One, Two, or Three Widgets for Your Portfolio:
(Up in the line up--Citadel, Winton, & Brevan Howard)
by John Valentine and Genevieve Valentine
In 2002, we wrote an article entitled “Laissez Bear” that was published in Barron’s magazine. This article discussed investment personalities and the importance of knowing what kind of investor you are. Over the years, we have learned that there are many types of investors. However despite your investment philiosophy, we have found an allocation tool that can meet the needs of all investment personalities.
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California's Financial Crisis: Looking for a Solution
by John Valentine and Matthew White, contributions from Genevieve Valentine
The cover of Barron’s Magazine the week of March 15, 2010 illustrated a retired firefighter and police officer (in uniform) lying on the beach of a tropical island. The words above the illustration read: Investors, Beware. The Barron’s cover and the words above the image struck a chord with me. Being a Californian, I’ve become more and more aware of the budget crisis our state is currently dealing with. As I read the article, which I will discuss in the following paragraphs, I realized it is time to share with you a series of articles that are considered possible solutions to California’s financial crisis. This specific article will focus on the $60 billion dollar unfunded pension liability in California and the $2 trillion dollar municipal-bond crisis America is facing.
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Before the Age of Technology
by Harry Hall, retiree
Although we feel at times technically incompetent, most of us who have been recently retired (or soon to retire), can navigate our computers reasonably well. Our email account fills up daily with literally dozens of 'forwards;' most to do with the aging process, politics, and/or “Beautiful Photographs.” While we were still working, we often were amused at our colleagues and/or subordinates sending us emails instead of just coming across the hall to talk to us, (we may have been guilty, too!). Some of us have joined Face Book and most of us can navigate to E-Bay to look for bargains. However, when it comes to hooking up our home theater systems, many of us rely on the Geek Squad....and we rely on our children (or grandchildren) to help us program our Harmony Universal. We marveled at the 3D Technology displayed in the movie, “Avatar,” but have come to expect that a new widget or computer system will be coming out next week...(like Apple's I-Pad). Indeed, many of us retirees have benefited personally from robotic surgery and/or enhanced medical technology. Computer chips are now in everything!
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A Bit of Humor
 
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