How the Minimum Wage Earner is Like a Big Bank ?

On the Sunday Morning Show recently there was a piece regarding the minimum wage and a story about a divorced mother of two who has worked for McDonalds for 10 years and is still paid the minimum wage with no benefits.  She indicated that she has decided not to take promotions and that she gets assistance for child care.  I wondered about what the real implications are from a couple of points of view.

Health Care Priorities

I have heard that 65% of statistics are made up on the fly; but Bill Frist, Senator from Tennessee, said he thinks 1/3 of our health care spending is due to waste and fraud.  He goes on to say that the 3 major points of healthcare reform should be:

     1)  Get the uninsured into the system;
     2)  Lower the costs of healthcare; and
     3)  Eliminate fraud and waste.

Practical Dreaming

Sometimes financial planning conversations can go places one might not expect.  Take for example the following inspiring story of one business owner's dream to live in California.

I get an email asking if I would be willing to meet and discuss financial planning issues.  I replied by saying--"Don't you work with another CFP(r)?"  To which she replied--"I'm not working with her anymore and I have been working with another CFP(r) guy but they don't really do what you do." 

Anyway we agreed to meet and see where it goes.  Well in a little over an hour

Small Business Health Insurance Update

I just returned from a meeting sponsored by the OKC Chamber of Commerce regarding the health insurance plan with Blue Cross that our company has used for the past many years.  Here are a few points of significance which came up for me as an employer and a consumer:

1)  The Chamber Choice Plans as we have known them since 2001 are not available as of January 2014.
2)  Insure Oklahoma Plans are still in place through 2014 and not part of the general state budget.
3)  There were two large firm lawyers and a couple of Blue Cross people fielding questions.  The lawyers seemed to get the most action I am sorry to say. 
4)  EVERY EMPLOYER'S SITUATION IS VERY DETAIL SPECIFIC AND THERE IS NO RULE OF THUMB OR EASY ONE-OFF ANSWERS.

Nobel Prize in Economics

Here are pictures of the 3 guys who shared the Nobel Prize in Economics this year.  Just to remind us of how fuzzy economics is the two guys on the left and right disagree with one another and the guy in the middle has math programs to explain the theories but no one really talks about him much since he doesn't disagree with the others. 

Mother Natures Way

So I went to a conference last week in Dallas where financial advisors from around the region gathered to discuss strategies for "High Performing Firms".  I was NOT enthusiastic about being there until Ren Cheng, PhD gave a kooky professor presentation on Systemic Risk.

Debt Ceiling Explained...Simply?

Here is a link to a video putting the Debt Ceiling in terms of an individual. While the video does help us think about the situation in more personal terms I can't be sure it is a fair comparison. Unlike the US Government and others, individual human citizens have a life expectancy and DO NOT have a printing press.

Thermodynamic Laws--Say what?

The book shown to the right is one I have been reading for awhile and trying to apply to regular daily life.  One comment made in the chapter on ENERGY referred to the First Law of Thermodynamics.  That would have been something I could have overlooked had a friend on a recent energy conference call not used the same terminology.  So off I went to Wikipedia to attempt to add to my understanding.    

Keeping it in the Family

In today's low interest rate environment we have found that doing intra-family loans can make more sense than ever IF done properly.
Savers (meaning parents and grandparents) are being punished by low interest rates on CD's and bonds while borrowers (meaning children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews...) are having more trouble than ever getting approved for loans.  We have 3 rules we apply when considering a private loan:

PRICELESS

Last Friday the day after INDEPENDENCE DAY--our newest employee was working with me to improve one of our compliance processes when she made a comment I thought worthy of posting:-)  She said--" You guys have figured out how to walk that fine line between the head and the heart. When I am home I am able to BE HOME and not worry about the office.  I am also

INDEPENDENCE DAY

It was suggested by someone the other day to read the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE on the 4th of July.  After breakfast this morning, where at least 3 different businesses referred to difficulties with government programs one of which was the Affordable Care Act postponement of certain rules, I came back to the office and found a copy of the Declaration along with a little commentary to help understand it better.  Below is a copy for your reading pleasure and inspiration on this OUR Independence Day!!! Enjoy...

Advisors?

The magazine in this picture came today and prompted me to read the cover article.  One advantage we "advisors" have is that we get to see what is behind the so called advice being given.  In this particular case we have a publication called--"Advisor Today", published by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, with a cover article referring to "producers" and what they "sell".   

A Tale of 3 Annuity Policyowners

In today's low interest rate environment along with escalating reserve requirements for insurance companies I wonder how insurance companies who offer guarantees will make a profit.  Insurance companies have limitations on how they invest AND at the same time insurance companies were in the middle of the problems in 2008.  There is an

Luck

I was driving to work yesterday and heard that nobody won the giant powerball lottery.  This got me to thinking about how lotteries are the quintessential example of taking from the many to enrich the few. In Oklahoma the lottery was tried several times to get legalized but failed until it got renamed as the "Education" lottery.  So far the actual vs. projected results of the education lottery have been dismal AND our

Drill Baby Drill???

Here is a post I made to an ENERGY discussion group of which I am a member--

I have been wondering about the sale of mineral assets to foreign sovereign companies.  Here is the story I have made up--

                Step 1--large foreign companies are willing to pay "too much" for assets in the ground because their currency is stronger and they have a much longer time horizon.  Ultimately

they can also direct where those assets will be deployed.  Sellers are desperate for cash due to current low nat gas prices and love the BIG dollars that are saving their bacon now. 

The best assets these companies are willing to let go of go here or to other large "informed"  investors.

Is Washington Smarter Than a Third Grader?

Recently Diane Swonk a well known economist was asked what she thought about mortgage companies getting clarification on rules for making home loans.  She said something like--"Now that these companies have clear rules for making loans there should be more of them made and that will be good for the economy." 

Points that came up for me:

College Draft Picks (No Not Football)

When it comes to paying for college here are a few things we have found--
1)  Our IT consultant got a 4 year degree in 3 years and under $10,000.  Anyone can afford a degree if they want one and are motivated
2)  Most parents primary education goal is for their children to be able to provide for themselves and become independent.  Secondarily is that they will LOVE what they do.
3)  In Oklahoma the BEST freshman graduation rate is 39% from OSU.
4)  National studies indicate only 25% of people who

Read This If You Want To Feel Better

Yesterday I received a notice from a client regarding the premium increase on their group Health Insurance they said they have had for over 20 years. This 63 year old business owner and his wife's premium for their private group plan with a major insurance carrier is--you ready to feel better yet?--

Ordinary People

Yesterday morning at 10:00 am Noah and I went to see THE HOBBIT in 3D.  There were a couple of things I noticed about the experience--we had the theatre to ourselves and even with the child rate it cost $18 for two people. 

The point of this blog post however, is to quote a line from the movie spoken by Gandalf the wize wizard.  First you need to practice saying "ordinary" like the British might.  Rather than 4 syllables use 3 and say it like "ordnery".  Now picture the tall gray bearded wizard with the pointy wizard hat saying--
"It takes ordinary people doing ordinary things to hold back the darkness."