psewealth No Comments

It Isn’t Too Late to Save for Retirement

If you’re 40 or 50 and haven’t begun, you must make the effort.

 Some people start saving for retirement at 20, 25, or 30. Others start later, and while their accumulated assets will have fewer years of compounding to benefit from, that shouldn’t discourage them to the point of doing nothing.   

If you need to play catch-up, here are some retirement savings principles to keep in mind. First of all, keep a positive outlook. Believe in the validity of your effort. Know that you are doing something good for yourself and your future, and keep at it.

Starting later means saving more – much more. That’s reality; that’s math. When you have 15 or 20 years until your envisioned retirement instead of 30 or 40, you’ve got to sock away money for retirement in comparatively greater proportions. The good news is that you won’t be retiring strictly on those contributions; in large part, you will be retiring on the earnings generated by that pool of invested assets.      

How much more do you need to save? A ballpark example: Marisa, a pre-retiree, has zero retirement savings at age 45 and dedicates herself to doing something about it. She decides to save $500 each month for retirement. After 20 years of doing that month after month, and with her retirement account yielding 6% a year, Marisa winds up with about $225,000 at age 65.1

After 65, Marisa would probably realize about $10,000 a year in inflation-adjusted retirement income from that $225,000 in invested retirement savings. Would that and Social Security be enough? Probably not. Admittedly, this is better than nothing. Moreover, her retirement account(s) might average better than a 6% return across 20 years.1

The math doesn’t lie, and the message is clear: Marisa needs to save more than $6,000 a year for retirement. Practically speaking, that means she should also exploit vehicles which allow her to do that. In 2014, you can put up to $5,500 in an IRA, $6,500 if you are 50 or older – but you can sock away up to $17,500 next year in a 401(k), 403(b), Thrift Savings Plan and most 457 plans, which all have a maximum contribution limit of $23,000 for those 50 and older.2

If Marisa is self-employed (and a sole proprietor), she can establish a solo 401(k) or a SEP-IRA. The yearly contribution limits are much higher for these plans. If Marisa’s 2013 net earnings from self-employment (after earnings are reduced by one-half of self-employment tax) work out to $50,000, she can put an employer contribution of up to $10,000 in a SEP-IRA. (She must also make similar percentage contributions for all “covered” employees, excepting her spouse, under the SEP IRA plan.) As a sole proprietor, Marisa may also make a combined employer-employee contribution of up to $33,000 to a solo 401(k) this year, and if she combines a defined benefit plan with a solo 401(k), the limit rises to $47,400. If her 2013 net earnings from self-employment come out to $150,000, she can make an employer contribution of as much as $30,000 to a SEP-IRA, a combined employee salary deferral contribution and employer profit sharing contribution of up to $53,000 to a solo 401(k), and contribute up to $96,300 toward her retirement through via the combination of the solo 401(k) and defined benefit plan.3 

How do you save more? As you are likely nearing your peak earnings years, it may be easier than you initially assume. One helpful step is to reduce some of the lifestyle costs you incur: cable TV, lease payments, and so forth. Reducing debt helps: every reduced credit card balance or paid-off loan frees up more cash. Selling things helps – a car, a boat, a house, collectibles. Whatever money they generate for you can be assigned to your retirement savings effort.

Consistency is more important than yield. When you get a late start on retirement saving, you naturally want solid returns on your investments every year – yet you shouldn’t become fixated on the return alone. A dogged pursuit of double-digit returns may expose you to considerable market risk (and the potential for big losses in a downturn). Diversification is always important, increasingly so when you can’t afford to lose a big portion of what you have saved. So is tax efficiency. You will also want to watch account fees.

If you start saving for retirement at 50, your retirement savings will likely double (at least) by age 65 thanks to consistent inflows of new money, decent yields and compounding.4

What if you amass a big nest egg & still face a shortfall? Maybe you can reduce expenses in retirement by moving to another city or state (or even another country). Maybe you can broaden your skill set and make yourself employable in another way (which also might help you before you reach traditional retirement age if you find yourself in a declining industry).

If you haven’t begun to save for retirement by your mid-40s, you have probably heard a few warnings and wake-up calls. Unless you are independently wealthy or anticipate being so someday, the truth of the matter is…

If you haven’t started saving for retirement, you need to do something to save your retirement.

That may sound harsh or scary, but without a nest egg, your vision of a comfortable future is in jeopardy. You can’t retire on hope and you don’t want to rely on Social Security, relatives or social services agencies for your well-being when you are elderly.

Warmest Regards,

april-signature

 

 

 

Citations.

1 – money.cnn.com/2012/08/15/pf/expert/late-start-retirement.moneymag/ [8/15/13]

2 – irs.gov/uac/IRS-Announces-2014-Pension-Plan-Limitations;-Taxpayers-May-Contribute-up-to-$17,500-to-their-401%28k%29-plans-in-2014 [11/4/13]

3 – forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2013/11/01/retirement-savings-for-the-self-employed/ [11/1/13]

4 – forbes.com/sites/mitchelltuchman/2013/11/21/financial-planning-for-late-starters-in-five-steps/ [11/21/13]

psewealth No Comments

Temporary Tax Provisions Set to Expire in 2014

Some may be renewed, others may not be. 

At the end of every year, certain federal tax breaks face a sunset. Some are renewed, some expire. As 2014 will soon start, here is a list of some of notable tax provisions that may go away next year – offering some opportunities that you may want to take advantage of this year.   

