Back on "The Biz Connection" Radio Show!

On Saturday, April 14, 2012, Margaret Wittkopp, Jeremy Burri and Paulette Ruminski will all be featured on THE BIZ CONNECTION! 

The Biz Connection is a new radio program airing every Saturday at 11 AM Central Standard Time at WJUB 1420 AM Radio, The Breeze.  The program is aimed at the business community along the Lakeshore in Sheboygan County and Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.   Each week, hosts Jim Rosetti and Ron Nielsen learn about their guest's business and its ups and downs and discover ways business owners can learn from the experiences of their guests. 

Margaret was featured on the show in January. This time, Financial Coach and Tax Advisor, Jeremy Burri, along with Insurance Advisor Coach Paulette Ruminski, will join Margaret in the studio at "The Breeze' to talk about Veritas' unique suite of services and how our integrated approach can help indivuals and businesses with financial decisions.  

If you aren't near a radio, you can listen online by clicking here on THE BREEZE and then clicking on the little play arrow that says "LIsten Live in HI-FI."  

You can also find the show by going to the website for The Biz Connection.  The Biz Connection guys are on Facebook too.

 Call in during the show with questions for Margaret, Jeremy or Paulette at 920-246-9582.

A Team of Professionals in One Location--that's VERITAS!

At Veritas we believe our unique suite of services

• Investing
• Taxes
• Healthcare Protection
• Legal Shield

takes the "overwhelm" out of these complex decisions for you and your employees.  No one else we know offers all of this under one roof.  Do you?

Lies and Truths #12 Less Can Be More

Here is the next installment in our series, a short but powerful TRUTH:  

"He who trades less wins."

A broker's "job" is to get you to buy and sell as much as possible.  That is the primary way he or she gets paid.  This is a huge conflict of interest because what is good for you is bad for the broker.

Would you like to explore ways to get OUT of this trap?  Call Margaret or Jeremy at 920-893-5262. 

To see the other "Lies and Truths" posts, click on the link at the bottom of this post.  And if you would like to receive a free copy of this book, just call to let us know you read this post. We will be happy to send you a copy (unless all our remaining books are gone).

Eligible for Medicare Soon? Mailbox Overflowing?

I recently visited the home of someone about to celebrate her 65th birthday.  She had asked me to help her decide on a Medicare related plan that would work well for her.  I sat down at her kitchen table and then she brought out a pile of mailings from at least ten different insurance companies--a pile about eight inches high!

Does the mailbox pictured seem a bit like yours?

Or perhaps you are like another Baby Boomer who recently called saying, "I'll be honest.  I didn't want to talk to an insurance agent.  I spent half a day at the Medicare.gov site and another day looking up companies and plans online and I still don't know what to do.  Can you help?"

I could.

We spent some time exploring key points of purchasing a traditional supplement versus an advantage plan (also called Part C of Medicare.)  He decided a Medicare Advantage Plan with drug coverage included was the better choice for him.  We compared a couple of popular plans available in Wisconsin, looked at which doctors he visited, and a wise choice was clear. 

And the lady with the pile of mail?  A few key questions helped her decide that she wanted to purchase a traditional supplement and add drug coverage. She purchased the lowest-cost plan available in our state.  As I headed to the door to leave, she asked to give me a hug as she tossed her pile of mail in the trash.  "Thank you," she said with a sigh of relief.  "I feel so much better."  

Here is one more scenario.  It happened just about a week ago.  A caller said, "I want an Advantage Plan.  Can you help me decide which one would work best for me?"  She came in to my office and in about an hour she had made a decision and completed the application.  I asked her how she had so clearly known what to do, and she smiled and said, "Well, I attended the Medicare and You class that you presented along with Paulette Ruminski.  It was so helpful that I knew right away what type of plan I wanted.  I just didn't know which company to pick."  One simple question had clarified the choice.

If you would like to attend our Medicare and You class, just call us at 920-893-5262 or email me at
dorcas.george@veritasinvesting.com and I'll save you a seat.
The next class, which will include a light meal, is on Wednesday, February 22nd at 8 AM or 5:30 PM, right at Veritas, 506 E. Mill Street, Suite 101, Plymouth, Wisconsin.  

The class will be offered later in the year as well.

If you are a Facebook user, you can sign up by clicking HERE.

