Just My Opinion

Having sacrificed a major portion of my retirement funds to the last two George Bush “Market Adjustments”, I was anxious to read the advertised feature in our local paper advising us on how to choose a Financial Advisor.  Finally!  (Though perhaps too late for many of us.)  This is not a decision to take lightly, like choosing a used car salesman.

When the article did appear, it stated that it was aimed at investors with funds of $500000 or more, which eliminates most of us, but it did contain some seemingly good advice.  Those fortunate people should look for a financial advisor they like, one they can trust, one with a good track record.  (See how simple it is?)  Then,  they need to research that prospective advisor’s past investment choices, discuss with him their own retirement needs, and develop a program with him that fits those needs.  Sound advice, but it would seem to me that one would need to know more about the investment market than the advisor, in which case one would not need an advisor at all, right?  Hmmmmmm.

For the rest of us, those with remaining funds of -0- to $500000, let’s look at some requirements for choosing a financial advisor to handle our retirement funds, based on recent history and our own experience.  First, and most important, find an advisor who is not already in jail or under indictment.  Second, do some research and make sure that he has been in business more than 30 days.  Third, when discussing investment goals and retirement plans, make it clear just whose retirement you are planning: yours or his.

My own advisor (with a major “bullish” firm we shall not name, took his retirement funds shortly after 9/11 and fled to Florida.  I’m still not sure where my funds went, but they disappeared at about the same time.  Choose an advisor you can trust?  The above trusted rep was replaced by a fresh-faced recruit recently out of college, complete with a shiny new Apple computer.  My remaining retirement funds suffered, until I removed them from his company.  It also bothered me to see that company’s CEO pay himself multi-million dollar bonuses each year, while my funds dwindled.

The moral here, in my experience, is that choosing a financial advisor is much like picking a car salesman, an ebay seller, or a vacuum cleaner salesman.  The waters are mighty murky out there, especially in recent months, since all rules were removed.  Take your pick, pay your money, and take your chances.  Someone is sure to make money, and it may even be you.  But stay away from your brother-in-law and his advice.  My Daddy, on the other hand, had survived the Great Depression, and he kept his life savings in a locked metal box under his bed.  Never lost a dime.  Sound example?

Interestingly, I just heard a newsclip of President Obama speaking on Wall Street, asking those financial experts to stop stealing their investors’ funds for a while in order to let them recover.  Why not give that a try? Let the investor regain some lost confidence.   Of course they refused.

Just My Opinion.

Tags: advice, depression, financial advisor, investment, money, retirement, stock market, stocks

As more and more of us start feeling the aftershocks of President Bush’s Economic Development Plan, many people who have never been unemployed find themselves turning to their unemployment benefits to help pay the bills and stay afloat financially for a while longer.  Just hang on and hope things will improve.

Many of you who are facing unemployment for the first time should be aware that these unemployment checks, small as they are, are fully taxable for federal, and perhaps state, income taxes.  Yes, even though you may still be out of work come next april, even though your benefits may have run out, even though your income may have run out, your friendly IRS will still be looking for a portion of that income.  Just a little extra “kick in the teeth” for those who are already down.  If you have not had taxes withheld from your weekly checks, or set aside some money to cover these taxes, be prepared to pay.

Of course, the IRS can be understanding, and willing to arrange for installment payments or other terms, but if you no longer have an income, this could still be a problem.  Be Prepared!

Tags: economy, financial woes, income tax, tax advice, tax preparation, taxes, unemployed, unemployment

I’m not really sure if these guys are local, regional, or world-wide, but a new retail chain just arrived in our area, calling themselves Ollie’s Outlet.  They allegedly sell factory overruns, closeouts, discontinued items, etc at bargain prices.

Now I am not one to turn down a bargain, so, being in their area last Saturday, we stopped in at Ollie’s, along with a few thousand other folks.  Buy it quickly, people, as I predict Ollie will not be staying long.  They did stock a large variety of large and small items, displayed in no particular order.  Good prices on their beef jerky!

However, we found a small room fan at a good price, and needing one, gave it a try.  The box (all the boxes) was pretty beat up, but the fan appeared ok when we assembled it.  OK until we turned it on, when the blade detached from the shaft with a lot of loud noises.  No injuries though. Back to Ollie’s.

The Army was very cordial and helpful about the return; you almost got the feeling they were expecting us.  So long as we were there, we opted to look around a bit.  I then discovered a Remington cordless electric shaver at a bargain price-box on this one looked like new.  I owned a Remington rechargable years ago, and liked it, so I decided to try this one.  When we got home and opened the package to charge the charger, I discovered that the shaver was full of unidentified whiskers!  Hmmm.  To me, that indicates that (1) The shaver is not new, and the previous owner was unhappy with it.  (2) Perhaps the shaver does not shave.  (3) Perhaps the charger does not charge.  Back to Ollie’s again.  This will be the last trip.