Qualified tuition deduction. For 2013, an individual taxpayer has the chance to claim an above-the-line deduction for tuition and fees. This applies only to qualified higher education expenses. This deduction is set to expire at the end of this year; it may or may not be extended.1,2    

Mortgage insurance premiums deductions. Are you paying for private mortgage insurance (PMI)? This year, you can treat qualified PMI premiums as home mortgage interest, but the deduction only applies if your adjusted gross income is no greater than $109,000. This tax break could go away in 2014; it is available only for mortgages entered into during 2007-13.1,3,4

Mortgage debt relief. In 2013, canceled mortgage debt of up to $2 million (or $1 million, in the case of married taxpayers filing separately) can be excluded from taxable income. The debt must be forgiven on a qualified principal residence (i.e., a taxpayer’s primary home) due to the borrowers’ financial condition or a decline in value of the residence. You can thank the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 for this. The tax break is set to sunset at the end of 2013, though – and if it does, then any such debt forgiven next year will be taxable income.2,5

State & local general sales tax deduction. 2013 might be the last year individual taxpayers can choose to deduct state and local general sales taxes as opposed to state and local income taxes. This option is set to expire at the end of the year.1

Educator out-of-pocket expenses deduction. Classroom teachers/instructors, counselors, principals and aides who work in grades K-12 have enjoyed a special deduction of up to $250 in out-of-pocket costs above the line in 2013. As for 2014, this deduction is still a question mark.1

Qualified charitable distributions from an IRA. If you are over 70½, you have through December 31 to make a tax-free transfer of assets from an IRA directly to a qualified charity. While you can’t deduct the amount as a charitable contribution, it does count toward your annual required minimum distribution (RMD). Will this option be extended into 2014, or be made permanent? No one knows just yet.1

Increased expensing & bonus depreciation allowances. This year, the Section 179 deduction is set at $500,000 while the qualifying property limit is $2 million. In 2014, these limits are slated to drop dramatically: a Section 179 deduction of $25,000, a qualifying property limit of $200,000. In 2013 you can expense off-the-shelf software under Section 179; not so in 2014. This year, you can amend or irrevocably revoke a Section 179 election; next year, a Section 179 election will generally be irrevocable with IRS consent. While you can claim the Section 179 deduction on up to $250,000 of qualified real property this year, 2014 may offer you no such chance. For 2013, qualified leasehold and retail improvements and qualified restaurant property were given a 15-year straight-line recovery period; in 2014 the straight-line recovery period becomes 39 years. Congress may act to preserve all these current allowances.1,2

Currently, 50% special depreciation is permitted for qualified property additions placed into service in 2013, only long production-period property and certain kinds of aircraft will are slated to qualify to special depreciation in 2014. Again, Congress may preserve the current allowance.2

Electric vehicle credit. If you bought (or even leased) an electric car this year, you may be eligible for a tax credit of up to $7,500 (variable based on the size of the battery pack used by the vehicle). This tax perk is set to sunset in 2014. If you bought a qualifying 2-wheel or 3-wheel plug-in electric vehicle this year, you are eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $2,500.2,3

Personal energy property credit. Since 2006, there has been a $500 lifetime tax credit available to taxpayers who remodel their homes for energy efficiency. If you haven’t remodeled enough to claim the full $500 credit yet, a heads-up: it is set to expire at year’s end.1,3

R&D tax credit. This credit is admittedly hard to figure, but it can bring about major savings and can be carried forward or back. Up to 20% of R&D expenses (above a base) may generally be used as a credit against tax owed. Who knows, it may not be around for 2014.6

Transit benefits. In 2013, the exclusion for transit passes and/or vanpooling, provided by an employer, is $245 monthly; this is the same as the exclusion for employer-provided parking. Next year, the benefit for public transportation falls to $100 per month (with adjustment for inflation) while the exclusion for employer-provided parking stays at $245 per month.2,3 

One more thing to keep in mind. The IRS will delay the start of the tax-filing season by at least a week, a consequence of October’s federal government shutdown. It had planned to accept tax returns on January 21; that date will now be January 28 or later, with the final determination coming in December. The April 15 deadline for filing returns or requesting extensions still applies.7

 

Warmest Regards,

april-signature 

 Citations.

1 – accountingtoday.com/gallery/disappearing-tax-deductions-67830-1.html [10/30/13]

2 – tinyurl.com/k4pgc8f [11/5/13]

3 – dailyfinance.com/2013/11/05/8-tax-breaks-expiring-year-end-2013/ [11/5/13]

4 – inman.com/2013/08/20/dont-count-on-private-mortgage-insurance-deduction-in-2014/ [8/20/13]

5 – efile.com/home-foreclosure-mortgage-forgiveness-tax-relief-exclude-canceled-debt/ [11/14/13]

6 – inc.com/gene-marks/take-advantage-of-tax-breaks-before-december-31.html [10/31/13]

7 – bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-22/irs-delays-start-of-2014-u-s-tax-filing-citing-shutdown.html [10/22/13]

psewealth No Comments

Getting It All Together for Retirement

Where is everything? Time to organize and centralize your documents.

Before retirement begins, gather what you need. Put as much documentation as you can in one place, for you and those you love. It could be a password-protected online vault; it could be a file cabinet; it could be a file folder. Regardless of what it is, by centralizing the location of important papers you are saving yourself from disorganization and headaches in the future.

What should go in the vault, cabinet or folder(s)? Crucial financial information and more. You will want to include…

Those quarterly/annual statements. Recent performance paperwork for IRAs, 401(k)s, funds, brokerage accounts and so forth. Include the statements from the latest quarter and the statements from the end of the previous calendar year (that is, the last Q4 statement you received). You don’t get paper statements anymore? Print out the equivalent, or if you really want to minimize clutter, just print out the links to the online statements. (Someone is going to need your passwords, of course.) These documents can also become handy in figuring out a retirement income distribution strategy.

Healthcare benefit info. Are you enrolled in Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan? Are you in a group health plan? Do you pay for your own health coverage? Own a long term care policy? Gather the policies together in your new retirement command center and include related literature so you can study their benefit summaries, coverage options, and rules and regulations. Contact info for insurers, HMOs, your doctor(s) and the insurance agent who sold you a particular policy should also go in here.

Life insurance info. Do you have a straight term insurance policy, no potential for cash value whatsoever? Keep a record of when the level premiums end. If you have a whole life policy, you want to keep paperwork communicating the death benefit, the present cash value in the policy and the required monthly premiums in your file.

Beneficiary designation forms. Few pre-retirees realize that beneficiary designations often take priority over requests made in a will when it comes to 401(k)s, 403(b)s and IRAs. Hopefully, you have retained copies of these forms. If not, you can request them from the account custodians and review the choices you have made. Are they choices you would still make today? By reviewing them in the company of a retirement planner or an attorney, you can gauge the tax efficiency of the eventual transfer of assets.1

Social Security basics. If you haven’t claimed benefits yet, put your Social Security card, last year’s W-2 form, certified copies of your birth certificate, marriage license or divorce papers in one place, and military discharge paperwork or and a copy of your W-2 form for last year (or Schedule SE and Schedule C plus 1040 form, if you work for yourself), and military discharge papers or proof of citizenship if applicable. Social Security no longer mails people paper statements tracking their accrued benefits, but e-statements are available via its website. Take a look at yours and print it out.2

Pension matters. Will you receive a bona fide pension in retirement? If so, you want to collect any special letters or bulletins from your employer. You want your Individual Benefit Statement telling you about the benefits you have earned and for which you may become eligible; you also want the Summary Plan Description and contact info for someone at the employee benefits department where you worked.

