CASTELL INSURANCE NEWSLETTER
A local agency providing GREAT  local service!                      July 2013
Phil 
Castell
Sharon
Castell
John
Coulson
James
Castell
Christy
Francis
ChristyFrancis
Julie
Speelman
Julie Speelman
In This Issue
Referral Drawing
Phil's Column
Doing Some Modeling
Quote of the Month
Lighthearted Fun
Finance
Health & Medicare
Home & Auto
Centennial 4th of July

Quick Links
 
 
 
Phone:
 360-683-9284

Email:
Referral Drawing!

This month's
Referral Drawing
 features a prize to
delight the taste buds!  

A gift certificate to
 Sunshine Cafe
was won by
Carol & Rudy Prael!

 

to watch the drawing on our Facebook page!

 

Owners Dianne & Allan Drake
can make anyone smile
with their hometown
cooking and delicious
 baked goodies!

 to send us
 your referrals and get
entered into next month's
drawing for a gift certificate!

Phil's Sequim Gazette Column

Everyday brings us closer to the start of the Affordable Care Act enrollment period which is

October 1, 2013.  

 

This months article from the Gazette is an update about where things stand now.  

  

CLICK HERE TO READ PHIL'S SEQUIM GAZETTE COLUMN

 

 

One problem with writing of this nature is how frequently items

have changed before they are  

even published. I have an  

updated blog that has even

more current info than the  

Gazette article concerning

the Employer Mandate,  

so why not take a few

minutes and review  

both items.

  

CLICK HERE TO READ
PHIL'S BLOG
Why yes! 
We have done some modeling!

Julie Speelman and her father, Larry Speelman
June 15th was the 8th annual contest and show for the North Olympic Peninsula Modeler's Society (NOPMS).  Over 250
 fine scale plastic models
 were entered including
 aircraft, tanks, ships, automobiles, figures and dioramas.  

Castell Insurance was a proud sponsor of the Best Figure award
at this year's show at Fort Warden.  NOPMS is a local chapter
 of the International Plastic Modeler's Society.

Quote of the Month

  

 

~Audrey Hepburn 

 

We Advocate Lighthearted Fun!


Julie's office window is directly
 in front of the copy machine.
 John loves to make faces at her while waiting for his copies so
 she taped up a mustache and donkey ears to the inside of
 the glass.  The resulting show
 made it all worth while!!! 
Office Luncheon

In June we ventured off to Carlsborg's Old Mill Cafe and were hosted by owners Val & Larry Culp. 

We think it's widely recognized
 that The Old Mill Cafe is always amazing so to say it again here would be redundant...
and yet we do!

Until next month... 












The Castell Boys Club is about to get just a wee bit bigger....

We are all eagerly awaiting the upcoming baby excitement of next month with James and Sarah's due date on August 16th!  

Be sure to watch our reader board on Washington Street and "like" our Facebook page to stay up to date on the latest news!!!


Greetings!

Watermelon, potato salad and BBQ greetings!  Summer is here and we have been enjoying our beautiful Olympic Peninsula!  We loved the weather forecast of "Abundant sunshine all this week" in the Sunday, July 7th edition of the Peninsula Daily News and are looking forward to a fantastic summer ahead!

Abundant Sunshine - PDN
Finance
Phil

To bond or not to bond,  

that is the question.

 

Many people buy bonds as they believe they are more stable and therefore less risky stocks.  However, the facts are sometimes different. This all has to do with something called "the inverse relationship" between interest rates and the value of bonds. Allow me to explain.

 

The inverse relationship is where the value of the bond moves in the opposite direction from interest rates. So, when interest rates rise the value of the underlying bond will actually decrease, and vice versa. Let me give you an example.

 

If you purchased a $10,000 bond that was paying a 4% interest rate, that would equal $400 of interest per year. Let's assume that the interest rates have increased to 5%, what does that affect have on the value of the bond?

 

Let's start with the actual amount of interest you have been getting, which in this example was $400. Now, how much capital would you have to invest at 5% interest to receive $400 interest? The answer is $8,000.

 

So, if you had a $10,000 bond paying 4%, and new similar bonds were paying you 5%, you would have to sell your bond at a discount to make it attractive to a buyer. How much of a discount would depend upon a number of factors, including the maturity dates on both bonds as well as the credit rating of the issuer of the bond.

 

With interest rates at, or very close to multi-generational lows, at some point in the future they will have to increase. At that time many of the Mutual Funds who are primarily invested in bonds will see some quite dramatic movements.

