We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is ready for the holiday madness to begin! I know I ate way too much as always. Kelly, Judy, Tyler, and I would like to take this time to wish everyone a Season's Greetings, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! To all of our clients, thank you so much for your faith in us. We are humbled and truly are appreciative. It's been a busy month, and I'm trying to wrap up as much as I can before December 9th. As some of you may already know, I'm having a complete knee replacement done on that day (ouch). Just an old racquetball injury from about 30 years ago. At that time I had reconstructive knee surgery for torn ligaments and all that fun stuff. Over the years I've worn the cartilage down to nothing (the doctor says it looks like beef jerky in there), and have developed arthritis in that knee. The doctor says it time to get it replaced before I screw it up forever! So, Judy will drag me kicking and screaming to the hospital Dec. 9th to "gett'er done". Wish me luck! Obviously there is rehab involved, so I'll be out of action for the rest of the month of December. I plan on returning after the holidays. Kelly will be at the office, and we'll be communicating on a daily basis. If there is anything you need, feel free to reach out to her and she'll take good care of you. We are also upgrading and expanding our office during the month of December. We've leased the space next to us and will be combining that space with ours. We'll be adding another office for Kelly to begin working as an agent, a conference room, some storage, and a kitchen area. This will double the size of our current office, and we could definitely use the extra space. I appreciate all the positive feedback from the monthly Lake Norman Magazine articles I write. If there is something you'd like me to write about, let us know and I'll do my best. Our radio show "The Safe Harbor Retirement Planning Show" is moving along nicely also. We're on every Saturday morning from 10:00 - 10:30 AM 1400 WSIC radio out of Statesville. All the radio shows, as well as the LKN Magazine articles are aarchived on our website. So, as you can see, we're not slowing down! Enjoy this month's "Thought for the Week" updates and the LKN Magazine article. Everyone have a joyous holiday season! Until next month,  James D. Stillman
Special Note for Clients: Over the last year, you may have been receiving weekly emails, monthly printed materials, and birthday cards from JDS Wealth Management. As we mentioned last month, we have discontinued working with the program that distributed these materials on our behalf. We have been coming up with our own system to stay in touch with you, in addition to our monthly e-newsletters, and we aim to get things ramped back up starting in January. If you have any comments about the materials you have been receiving over the last year or have recommendations for how you would like us to stay in contact with you throughout the upcoming year, please feel free to let us know. We would love your feedback.
*Do you like weekly emails or is a monthy email enough?
*Do you like the monthy printed materials that were being sent?
*Do you like the quarterly mailed newsletter?
*Do you have any other suggestions of what you'd like to get periodically from us?
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A No-Brainer Option
for Your Liquid or "Dead" Money
Lake Norman Magazine, December 2013
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Over and over we hear folks complain about how sick and tired they are of banks paying virtually no interest on your savings, checking accounts, and CD's. You want to have a certain amount of money safe and liquid, but you just can't seem to make any interest on that money.
We often like to say, "There has been a war declared on (senior) savers"! And man, is it ever frustrating! Unfortunately, it looks like this is not going to change anytime soon. So, what are we suppose to do?
Well, finally the insurance industry has come up with a very attractive alternative that may be the ultimate "no-brainer". Imagine an account with the following benefits:
- Your principal is safe and guaranteed (subject to the claims paying ability of the insurance company).
- Your account is fully liquid at all times (100% access to your account).
- You have a very reasonable expectation to earn 4% - 5% per year average return.
- No income tax on earnings until you withdraw your money. Much like an IRA plan, the earnings are tax deferred.
- Tax-free transfer to your beneficiaries at death (they pay no income tax at all)!
- Long-term care benefits
Wow! That sure sounds like a pretty nice list of benefits for you to enjoy. But like anything else, there has to be some strings attached, right? Well, you would be correct. There are a few strings attached.
Read more...
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Will Gasoline Prices Continue to Fall?
GFPC Thought for the Week (278)
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Synopsis
*Energy independence is a key component to our bull market thesis for U.S. equities, and the recent drop in gasoline prices may prove to support our view further.
*We believe that gasoline prices affect consumer confidence disproportionately to their wallets, so a precipitous decline in prices could mean a dramatic rise in confidence and overall spending.
*U.S. energy companies' continued investment into new technologies that extract domestic oil and natural gas should further increase our competitive positioning in the global energy market.
Read More...
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Is the DIAS Conservative Income
Portfolio Still Conservative?
GFPC Thought for the Week (279)
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Synopsis
*The gradual shift towards higher equity exposure in the DIAS Conservative Income (CI) portfolio has prompted many investors to ask if it is still a conservative portfolio.
*The historical methods for income generation no longer work, particularly in the face of zero interest rates and looming inflation, and we have made changes to keep CI conservative.
*Given recent insight into Fed policy, a return to normalized rates seems even further out than what we had anticipated, and attractive risk-adjusted income will continue to require active management.
Read more...
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All content is intended for informational purposes only. Any guarantees are for insured products only and are dependent on the claims paying abilities of the insurer. All investments carry some risk and you should be advised by your personal financial advidor before implementing any strategies discussed, as they are not suitable for everyone.
JDS Wealth Management Corporation's outgoing and incoming e-mails are electronically archived and subject to review and/or disclosure to someone other than the recipient. We cannot accept requests for securities transactions or other similar instructions through e-mail. We cannot ensure the security of information e-mailed over the Internet, so you should be careful when transmitting confidential information such as account numbers and security holdings. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer."
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