Profit or Social Improvement

I was in a clothing store lately trying to find a simple business like blouse to go with some black pants. Most of my clothes are in storage and are far away. It isn't easy finding something that fits now. I have one waist that is higher than the other and one buttock that is non-existent. Now that I have gained some weight there is a midriff bulge that shows through anything that clings to me.

I did manage to find a crisp white cotton blouse that I don't have to tuck in for $9.99 at Ross. There was a large line of people and only two women at the cashier station. I surveyed the situation and wondered if I could stand that long. I thought I would go for it and I stood patiently and watched as the tension in the lines got stronger and the pain in my leg got stronger. I tried to balance on one leg for some relief -trying not to think about just leaving. It reminded me of the many times when sitting in meditation retreats for so long, the discomfort with just being present becomes almost too much to bear-- but you stay. And so I stayed.

As I drew closer to the cashier, she stopped and asked a group of women by the door if she could see their receipt before they left. The women looked shocked and indignant and said they already showed their receipt (which they did not). Then they bolted through the door with the goods. The two cashiers looked helplessly at each other as they couldn't leave the cash registers and two long lines of people watched as these women took advantage of the situation in order to steal.

This was a common tactic in Noe Valley where I used to live. A group of young adults would enter a store and one would cause a scene to distract the business owner while the others grabbed as much as they could and ran out with it.

Everywhere I go there seems to be a shortage of workers--- restaurants, retailers, cafes, etc.
Most of these places pay minimum wage. But minimum wage isn't good enough to live in the Bay Area or most of America. This makes a lot of businesses vulnerable to theft. I am glad that after 10 years of no increases, the minimum wage was raised to $7.25. It's a start. Will that hurt the profits of Ross, Starbucks, etc.? You bet it will. But will it help the millions of Americans that can't make ends meet on minimum wage- You can bet it will.
According to the most recent survey on hunger and homelessness conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors, 40% of adults requesting emergency food assistance were employed.
Which is more important? Profit or Social improvement.

No Time, Training, or Temperament

I am now officially a gym rat. I work out twice a week with a personal trainer. It is my main form of exercise since I cannot play tennis, golf, mountain bike, hike, or any of the other things I used to do. I now walk and go to the gym. I did find a gym though that I really like- Axis. I knew I was in the right place when I walked in and saw trainers doing really unusual exercises and I saw machines that I had never seen before.

Right after or sometimes before my session, I walk on the treadmill. There are two televisions mounted high above the row of treadmills and stair steppers, and bikes---just like in the hospital. One television always has a financial station and the other some girly show like the View or Martha Stewart. I face the financial TV wondering what people see in that. Even when I was in the business I never watched that stuff but apparantly millions of Americans do. I don't know why because most of the advice is biased and the ticker- what's with that? Who looks at that and why? Even super short term traders know that by the time you are seeing that info on the west coast, the price is now different. So who cares?

I think about the referral I got years ago from a good client of mine. This woman had inherited a lot of money and decided to manage it herself. She got up every morning and turned on some financial TV show and traded on the news that day. She wanted me to do her tax return. She had a pile of papers showing her gains and a pile of papers showing her losses. She totaled each pile up and showed me the small gain she had, and how simple her return would be.

I told her I wish it were that simple. Each trade needs to be broken down to show the gains and losses. That would take hours and the return would cost her quite a bit. She agreed to let me do the return. After digging through the trades, many did not match and I found that she was trading stocks she didn't even own. The end result was that she had over a $100,000 loss. It was devastating to her but she needed that awakening to realize that she was not capable managing her own money. Yet she couldn't trust someone to manage it for her since no one could get the returns that she wanted without any of the risk-- yeah right.

I used Schwab Institutional Services for my clients and I used to chuckle as I would go into the local branch to deposit a client check and see a row of elderly retired gentleman sitting in the lobby watching the ticker and talking. Very cute way of socializing----- losing your money in the market. Eventually Schwab got smart and redesigned their branches (as well as closed down many).

I was reading the speech former SEC Chair Arthur Levitt gave to NAPFA's 2006 conference and was very inspired. Here is a quote:
"When I consider today the lack of knowledge among even the most sophisticated people in terms of investments, it really concerns me . A recent report showed that over 50 percent of Harvard's faculty and staff invest their entire retirement savings in money market accounts. The Los Angeles Times studied what recent Nobel Laureates in Economics did with their money, and said that most of those titans of economics were really terrible investors. One had the bulk of his retirement in a money market account; one spends most of his time on chasing the latest hot investments, from tech stocks to oil stocks; and another spent the entire 1990s with his winnings fully invested in municipal bonds. The fact is that most people don't have the knowledge, the background, or the termperament to manage their own money.

