I encourage you to use the Golden Rule of Investing in 2010

Resolve – if you have not applied the Golden Rule of Investing to your retirement assets – then do it! What’s the Golden Rule of Investing?? It is simply a ‘rule of thumb’ but in my opinion, it’s a good rule – it is a guideline to determine allocation of money – especially valued retirement money from the risk of loss in stock and mutual fund markets. AND it is in stock and mutual fund markets where MOST of retirement money is – that’s where 401K money is – that’s where IRA money is – it’s in stock and mutual fund markets. It is subject to risk of loss with market downturns. We all know the losses of 2008. Now with some recovery in 2009, I encourage you to use the Golden Rule of Investing in 2010 – apply the Golden Rule to your investment accounts.

What is the Golden Rule? – simply subtract your age from the number 100 – the result is the MAXIMUM percentage of your retirement money that should be in the stock and mutual fund markets. At age 50 from 100 is 50%. That’s the maximum percentage of retirement money that should be exposed to risk. At age 60 from 100 = 40% is maximum – At age 70 from 100 = 30% is the maximum – at age 80 from 100 = 20%.

Have you applied the Golden Rule of investing to your retirement money? Make this your resolution for 2010. Put pencil to paper and determine how close you come to this Golden Rule guideline. Folks – take control of your retirement money by taking this action. If you were within these guidelines prior to 2008, you enjoyed the comfort of safety during that very negative year. If you were within these guidelines for 2009 – then a portion of your assets gained with the nice growth we had in 2009.

Where are we headed for 2010 – who knows? What can we do about market volatility? We can take action to gain control of our money by first applying this resolution for 2010 – apply the Golden Rule to your valued retirement money. That’s resolution number 1.

Resolution number 2 – if you are not yet retired – check with your 401K or other retirement plan to determine if you have the right to an In-Service distribution. (Sometimes called a non-hardship withdraw). Do you remember what an In Service distribution is?? An In-Service Distribution is a strategy that allows you greater flexibility in applying the Golden Rule of Investing…IF YOUR PLAN ALLOWS the In-Service Distribution. The distribution – if provided by your plan – will allow you to rollover or transfer a portion of your 401K or other employer provided plan to an individual IRA while you are still employed. The benefit of this action is to provide additional diversity and greater control of retirement assets. You continue to participate in the retirement plan. If the employer matches a portion of your 401K contributions, that match will continue. But after completing the In-Service Distribution, you now have 2 retirement accounts – the 401K and an individual IRA. Remember the old saying of not having all your eggs in one basket? In-Service Distributions or Non-Hardship withdraws – if allowed by your plan – helps to accomplish diversity and control.

There are many companies in the Quad City area that allow In-Service Distributions. We have a listing of many of these companies. We encourage persons not yet retired but moving toward retirement – Baby Boomers – that’s you – to look into the In-Service Distribution as one of the retirement planning options available to you. The resolution for 2010 is to simply take action to determine IF the In-Service Distribution option is available for you. How do you determine if In-Service Distributions are available? Simply call the 800 number on your retirement statement or call us to check that list.

Wish you the best for 2010.

This month we are going to talk about something that… I think… will shock you. I also think it will change the way you live the rest of your life – - Making you healthier, happier… and… possibly adding countless years to your life. That something is what I call…
Simple-Graceful Solutions

Here’s a quick, true story to see if I’m right: Back when the United States first started exploring space, the government discovered it had a big problem. A problem so big, it hired Anderson Consulting to solve it. Anderson took ten years and spent $12,000,000 (yes, that’s 12 million dollars) of the tax payer’s money to solve. And boy did they ever solve this “big” problem. So, what was this problem that took ten years and $12 million dollars of your hard earned money to solve?…
Astronauts Couldn’t Write!