Now I am not opposed to buying used items.  I have frequented garage sales and thrift shops for years.  But if your product is used, sell it as used! In all fairness, we also purchased a 4-slice toaster which appears new.  The only strange feature is that the 18-inch power cord comes out of the bottom front, but hey. Sorry, Ollie, I will not be back, and I doubt that you will be around for long.  That’s Just My Opinion.

Tags: bargains, damaged goods, foolish, junk, Ollie's retail

Like our medical insurance, it is not often we get to see our auto insurance in action, and yes, we like it that way. As New York requires most of us to insure our vehicles, we tend to randomly choose an insurer- there is not really much difference pricewise or coveragewise among the majors.  Go with a broker you like, or go with the lovable little lizard or gerbil or whatever who does their ads. We pay our mandatory premiums, which seem to increase every year whether we have a claim or not, and hope we won’t be arbitrarily cancelled.

Recently, I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to experience the auto insurance system, with no injuries involved.  Interesting.  My daughter’s Honda was struck and destroyed by a hit & run driver on an Albany street.  Fortunately, she was not in the car.  Also, fortunately, the kamikaze driver left his license plate among the debris, as he rushed to the hospital, and the police found him quickly and deservedly issued him a book of citations.

Strangely enough, the police would not release their accident report for 5-6 days, but once we obtained the insurance information, both our insurance company (Allstate), and the other driver’s (Progressive) were very co-operative and helpful, and, our car being totally demolished, we received a fair and just settlement in just a few days.  By that time, we had found a good replacement car, so all ended well. The system does work, albeit with much duplication of effort.

Having been heavily involved in this process, I could, and will, offer up a couple of suggestions to reduce the paperwork.  Other than the initial police report, we were required to search out online and file a complete accident report to the DMV (within 10 days),  as well as 2 written reports and a couple of verbal reports with each of the insurance companies.  Enough already with the duplication!  I cannot imagine what it would be like for a driver who suffered injuries in an accident.

Rather than making the innocent victim complete multiple accident reports to every authority involved, it would make more sense to me, in this highly technological age, for the police department involved to complete one report with all the necessary information, then file it online, with a copy to the Motor Vehicle Department, at the same time making all that information available to all insurance companies concerned.  Unlike myself, with my limited experience with accidents, a professional police report prepared by professionals would provide the DMV and insurance companies with all the required details of who, what, when, where, how, and possibly even why.  Instantly.  No fuss, no hassle.  Would it be that difficult to co-ordinate and disseminate all that information in an organized manner?

To add to the comedy, two weeks after everything was settled, we received a letter from our insurance company, informing us that they were diligently trying to find a salvage buyer for our damaged vehicle (which they never had), which should not take more than 60 to 90 days, after which they would send us prompt payment, unless, of course, we were partly at fault!  Hello?  One would think they would at least be in communication within their own organization.  And all this will surely generate another premium increase, even though Allstate incurred no more expense than the cost of a couple of stamps.  It is great to see a system in action, but it could use some work.  But that’s Just My Opinion.

Tags: accident claim, Add new tag, auto accident, duplication, frustration, insurance, paperwork

Here is a quick tip for those folks who, like me, use a PC but are not really technologically proficient.  A couple of weeks ago, I lost my CD drive – just disappeared from my computer like it was never there.  I could insert a CD, close and open the little door, but nothing happened.  No software, no drivers, no CD-ROM.  No music, no CD photos, no new software installation.  Hmmmmm.  I did not look forward to dealing with the usual array of Dell and Microsoft Third-World Tech Persons, but what to do?  Tried loading new drivers – would not work.  Computer said everything was ok.

Fortunately, my tech-proficient daughter was coming to visit, so I saved it for her.  She did some online research, and quickly isolated the culprit.  Seems that a while back I received an email with video attachment from a “friend”, and when I tried to play it, something called ITunes, from Apple no less, offered to download their software, which would enhance my computer’s music, video, movie, DVD experience.  I went for it.  Right!

But apparently, Apple’s programmers decided that if you had ITunes to download their movies, music, etc, (for a price, by the way), your computer had no need for those old, obsolete CD’s.  Delete.  Delete.  Delete.  Possibly there was an option box for me to uncheck during the download, but I missed it.  So, I was faced with a choice of ITunes or my CD drive.  Bye, Apple. I won’t be downloading any $.99 music, and I can play my own.  And that’s Just My Opinion.

Tags: Apple, CD, computers, Dell, downloads, foolish, ITunes, movies, music, virusi

Many of you are familiar with Croghan Bologna, which is a summer-sausage type delicacy I can best describe as similar to the world famous Lebanon bologna but a bit coarser and tastier.  It has been made for many years in the small Adirondack foothills town of Croghan, NY, which you might call a suburb of Lowville.  I grew up on Croghan Bologna, and it hasn’t changed much in the past 60 years, though the makers have changed and evolved.  It used to be our favorite deer-hunting lunches when I was a boy and hunting with my Dad and brothers: a chunk of “Crog” and one of Mom’s buttered biscuits and maybe a candy bar for dessert.

