I would like to pass on this wonderful message from a dear friend-
Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday to mourn those who have died in our wars over years. As a veteran of one of our largest wars, World War II, I would like to take this occasion to offer tribute to the many who died there. It is impossible for anyone, I should hope, who has seen death up close through violence to see anything but tragedy in this way of settling disputes. So, to the more than 1500 men who died in my division, I offer thanks.
Bill Gordon
“Keep you intelligence white-hot and your grief glistening,
so your life will stay fresh.”
The Soul of Rumi,
As we can’t help but snap tons of pictures trying to capture the awesome beauty around us in these southern Utah parks, our conversation turns toward the Divine. In particular,
The Da Vinci code. Okay, I didn’t read the book, but Joseph read it while I was hospitalized and he enjoyed it. I haven’t had time to pick it up, I was reading “Whole hearted Way” at the time, and eventually named my coaching website after the title.
Still I have been following the controversy around the film and the book. Joseph being an agnostic sees how the Church would want to maintain Jesus as God and not an ordinary man in order to elevate his teachings as gospel.
The film also gives a negative view of Opus Dei – a devout Christian lay group that practice self- mortification by the wearing of a thorned brace on the upper thigh. I remember as a little girl raised in Catholic schools my admiration for such practice. In fact, I studied the Saints and picked St. Dorothy as my confirmation saint. Dorothy put stones in her shoes and thorns in her hair and offered up her pain and suffering for the sins of the world. As I grew older in my twenties, I realized how stupid this was and that a kind and benevolent God would not want us to inflict pain on ourselves. We get enough pain and suffering in our ordinary lives, thank you. An even older and hopefully wiser adult now, I understand the teachings of Jesus and Buddha- that the unenlightened life is suffering and that they taught us to offer up our everyday suffering for the sake of others that they shall not suffer. In other words, when we can understand our suffering in the bigger views that others suffer too, and that our pain and suffering is universal and not unique to just us, then that suffering becomes much more bearable and much more “small” than our minds would like us to believe.
This is a common trait among all religions and spiritual practices. And that is what we all need today- is to find what we all have in common, our Basic Goodness, not our differences.
Check out our travel blog at http://jlarocca.typepad.com/rvlarocca/
Interest rates are rising. So what are you doing about it? If you read the news, it sounds like a death knoll. And to people who are getting mortgages it may be. But to those who are saving money, it sounds like heaven. More interest on the money you save without any risk. So what are you waiting for? Get rid of those old CDs, and bank savings accounts, and get the highest rates that are available out there. Where? Why --- on the internet. You are already saying- "But isn't that risky?" No, it's not and here is why. Internet banks have lower overhead so they can offer you more interest. Also, their money market accounts are FDIC insured, unlike all of the brokerage money market accounts. What kind of interest? Well, check this out at virtual bank, http://www.virtualbank.com/
Also check out Emigrant Bank, and ING Direct online.
Why am I telling you this? Because even though I am still a registered investment advisor, I am not practicing but my registration allows me to provide information and education. So there..... you are informed and educated. Now go out there and prosper.
Although I am on the road, I was able to give this teleclass to a Special Interest Group (SIG) of financial Coaches on May 16th. I am putting the notes here from my class for all of you to in benefit.
Notes from Fern Alix LaRocca CFP® EA
Disclaimer- although I am a Registered Investment Advisor at no time during this talk will I be giving out advice. All that I will be discussing is informational and educational.
By 2020, 30% of the entire population will be retired, and 67% of United States assets will be controlled by pre-retirees and retirees. I believe that there will be many financial coaching opportunities to help people transition as they age. As coaches, we believe in people having a strong personal foundation. We should also believe that they have a strong financial foundation because this will be having this base will help them attract and retain more wealth and abundance in their lives.
The 7 Steps to Your Own Financial Plan!
The first step is like pouring the foundation for a house
Preserve what you have and what you acquire through……
Does anyone know what that would be?
1) Risk Management-
What would happen if your spouse’s income were not there?
What could you do to replace lost income?
How would you pay off debts?
Life Insurance, Medical & Dental Insurance, Property and Casualty, Disability Insurance, Long term Care.
2) Cash Flow Analysis- Determine discretionary income
Identify sources of discretionary income. You can only invest from what you save.
