IRS--Here To Help

We have all heard the old saying--"Hi I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help."  To me this represents a situation to which the response usually goes something like--"Yeah right."  Well this morning that exact scenario played out with the Social Security Administration for a widow filing for benefits.  

This family have been clients for many years and fortunately for the widow we had already run her Social Security projections.  This dedicated software program is designed to help decide which option to choose and is especially helpful in unusual situations.

Virtual vs. Reality

Recently I moved my dad and his stuff from Texas to Oklahoma. We needed to rent a truck and car hauler and chose to use uhaul.com. It was easy; seemed to have all the pieces to the puzzle, including helpers to load in Texas and unload in Oklahoma. We were set… in the virtual world that is.

 It continued to be good as we checked in at the U-Haul office. We left to eat lunch and came back to pick up the truck and trailer. Oops! That’s when reality started taking over. The truck didn’t work with the trailer and they did not have another truck available. There was a truck in another town about 15 miles away but they did not have a trailer.

Do You Know a Muslim?

In Nashville recently I noticed how many different religious beliefs 

20 year Muslim Reservist

were represented by the people attending what I refer to as the cosmic financial planners group.  There were Mormons, Christians, Quakers, Bahai, Buddhist, and agnostics to name a few. I wasn't aware that I was searching this information out but instead just noticed this in reflection after the recent comments about Muslims from Donald Trump.

In a previous blog from awhile back I compared Oklahoma City to Damascus, Syria.  There were many common themes regarding the regular people of each city.  My guess is the comparison would NOT be similar today.  One thing hasn't changed though and that is how the saying "If a million people die it is a statistic.  If one person dies it is a tragedy." 

Above is a picture

Fork In The Road

At a recent conference in Nashville, Ed, a therapist, asked if i would drive him up the road to pick up some medication he needed since he left it at home.  Ed and I go a ways back and he is one of those people who is chock-full of intelligent humor and sweet and meaningful anecdotes.  Hence, the rest of the story about the Yogi Berra saying.  

SWEET Potatoes may be the death of our healthcare system

Recently my dad has been in the hospital dealing with pneumonia and other issues related to not handling anesthesia very well.  However, after he was making an impressive comeback, he woke up with pain in his abdomen.  The doctors jumped in to action and ran a cat scan and x-rays 

Lucy's Last Wishes

LUCY IS FINE AND DOING WELL for a 17+ year old dog.  However, recently she was suffering from a persistent cough and after a few trips to the vet I had a moment.  Here is how it went--

The Wealth of a Nation

Adam Smith is often referred to as the father of modern capitalist economics. He was known to have said--"the decisions of individual owners to use their capital for their own gain, and of purchasers to buy for their own interests, would somehow be guided by an "invisible hand" to produce the greatest overall prosperity of society."
That was back in the day when money represented HUMAN productivity.  Needless to say our world financial systems have diverged from such a practical  measure.  Below is a clip from a piece that struck me as interesting, challenging and on some level bothersome.

MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES

 Jim Rhone is an old school motivational speaker who talked about life in the seasons of a farmer.  In the winter you prepare for summer and in the summer you "make hay while the sun shines".  The hay is for putting back for times when the harvest is non-existent or less bountiful.  Certainly now, in Oklahoma at least,  we have bountiful supplies of water and it might be a great time to re-visit the "Comprehensive Water Plan" created a couple of years ago by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. 
In contrast this morning at breakfast an attorney mentioned having just attended a seminar on WATER RIGHTS.  

Best Credit Score Trick For Kids

"It is this simple", says the father of 3 kids two of whom just bought their own cars with the best rate possible from the local credit union. Put the kids names on the most used household credit card that gets paid on time every month and has a decent credit limit.  Of course you DO NOT give a card to the kids nor do you even tell them that their names are on the card UNTIL you go with them to the credit union and they pull up their 765 credit score for an 18 year old.  

How To Easily Pay Down Debt

Whether in the global economy or your personal economy the picture shown here is true.  We as Certified Financial Planner Practitioners (tm) are regularly asked to make recommendations regarding college savings.  We also see student debt as liabilities for some clients years after entering the workplace.  It occurred to me how college debt could be compared to government debt as an example of how income growth makes paying down debt SO much easier.

Why Mandatory Social Security Makes Sense

NO--that is not a picture of the neighborhood in which I live.  However, a few years back I was blessed (read tormented) to serve as president of a neighborhood with 1600 or so homes that did not have a mandatory homeowner's association (HOA).  This neighborhood is very nice but only about half of the homeowners choose to pay the voluntary dues ($300/yr) that pay for common area  maintenance, security patrol and regular events.