We still enjoy Crog when we can, but now there is something even better.  Our hunting group was lucky enough to harvest a few deer last fall, and we trimmed out a hundred pounds or so of the stew meat and such and had it made into bologna.  Now I have had venison summer sausage, breakfast sausage, and such, but was never really crazy about any of them.  Ed’s Meat Market, in Indian River, which is a suburb of Croghan, came up with their own bologna recipe, which in my opinion is even better than the original.  Maybe it is the venison (considered health food by some); maybe because it was ground finer with less filler; maybe the secret ingredients – whatever, it is more like the Croghan Bologna I remember as a boy, and a real treat.  Next year, if I harvest a deer, I think I will grind everything but the loins and antlers!

And that’s Just My Opinion.

Tags: Add new tag, crog, croghan, croghan bologna, deer hunting, lowville, lunch, sausage, snack, treat, Tug Hill, venison, wildlife photos

Tags: income tax, IRS, ripoff, sales, selling, tax preparation, tax software, taxes, turbotax, unhappy buyers

For Fun & Profit

Actually our experience with Ebay selling over the past 6 years has been more fun than profit.  We are retired, enjoy playing on the internet, and got into ebay pretty much by accident.  We were having a big garage sale, and our daughter was home from college.  She asked if she could sort out a few of the t-shirts we were trying to sell for 50 cents, and first thing we knew she had taken photos and listed them on ebay, and was selling them for $10-15 each.  Hmmmm.

So with her help, we got started in ebay selling, with clothing, books, knives, and things we had around the house.  We needed a digital camera, so we looked for things we could sell to raise some money for a camera.  I had a collection of books and hunting knives, so we sold some of those.  We got into buying t-shirts, books, and jerseys at garage sales, thrift stores, library book sales, wherever.  It is fun to list an item you have paid a buck or so for and watch the bids climb to $10, 20, even higher.  We use the proceeds for our bingo fund.

There have been some remarkable successes over the years.  I had a hunting knife I bought for fifty cents at a garage sale, used it for 20 years, and sold it for $900.  We have bought shirts for $1 and sold them as high as $100.  I sold a collectible hunting book for $200, then found another copy for $2 and sold it for $325.  An old empty shotgun sell box sold for $95.  Those make it interesting.

Ebay selling is not difficult, if one follows their rules, and knows the basics of computers.  We take our own photos, upload them to our server, then use them on the auction listing.  Before listing an item, we like to research similar ones that have sold or are selling.  We never copy another seller’s listing information or photos.  Good clear pictures and a good description are very important, as well as details on shipping cost, payment methods, etc.  For example, if you tell bidders that you accept cash, ebay will cancel your auction.  Not allowed.  Paypal costs a little more, but works best for buyer and seller.

Give it a try, and have fun.

And that is Just My Opinion.

Tags: auctions, e-bay auction, Ebay, internet, sales, selling

I have been doing photographs for many years, starting with a little German 35mm I bought while in the army.  I moved to a Minolta with zoom lens, then got into digitals, which are great.  I like to photograph nature and animals and wildlife, so need a long distance lens that works with low light and fast speeds.  My first digital was an Olympus, then I found the Kodak zoom digital, starting with a Z740.

I am told that Nikon and Canon and some of those have some fantastic long lens digitals, but they are away out of my price range for casual shooting.  My Kodak 740 was reasonable priced, took beautiful photos, and had a fairly good zoom, though it was near impossible to use when fully zoomed except on a tripod.  It also did not handle low lighting well, such as evening or cloudy days, being only 4 or 5 megapixels.

Kodak’s latest version, which I just bought, is the Z1015IS, which is 10 megapixels and a 15X zoom, which multiplies to 75X.  Reaches right out there.  I have not really had a chance to use all the features yet, but with the photos I have taken, the colors and clarity are excellent, and it seems to work really well in evening light conditions. Also it seems much less sensitive to movement distortion than my older kodak.   I especially like the burst feature, which allows a series of photos with one shot.  I have yet to try the video.  There are so many gadgets and features I may never get to try them all.  They put a lot in there for the price-under $300.

The one feature I may have problems with is the power, which comes from a rechargable battery pack, and they even provide the charger.  Only drawback is that it takes about 3 hours to recharge.  From what I have read so far, it does not work with AA batteries, as my old kodak did.  Perhaps I can find a spare battery pack.  Also, kodak provides a lens cap which pops off when the camera is turned on.  Nice feature, but this makes the cap very difficult to keep in place when you are carrying or storing the camera.

Overall, if one is looking for a very efficient digital camera with a powerful zoom and a reasonable price, you really should consider the “Z”.  This model has not been on the market long, but I believe it will be very popular.  I do not print a lot of my photos, as I prefer to download them to my computer, process and store them, but the kodak also features (sold separately) the easyshare developing and printing attachment, allowing you to just set the camera on the easyshare, download your photos, and print them right away.  Neat.

And there you have it: Just My Opinion.

Tags: digital camera, kodak, photography, wildlife photos, zoom lens camera