If wanted to save for the future what is the one thing you could do today?
How much would you need in cash in case of an emergency?
(Like the car breaking down, roof leaks,)
Typically 3-6 months salary- depending upon debt
3) Investment Planning-
Are you comfortable with the risk you are taking in your portfolio?
Power of compound interest
What could you do to maintain a diversified portfolio?
Bonds, Stocks, Mutual funds, etc. Real estate, rentals, vacation homes, land.
Own vs loan.
4) Retirement Planning-IRA, Roth-IRA, SEP, 401K, 403B, 457 and 412 retirement plans. Do you have a retirement plan that you are comfortable with?
Are you contributing the maximum to a retirement plan at work?
5) Education Planning- 529 Plans, UTMA
6) Income Tax Forecasting- Use of tax deferral, tax deductions and tax –free vehicles.
Concepts of tax deferral versus tax-free and tax deductions.
7) Estate Planning- Wills, trusts, powers of attorney for health care and financial care.
At www.wholeheartedway.com you can contact me for my 8- 1 hour coaching sessions, I cover these 7 steps in detail so that you will end up with your own personal financial plan.
Also Sign up for my free newsletter – at www.wholeheartedway.com
Also keep checking my website for free resources that you can use in your own practice to help your clients build a good financial foundation.
Send me resources to share, too.
Building your Financial House-
Risk Management- Preserve what you have and what you acquire through the use of insurance.
Cash Reserves- Have enough for emergency savings so you can invest for the long term
Identify sources of discretionary income. You can only invest from what you save.
Loaner Dollars, or Fixed income investments- CDs, treasury notes and bills, smart notes, etc.
Owner Dollars, or Equity investments- Mutual funds, stocks, etc. Invest for the long term. Understand the costs of investing and keep your assets diversified. Read the prospectus and understand the risks involved.
Use retirement plans and education plans to defer tax and build wealth. Always defer and deduct as much as possible. If you are in a high tax bracket, also make use of tax- free investments such as municipal bonds.
Identify risks, potential returns, liquidity, tax implications, and costs involved in all transactions.
Here is what others thought about the course:
“Excellent! You would be a fool not to take this course!”
-Anthony Hayes-Real Estate Agent
“It’s very beneficial for someone exploring how to invest.”
-Chris Gatto-Public Relations Specialist
“Helps give you a logical sequence of how to secure your financial future.”
-Tony Ramirez- IT consultant
“Great way to check out your previous understanding!”
-Thomas Cheng- Engineer
Attendees of the class will get 20% off the published coaching rates at www.wholeheartedway.com
My one on one Coaching sessions are valued at:
1 hour -$80/hr
3 hours-$220
6 hours-$440
The 7 Steps to your own Financial Plan- 10 hours, valued at $800- is only $600 just for Prosperity SIG members that sign up before June 1st.
(A deposit of 50% of the fee is due upfront)
Contact information:
Email: fern@wholeheartedway.com
415-819-3065 Phone
Website: www.wholeheartedway.com www.afdadvisors.com
Blog: www.dharmaofmoney.com
Okay, we finished cleaning the apartment, got our PO box taken care of , all the bills are online,- I just need to take my driving test to get out of here. We pleaded in person at the DMV - and wow!, it worked. Note to self- pleading works) We have an appt tomorrow morning for me to take the test, after that, an appt with the dentist, and then hopefully one last appt with my prosthetist and we are off on our long RV trip. Whew!
Meanwhile we are staying at the Holiday Inn. We will be staying at the H Inns and the Hiltons on our trip. They usually have good handicap rooms. We were disappointed right away. First, they got the room rate wrong, then the card key wouldn't work, and then there was no shower chair for me in the bathroom. (Luckily I brought my own.) I am beginning to see that this ADA thing is a sham.
We had lunch at a Fresh Choice and after getting our salads, I excused myself to go to the bathroom. The handicap stall was out of order. If I was in a wheelchair, I would have been hosed. Luckily for me I am not, but since I have been in the past, I am sensitive to the issue and am aware of the challenges that handicap people have. It's not pretty out there and as the population gets older- ---well, hopefully things will improve.
