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 Personal Money Planning'se-Newsletter for May 7, 2011
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A Few Words About Mothers
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont
The phrase "working mother" is redundant. ~Jane Sellman
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Disclosure | |
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This newsletter is produced by Gary Silverman, dba Personal Money Planning, a registered investment advisor located in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Information in this newsletter is believed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. However, the accuracy, timeliness, or applicability of the information is not guaranteed and is provided with the understanding that we are not rendering legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advice or services.
This publication should not be construed by any consumer and/or prospective client as Personal Money Planning's solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation, over the Internet. Nor should links provided to other sites be construed as the recommendation of the services or products mentioned on those sites. If such services are required, the help of a competent professional should be sought.
Remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Therefore, you should not assume that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to (directly or indirectly) on this Website will be profitable or equal to indicated performance levels. Different types of investment involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific investment will either be suitable or profitable for your investment portfolio.
Historical performance results for investment indexes and categories generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction or custodial charges or the deduction of an investment management fee, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results.
A copy of Personal Money Planning's current written disclosure statement discussing Personal Money Planning's business operations, services, and fees (known as an ADV Part II) is available from Personal Money Planning upon written request (and can be downloaded from our web site).
Personal Money Planning does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to Personal Money Planning's web site or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility therefore. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.
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A Special Reminder
Don't forget, it's Mom's day tomorrow. This will be my 54th Mother's Day celebration with mine. I think that makes us both "old."
Happy Mother's Day!
Gary Silverman, CFP®
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| gary's newspaper column | Newspaper Articles You May Have Missed |
From the Wichita Falls Times Record News
Ups And Downs
You've heard the expression, there's nothing constant but change. That is true with life, and the stock market--no matter how often you say, "things are different now."
But What About The U.S. Debt? If the size of the debt is influencing your investing decisions, maybe you should take another look at the whole picture. |
| gary's other newspaper column | Biz To Biz Articles You May Have Missed |
From the Wichita Falls Times Record News Biz To Biz
Re-energize Your Business Outlook With A Change Of Place
Gary looks at how a different location can lead you to a different mindset.
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Amazing Rays
It seems like quite a few people don't like getting zapped by a full-body scanner at the airport. "I'm not going to expose my body to any more radiation than I have to." Of course, the fact that flying high in the atmosphere exposes them to more radiation than they need apparently doesn't matter. They're quite willing to get zoomies piercing their body if it means getting to Disney World a day faster.
They are also quite amazed that since they decided to forgo the scanner, TSA seems to think that they need a pat-down search. "They have no right to search me without probable cause." Hmmm...I'm thinking--stop me if I'm being illogical--that if you refuse to get scanned by a device known to be able to detect hidden weapons, that that might be cause to suspect you might have hidden weapons.
"Okay, they can pat me down, but they don't have the right to touch me in my 'private' areas." O...K...you won't let me scan you, and now you want me to assure you that there is a specific area of my person that you cannot touch. I guess that is okay, as long as you promise not to hide something there.
After all, why wouldn't I want to trust you?
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Article links from |
The Economist |
Typhoons and Tsunamis
What, exactly, IS the impact of the Japanese earthquake, or the no-fly zone over Libya, or the expected bail-out of Portugal and write-downs on Irish bank debt? The Economist says that nobody really knows, and the uncertainty itself is a cause for concern. Research by Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University looked at the behavior of companies in the face of 17 different "uncertainty shocks," ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the 2008 credit crunch. He found that industrial production typically falls by about 1% in the first months after an uncertainty shock--an effect similar to a seven percentage point hike in interest rates. But, interestingly, industrial production tends to surge six months after the uncertainty shock, and the heightened levels of production can last for more than two years.
The article talks about soaring semiconductor prices due to shuttered factories in Japan, and the likelihood that, however Japan's nuclear crisis plays out, the country will be importing more oil, adding to upward pressure on prices. Paradoxically, the value of the yen strengthened on world markets after the tsunami because of a global flight to strong currencies--even the currency of the country where the disaster occurred. But the larger picture is that we really don't have a good economic model for evaluating the aftermath of disasters, except that they tend to surprise on the upside once the shock has worn off. http://www.economist.com/node/18440971
Highly Charged
Every once in a while, a new transformative technology comes along and changes a bunch of economic sectors all at once. The Economist says that new prototype rechargeable batteries--which can be used in everything from mobile devices, phones, tablets and fully-electric cars--can be charged in just two minutes. Imagine pulling into a gas station and plugging in for as long as it takes to pump gas, or recharging your laptop in a couple of minutes.
The article notes that the element lithium has become a popular component for the positive ion contributor in batteries, because it is light and stores more energy than any other element. Nickel-metal hydride batteries are cheaper and also widely-used. The new rapidly-rechargeable batteries pack polystyrene spheres about a millionth of a meter in diameter, and fills the gaps between the spheres with nickel through a procedure that is suitable for mass production. The material is heated, creating a sponge made of metallic nickel. The surface layer is dissolved, creating an electrically-conductive framework that offers a huge area of contact between the nickel, the battery's cathode and the electrolyte that moves ions between them, giving a charging rate ten to 100 times higher than a normal commercial battery. A new lithium version could be 90% recharged in two minutes.
In automobiles, the next challenge is to harden the car's electronics so they can cope with the huge amperage involved. The new batteries can be manufactured at a production cost 20-30% higher than traditional batteries; with that and new electronics, analysts say that the much more mechanically simple electric motor will be more cost-effective than the old-fashioned internal-combustion engine--and have a higher acceleration rate and silent operation as well. As the article says, the long-promised revolution of electric motoring might finally be about to come to pass.
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| parting thoughts
Silverman's Sport Minute
Earlier this month, I played in the Texas Open Bonspiel. That's a curling tournament for those of you not in the know. My team was made up of the leftovers from our curling club who no one else wanted. It was fun, and we did better than we expected, winning one of our games and taking the other two down to the last rock thrown.
In the game we won, we came back from a deficit of 0-7 half-way through to win it 8-7.
Teams came from all over: Canada (who won it), North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, Houston, and Austin, were among the 32 teams that competed.
Curling in Texas...whoda thunk it? |
Gary
Gary Silverman, CFP
Personal Money Planning
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