Real estate documents. Gather up your deed, mortgage docs, property tax statements and homeowner insurance policy. Also, make a list of the contents of your home and their estimated value – you may be away from your home more in retirement, so those items may be more vulnerable as a consequence.

Estate planning paperwork. Put copies of your estate plan and any trust paperwork within the collection, and of course a will. In case of a crisis of mind or body, your loved ones may need to find a durable power of attorney or health care directive, so include those documents if you have them and let them know where to find them.

Tax returns. Should you only keep last year’s 1040 and state return? How about those for the past 7 years? At the very least, you should have a copy of last year’s returns in this collection.

A list of your digital assets. We all have them now, and they are far from trivial – the contents of a cloud, a photo library, or a Facebook page may be vital to your image or your business. Passwords must be compiled too, of course. 

This will take a little work, but you will be glad you did it someday. Consider this a Saturday morning or weekend project. It may lead to some discoveries and possibly prompt some alterations to your financial picture as you prepare for retirement.

Warmest Regards,

 april-signature       

Citations.

1 – fpanet.org/ToolsResources/ArticlesBooksChecklists/Articles/Retirement/10EssentialDocumentsforRetirement/ [9/12/11]

2 – cbsnews.com/8301-505146_162-57573910/planning-for-retirement-take-inventory/ [3/18/13]

psewealth No Comments

Dividend Reinvestment & Compound Interest

Their combined power must be recognized & appreciated.

Why reroute dividends back into your investments? Isn’t taking the income the preferred outcome when a dividend is produced?

Retirees and pre-retirees are eager for dividend income in this era of historically low interest rates. Even so, the choice to buy more shares has merit for the long run.

Reinvestment & compounding may have profoundly positive effects. As a hypothetical example, let’s say you own 100 shares of a stock with a $10 share price. For the sake of mathematical convenience, let’s say that this stock maintains that share price while providing you with a 3% annual dividend. That 3% payment breaks down to a 0.75% quarterly dividend ($7.50 per quarter going to you). You choose to reinvest these payouts, buying more shares each quarter. So after one quarter, you own 100.75 shares of that stock (valued at $1,007.50), and a year later, you own 103.034 shares (valued at $1,030.34). Your annual yield effectively improved from 3% to 3.34%.1

That’s after one year. The big picture, even with such a simple example, is easily grasped here. While past performance is no indicator of future results, some recent stock market history illuminates the power of dividend reinvestment and compounding further.

Bears reference the “lost decade” of the 2000s, but dividend trends from that era certainly put stock market investing in a more positive light. Even with the 2000-02 bear market and 2008 downturn, S&P 500 firms increased their dividends by an average of 5.46% in a 10-year stretch that witnessed both those market setbacks. In the same ten-year period, DJIA companies boosted their dividends by an average of 7.07% per year, while NASDAQ firms bumped up theirs by an annual average of 45.38%! If an investor put $100,000 into a hypothetical investment that performed similarly to the DJIA on January 1, 2000, simple price appreciation would have taken its value north to more than $105,000 by January 1, 2012. Yet across the same 12 market years, that hypothetical $100,000 invested with dividends would have grown to approximately $141,000 by the start of 2012.2

Over 80% of S&P 500 firms pay dividends. In September 2013, 83% of stocks in the index were issuing dividend payments – the most in 15 years – with dividends from 99 firms at 3% or better. Some firms paid them out even as they lost money.3,4

Think about DRIPs. About 1,000 publicly traded firms offer dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs), and you can get into them for the price of a single share. DRIPs let you buy partial shares using your reinvested dividends – often without a fee. (You can also open a DRIP using a broker, but commissions and transfer charges may apply.) This is really another form of dollar cost averaging – slow and steady investment with the potential for a considerable long-term benefit. Multiple DRIPs mean multiple 1099s and some shareholders lose track of DRIPs over time, but they offer you a nice way to broaden your portfolio.5

Do you work for a big company that offers a DRIP? While you expose your portfolio to too much risk by assigning too much of it to one company’s stock, the reinvestment and compounding potential of a no-fee DRIP certainly warrants your attention.

Here is another hypothetical example. Say you go to work for the Rewarding Corporation and you invest an initial $1,000 in its employee DRIP, buying 100 shares at that price. You make $100 monthly contributions to the drip for the next 20 years while the shares appreciate 5% annually over that period and the dividend yield averages 2.3%. (We’ll factor in unchanging capital gains tax rates of 15% as well.) Twenty years later, your investment grows to $52,790.80. If your consistent monthly contribution to the DRIP is $250 rather than $100, you end up with $126,221.11 under the same conditions.6

Keep investing consistently, with compounding & reinvestment in mind. It may make a huge financial difference for you over time – a difference that might even let you retire earlier instead of later.

Warmest Regards,

april-signature 

 

Citations.

1 – beta.fool.com/cacody/2012/09/02/compound-interest-the-8th-wonder-of-the-world/10945/ [9/2/13]

2 – tinyurl.com/pftknyj [3/26/13]

3 – factset.com/dividend [9/16/13]

4 – 247wallst.com/special-report/2013/10/02/the-highest-yielding-dividends-that-are-safe-to-hold/ [10/2/13]

5 – consumerreports.org/cro/money/personal-investing/drip-your-way-to-growth/overview/index.htm [10/11]

6 – hughchou.org/calc/drip.php [10/17/13]

psewealth No Comments

Your Annual Financial To-Do List

Things you can do before & for 2014.

What financial, business or life priorities do you need to address for 2014? Now is a good time to think about the investing, saving or budgeting methods you could employ toward specific objectives. Some year-end financial moves may prove crucial to the pursuit of those goals as well.