Meanwhile, I guess you all have seen what is going on at the Kaiser Kidney transplant program in the news. I am following it closely since I have been helping a good friend of mine get his second translplant. I have got a donor lined up for him but an infection has put it on hold. Meanwhile Kaiser said they won't pay for his transplant unless he transfers from UCSF where he is being treated to the new Kaiser program which has people dying while waiting to have their surgery. See article below.
Kaiser Put Kidney Patients at Risk
By opening its own transplant center in the Bay Area, the HMO harmed recipients' odds of obtaining organs, a Times probe finds.
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber
Times Staff Writers
May 3, 2006
In mid-2004, more than 1,500 Kaiser Permanente patients awaiting kidney transplants in Northern California got form letters that forced them to change the course of their treatment.
Kaiser would no longer pay for transplants at outside hospitals, even established programs with thousands of successes. Instead, adult patients would be transferred to a new transplant center run by Kaiser itself — the first ever opened by the nation's largest HMO.
Within months after Kaiser's kidney program in San Francisco started up, its waiting list ranked among the longest in the country. No other center had ever put together such a list so fast.
The patients didn't know it, but their odds of getting a kidney had plummeted.
Kaiser's massive rollout in Northern California endangered patients, forcing them into a fledgling program unprepared to handle the caseload, according to a Times investigation based on statistical analyses, confidential documents and dozens of interviews.
Hundreds of patients were stuck in transplant limbo for months because Kaiser failed to properly handle paperwork. Meanwhile, doctors attempting to build a record of success shied away from riskier organs and patients, slowing the rate of transplants performed.
National transplant regulators apparently did not notice the program's failures, though some were obvious in the statistics the regulators themselves posted on the Internet.
In 2005, the program's first full year, Kaiser performed only 56 transplants, while twice that many people on the waiting list died, according to a Times analysis of national transplant statistics.
At transplant centers statewide, the pattern was the reverse: More than twice as many people received kidneys than died.
Kaiser also suffered by comparison to the two outside hospitals that previously had tended to its Northern California patients. In each of the two years before Kaiser opened its program, UC San Francisco and UC Davis medical centers together performed at least 168 transplants on Kaiser patients, three times as many as Kaiser managed in its first full year.
"If they couldn't handle as many as they were doing before, they should have just transferred some" patients, said Neva Smith, whose daughter, Alison Bertino, was moved to Kaiser from UC San Francisco.
Bertino, 30, died last June while waiting for a kidney.
It is difficult to say whether she or any other Kaiser patients died as a direct result of the program's faltering start. What is clear is that many fewer patients received transplants than before, forcing them to remain on grueling sessions of dialysis to remove impurities from their blood. Prolonged dialysis can lead to deadly complications and decrease the chances of a successful transplant later.
The problems at Kaiser went beyond mere growing pains, current and former employees said: Surgeons and kidney specialists battled over who should receive transplants. Desperate patients complained of inexplicable delays. Since the program opened, 10 permanent employees have quit or been fired out of a staff of 22.
"On the outside, the program seems to have settled into a reasonably functioning unit," kidney specialist Dr. W. James Chon wrote to the hospital's physician-in-chief Jan. 23, not long before he was placed on administrative leave.
"However, a closer look at the program will show that it is suffering from very serious and potentially explosive problems," he said.
In interviews with The Times, Kaiser officials initially denied that there were problems. "Everything has been going on track," head transplant surgeon Arturo Martinez said last week.
Since then, other officials have acknowledged that the program had provided The Times with incomplete or misleading information. The chief physician at Kaiser's main San Francisco hospital conceded that the issues were "very serious."
"Time will tell whether 'explosive' was an appropriate adjective or not," said Dr. Bruce Blumberg, referring to Chon's letter.
But, he said, the problems have not affected care for the patients on the waiting list, now totaling about 2,000. No patients have died after transplants, and surgeons hope to boost their output to about 90 transplants this year, Blumberg said.
"I'm very pleased at the work done by the transplant program in the first year," he said.
Kaiser's troubled launch — coming to light after scandals forced the closure of two transplant programs in Southern California last year — underscores the dearth of oversight in the field of transplantation.
Leaders of the United Network for Organ Sharing, the federally funded group responsible for the nation's organ transplant system, said they knew nothing of Kaiser's woes until The Times contacted them.
Dr. Andrew Klein, director of transplant programs at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a member of the network's board, said moving patients to new centers should never compromise the care they receive.