The so-called Merrill Lynch Rule that exempts brokers from the fiduciary requirements of the Investment Act of 1940 only confuses investors. While brokers will counter that that they are under NASD oversight, they are simply not regulated with the consumers' interest in mind. They are not required to obtain best execution pricing for trades and are allowed to sell to a client more expensive investment vehicles that will generate greater commissions to the broker. There is absolutely no reason why a fiduciary responsibility imposed upon Investment Advisors should not apply to retail brokers with equal coverage. The notion that a retail broker is an order taker is absolute and total fiction."

For a real Financial Advisor that adheres to a fiduciary standard, check out NAPFA http://www.napfa.org and/or the Garrett Planning Network http://www.garrettplanningnetwork.com/pages/splash/index.htm.

It's a Girl!

It's a girl! Our baby girl, Goldie, was born on September 16, 2006. She is a golden miniature labradoodle (part labrador retreiver and part poodle) - a non-shedding hypoallergenic pup.
We got her from a breeder in Nevada. She is about 10 pounds now and expected to grow to about 25 pounds and 14 inches high. Why a dog? Why now?

Well, Joseph and I always loved animals. We both had dogs when we were growing up. We just never had the time to be able to have an animal. We both worked long hours and on the weekends we were away most of the time.

Since my accident all that has changed. One of the highlights of our 5 month RV trip was the wild animals that we encountered. It was such a special experience to get up close and personal with alligators, wild donkeys, bison, prairie dogs, ferrets, herons, roadrunners, etc.
If you haven't seen our pics, check them out at http://www.jlarocca.typepad.com/rvlarocca. I think we loved that part of the trip even more than the beautiful scenery.

I am very popular at the puppy socialization classes. The minute I walked in all the puppies run to see this three legged woman. It was a little disarming when a large 14 week old Samoy named Cosmo walked around and through all my "legs". The big white fluff ball has a permanent smile on his face but you know he is up to mischief and I held my space until Cosmo walked away. After that we had an understanding, don't knock me down and I will play with you anyway.
What a nice compromise.

Right now we are in that 20 week window of opportunity to socialize your puppy to various people, and locations so we are hitting lots of Starbucks and Peets so she can meet and greet various people of all sizes and shapes. She is a big hit with everyone.

Tenzo (The Cook) Again

It’s been almost two months since we moved into this apartment in Sunnyvale.
It was surreal opening boxes and putting dishes into cabinets. It has been over three years since I have cooked in a kitchen. I don’t know how I got good cooking genes. My mother died when I was young and we never ate very healthy in the South. Everything was fried, sautéed, or boiled to death. But there was a lot of flavor in the foods that I grew up with. All the traditional stuff of New Orleans- gumbo, creoles, etouffee, etc. I never really learned how to make that and when I did find out as a young woman, it was way too hard and lengthy a process. I remember being young and just hating the whole aspect of having to eat. It seemed like such a hassle-where to go, how much it would cost, would it be any good.. yada yada yada. When I moved to California and I was growing my business, I didn’t have a lot of money to go out to fancy restaurants, but I wanted to be fit and so I immersed myself into the various fresh fruits and vegetables that the Bay Area had to offer. I learned about the different kind of mushrooms and how to cook them from a young farmer at the farmer’s market. I also tasted my first persimmon here, brussell sprouts, beets, red chard, etc. I started to learn to cook them and appreciate the delicate flavors of fresh vegetables. Even Pluots were a seasonal hit with me. With what I knew about dieting and nutrition, somehow I learned to put a protein, carb, and vegetable together and turn it into a meal and make use of any leftovers that were around. My husband was awed and while I was ill, he struggled to do the same. Now he happily lets me prepare most meals and I am grateful to be able to stand and cook even though I know that moving a large pot of hot water with one hand on the handle and one hand on my cane to the sink is a risky move that unless I have wrists of steel, should not attempt alone. But this is a small sacrifice, and as I cook I think of all the people who cannot cook for themselves.

This morning I drove my husband to work. This was his first day back at work in over a year. Like a little boy going off to his first day at school, his fresh hair cut and clean and pressed shirt and pants, we kissed and giggled as he left the car and I watched him enter the office building.

What a strange life we have lived, I thought as I drive home and think about my own “list” of work items to do.

Happy New Year to you all!