If you would like to read a little more about Medicare, you can check out an article I wrote HERE.

If you are unable to join us but live in Sheboygan, Plymouth, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Chilton (or other towns in the area) and would like to compare options, we will be happy to meet with you. Our independent status allows us to help you compare several popular plans to see what works best for you. 

Dorcas George

Insurance Advisor Coach

Neither Dorcas George nor Paulette Ruminski nor Veritas Financial nor its agents are affiliated with the Federal Medicare Program. The classes mentioned are educational events only and no plan specific information will be shared. If you contact Dorcas asking to compare plans, you are giving permission for her to contact you  for the purpose of insurance solicitation.

What Did We Learn in 2011?

A Year of Stormy Seas

Every year has its ups and downs, but 2011 had more than most, creating unusual volatility in the financial markets. We could describe it as a bit like being tossed on the ocean in a stormy sea, swooping up one moment, and plunging down the next. This volatility left many investors gasping for breath, at least figuratively, and maybe even feeling a little seasick!

The S&P 500 is only one of several indexes, but we’ll use it to illustrate these market ups and downs. For example, in a two-week period from July 25 through August 8, the S&P 500 lost almost 17% of its value. On November 30, it gained 4.3% in a single day.1 Yet by the end of the year, the S&P 500 was just 0.04 points lower than where it started—the smallest annual change in history!2
 
Global Events

The pro-democracy movement in the Middle East began in late 2010 with events in Tunisia and spread to Egypt and Libya in early 2011. Economically, the Libyan conflict was particularly significant because of the country’s key role as an oil producer. On February 22, after fighting broke out in Tripoli, the S&P 500 dropped 2.1%. This was its largest single-day decline since the previous summer. Crude oil prices rose 8.6% to reach $93.57 per barrel, the highest level in more than two years.3  Oil prices continued to rise through the end of April, when they began a six-month decline. The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March devastated the Japanese economy and caused humanitarian and economic concern around the globe. The S&P 500 dropped for three consecutive days the following week, but it quickly recovered and went on to reach its high for the year on April 29.4 The real impact of the Japanese disaster for the United States played out over a longer period of time because of the decline in the flow of Japanese products.

Debt Concerns

The steep decline of the S&P 500 in late July and early August, mentioned at the beginning of this article, coincided with acrimonious debate over the federal deficit and raising the debt ceiling. The decline continued for a week after a last-minute agreement was reached, fueled by dissatisfaction over both the outcome and the unprecedented downgrading of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.5

The United States was not alone in struggling with debt in 2011. The European debt crisis cast a shadow over the global economy and contributed to many more ups and downs for the markets. After Greece announced it would be unable to meet its financial obligations, the S&P 500 hit its low for the year on October 3rd.6 Less than a month later, on October 27, news that European leaders had forged an agreement to address the Greek issue helped spark a 3.4% increase that contributed to the largest one-month rally of the S&P 500 since 1991.7

Obviously, world events can have a dramatic effect on financial markets. However, these effects typically dissipate fairly quickly. Long-term trends are rarely, if ever, driven by a single event.

Rather than focusing on market volatility, it may be more helpful to look at the long-term growth of the U.S. economy. In the third quarter of 2011, real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.8%. Although less than the 2010 growth rate, this was a substantial improvement, suggesting that the economy has continued to recover, albeit slowly, from the Great Recession of 2008–09.8

Persistent unemployment affects millions of Americans and has been one of the most significant drags on the economy and financial markets, so perhaps the best economic news of 2011 was that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in December, the lowest rate since February 2009. If this trend continues, it may bode well for 2012.8

It will take some time to fully understand the economic impact of the stormy financial seas caused by domestic and global events of 2011.

So what can we take away from all this? Is it time to get out of the water and tie your boat to the dock?

Absolutely not!

I hope you saw from the examples here that domestic and global events are random and unpredictable. Many investors did see some losses in their portfolios last year, but consider this: If you got out of the market because the S&P 500 took a 17% dive, you missed the subsequent upturn. Would you, or anyone, be able to accurately predict the optimum time for getting back in?

Volatile times call for a disciplined, steady plan of action, a time to make sure you are truly diversified, and not (as is the case for far too many American investors) simply holding a lot of “stuff.” The only way to know this is to take a good look inside the funds in your portfolio.