Just "because they had to change centers they shouldn't have to change their [chances] of getting transplanted," he said.
'Timing Was Perfect'
The jump into transplants made good sense for Kaiser.
The San Francisco hospital's open-heart surgery program was shrinking as less-invasive procedures became more popular. Kaiser was left with unused beds and operating rooms. By chance, Martinez, a transplant surgeon at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, broached the idea with Kaiser officials in early 2002.
"The timing was perfect," Blumberg said.
In August 2003, officials told the media that they could do a better job for their kidney transplant patients by working with the network of doctors, labs and pharmacies serving Kaiser's 3.2 million members in Northern California. (Kaiser still contracts with outside hospitals to serve transplant patients in Southern California and elsewhere.)
"We should be able to achieve higher outcomes," Dr. Sharon Inokuchi, the transplant program's new medical director told the San Francisco Business Times at the time. In the long run, officials said recently, they believed they could save money too.
Kaiser members are part of a unique healthcare entity that runs both a health plan and a hospital system. Except in rare circumstances, members get their care only from Kaiser hospitals and affiliated Permanente medical group doctors.
In June 2004, Kaiser informed kidney patients on waiting lists at UC San Francisco and UC Davis that from then on their transplants would take place at Kaiser's hospital northeast of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The first transplant was performed that October.
Relatives of some patients recalled the letters offering no promises and little comfort.
Patient Rodney Clay's letter began with the salutation, "Dear Clay, Rodney," and warned: "You will be financially responsible for any kidney transplant services you receive from the University of California, San Francisco, after Sept. 1, 2004."
Clay died in September 2005 after being forced to move to Kaiser and then being shifted back to UC San Francisco because of complications.
"It was just messy the way that they handled it," said his wife, Deborah. "We were in a state of shock."
Art Hanson also complained about the handoff. He said his life partner, Rodante Tolentino, "got in a snit" with Kaiser officials.
"They wanted him to break his ties [with UC San Francisco] and have nothing to do with them, and it was like, 'You either do what we say or screw you,' " Hanson said. Tolentino, who had been on UC San Francisco's list since 1998, grew tired of waiting and went to the Philippines in search of a transplant last fall. By that time, he was too sick, Hanson said. Tolentino refused dialysis and his medications and died in November at age 61.
Hope Turns to Dismay
Not everyone was dismayed about the switch to Kaiser.
When Ruben Porras, a pressman at the Sacramento Bee, found out that he was being transferred from UC Davis, his family thought it might improve his chances of getting a transplant, said his wife, Elizabeth.
After three years on the waiting list at UC Davis, he was close to getting a new kidney there.
"It's likely that he would have been transplanted fairly soon," said Dr. Richard Perez, chief of the UC Davis transplant center.
The family's anticipation soon turned to frustration.
"Nothing happened," Elizabeth Porras said. "Everything stood still. I lost faith in it all."
Although her husband, who was in his 40s, was on the list for a cadaver kidney, several of his relatives were willing to donate one of their own kidneys, and UC Davis had been assessing them, she said. That process halted when Kaiser took over Porras' case and relatives' calls went unreturned, she added.
Porras and 66 other UC Davis patients unwittingly faced another obstacle. Organs are distributed regionally, and the waiting time for a kidney in the crowded San Francisco area is about double that in the Sacramento area, where UC Davis is. Elizabeth Porras said her husband was never told that his wait would jump from about three years to a possible six with the move to Kaiser's new center.
The transfer hurt Porras' chances in another way.
In the San Francisco area, kidneys are primarily allocated based on how much time patients have spent on a master waiting list. When patients switch to other programs, it is essential that they get credit for the time they've already spent waiting. Otherwise it will appear that they are new additions with no seniority, and their waits will start from scratch.
In Porras' case, Kaiser took nearly a year to transfer the time he had spent on the waiting list at UC Davis, Perez said. That meant he landed at the bottom of the list in the San Francisco area, putting a new kidney out of reach any time soon.
The same was true for hundreds of others at UC Davis and UC San Francisco who were stranded between programs for months by Kaiser's delays or paperwork snafus, the Times investigation found.
Even today, UC San Francisco has about 220 Kaiser patients on its list whose time has not been properly transferred to Kaiser, said Dr. Stephen Tomlanovich, medical director of the university medical center's renal transplant service.