 

One way around this is if you owned the actual physical bond and you were prepared to hold the bond until maturity. So, in the above scenario you would still own the bond paying you 4% interest and if you were happy and satisfied to hold that to maturity, then you would receive your investment of $10,000 back.

 

However, bonds tend to be a very long term investment and many of them are frequently issued in the 20 to 30 year length duration. As with anything in life please make sure you know what you are investing in and do your due diligence before you "act in haste and repent in leisure".

 

Email questions or comments to:

[email protected] 

Health & Medicare

OBAMA CARE FOR SMALL BUSINESS BY THE NUMBERS

 

As we stagger towards the start of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, the decibel level of horror stories, false statements and general fear mongering will increase.   It is our goal here at Castell Insurance to try and give you a non-biased explanation of what is happening.  So for today's topic, let's look at the statement that has been circulated by every opponent of Obamacare, "Obamacare will kill small business". (Jose Pagliery @Jose_Pagliery

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)  

 

First, the individual mandate which forces firms to provide health care to employees only applies to companies with 50 full time workers.  Nintey seven percent of small businesses have less than 50 full time workers.  This means that 97% of small businesses will not have to provide insurance for their employee.  If they do that is great, they are a good employer and they strive to provide for their employees.   Will they benefit from Obamacare? Will it save them any money?  We do not know but we do know that they are not FORCED by the individual mandate to provide health care benefits.  

 

Second, 96% of the small businesses that have 50 or more employees already provide health insurance benefits.  Of those 96%, 99% of those work sponsored plans have insurance that meets most of the Obamacare's standards. (University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center) http://www.healthaffairs.org/

 

So to sum up all the numbers; of the country's 6.5 million workplaces, only 1% must actually start providing NEW HEALTHCARE BENEFITS next year. Is this going to kill small business in America?  I think not......

So whatever happens as we move forward in this ground breaking implementation, please keep in mind that a healthy dose of common sense, applied to everything that you hear from the left and the right, will go a long way in keeping your stress at a manageable level.  

 

If you are interested in more information about the opportunities for small businesses to cover their employees or if you currently cover your employees and are looking for answers, please feel free to email or call me directly at 360-683-9284.

 

Email questions or comments to:

[email protected]   

Home & Auto

Need Help with the Directions?

 

4th of July weekend consisted of a lot of fun family time, enjoying the Sequim Centennial Dance and of course setting up nursery furniture!  Okay so building cribs and changing tables is a far cry from most people's idea of a good time, it sure is nice to be that little bit more prepared for our son's arrival in August.  


To think it only took me four hours to put together that IKEA dresser had me feeling like I deserved an award!  It did open my eyes to how hard things can be without clear and concise instructions.  The dresser had 39 steps to completion and the instructions included exactly ZERO words!  A little direction might have been nice!  

 

I'll tie this back to my area of expertise which is your home and auto policies. Most people I work with really have very little idea what coverages they chose because they in fact never chose them.  After all, choosing an insurance policy doesn't come with an instruction manual.  The limits within most policies were simply given to them years ago by an agent they never met.  

 

We feel you deserve better than that, just like I deserved a few descriptive WORDS within my IKEA dresser instructions!  Often times people are either paying for more coverage than they need, or even worse, they don't have something protected that is very important to them.  If you are paying the premiums each year you might as well know what you're getting, right?  

 

Call me today and I can help make sense out of a very confusing stack of policy paperwork.  Also, take the time out to "like" our Castell Insurance page on Facebook and pay attention to our reader board on Washington Street for updates about the arrival of the next generation of Castell men!

 

Email questions or comments to:

[email protected]

Happy Centennial
4th
of July!





John Coulson (and tongue), Brian Krzyworz,
Christy Francis & Phil Castell at
Sequim's Centennial 4th of July Celebration.

Phil Castell, John Coulson & James Castell
with the Castell banner as a sponsor of the
Sequim Centennial Celebration.

Phil Castell, Christine Paulsen & James Castell with the Dance Off Competition gift basket.

 

The Centennial Dance was a big success (Fri July 5th).  Castell Insurance had a" Dance Off Competition"  during the intermission when the band change took place.  Three volunteers danced to, " Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your booty!"   The winner was Christine Paulsen who received a basket with of Local Fare including Sequim Centennial wine from Wind Rose Cellars, Purple Haze Lavender Salad Dressing, three packets of fudge from We Do Fine Fudge and a reusable travel coffee mug with the centennial Logo on it.

 

We continue to have a great response from clients and the community thanking us for the sponsorship.  As you can see, it has simply been OUR PLEASURE!