Interviews With Industry Leaders

Interviews With Industry Leaders-Ann VanderSlice

Author of

Fedtelligence:The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Federal Benefits

No BS Weekly Update 4/2/2012

In This Issue

Looking in the Mirror

Cool Stuff

Secret Lives of Links

Good Eats

QOTD

"Most of the time common stocks are subject to irrational and excessive price fluctuations in both directions as the consequence of the ingrained tendency of most people to speculate or gamble... to give way to hope, fear and greed." -Benjamin Graham

Dear ,

Welcome to another addition of our Interviews with Industry Leaders. This month we have a great interview for a special group of people in our audience. That would be Federal Employees in general and more specifically Postal Employees.

As many of you know there is much talk about closing several Postal facilities including facilities in Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, Grand Rapids, and Lansing, among others. That leaves a lot of people in limbo and with many questions about the end of their federal careers. In an effort to be helpful, I thought it would be a good idea to interview someone who knows a lot about the Federal Retirement System.

So today's interview is with Ann Vanderslice. Ann is the author of Fedtelligence:The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Federal Benefits. Technology is a wonderful thing. We were able to catch up with Ann this past Friday. Ann was in New Orleans for the NCAA Final Four and was kind enough to take a break in a local Starbucks to do the interview (which is why there is a bit of background noise, sorry about that!)

(Click to see interview)

If you would like to get a copy of Ann's book you can click here.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_5?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fedtelligence&sprefix=fedte%2Caps%2C287

Keep An Eye On Europe!

Keep an eye on Europe folks. The "next" crisis is starting to build over there. I'll have more on that next week.

Until next week , Protect Your Wealth!

Sincerely,

U.S. Corporate Pensions See Record $326.8 Billion Funding Shortfall (Reuters)

RF: First question-is your pension safe? Second question-who is going to make up the difference on the pensions that are short. We all know the the Pension Benefit Guaranteee Corp has been running multi billion dollar deficits for years. That will likely leave it to the American Tax Payer. Are you prepared for higher taxes?

Historical S&P Cycles: Nominal, Real, Gold & Silver (1928 - Present)(TBP)

RF: Some great charts in this article.

Demand for U.S. Debt Is Not Limitless(WSJ)

RF: This is a subscribers only article from the Wall Street Journal so you won't be able to actually read the article. I wanted to call your attention to the headline and subheadline. As I have written in the past, the only difference between the U.S. and Greece is that Greece has reached the end of their credit limit and the U.S has not. We are rapidly approaching the end of ours. The US borrows approximately 43 cents of every dollar it spends. In the past we have borrowed that money from our citizens and from other countries by issuing U.S. Treasuries. Last year not enough other countries really wanted to loan us the money that we needed so the Fed printed money out of thin air to buy 61% of all the Treasuries offered! How long do you think that can continue folks?

How to Handle the Coming Dividend Tax Hike(SmartMoney)

RF: It's amazing to me how the government contines to punish retirees. First they keep interest rates so low that retirees can't live on the interest. That forces retirees to take more risk to get revenue. For the last 1.5 to 2 years the financial world has suggested things that pay a dividend as a way to increase retirees income. Now the government is going to drastically raise the tax on dividends to punish seniors again!

City manager says he's not needed, fires self(The Keller Citizen)

RF: Cool story. Just love the idea that this guy had the courage to kill his own job.

MF's Corzine Ordered Funds Moved to JP Morgan, Memo Says(Bloomberg)

RF: It appears the ex-Senator and ex-Govenor may have perjured himself. I must say that I find the lack of outrage in this case interesting. When the Bernie Madoff thing came to light the press was screaming bloody murder. With MF Global it has been very subdued. Very interesting.

Laughter

funny

( www.chartoftheday.com )

Growth

Michael Jordan (Flu Game): Win From Within

Dare to take the mystery link challenge?

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CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE!

Not sure how many from our area are familiar with Cincinnati Chili. Anytime I am flying and being routed through Cincinnati I get excited because that means I get to eat at Skyline Chili! (Now I admit that there is something sad about the fact that I have favorite restuarants at different airports about the country!) If you've never had Cincinnati Chili give it a try. Traditionally served over spaghetti but great on hot dogs too!

(Click for the full recipe and to print)

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