Tomlanovich said UC San Francisco has contacted Kaiser's Inokuchi or her co-workers repeatedly by phone, fax and e-mail concerning the patients. But Inokuchi said she has never heard from the university hospital about these patients.
Regarding Porras' case, Inokuchi said she could not comment because of confidentiality restrictions.
But chief surgeon Martinez said, "We made every possible effort to make sure that people were not caught in the middle."
Unaware of this fumbling, Porras was tethered to dialysis, weathering one complication after another.
"There's no other life out there for you other than being treated," his wife said. "He had no energy to do anything, go anywhere or do things for himself."
Cost of Survival Rate
One statistic Kaiser proudly cites is its patients' survival rate after transplantation: None of its patients have died in the year after their surgeries.
"I got great care there," said Hamilton Meek, 56, who got his kidney at Kaiser in March. "I just knew it was a matter of time before I got the kidney."
Maintaining that survival record, however, appears to have come at a price.
Through June 2005, Kaiser accepted only 16.7% of the kidney offers on behalf of its patients, far less than neighboring programs: California Pacific Medical Center accepted 29.5% and UC San Francisco 24.1% in the same reporting period.
Many experienced programs, with the consent of patients, also accept organs from a separate pool of risky donors — older people, for instance, or people with health problems. The idea is to cut patients' waits.
Kaiser almost never tapped into this pool, which supplied kidneys for 15% of transplants in the Bay Area last year, according to the local organ bank. Through December, Kaiser had accepted just one.
Kaiser chief surgeon Martinez said that's because only one patient had signed up.
Officials from UC Davis and UC San Francisco said their numbers show that many Kaiser patients had, in fact, been interested. At UC Davis, before Kaiser started its program, 20 Kaiser patients had signed up for the organs; at UC San Francisco, 23.
Ella Haynes said her husband, Ronald, had signed up to receive two of these riskier kidneys at UC Davis. But when he transferred to Kaiser, the couple were told that the former Central Valley trucker "would be better served to wait it out and get one good kidney."
"You just believe what you hear and what you're told," Ella Haynes said.
In March 2005, her husband died of a blood infection.
Although he never knew it, he didn't have a chance. His 2 1/2 -year wait at UC Davis was never transferred to Kaiser, said Perez of UC Davis, effectively shutting him out of a transplant.
Staff Infighting
Inside the Kaiser center, the stress of jump-starting the massive program took a toll.
Although Kaiser officials had brought in experienced physicians, much of the core staff had never worked with transplant patients — or one another.
In early 2005, the program's first transplant administrator left. Barely a year later, her replacement was terminated.
One kidney specialist, Dr. Eric Savransky, walked off the job this February, cleared out his office and has not returned, colleagues said. Officials say he is technically on leave.
Chon, the physician who complained of potentially explosive problems, was also put on leave in February after feuding with medical director Inokuchi about the way the program was being run, current and former employees said.
In his January letter to the hospital's top physician, Chon described staffers battling over which patients should receive transplants.
One 73-year-old woman, he wrote, had been waiting, initially at UC San Francisco, since 1999. Chon said he and his colleagues felt that although she was a high-risk patient, she was a viable candidate. But Inokuchi refused to sign off, he wrote, until she saw additional medical records — which Chon said were irrelevant.
"I truly believe that [Inokuchi's] decision to overrule four other transplant physicians was unjust and unethical," he wrote in his letter.
In an interview, Inokuchi said Chon had "incomplete information" and could not make a proper assessment. Chon said he stands by his letter.
The patient's daughter, Karen Sorensen, said she is incensed at Kaiser's treatment of her mother, Corra Mayo. First, she said, no one from the hospital tried to contact Mayo for eight months after she was transferred from UC San Francisco, where she had been near the top of the waiting list since early 2004.
Then, Sorensen said, Kaiser staff couldn't find Mayo's medical records and didn't return repeated phone calls. Finally, the daughter said, she begged a receptionist for help and her mother got an appointment with Chon.
"They had too many people to handle, and they don't know how to handle them," Sorensen said.
Mayo, now 74, has been undergoing dialysis three times a week. "It's the worst way to live," Sorensen said. Late Monday, Mayo was called into the hospital to be prepared for a transplant, but it is unclear whether she will receive one.