What can you do to lower your 2013 taxes? Before the year fades away, you have plenty of options. Here are a few that may prove convenient:

*Make a charitable gift before New Year’s Day. You can claim the deduction on your 2013 return, provided you use Schedule A. The paper trail is important here.

If you give cash, you need to document it. Even small contributions need to be demonstrated by a bank record, payroll deduction record, credit card statement, or written communication from the charity with the date and amount. Incidentally, the IRS does not equate a pledge with a donation. If you pledge $2,000 to a charity in December but only end up gifting $500 before 2013 ends, you can only deduct $500.1

Are you gifting appreciated securities? If you have owned them for more than a year, you will be in line to take a deduction for 100% of their fair market value and avoid capital gains tax that would have resulted from simply selling the stock, fund or bond and then donating those proceeds. (Of course, if your investment is a loser, then it might be better to sell it and donate the money so you can claim a loss on the sale and deduct a charitable contribution equivalent to the proceeds.)2

Does the value of your gift exceed $250? It may, and if you gift that amount or larger to a qualified charitable organization, you will need a receipt or a detailed verification form from the charity. You also have to file Form 8283 when your total deduction for non-cash contributions or property in a year exceeds $500.1

If you aren’t sure if an organization is eligible to receive charitable gifts, check it out at  irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Exempt-Organizations-Select-Check.

*Contribute more to your retirement plan. If you haven’t turned 70½ and you participate in a traditional (i.e., non-Roth) qualified retirement plan or have a traditional IRA, you can reduce your 2013 taxable income by the amount of your contribution. If you are self-employed and don’t have a solo 401(k) or something similar, consider establishing and funding a plan before the end of the year. Also, keep in mind that your 2013 tax year contribution to an IRA or solo 401(k) may be made as late as April 15, 2014 (or October 15, 2014 if you file Form 4868). For 2013, you can contribute up to $17,500 in a 401(k), 403(b) or profit-sharing plan, with a $5,500 catch-up contribution also allowed if you are age 50 or older.3,4

*Make a capital purchase. If you buy assets for your business that have a useful life of more than one year – a truck, a computer, furniture, a rototiller, whatever – those purchases are commonly characterized as capital expenses. For 2013, the Section 179 deduction can be as much as $500,000 (although it is ultimately limited to your net taxable business income). First-year bonus depreciation is set at 50% for most purchases of new equipment and software in 2013. It is uncertain if 2014 deductions will be as generous.3

*Open an HSA. If you work for yourself or have a very small business, you may pay for your own health coverage. If you set up and fund a Health Savings Account in 2013, you can make fully deductible HSA contributions of up to $3,250 (singles) or $6,450 (married couples). Catch-up contributions of up to $1,000 are allowed for those 50 or older.3

*Practice tax loss harvesting. You could sell underperforming stocks in your portfolio – enough to rack up at least $3,000 in capital losses. If it ends up that your total capital losses top all of your capital gains this year, you can deduct up to $3,000 of capital losses from this year’s taxable income. If you have over $3,000 in capital losses, the excess rolls over into 2014.2,3

Are there other major moves that you should consider? Here are some additional ideas with merit.

*Pay attention to asset location. Tax-efficient asset location can be an ignored fundamental of investing. Broadly speaking, consider placing your least tax-efficient securities in pre-tax accounts and your most tax-efficient securities should be held in taxable accounts.

*Can you contribute the maximum to your IRA on January 1? The rationale behind this is that the sooner you make your contribution, the more interest those assets will earn. If you haven’t made your 2013 IRA contribution, you still have until April 15, 2014 to do that.3

In 2013 you can contribute up to $5,500 to a Roth or traditional IRA if you are age 49 or younger, and up to $6,500 if you are age 50 and older (though your MAGI may affect how much you can put into a Roth IRA).5

What are the income limits on tax deductions for traditional IRA contributions? If you participate in a workplace retirement plan, the 2013 MAGI phase-out ranges are $59,000-69,000 for singles and heads of households, $95,000-115,000 for married couples filing jointly when the spouse making IRA contributions is covered by a workplace retirement plan, and $178,000-188,000 for an IRA contributor who is not covered by a workplace retirement plan but is married to someone who is.4,5

*Should you go Roth before 2014 gets here? If you are a high earner, remember that the planned 3.8% Medicare surtax affecting single/joint filers with AGIs over $200,000/$250,000 will not apply to qualified payouts from Roth accounts.6

MAGI phase-out limits affect Roth IRA contributions. For 2013, phase-outs kick in at $178,000 for joint filers and $112,000 for single filers. Should your MAGI prevent you from contributing to a Roth IRA at all, you still have a chance to contribute to a traditional IRA in 2013 and then roll those assets over into a Roth.4,6

Consult a tax or financial professional before you make any IRA moves to see how it may affect your overall financial picture. If you have a large traditional IRA, the projected tax resulting from the conversion may make you think twice.

What else should you consider as 2013 turns into 2014? There are some other important things to note…

*Review your withholding status. Should it be adjusted due to any of the following factors?

>> You tend to pay a great deal of income tax each year.

>> You tend to get a big federal tax refund each year.

>> You recently married or divorced.

>> A family member recently passed away.

>> You have a new job at a much greater salary.

>> You started a business venture or became self-employed.

*If you are retired and older than 70½, remember your RMD. Retirees over age 70½ must begin taking Required Minimum Distributions from traditional IRAs, and Roth 401(k)s and all employer-sponsored retirement plans by December 31. The IRS penalty for failing to take an RMD equals 50% of the RMD amount.7

Your first RMD will be different, though. If you have turned or will turn 70½ in 2013, you can postpone your first IRA RMD until April 1, 2014. The downside of that is that you will have to take two IRA RMDs next year, both taxable events – you will have to make your 2013 tax year withdrawal by April 1, 2014 and your 2014 tax year withdrawal by December 31, 2014.7

Plan your RMDs wisely. If you do so, you may end up limiting or avoiding possible taxes on your Social Security income. Some Social Security recipients don’t know about the “provisional income” rule – if your modified AGI plus 50% of your Social Security benefits surpasses a certain level, then a portion of your Social Security benefits become taxable. For tax year 2013, Social Security benefits start to be taxed at provisional income levels of $32,000 for joint filers and $25,000 for single filers.8

*Consider the tax impact of any 2013 transactions. Did you sell real property this year – or do you plan to before 2013 ends? Did you start a business? Are you thinking about exercising a stock option? Could any large commissions or bonuses come your way before January? Did you sell an investment held outside of a tax-deferred account? Any of this might significantly affect your 2013 taxes.