Times of feeling a bit “seasick” are NOT times for an emotional response. The wisest course is to follow a sound, disciplined investment strategy based on your long-term goals, personal situation, and risk tolerance.  To schedule a look "under the hood" of your investments, or to talk further about this, call Jeremy Burri or me at 920-893-5262.

Margaret Wittkopp
Financial Advisor/Coach
Investment Advisor Representative

1)Yahoo! Finance, 2012, for the period 12/31/2010 to 12/31/2011. The S&P 500 Composite Index is generally considered to be representative of U.S. stocks.
2) CNNMoney, January 3, 2012
4) The Washington Post, July 13, 2011
5) Standard & Poor’s, August 5, 2011
6) CNNMoney, October 3, 2011
7) CNNMoney, October 27, 2011; October 31, 2011
8) U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2011

The information in this article is not intended as tax or legal advice, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek tax or legal advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material partly prepared by Emerald Connect, Inc.


The painting, A Ship in Stormy Seas, is by Mantague Dawson.  To purchase it, click here.

Lies and Truths #11 You Are Already Rich

Here is another TRUTH in our series from the book "The Lies My Broker Taught Me and 101 Truths About Money & Investing."

TRUTH:  You are Already Rich!

"In comparison to all of the humanity that has inhabited this planet in the past and today, you already have vast amounts of wealth available to you.  You have access to food, clothing, education, shelter, technology, and freedom; unimaginable to the masses in the world today and suffering without running water, health care, food, shelter, or sanitary living conditions.  Even the kings of a thousand years ago could scarcely have imagined the wealth of your kind.  Indeed, you are already rich."

So, maybe all of us in this country are really part of the 1%?  Something to think about.  Let's live today in an awareness of how RICH we are! 

We have a few copies of this book to give away.  Just call 920-893-5262 and tell us you read this post and we will send one out to you--unless they are all gone.'  If you would like to see all the posts in this series, just click the "Lies and Truths" link at the bottom of this post.

Subtle Differences

I was doing some researching and ran across the website of a very "intelligent" sounding financial advisory firm. Their website is very well done. They advertise that they are fee-only planners, and (like us) are independent. They present a good image. They even have a name in their title that is very much like the name of a firm with which Veritas has a business relationship. The more I looked at their site, the more I felt like they are our clone from another dimension: similar sized staff, articles about market panic, references to Money Smart Week, and a golf event.  If I were an outsider, I would see almost no difference between this firm and Veritas Financial Services.

But then I dug a little deeper. One of their FAQs (frequently asked questions) is about active management. I am quoting their reply directly:

"Active investment management is the use of analytic research, forecasting, experience and expertise to decide what securities to buy or sell and when. This process aims to achieve a greater rate of return than the market by identifying mispriced assets. In contrast, passive investing subscribes to the Efficient Market Hypothesis and promotes index investing based on the premise that it is not possible to beat the market. These are the two main schools of thought in investment management and attract significant debate and contention within the industry and academia.

Actually, there is NO contention amongst academics about which method is best, only on Wall Street. But anyway, here is their next section on "which is best."

We employ an active investment strategy as we feel greater returns can be achieved with this method. While the majority of investors don’t beat the market, our results have shown that it is not impossible.

And something makes them different from "the majority of investors?” This is a common psychological misperception, similar to how over half of drivers think they are “above average.” I continue, from their website:

Our process can be referred to as “tactical asset allocation” [TRANSLATED: “MARKET TIMING”] in which we make changes…based on our current Market Outlook [TRANLATED: “GUESS”]. With these adjustments we aim to add value for our clients by anticipating broad market and economic themes. We also utilize active mutual fund managers…to make the decisions of which specific companies are best poised to profit from these themes. While many tout index funds because of lower expense ratios, our experience [BUT WHAT RESEARCH?] has shown that there are fund managers who are worth the higher cost [ARE THEY INDENTIFIABLE IN ADVANCE?] and we spend a lot of our research time trying to identify those managers and make sure the costs are appropriate for the value provided."