Blumberg, the hospital's ranking physician, said the dispute over Mayo's care demonstrates the staff infighting plaguing the program.
He also said Inokuchi had been "relieved" of her administrative duties to focus on patient care. He did not elaborate.
With all the departures, Inokuchi is the only kidney specialist left to manage patients' care in the hospital after their transplants, see them for checkups, handle calls for medical advice, review lab results and evaluate patients.
Blumberg said he is seeking additional kidney specialists, called nephrologists, and has offers out to two.
Transplant surgeons at other hospitals say programs of Kaiser's size would have trouble functioning without at least four or five transplant nephrologists. Cedars-Sinai, for example, has a waiting list less than a quarter the size of Kaiser's but has three nephrologists and is hiring a fourth.
Too Late for Patient
That Kaiser's problems are now becoming public is of little comfort to Elizabeth Porras.
Last fall, her husband developed an infection related to his dialysis. Despite attempts to treat it, he died Oct. 20 at age 47.
Each Sunday, she takes roses to his grave.
Her last contact with Kaiser came right after Ruben's death. A representative called to ask if she would donate his organs.
"I was really close to telling them, 'Yeah, you can have his kidneys,' " she said.
As I write this on wednesday, the 10th of May, the ten o'clock news is on with representatives from Kaiser saying that they are sorry and they will cover all transplants done outside at other medical faciilities for members. Maybe they should call the relatives of the 100 people who have died and say they are sorry, too. Don't worry, I am sure they will ......after the lawyers get done with them. And believe me, the big guns (attorneys) are all over this. More about them later.
What a great weekend. Take my little neice on an overnite RV trip to olema ranch inn. Met friends there and we had a fire and made somemores and headed out for heart's desire beach the next day (my fav place). The weather was beautiful and then we packed up and had some oysters at Johnson's and the kids learned how oysters were made. and slurped a few themselves. (I don't think I will be buying anymore oysters from Johnson's after reading the Sierra Club article about them and their unsafe practices around oyster farming and the environment.)
Well, we have said all of our good-byes and the movers are coming tomorrow morning. We will stay at a holiday inn for a few days to wrap up some things. A major setback was this morning. I went to take my driving test with my hand controls and the instructor would not let me take the driving test because we did not have a license plate on the front of the car which is now a CA law. UGH! We waited in line and paid the $$ -got the plates- waited in line- and then pleaded with the safety office to issue me a new exam date right away. So- sometime this week I will be taking the test. Meanwhile-pack, pack, pack.
As you know I take notes weird bumper stickers. Here is a new one I saw recently:
"I love my country...... but I really think we should start seeing other people."
Here's a little something to chew on ( I can't help it, I am a big H.H. fan!) :
Generally, the experiences that you normally regard as pleasurable and
happy, such as having the physical comfort of good facilities and so
forth, if they are examined at a deeper level, will be revealed to be
changeable and therefore in the nature of suffering. They provide you with
temporary satisfaction; because of that temporary satisfaction you
regard them as experiences of happiness. But if you keep on pursuing them,
they will again lead to the experience of suffering. Most of these
pleasurable experiences are not really happiness in the true sense of the
word, but only appear as pleasure and happiness in comparison to the
obvious sufferings that you have.
--from "Path to Bliss: A Practical Guide to Stages of Meditation" by
H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, translated by Geshe Thubten Jinpa,
edited by Christine Cox, published by Snow Lion Publications
For years, business professionals at the many financial conferences that I went to prophesied the demise of the small independent financial advisor (like me- Yikes!). Merge, they said, or be forced out of business by the big giants like Merrill, and Morgan, etc. I defiantly turned the other cheek and kept my business small, successful, profitable, and what's most important- I had time for a vacation. Not too many Merrill or AmEX people can say that.
After reading this, I finally feel vindicated. It's not how big or small you are - it's the content, stupid. High quality, high service, independent and ethically run firms will flourish in today's environment. People now, in the face of Enron and World Com scandals, want someone that has few conflicts of interests and they are willing to write a check for that service instead of being sold a product for a commisssion.
Read it (wall st journal 042906) and understand the difference from a fee-only advisors who acts as a fidiciary and a stockbroker that sells a product. Don't get me wrong, a lot of commission planners really are ethical and care about their clients, but it is hard for them to do their job when their boss is telling them to sell xyz today. You decide. Time for them to look at "right livelihood".