*Would it be worth making a 13th mortgage payment this year? If your house is underwater, there’s no sense in doing it – and you could also argue that the dollars might be better off invested or put in your emergency fund. Those factors aside, however, there may be some merit to making a January mortgage payment in December. If you have a fixed-rate loan, a lump sum payment can reduce the principal and the total interest paid on it by that much more.

*Are you marrying in 2014? If so, why not review the beneficiaries of your workplace retirement plan account, your IRA, and other assets? In light of your marriage, you may want to make changes to the relevant beneficiary forms. The same goes for your insurance coverage. If you will have a new last name in 2014, you will need a new Social Security card. Additionally, you and your spouse no doubt have individually particular retirement saving and investment strategies. Will they need to be revised or adjusted with marriage?

*Are you coming home from active duty? If so, go ahead and check the status of your credit, and the state of any tax and legal proceedings that might have been preempted by your orders. Make sure your employee health insurance is still there, and revoke any power of attorney you may have granted to another person.

Talk with a qualified financial or tax professional today. Vow to focus on being healthy and wealthy in the New Year.

Warmest Regards,

april-signature

 

Citations.

1 – irs.gov/uac/Nine-Tips-for-Charitable-Taxpayers [5/16/13]

2 – kiplinger.com/article/taxes/T052-C005-S001-charities-give-stocks-instead.html [12/27/12]

3 – nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/five-things-business-owners-can-before-december-31-lower-their-taxes.html [12/12]

4 – irs.gov/uac/2013-Pension-Plan-Limitations [10/18/12]

5 – kiplinger.com/article/retirement/T047-C001-S001-2013-retirement-account-contribution-limits.html [10/23/12]

6 – online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304072004577325551162426954.html [10/11/12]

7 – irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/RMD-Comparison-Chart-%28IRAs-vs.-Defined-Contribution-Plans%29 [4/16/13]

8 – socialsecurity.gov/planners/taxes.htm [10/18/12]

psewealth No Comments

Money Matters

For many of us, money seems like a grown-up topic that we can put off until our kids are, well, grown-ups. When they see parents arguing about money, parents tell them it isn’t a big deal. When they ask for something, parents try to get it for them—without mentioning how much it will cost.  It’s easy to send messages that confuse our kids, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

 

Read the stories of five families struggling with the all-too-common kids’ money lessons … and how they can turn their mistakes around.

Click Here to read: 5 Money Mistakes Parents Make … and How to Fix Them

Warmest Regards,

april-signature

 

psewealth No Comments

Cash Flow Management

An underappreciated fundamental in financial planning.

You’ve probably heard the saying that “cash is king,” and whether you own a business or not, it is a truth that applies. Most discussions of business and personal “financial planning” involve tomorrow’s goals, but those goals may not be realized without attention to cash flow today.

Management of available cash flow is a key in any kind of financial planning. Ignore it, and you may inadvertently sabotage your efforts to grow your company or build personal wealth.

Cash flow statements are important for any small business. They can reveal so much to the owner(s) and/or CFO, because as they track inflows and outflows, they bring non-cash items and expenditures to light. They denote your sources and uses of cash, per month and per year. Income statements and P&L statements may provide inadequate clues about that, even though they help you forecast cash flow trends. 

Cash flow statements can tell you what P&L statements won’t. Are you profitable, but cash-poor? If your company is growing by leaps and bounds, that can happen. Are you personally taking too much cash out of the business and unintentionally letting your growth company morph into a lifestyle company? Are your receivables getting out of hand? Is inventory growth a concern? If you’ve arranged a loan, how much is your principal payment each month and to what degree is that eating up cash in your business? How much money are you spending on capital equipment?

A good CFS tracks your operating, investing and financing activities. Hopefully, the sum of these activities results in a positive number at the bottom of the CFS. If not, the business may need to change to survive.

In what ways can a small business improve cash flow management? There are some fairly simple ways to do it, and your CFS can typically identify the factors that may be sapping your cash flow. You may find that your suppliers or vendors are too costly; maybe you can negotiate (or even barter) with them. Like many companies, you may find your cash flow surges during some quarters or seasons of the year and wanes during others. What steps could you take to improve it outside of the peak season or quarter?

What kind of recurring, predictable sales can your business generate? You might want to work on the art of continuity sales – turning your customers into something like subscribers to your services. Perhaps price points need adjusting. As for lingering receivables, swiftly preparing and delivering invoices tends to speed up cash collection. Another way to get clients to pay faster: offer a slight discount if they pay up, say, within a week (and/or a slight penalty to those that don’t). Think about asking for some cash up front, before you go to work for a client or customer (if you don’t do this already).

While the Small Business Association states that only about 10% of entrepreneurs draw entirely on their credit cards for startup capital, there is still a temptation for an owner of a new venture to go out and get a high-limit business credit card. It might be better to shop for one with cash back possibilities or business rewards in mind. If your business isn’t set up to receive credit card payments, consider it – the potential for added cash flow could render the processing fees utterly trivial.1

How can a household better its cash flow? One quick way to do it is to lessen or reduce your fixed expenses, specifically loan and rent payments. Another step is to impose a ceiling on your variable expenses (ranging from food to entertainment), and you may also save some money in separating some or all those expenses from credit card use. Refinancing – if you can do it – and downsizing can certainly help. There are many, many free cash flow statement tools online where you can track family inflows and outflows. (Your outflows may include bugaboos like long-term service contracts and installment payment plans.) Selling things you don’t want can make you money in the short term; converting a hobby into an income source or business venture could help in the long term. 

Better cash flow boosts your potential to reach your financial goals. A positive cash flow can contribute to investment, compounding, savings – all the good things that tend to happen when you pay yourself first.

Warm Regards,

april-signature

 

Citations.

