Taking Back Control: Living Wills and Beyond

My Comments: I have very little to add to these excellent thoughts. I have to be careful what I say since I’m not an attorney and there are limits to what I can say. Here and there I’ve added a word or two so you can read this as though it was directed to you …

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Maximize Your (Clients’) Social Security

My Comments: As we Americans try to deal with the conflict between controlling the amount of national debt and the need to continue to prime the pump to encourage economic recovery, there surfaces from time to time several issues dealing with Social Security. Is it going bankrupt? Will it be there for our children in …

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US Jobless Claims Hit Four-year Low

My Comments: There is a lot of talk about the value of a college education these days. One reason the question is even valid is there are very few jobs out there for college graduates to take. People my age are simply not walking away from an income since our retirement funds have drastically diminished. …

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Finance Can Fund a Revolution in Giving

My Comment: Finding ways to give back to your community is a classic step toward redemption. My friends would be hard pressed, however, to assign that motivation to me. I do it because it seems appropriate, because I can, and because it allows me to interact with other intelligent and motivated people. In these days …

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Away With Jerry Cans! Oil Bubble is Bursting!

My Comment: I don’t enjoy paying $4.00 for a gallon of gas for my car. While I know it’s cheap compared to the price others pay around the world, I simply don’t like it. But I have to get from here to there, just like everyone else, so I grumble and moan (my wife says …

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U.S. Clutching for Straws With Energy Independence

Two key paragraphs from the latest comments from Tom Barnett as they appeared last Monday in the World Politics Review. The United States is on the verge of an industrial renaissance, according to energy experts enthusiastic about technological advances surrounding the “fracking” of shale gas and the processing of “tight oil.” America is sitting on …

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What Does Retirement Really Cost? – Part III

What we’ve talked about in Part I & II is a basic application of the time value of money, given today’s interest rates. So, is it time to take up boozing, smoking and to hell with the exercise bike? Maybe. As a financial advisor, I can provide you with reams of data that suggest, over …

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Capital Market Insights – August 29, 2011

Here is your Weekly Insights update from Curian’s Asset Management Group. This informative capital market update is designed to help you stay informed about important developments in economics, the markets, and … CONTINUE

Who Rules America?

My son sent me this article, written by an investment manager who asked for anonymity. It appears on a web site of a professor in the California University system who is the author of a book called Who Rules America? It’s a natural follow up to my recent post about a Vexing Question. You may …

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Comments from Ric Edelman

Ric Edelman runs a company from whom I contract investment management services for my clients. Ric has build an organization that now has over $4 billion under management. That alone says something about his skills and reputation. The following is from an email he sent out to all of us earlier this week. It confirms …

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