Hey, did you notice how I still write like I am a practicing financial advisor? Hmmmm......talk about attachment!
Stockbrokers Loosen Up Their Ties
As Advisers Gain Ground,
Big Firms Change Strategies;
The 'Suitability' Standard
By JEFF D. OPDYKE and LINGLING WEI
April 29, 2006; Page B1
Wall Street's giant brokerage firms -- long the dominant force in the investing game -- are starting to lose their edge.
Increasingly, individual investors are turning over their money to independent brokers and advisers amid worries that big firms don't always have their best interests at heart. Over the past five years, independent advisers have nearly doubled their share of assets under management to 17%, according to discount brokerage firm Charles Schwab & Co.
Now Wall Street is fighting back. Some firms are making changes to minimize perceptions that their advice isn't as trustworthy as some of their more independent rivals. Morgan Stanley, for example, recently started highlighting that clients can pay a fee to have an adviser build a financial plan -- and then execute the plan at another brokerage firm. The goal is to ease concerns that the Morgan Stanley broker might encourage the purchase of some product that benefits the broker more than the investor.
Others have started granting their advisers greater leeway to recommend a broader range of products, including more options that aren't part of the brokerage's own investment tools.
And some are moving away from in-house investments entirely. Late last year, Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney sold its asset-management arm, which created its own in-house mutual funds, to, in part, eliminate the perception of self-interest when suggesting investments to clients.
Moves like these reflect a power shift under way as investors -- wary of undisclosed conflicts of interest after various market-related scandals in recent years -- insist that their financial professionals have no incentive to pitch particular products because of commissions or underlying fees.
For investors, the new options add complications to the process of picking the right person to help with high-stakes investing decisions.
Deciding whether to hire a full-service broker or an independent adviser -- or someone in between -- comes down to whether you want advice tied to an individual transaction or advice designed to map out your financial life, and whether you want that advice delivered by a brokerage firm or an independent shop. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Stockbrokers
First and foremost, brokers are salespeople. So, when acting in that role, their income depends on commissions from client trading. As such, a broker is best for investors who want someone to bounce specific stock and mutual-fund ideas off of or who want someone who will call with investment suggestions. With brokers, you usually have the choice of paying per transaction or paying an annual fee for all the services you use, as in a so-called wrap account.
You will pay for that hand-holding, though. Commissions can easily top $100, depending on the type and amount of stock you are buying and the size of your account, compared with the $5 to $20 you would pay at an online firm such as Scottrade Inc. or E*Trade Financial Corp. Some Wall Street firms require a $50,000 account to even get access to a broker; otherwise, you will be sent to a call center, where the level of individual attention is often greatly diminished.
Another important factor: Brokers aren't "fiduciaries," meaning they have no legal requirement to act in your best interest. Instead, they follow much looser "suitability" guidelines that, while backed by court decisions, aren't legal obligations. If you want a fiduciary relationship, a traditional brokerage account isn't for you. For investors who don't feel they need a broker's advice or helping hand making trades, discount and online firms are a better choice, since they also charge considerably lower commissions on trades.
Investors may increasingly come across independent brokers these days. They aren't employees of a traditional Wall Street firm but instead act as independent contractors with firms such as Linsco/Private Ledger Corp., a major independent brokerage firm, or Raymond James Financial Inc. Ostensibly, independent brokers have fewer reasons to push one product over another, and they generally have a broader selection of investments to sell and no sales quotas for particular products (unlike some traditional Wall Street brokers).
All of that should mean the independent broker is conflict-free. Yet that isn't necessarily true.
In December, for example, the National Association of Securities Dealers imposed a $2.4 million fine on Linsco/Private Ledger for inappropriately steering investors into costlier class-B-share and C-share mutual funds that generated higher commissions for the brokers. Bill Dwyer, Linsco's managing director of national sales, says, "We addressed any concerns regulators had, paid all the fines and moved forward."
Financial Advisers
There are essentially two types of advisers. Those who work independently, or outside of a brokerage firm, are known as registered investment advisers, or RIAs. Those inside a Wall Street firm are investment-adviser representatives, since the firm itself acts as an RIA, although they may have a different title. Both provide essentially the same service: big-picture financial planning and money management.
