, while allowing employers current-year tax deductions. A SIMPLE Plan may use a SIMPLE individual retirement account (a SIMPLE IRA) to receive plan contributions. Here are some questions and answers about the SIMPLE IRA retirement plan.
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Patience is a virtue, and a proven method for building wealth
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Markets go up, and markets go down, but over the long run, markets go up.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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America is going broke ... in style. We say that not to alarm you. It’s just one of those certainties in life that you should point out to your children, such as “the dollar will be worthless” and “we’re all gonna die.”
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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Two Swiss economists took it upon themselves to study how professionals charge for their services. They were interested in how doctors and mechanics, for example, earned their money. These pros have a unique advantage over other service providers. Their clients think they need something from them but they don’t know what it is. Not surprisingly, a mechanic who specializes in exhaust systems will find they need a new muffler. A doctor who operates on the brain will tend to want to open up their crania. Not surprisingly, too, the better informed the client, the less the intervention. Doctors, for example, went under the knife less often than other patients. And lawyers’ wives had the fewest hysterectomies.
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MARKET MATTERS
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It’s no secret that personal credit card debt is currently at an all-time high, and it keeps growing every day. And it probably won’t come as a shock that the personal savings rate in the United States, coincidentally, is at its lowest level since the Great Depression. Although some forms of debt may be necessary, allowing your debt to get out of control can rob you of valuable savings opportunities. Reining in credit card and other types of debt will allow you to focus your efforts on establishing and growing your financial nest egg.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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“You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing in,” said Heraclitus, circa 500 BC.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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When considering individual stocks for your portfolio, a company’s size is one of the key ways of categorizing potential investments.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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Today, we have some advice. It is no different from the advice we have given many times before, but today we give it with special urgency.
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Guest Commentary By Leo Linbeck
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With millions of Americans once again struggling to complete their federal income taxes it is a good time to reflect on the profoundly dysfunctional and highly punitive federal tax code that only gets more complicated year after year.
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MARKET MATTERS
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It’s tax time again and deadlines are looming. But as you begin preparing to file your 2005 tax return, now is a good time to review your overall financial picture as well. As with all your investments, it’s important to have a good handle on your tax situation so you can maximize any savings opportunities that may exist.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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You wouldn’t think so. Here, it is just another cold, dark day in London.
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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Periods of increased stock market volatility, when securities prices tend to sharply rise or fall within a relatively short period of time, make many investors understandably uncertain. Whether you are currently “in the market” or are considering entering, you’ve probably been wondering, “What’s the best course of investment action to take during periods of unsettled market activity?”
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MARKET MATTERS
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Your ideas are fresh, the plan is complete and you’re ready to begin building your business. While your dreams of becoming an entrepreneur may seem to be right around the corner, consider the challenges before you leap too far. On the road ahead, there could be financial uncertainty and loss, but even in the land of risk, debt and development, abandoning your nest egg is a mistake. While investing in your new business may be the first thing on your mind, don’t forget about funding your future.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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Well, another week has passed away. What history was made?
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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Diversification is an investment strategy that helps you avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. When you allocate your investment dollars among many investments, you potentially reduce the risk of a single investment and help to optimize your overall return given your risk tolerance. There are a number of ways you can diversify when deciding which stocks are best suited for you.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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The head of Canada’s central bank, David Dodge, says the world risks an “outright recession.” And, Claude Trichet, who is the president of the European Central bank, believes the world economy will have to “pay a price.”
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Scamming the man won’t pay off, IRS warns
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The Internal Revenue Service has issued the 2006 “Dirty Dozen” — the latest annual tally of some of the most notorious tax scams — along with an alert to taxpayers this filing season to watch out for schemes that promise to reduce or eliminate taxes.
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MARKET MATTERS
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Every year we, as Americans, face the annual ritual of filing tax returns. While the process is unavoidable, investors frequently look for effective ways to lessen the impact of taxes on the overall returns of their portfolios. More investors — particularly those in higher tax brackets — are finding that municipal bonds can help reduce their tax burden, and at the same time add stability and diversification to their portfolios.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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The five “Big Es” are reshaping the world: The Empire is peaking out; there’s an Exodus of money and power from West to East; the Economic cycle has turned against us; the Experimental money system — with no gold backing — is doomed; and the days of cheap Energy are over. So what? What do you do?
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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Almost every working person in America is, in some way, planning for retirement. Most of us are aware that traditional sources of retirement income, such as Social Security or an employer-sponsored pension, probably will not fully fund our retirement as they did for past generations. It is up to us to prepare financially for our retirement years. As we build our personal retirement assets, we generally estimate our needs based on the cost of our expected or desired retirement lifestyle, the current outlook for inflation, what we can currently afford to save and our estimated life expectancy.
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MARKET MATTERS
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When tax season is over, and the hassles of filing are through, many Americans anxiously await the arrival of good news — a refund check. And while many people already have that money spent before it even gets there, your tax refund could provide a valuable opportunity to start saving for the future. So, if you can muster the courage and resist spending it right away, there are several options that could make very good use of your refund. Following are a few ideas to consider.
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THE WEEKLY RECKONING
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