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Greetings!
Happy Holidays to you and your family. We wish you all
a healthy prosperous New Year ahead.
| Take Our Quiz! |
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Our question of the quarter is:
What was the settlement amount that Wall Street firms
agreed to pay to settle securities fraud claims this year?
a. $125 million
b. $550 million
c. $1.4 billion
d. $1.85 billion
If you answered C, you're correct. The largest
securities firms in the industry agreed to a $1.4 billion
settlement on December 20th. Theses firms included
Merrill Lynch - $200 million, Citigroup - $400 million,
Credit Suisse - $200 million, Morgan Stanley - $125
million, Goldman Sachs - $110 million and Lehman
Brothers, JP Morgan, Chase, Bear Sterns, UBS Warburg
and Deutsche Bank will each pay $80 million. Each of
these institutions admitted no wrongdoing. However,
one would have to ponder why any firms who did
nothing wrong would agree to such hefty settlements.
And let's not forget the 250 Prudential Securities clients
who were awarded $11.7 million in compensatory
damages and $250 million in punitive damages in a class
action suit against the company.
If you know anyone who is currently engaged in
business with any of these brokerage houses, please
share this information. At Coastal Financial Planning,
Inc. our fee-only approach removes the commissioned
bias, which is commonplace in brokerage houses.
Read on... »
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| Laughing All The Way to the Bank |
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With all the turbulence in the markets over the last
three years, we thought this quarter's newsletter would
take a humorous view on new investment terminology
that has resulted from the scandals in the marketplace
and the bear market.
CEO - Chief Embezzlement Officer
Broker - what a broker has made you
Momentum Investing - the art of buying high and selling
low
Value Investing - the art of buying low and selling lower
Bull Market - a random market movement causing an
investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
Standard & Poor - your life in a nutshell
Full Story »
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| From Angela Thomson, CFP. |
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Angela Thomson is the founder of Coastal Financial
Planning. She is a graduate of Bryant College. She
completed her CFP® course work in conjunction with
Northeastern University, and is a CFP® licensee.
Additionally, she is a registered investment advisor.
She serves as an adjunct professor at Bryant College
teaching the CFP® Program.
Mrs. Thomson hosted Public Access Television's weekly
series, "Your Money", and has conducted various
workshops covering women and investing, funding
college education, retirement planning and investing in
uncertain times.
She has published several articles including "Your Young
Investor", "Retirement Savings and Investments for
Women" and "Weaving Your Way Through the IRA
Maze", and is frequently quoted in the Providence
Journal.
Angela Thomson serves as an officer for the Financial
Planning Association of Rhode Island. She also
volunteers as a Money Mentor, working in conjunction
with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Treasurers
office and also with the Rhode Island Chapter of the
Financial Planning Association.
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| Social Security Update |
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The news isn't getting any better.
There is continued concern with the stability of the
Social Security system. Social security works on a
system, which relies upon the current working
generation to pay for the incoming retirees. Currently,
there are 3.4 employed persons for every retiree. By
2030 there will only be 2.1 workers paying for each
retiree, causing a tremendous strain on the system. At
some point there will be either a reduced distribution of
social security benefits, an extension of what is
considered normal retirement age, perhaps to age 70,
or a needs based plan, mirroring a welfare type program
for retirees.
With any of these scenarios, the only secure way to
meet with retirement needs is to save now. The "what
ifs" are still a guess and it is imperative that everyone
takes advantage of employer sponsored plans such as
401k's, 403b;s, SEP's, SIMPLE's or very basic annual
contributions to IRA's. Save early and maximize
contributions to have a comfortable retirement.
Find out more....
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