1 – smallbusinesscomputing.com/tipsforsmallbusiness/5-tips-for-a-smoother-small-business-cash-flow.html [11/19/12]

psewealth No Comments

7 PRINCIPLES OF LONG-TERM INVESTING

Increasing your wealth over time is about more than making the right stock picks or always buying low and selling high. Too often, we see intelligent investors shoot themselves in the feet by making fundamental errors in their investing strategy.

Through years of experience, we have observed the effects of fear, greed, lack of discipline, groupthink, and many other pitfalls that investors experience. Accordingly, we have compiled this list of seven principles of long-term investing. These are by no means exhaustive, nor will they guarantee investment success, but we hope that you will find them useful in helping you make investment decisions.

1. FOCUS ON THE TOTAL REAL RETURN OF YOUR INVESTMENTS

To maximize investment growth over time, it’s critical to factor in the effects of fees, taxes and inflation on your returns. Many posted investment returns explicitly exclude the effects of fees, which come right off the top of each year’s gains, so it’s important to dig a little deeper and find out how much that performance is costing you each year.

Taxes can also take a serious bite out of your investment gains each year and it’s important to structure your investments to account for taxes on capital gains, dividends, and income. While we don’t believe that taxes should be the primary driver of an investment strategy, incorporating tax efficiency into your overall plan will help you keep more of what you earn. If taxes are a problem for you, structuring your investments so that taxable investments can grow in a tax-deferred account may be an option.

Inflation, the erosion of your purchasing power over time from increases in the cost of goods, is another insidious force that can eat away at investment growth each year. For example, a candy bar that cost 25 cents in 1975 would cost over a dollar today, due to the effects of rising prices. That same candy bar would cost approximately $1.30 in 2020 if we assume an annual inflation of 4 percent per year. Consumer prices have risen each year in the United States. In the century since the U.S. Department of Labor was founded and began tracking consumer prices, the average annual inflation has been 3.22 percent each year, which means that what cost one dollar in 1913 costs $23.51 today.

To put these numbers in the context of investments, an assumed inflation rate of 4 percent will reduce the value of a $100,000 portfolio invested today to approximately $67,500 in just ten years; this means that your investments would have to grow to $148,000 during that time period – a 48 percent gain – simply to keep pace with inflation. And this number doesn’t include the effects of taxes and fees on investment performance.

In an effort to reduce risk, many people over-invest in fixed-income securities, which are highly exposed to inflation risk since they do not have the same potential for capital appreciation as equities. We recommend that our clients’ portfolios contain enough exposure to equities for their ability to fight inflation through growth. Historically, common stocks have offered the best performance over time. For the period 1928 to 2011, the S&P 500 returned an average annual performance of 9.2 percent, while 10-Year Treasury bonds returned just 5.1 percent, investment-grade corporate bonds returned 6.0 percent, and inflation during the same period was 3.2 percent.  It can be psychologically difficult to weather the volatility of equity markets, but investors who fail to adequately plan for the effects of inflation risk running out of money later in life.

An investment strategy that fails to account for the effects of fees, taxes and inflation on overall return will severely handicap your ability to increase your wealth over time. After some research, you may find that in some cases, an investment with a lower return may actually have a higher total return once you account for taxes, fees, and inflation.

2. DON’T CHASE THE CROWD

No one knows with any certainty which direction markets will go in the future. However, a good axiom to remember is that it is usually wise to avoid following the herd. By the time your friends, family, neighbors and newspaper columnists are all investing in a particular sector or security, it’s often too late to benefit because hype has already inflated the price. Whenever investment dollars charge in, prices soar and savvy investors usually move on. By the time the mass of average investors have caught on to a new fad, prices are often too high and investments are overvalued, making them a poor choice for investors who are seeking value.

We don’t necessarily advise becoming contrarian investors, i.e. those who believe that crowds are always wrong and look for opportunities to invest against the prevailing trend. Instead, we strongly encourage an investment strategy that is based on objective research using the best information available, calculated choices, a realistic assessment of risk, and a determination to avoid emotional decision-making.

The herd mentality is a well-documented pitfall among investors and it can have striking consequences for investment performance. Investment clubs, which were popular during the 1990s, were studied as part of a study in 2000 about the dangers of groupthink. These clubs, made up of amateur investors, often favored certain sectors and investment types such as small-cap domestic stocks to the exclusion of all other types. Researchers at the University of California found that portfolio returns of investment clubs lagged the S&P 500 index   by 3.7 percent per year, meaning that members did worse as part of the group than the market overall during the same period.

3. REMAIN FLEXIBLE AND DIVERSIFIED*

In today’s volatile markets a successful long-term investment strategy can often benefit from flexibility and proper diversification. Diversification is one of the pillars of modern investment theory and can be a powerful tool to reduce certain types of risk in your portfolio. Be sure that your overall portfolio contains a variety of quality investment types, including stocks, bonds, international securities, and a few alternative investments if your risk profile and investment goals support them.

No matter how careful or prudent you are, you cannot predict or control future market movements. Much of the market volatility of the last few years has been driven by economic events that are outside any investor’s control. Global economic events, natural disasters, and government activities can all cause large-scale market movements. While we can’t diversify away all forms of risk, a flexible strategy can help you find investment opportunities in many market conditions.

On the level of individual companies, any number of unforeseen factors can affect a stock’s price: Natural disasters, supply line disruptions, unexpected technological advances by a competitor, or the loss of a major partner can all cost a company millions of dollars in losses and affect its value to your portfolio. Since it’s impossible to predict these events, it’s important to implement an investment strategy that diversifies by industry, by risk level, by country, by investment type, and other factors. While diversification can’t always protect your assets in times of widespread market declines, by spreading investment risk among a wide variety of securities, we hope that what affects one part of a portfolio doesn’t bring down the value of the whole.

It’s important to remember that there is no single kind of investment that is always best. There is a time to purchase corporate bonds, Treasuries, blue chip stocks, small-cap stocks, internationals and so on. And there are times when it’s best to keep enough cash on hand to take advantage of investment opportunities that present themselves.

4. BUY VALUE, NOT MARKET TRENDS OR THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Wise investors focus on value when evaluating investment options. Too many investors focus on buying market trends and economic outlook, not realizing that trends can be deceiving and markets often perform very differently from the economy. Individual stocks can easily surprise you – rising in a down market, and falling during a rally – making it important for long-term investors to focus on buying quality investments with good fundamentals.