Here is a case of an intelligent-looking firm in all respects that falls victim to the same cancer of active management, and not only that-- MARKET TIMING (ie "tactical asset allocation"). The sad truth is, they interpret mutual fund manager luck in making correct bets as a consistent, repeatable, and predictable skill they can employ for their investors.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Granted, index funds are often held in high esteem for being less expensive, but inexpensive isn't everything. It is also the asset mix that matters. At Veritas, we use structured Free-Market funds and emphasize appropriate asset allocation and true diversification. We do NOT advocate actively-managed funds.

It is highly unlikely that the average investor can decipher and discern these subtle differences. That is why our goal is, week in and week out, to educate you, the investor.

Jeremy Burri
Financial Advisor Coach

Registered Investment Advisor

Employer Fiduciary Liability

Did you know that you can be sued by your employees for the performance (or lack of) and fees in your retirement plan? The Dept of Labor sets clear standards for the structure of retirement plans, yet many employers are unaware of this fact and maintain plans that are OUT of compliance.

Employers are often also under the false assumption that the investment provider is liable for these things or acting as a "fiduciary" along with the employer. Sadly, in most cases the investment provider  is not assuming ANY fiduciary liability, and thus would leave you to fend for yourself (just ask your provider if they are acting as a fiduciary).

In a January 25th class, we'll look at the regulations for employers and how to protect yourself from employee litigation. Additionally, in this class Paulette Ruminski will talk about health insurance issues that may pose a legal threat to employers.

Join us here at Veritas at 7:30 AM for a complimentary breakfast or 11:30 AM for a complimentary lunch.  To register, call 920-893-5262 or email Jo Ann at jo.ann@veritasinvesting.com and we will reserve a space for you.

Jeremy Burri
Financial Advisor Coach

Investment Advisor Representative

IF NOT CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services & Supports Act) — then WHAT?

CLASS, the provision of the 2010 Health Care Reform Act that asked all employers to enroll their employees into a government-run long term care insurance program, has been dissolved.

If you are a business owner, you might be surprised to learn that long-term care benefits now rank as important to employees as life and disability…maybe, in time, even above the healthcare benefits you may currently provide.

Some Myths & Truths about long-term care to consider:


Myth: My employees are not concerned about long-term care benefits.

Truth: 77% of Americans age 30 to 65 think they should know more about long-term care than they currently do.

Myth: Employees do not value this benefit as much as other benefits currently offered to them.
Truth: Employees today, especially if they are Baby Boomers, are vowing to do things differently after seeing their parents’ savings swallowed up by nursing home care, and/or experiencing the stress and financial burden of spouses or children serving as caregivers.

Myth: Medicare will pay for any long-term care needs during retirement.

Truth: Encourage your employees to look at Page 4 of their annual Social Security statement which reads, “Medicare does not pay for long-term care, so you may want to consider options for private insurance”.

Myth: The risk of a financial burden to an employee from benefits an employer currently offers (health, disability, life) supercedes long-term care risks.

Truth: 3 in 900 (.33%) = Odds a having a car accident

21 in 900 (2.3%) = Odds of being admitted to a critical care unit

630 in 900 (70%) = Odds of needing long-term care

Myth: Long-term care is primarily for nursing homes.

Truth: Long term care plans have evolved with much emphasis and greater benefits being placed on staying in your home (even paying family members as caretakers) vs. a nursing facility.

Myth: Long-term care benefits are too expensive.

Truth: Rates are based on age and health (the younger you are and if in good health) the lower the rates will be and why there are many advantages to consider during one’s working years. Also, there are group discounts available, even if offered on a voluntary basis. And, the Wisconsin Partnership Plan offers tax deductions to individuals and business owners who purchase long-term care insurance. The cost may be 100% tax deductible for business owners. Plus, one can purchase “limited pay” policiesso that insurance protection is paid-in-full prior to retirement age.

In the wake of the dissolving of the CLASS Act, however, an urgent question that may remain unanswered is “If not CLASS, then what?

Consider offering Long-Term Care Benefits to your employees. To find out more and explore some options, call me at 920-893-5262.

Paulette Ruminski
Insurance Advisor Coach

Food Pantry Donation

The Plymouth Food Pantry was presented with a check for $2,525 from Plymouth Professional Business Women.   Funds were raised at the group's annual silent auction.  On the far right is VERITAS' office manager, Cathy Knuth.  We are proud to relate that Cathy is the newly-appointed secretary of PBW.