Advisers are the best choice for investors who want someone to help lasso their entire financial life -- from investing, tax planning and charitable giving to family-business succession planning and more -- and take responsibility for managing the investments. You will generally pay an annual fee of 1% to 2% of the assets under management.
RIAs typically charge a single fee for all the services they provide, which can be less expensive than paying for all the services and trading separately. By contrast, brokerage-firm advisers offer that arrangement as well but also allow clients to separate fee-based advice from transaction-based trade execution, if that better fits their needs.
Brokers are increasingly wading into financial-planning and advisory roles. Most no longer call themselves brokers but, instead, financial advisers or financial consultants. Indeed, "there is some good, meaningful planning going on inside" brokerage firms, says Dan Moisand, president of the Financial Planning Association, a trade group.
Yet the advice a broker can provide is limited because of Securities and Exchange Commission rules. Advice brokers offer in a brokerage account must be incidental to the job of trading securities for you. That means while brokers can talk about how a stock or mutual fund fits into your financial scheme, they can't offer a comprehensive financial plan. (Brokers are permitted to provide a financial plan, so long as it is part of an advisory relationship.)
Financial Planners
Investors have still another option: If you are looking for someone to fashion a financial plan that you will execute yourself through a traditional or online brokerage firm, you don't need an adviser or broker but, rather, a financial planner. Look for someone with these credentials, which indicate an adherence to certain ethical standards as well as a level of knowledge: certified financial planner (CFP), chartered financial consultant (ChFC) or a certified public accountant with a personal-finance-specialist designation (CPA with a PFS). Advisers often sport one or more of these credentials as well.
Planners can provide the same services as advisers. The only difference is that they generally leave the job of managing your money up to the client.
The cost of a financial plan is typically a one-time fee of a few thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of your needs. Local advisers and planners can be found through the Web sites of either the Financial Planning Association (fpanet.org1) or the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (napfa.org2).
We went to see a new ankle and foot sugeon for a second opinion. He was very attentive and articulate- a bright young fellow. Apparantly one of 8 in CA that specialize in Ankle Foot problems. After examining my foot and looking at the healed blister and the bulging ingrown nail, he calmly told me that walking should not be my form of exercise (as it has been.) He recommended swimming which would be great except that I don't have a waterproof prosthetic leg yet (my leg keeps changing and each one costs about $20,000). I am waiting for my leg to "stabilize" so I can get one.
So it looks like the hand bike- Ugh, very boring. I am hoping to get someone to strap my foot down on a bike pedal so I can do some stationary bike training. Otherwise, it's weight training and that's about it, folks. Ugh.
He did give me a referral to an Orthosist so I hope I can get a recommendation on a new orthotic so these blisters stop. New terms, huh? Did you know Prosthetist and Orthosist can be two different professions? I don't know if I am even spelling it right. LOL.
On a positive note, although I didn't give a talk at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center this year (I wasn't invited, and I couldn't get up there anyway). The San Francisco Shambhala Center asked if I could give a talk and it was quite lovely- you know, working with what is and not what we would like it to be- I am getting a lot of experience with that.
I also got my interview with Cynthia Moku, a thangka painter published in The Dot. It was moved around a bit by the editor so it's a little dry that I would have liked it - but it's practice and I have another assignment with them coming up.
“Keep you intelligence white-hot and your grief glistening,
so your life will stay fresh.”
- The Soul of Rumi
Every single sentient being wishes to be happy and free of suffering.
By no means does Buddhism say this is wrong; rather, this is where we
start from.
The very root of this yearning for happiness, this yearning to be free
of suffering, is the fundamental expression of the buddha-nature. If
for the time being we turn our gaze away from the myriad ways that we can
stray from the agenda--trying to find happiness by buying a more
luxurious car, or a bigger house, or getting a better job--and just come back
to the primary desire of wishing to be happy, we find at the very
source of our yearning for happiness the buddha-nature wanting to realize
itself. It's like a seed that wants to spring into the sunlight.
Sometimes it gets terribly contorted, when we want to injure somebody else for
the sake of our own happiness, but the fundamental yearning is
something to be embraced.
--from "The Four Immeasurables: Cultivating a Boundless Heart" by B.
Alan Wallace, edited by Zara Houshmand, published by Snow Lion
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