While economic trends can exert a powerful effect on market movements, the stock market and the economy do not move with perfect correlation and there are many occasions in which markets rally in spite of poor economic fundamentals or declining corporate earnings. This is not to say that economic outlook is unimportant. Over the long term, market movements often foreshadow economic trends as investors attempt to “price in” how they expect the economy to affect stock prices. A smart investor keeps an eye on the economy and factors economic outlook into investment decisions, but ultimately seeks out high-quality individual investments.

5. TAKE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF RISK

Experience and research has taught us that investors do best when they take on the right amount of risk for their individual goals and tolerance. Too many investors focus strictly on generating returns while ignoring the importance of managing risk properly. Although there are many different types of risk, when discussing portfolios, we generally are referring to systematic risk: risk that affects markets as a whole, such as recessions and wars; or unsystematic risk: risk that is specific to individual stocks and securities that can be addressed through diversification.

Too much risk can leave your nest egg vulnerable to market swings with too little time to recover before you must start withdrawing money and locking in the losses. Too little risk in your portfolio will reduce your potential for capital appreciation and allow inflation to eat away at the long-term value of your investments.

The challenge is in ascertaining how much risk is right for you and your portfolio. Determining risk tolerance and the appropriate amount of risk for your investment goals is one of the most important things we help our clients with.

Obviously, no one wants to see their portfolio lose money at any point, but it’s important to understand that, generally, one must take on more risk in order to achieve higher long-term returns. It’s vital to be honest about your ability to withstand short-term swings in value and take investment losses in the pursuit of returns.

Another essential question that you must answer is how much risk you need to take on in order to meet your investment goals. Modern portfolio theory hypothesizes that there is an asset allocation strategy that will generate the highest return for every risk level. The right risk allocation for a portfolio will depend on a number of factors, including your expectations for return, investment objectives, time horizon, and appetite for risk.

Many popular asset allocation tools focus on age – or time until retirement – as the primary driver of an allocation strategy. While this can be useful, we believe that age is only one factor in determining a proper asset allocation strategy; other factors include liquidity needs, net worth, and investing priorities. On the face of it, the logic of decreasing allocation to equities and increasing fixed income holdings as one gets older seems reasonable. As investors approach retirement, their ability to wait out portfolio swings or earn their way out of losses diminishes. However, many age-based allocations fail to adequately account for longer lifespans and the effects of inflation, putting investors at risk of running out of money later in life.

Ultimately, holding the wrong amount of risk means that you may not realize the investment gains that you expect or that you may experience wider swings in portfolio value than you can stomach. If you are unsure about the current level of risk in your portfolio or have questions about risk management, it may be worth talking to us. We can help you understand your options.

6. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES

The words “this time is different” are among the most costly words in the history of investing. One of the key differences between successful long-term investors and those who are not, is that successful people learn from their own mistakes and commit to never making the same mistakes twice. Even when a mistake results in a large loss, take a step back to review the actions that led to the loss. Don’t compound the errors by taking bigger risks in an effort to recover your money. Determine where you went astray and take steps to ensure that you avoid the same mistake in the future.

Many common investing mistakes can be attributed to emotional decision-making. Whenever you make financial or investment decisions, you will confront the challenges of overcoming fear and greed. Fear can cause you to run for the exits when markets decline or your portfolio takes losses. Greed can encourage you to chase fads and take on too much risk in the pursuit of a big score. However, by recognizing your emotional triggers and engaging your rational mind, you can overcome your impulses and cultivate discipline.

Working with a financial professional can help avoid emotional decision-making and many other pitfalls commonly encountered by amateur investors. It’s our job to remain focused on the long-term strategy and act as a voice of reason when emotions run high. In today’s world of high-tech investing, major financial decisions are only a click away and investors pay a high price for short-term thinking. Professional financial representatives can be invaluable for their ability to answer questions, provide reassurance, and keep financial strategies on track despite volatile conditions.

7. AGGRESSIVELY MONITOR YOUR INVESTMENTS, OR PAY SOMEONE SKILLED TO DO IT

When markets are rising and amateur investors are doing very well, it’s easy to forget that protecting your assets during declining markets requires skill, discipline and constant attention. Investors need to expect and be prepared to react to fast-moving markets. No market rally is permanent and no decline lasts forever, meaning that there are no investments that you can buy and forget about. The pace of change of today’s markets is too great for investors to be complacent. For example, the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrials, which are some of the largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., have changed numerous times since the Dow’s inception in 1896. These companies were removed as they declined, were acquired, went private, or simply went bankrupt.

Investing with long-term assets is not child’s play since most investors can ill-afford to lose their nest egg. Today’s markets are no place for dabblers without the time, patience, discipline, and diligence needed to do a proper job. If you aren’t completely sure that you have what it takes to manage your investments well, it may be time to find a professional financial representative with the skills and experience to do it for you.

CONCLUSIONS

Achieving long-term investing success is challenging and requires discipline, time, and skill. While it’s not possible to predict future returns or market movements, it is possible to develop strategies that mitigate risk and place us in the best position to achieve reasonable returns. No strategy is perfect, but our experience has shown that when used with prudence, these guiding principles can help investors achieve financial success over the long term. We hope you’ve found these rules useful and that they will help you in your financial journey.

Footnotes, disclosures and sources:

* Diversification does not guarantee profit nor is it guaranteed to protect investments from losses.

Neither the named representative nor the named Broker dealer gives tax or legal advice.

Opinions, estimates, forecasts and statements of financial market trends that are based on current market conditions constitute our judgment and are subject to change without notice.

This material is for information purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security.

Investing in small- and mid-size companies may involve greater risk in price volatility and potential reward than investing in larger, more established companies.

 International investing presents certain risks not associated with investing solely in the United States. These include currency fluctuations, political risks, accounting procedure differences and the lesser degree of public information required to be provided by non-U.S. companies.

Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values.

Opinions expressed are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.

Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.

All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please consult your financial advisor for further information.

These are the views of Platinum Advisor Marketing Strategies, LLC, and not necessarily those of the named representative or named Broker dealer, and should not be construed as investment advice.