Sure, they knew how to write… but… they couldn’t write with the meager “earthling” writing utensils they were given to use. You see, without earth’s gravity, the pens they were using were worthless. Pens need the pull of gravity to draw the ink down to the paper. So, after all that time and money, Anderson came up with a pen that would write it space. It would also write upside down, under water, on practically any surface and temperature known to man. The wonders of modern science are… Truly Amazing!!!

That is until you hear this…The Russians were faced with the same problem. Did they spend $12 million? No. Did it take ten years? Not quite. You see the Russian’s solved their problem with a simple, cheap… 5¢ Pencil!

Speaking of simple and cheap… I just looked up “simple” in my Oxford Thesaurus and it said… Easy, uncomplicated, straightforward, effortless. Then I looked up “graceful” and it said… elegant, refined, smooth. Put the two together and you have a simple-graceful solution. Obviously NOT what the U.S. did… but… what the Russian’s diWhat does all this have to do with you? Glad you asked. Right now, we are all faced with a situation that is in desperate need of a simple-graceful solution

We all know there is a healthcare crisis in the United States. Insurance costs are out of control. Doctors in New York City have actually gone on strike to protest their malpractice rates. Medicare will eventually run out of money… I think sooner than later.

Let’s take a look at some shocking facts about our healthcare system in the United State of America…

The World Health Organization (WHO) rated 13 countries for 16 available health indicators. The U.S. was found to spend the most money on healthcare… but… ranked 12th out of 13. That’s…
Second To Last In Overall Health!!!

Here’s how we compared:
• 13th (last) for low-birth-weight percentages.
• 13th for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall.
• 11th for post-neonatal mortality
• 13th for years of potential life lost
• 11th for life expectancy at 1 year for females. 12th for males.
• 10th for life expectancy at 15 for females. 12th for males.

Do you understand what this means? We came in last place for our babies making it to see their first birthday.

The study also looked at lifestyle factors such as smoking, fat and alcohol consumption. It found that the U.S. actually smokes less eats less fat and drinks less alcohol than most of the countries that have better health than us. So what could be the cause?

These facts reported in The Journal Of American Medical Association demonstrate the REAL cause of our healthcare crisis: All these are deaths per year…
• 12,000 Unnecessary surgery
• 7,000 Medication errors in hospitals
• 20,000 Other errors in hospitals
• 80,000 Infections in hospitals
• 106,000 Non-error, negative effects of drugs

These total 250,000 deaths per year making doctor’s treatments and mistakes the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S.

So what is the “Simple-Graceful” solution? Well, let’s look at Japan…who ranked #1 in overall health. Dr. Joseph Mercola a medical doctor at John’s Hopkins University says, “Japan seems to have benefited from recognizing that technology is wonderful, but just because you diagnose something with it, one should not be committed to undergoing treatment in the traditional paradigm. Their health statistics reflect this aspect of their philosophy as much of their treatment is not treatment at all, but loving care rendered in the home. Care, not treatment, is the answer. Drugs, surgery and hospitals are rarely the answer to chronic health problems. Facilitating the God-given healing capacity that all of us have is the key. Improving diet, exercise, and lifestyle are basic.”

What Dr. Mercola just said is what Chiropractic has been saying for 108 years. The bottom line is: Drugs and surgery, which are necessary for many emergency, life saving situations… NEVER create true health. What is true health?

Dorland’s Medical dictionary defines health “as a state of optimum physical, mental and social well being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” While the medical model is only concerned with the treatment of symptoms, the goal of Chiropractic care is long term wellness care to allow you and your family to reach your in born potential.

Chiropractic care allows you to live up to your genetic potential, facilitating the God-given healing capacity in all of us. It is important to have routine Chiropractic check-ups to handle undetected problems BEFORE they become medical emergencies. How’s that old saying go… An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

So the burning question for you is…

Are You Gonna Choose

The 5¢ Pencil…

Or… The $12,000,000 Pen?

And don’t forget, if you ever have any questions or concerns about your health, talk to us. Contact us with your, questions. We’re here to help, and don’t enjoy anything more than participating in your life long good health!