Whose Money Is It Anyway?

In the past few years Credit Unions have offered interest rates on savings that are quite compelling.  HOWEVER,  hoops abound through which one must jump in order to achieve these higher rates.  Below is an annual notice regarding some of the hoops and "costs" of the good interest rate shell game  

Pain in the Back

The perfect follow-up to the last blog post on disability.  In the most recent Economist magazine this insert--sourced from the Lancet--shows the results from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation study on the burden of disability on countries.  The legend is as follows:

Disability "Insurance"--the REAL Thing

In the dental business--according to insurance companies--the number one cause of disability insurance claims is due to neck and back issues. Just imagine that you spend your entire day seated and leaning over a patient with at least a little tension in the room;-)  That seems like a prescription for some sort of physical therapy to counter the long-term potentially negative effects.  However, in my 33 years in business the most common solution is to buy disability insurance--which is more expensive than ever and not nearly as good as it used to be.  Recently, a dentist client asked 

Lipstick on a Pig

Two stories recently have converged to make me wonder about a couple of the biggest financial decisions people make.  This morning CNBC reported that 4 of the worst cars in crash tests were Jeep and Dodge. (Chrysler/Fiat products)  The reporter went on to say that in the last few years the Jeep specifically was reported as unreliable, had poor owner satisfaction, and bad crash tests BUT--sales are up 21% in the past year due to pretty design.  

Last week a local builder told me about a neighborhood, in which they are building, where the smaller more energy efficient homes are not selling nearly as well as the larger less efficient but "fancier" ones.  Hence his motivation to build more of the latter rather than the former. (BTW--the builder has a more efficiently built home for his personal use.)  

Years ago I considered building a house but only wanted it to be on the smaller size allowed for the area. After meeting with an architect and building designer it became clear that the only way to make the project make sense on a COST PER FOOT basis was to build a multi-level house with more "cheap" square footage to average down the cost.  For me the project never made sense and so it never happened.  

Maybe I just don't get it OR maybe the explanation resides in another report recently showing that the sales of SPIRITS are up dramatically in the past few years.  That along with the burgeoning business of marijuana and SHAZAM--it's starting to make sense;-)

You know the age old FRAM oil filter commercial--"pay me now or pay me later"--it certainly applies to housing and vehicles in today's world.

What's Your Motivation?

In January ATT--the original Ma Bell--lowered their expected return on pension fund assets to 4.3% from a previous 5%.  They also increased life expectancy for retirees to accommodate current longevity trends.  RESULT--over $8 Billion dollar charge to their financial statements for the increased cost in funding the pension plan.  (BTW--Auntie is 105 and has been on an ATT pension since she was 55.)  

Below is a clip from the most recent valuation of the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System Pension Plan (OTRS):

BB King Plan

About 10 years ago I had the privilege of getting to see BB King from the 4th row center of the Oklahoma City Civic Center.  WOW--you can pick up a lot from being that close.  Here are a few of my vivid memories on this day celebrating the life of a legend who passed yesterday at age 89.

Dying With Class and Leaking Oil

If everything goes as planned and you have a chance to do something like this at the end of life--WOW--what a way to go.  We have witnessed many families beautiful endings with loved ones.  If you choose to click on the video link below then you can see one families story.

Upside Down Oil Wells

Every now and then you see a simple picture that fills in a lot of blanks.  The link below is a graphic representation of how North Dakota would look if the oil wells ACTUALLY drilled in the state were above ground instead of below.  

Makes me wonder what the plan is when the wells are fully depleted. Otherwise it is quite an impressive visual of what is below the ground.


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/24/upshot/nd-oil-well-illustration.html

Interest--ing Global Bond Yields

• In the first transactions of this kind, BoJ purchased Japanese government bonds (JGBs) from banks at a negative interest rate.

• Earlier Thursday, the yield on Germany's two-year bond actually went negative, touching -0.004%. In other words, investors are effectively paying the German government to hold their money.

• The yield on the 5 year TIP (US treasury inflation protected security) on 10-22-14 was -.04%.

• At its September 30th meeting, the Reserve Bank of India left the repo rate on hold at 8 percent, waiting for more evidence that inflation rate is slowing. 

Three of the top 5 economies in world have recently had bonds with negative yields.  This is more like the days of old when people were charged DEMURRAGE fees for storing their excess crops--which would equate to savings and investments today.  It was also at this time when some of the most fantastic European buildings were built and which continue to create value to the local communities hundreds of years later.

I wonder what these long term projects would look like in today's quarter-to-quarter markets?