[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation Calculator. Source: http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm  

[1] Annual Returns on Stock, T.Bonds and T.Bills: 1928 – Current. Aswath Damodaran. Source: http://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/histretSP.html#_msoanchor_1 , Long Term Returns. Historical Long Term Investment Grade Corporate Bond Returns. Source: http://www.longtermreturns.com/2012/01/historical-long-term-investment-grade.html , Multipl.com. US Inflation Rate by Year. Source: http://www.multpl.com/inflation/table

[1] The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. You cannot invest directly in an index.

[1] Barber B. and Odean T. “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Profits: Investment Club Performance.” 2000. AIMR. Source: http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/odean/papers%20current%20versions/faj%20jf00%20barber%20and%20odean.pdf

psewealth No Comments

Understanding the Markets

What the acronyms signify & what affects investors.

Dow. NASDAQ. S&P 500. Fear index. NYSE. Commodity prices. Earnings. Economic indicators. These are the gauges and signposts of investing, but if you stopped most people on the street, you’ll find they have only a hazy understanding of what these terms signify or reference. If you’ve ever been left dizzy by the jargon of the financial world, here is a brief article that may help clarify some of the arcana. Let’s start on Wall Street.

The major U.S. indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tracks how 30 publicly owned companies trade on a market day – the “blue chips”, 30 titans of U.S. and global business chosen by the Wall Street Journal, most not actually industrial. The NASDAQ Composite records the performance of 3,000+ companies on the NASDAQ Stock Market (see below), including many technology firms. The S&P 500 logs the performance of 500 leading publicly traded companies across ten different sectors (business/industry categories), as determined by financial research giant Standard & Poor’s (there was actually a Mr. Poor, hence the name).1,2  At the end of the trading day, these indices settle or “close” at a price level. The Dow is a price-weighted index – that is, its value each trading day rides up or down on the price movements of its 30 components. By contrast, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ (and most other stock indices) are cap-weighted, meaning the index value reflects the total market value of the companies in the index and not simply the prices of individual components. The S&P 500 has both a price return and a total return (the total return includes dividends).1,2While the nightly news tells everyone what the Dow did today, many seasoned investors pay more attention to the S&P 500, which represents about 70% of the value of the U.S. stock market. There are other indices that also grab Wall Street’s attention. Investors watch the Russell 2000 (which lists the “small caps”, usually newer and younger firms than found in the predominantly “large-cap” S&P 500) and the Wilshire 5000, which tracks stocks of almost every publicly owned company in America (6,000+ components). Eyes are also on the “fear index”, the CBOE VIX (Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index), which measures investors’ expectations of volatility (read: market risk) in the S&P 500 for the next 30 days. Important multinational indices (the MSCI World and Emerging Markets indices, the Global Dow, the S&P Global 100, and many more) and foreign indices (Japan’s Nikkei 225, Germany’s DAX, China’s Shanghai Composite and many others) also get a look.2,3,4,5

The stock exchanges. Stocks trade on exchanges, with the most prominent in America being the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the “big board” at which celebrities are seen ringing the opening or closing bell. Other notable U.S. stock and securities markets include the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), the CBOE and the NASDAQ Stock Market. While the NYSE trading day runs from 9:30am-4:00pm EST, pre-market and after-hours trading also occurs as investors respond to earnings announced after or before the bell or overseas developments.

The NYMEX, the COMEX & the forex market. The CME Group of Chicago owns and operates the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the biggest physical commodities exchange on the planet. The NYMEX tracks energy futures such as oil and natural gas and it also has a COMEX division for metals such as gold, silver and copper futures. (Platinum and palladium futures actually trade on the NYMEX instead of the COMEX.) Agricultural commodity futures and options are traded on the CME Group’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Over-the-counter currency trading occurs via the worldwide, decentralized forex (foreign exchange) market. Short-term movements in exchange rates do influence stocks. 6,7

The bond market. Further decentralized trading occurs here, conducted by institutional and individual investors, governments and traders buying, selling and issuing government, corporate and mortgage-linked securities (and other varieties). Bond prices fall when bond yields rise, and vice versa. Interest rate changes affect the bond market more than any other factor; credit rating adjustments and changes in the appetite for risk (i.e., a race to or retreat from stocks by investors) can also play roles.

What moves the markets up and down? Information – or more precisely, the way large institutional investors respond to it. Things really move when the equilibrium of the market is upset by either positive or negative breaking news – it could be a geopolitical development, a natural disaster, a central bank decision, a comment from a Federal Reserve official or the Treasury Secretary, it could be many things. It could be earnings reports – corporate earnings are sometimes called the “mother’s milk” of stocks, and when two or three big companies beat estimates, Wall Street may see big gains that day.The markets also respond to an ongoing stream of economic news releases from the federal government and other organizations. Federal Reserve policy announcements (interest rate adjustments, the implementation or cessation of stimulus efforts) get the most attention, and the Labor Department’s monthly employment report finishes second. Other critical monthly releases include the Commerce Department’s consumer spending report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index measuring consumer inflation, and monthly reports on existing home sales (from the National Association of Realtors), new home sales (from the Census Bureau) and home values (via the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index). There are other key reports: the occasionally contradictory consumer confidence surveys from the University of Michigan and the Conference Board (the CB poll is more respected, as it surveys 5,000 people; the Michigan poll surveys only 500, but asks many more questions) and the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly purchasing manager indexes assessing the health of the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors of the economy (these are simply surveys of purchasing managers at businesses, minus hard data).8,9 

Hopefully, this makes things a little less mysterious. It takes a while to get to know the financial world and its pulse, but that knowledge may reward you in tangible and intangible ways.

Warm Regards,

 april-signature

Citations.

1 – investorguide.com/article/11617/introduction-to-stock-indexes-djia-and-the-nasdaq-igu/ [1/25/13]

2 – fool.com/school/indices/sp500.htm [6/6/13]

3 – fool.com/school/indices/russell2000.htm [6/6/13]

4 – fool.com/school/indices/Wilshire5000.htm [6/6/13]

5 – investopedia.com/terms/v/vix.asp [6/6/13]

6 – investopedia.com/terms/n/nymex.asp [6/6/13]

7 – cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/ [6/6/13]

8 – foxnews.com/us/2012/05/29/how-2-us-consumer-confidence-surveys-differ/ [5/29/12]

9 – briefing.com/Investor/Calendars/Economic/Releases/napm.htm [6/3/13]