Category Archives: Business Reports

By Debra Verni

It is that time of year when parents pack up their college bound child and drop them off at college.  When making a “to do” list of what our children need to be prepared for college the last thing on a parent’s mind is estate planning or advance directives.  

Have you thought about the fact that now that your child is 18, you can no longer make decisions for them, as they are an “adult” in the eyes of the law?

Although we all know, “adulting” is overrated, just the same, your child is an adult and you can no longer make financial or health care decisions for them.  

Why is this important to know?  When my son went away to college, I made sure he executed a health care proxy that appointed me as his agent.  I gave a copy of his health care proxy to student health services and after a few trips to the ER at the local hospital; they had it on file as well.  Without a health care proxy on file, health care providers did not have anyone to contact if my son could not make medical decisions for himself. The health care proxy gave me the ability to make health care decisions for him if he could not make decisions for himself.

By Jodi Tamburrino, RD, CDN

Whether you’re returning to the office or working from home, the change in seasons is the perfect opportunity to reset after a busy summer and prepare for a healthier fall.

Stay hydrated.

Although you may be tempted to indulge in extra caffeine as you readjust to a new schedule, what you should be drinking is water—and lots of it. Water eliminates excess calories by filling you up so you do not snack unnecessarily between meals. Adequate hydration also prevents constipation, flushes toxins from the body, promotes kidney function, and lubricates muscles and joints. 

When it comes to daily intake, Mayo Clinic recommends 15.5 cups (124 ounces) of water for men and 11.5 cups (92 ounces) of water for women. If you struggle with hydrating throughout your day, here are some things you might want to try:

By Stephen Kyne, CFP

With market indices at, or near, all-time highs, it’s natural for some to wonder if they can go any higher? Never mind the fact that every all-time high has necessarily been prefaced by every other all-time high, loss-aversion makes many investors wary of a cliff. This is when you may start hearing the word “correction” tossed around. 

So, what is a correction? 

The standard definition of a market correction is a 10 percent pullback in the value of an asset, like a stock, or of an index, like the S&P 500. These pullbacks can happen slowly over a period of time, or as quickly as in a single day. Corrections can vary in length, as well, from just a few days to a several months. 

Market corrections are notoriously difficult to predict, however they generally happen when the price of assets far exceed their fair value, and markets become overly inflated. How inflated an asset must become is the great unknown.

Understandably, a 10 percent drop in the price of assets sounds like something that should be devastating. In the short-term it can be, but in the long-term corrections can be a boon to the market. Since market corrects tend to be overly broad, can they provide opportunities for investors to rebalance their portfolios and reallocate from areas that are truly overvalued, to those which may be undervalued. 

By Robert Snell

It’s unfortunate but true: As we age, we encounter more health-related issues and they carry a price tag that can get pretty high in retirement.

Will you be ready for these costs?

Perhaps your first step in preparing yourself is knowing what you may be facing. Consider this: 80 percent of Americans 65 and older have a chronic condition and 42 percent live with a disability, according to the National Coalition on Aging and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as reported in a recent Edward Jones/Age Wave survey titled “Four Pillars of the New Retirement: What a Difference a Year Makes.” The study also found that retirees’ greatest financial worry is the cost of health care and long-term care—concerns that have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And health care is likely going to be one of the largest expenses in retirement. The average couple might spend $10,000 to $12,000 per year on health care costs. Nonetheless, you can boost your confidence about meeting these costs by making the right moves.

By Rose Miller

We found a cool place to vacation in Rhode Island this year. The owner calls it Goatopia. She has created a little slice of heaven beside the Sakonnet River.

She is a former dancer who took her dance studio and her artistic style to create a unique and comfortable guest house for visitors.

The house is surrounded by beautiful gardens where she also tends to chickens and goats daily. The goats have names and you can tell the Billy because he stands proudly on the tallest stump in the pen.

This place got me thinking about how employers tend to their flocks. As employers, we have a responsibility to understand who works for us and what we want people to do for us. Results can be achieved when understanding how employee traits translate into achieving goals.

But here’s the thing. Do you need a herd of goats or do you need a flock of sheep? They may look all the same but there is big difference.

By Dorothy Rogers-Bullis

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that life requires flexibility. We’ve all had to make adjustments both large and small in order to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businesses in particular have had to pivot and in many cases reinvent the way they operate in an effort to keep their doors open and ensure employees and customers are safe.

For many companies, the initial solution was to allow certain employees to work from home. Of course, this wasn’t an option for some industries like restaurants, medical practices, and grocery stores. But for many office-based businesses, employers and employees managed to make working from home “work” through a combination of technology and ingenuity, and oftentimes, a whole lot of patience.

Meetings and conversations that used to be done face to face were moved to video conference. Workers figured out new platforms and software, working out the kinks as they went. They stacked up piles of books to get their computer at the right height, found their most flattering lighting, and tidied up their workspace to get it camera-ready.

By Stephen Kyne, CFP

For anyone with an economics background, the last year has been an interesting opportunity to witness the theories and accepted tenets put to the test.

We’ve seen an unprecedented shutdown of much of the private sector, a displacement of workers in nearly every sector, a breakdown of the supply chains providing the basic necessities of everyday life, and a massive taking from future taxpayers to help keep businesses and households afloat while government agencies debate a myriad of policy solutions of varying efficacy.

At its core, what this year has shown us is that economies are far too large an infinitely interconnected to be manipulated with precision: every policy has unintended consequences. Some of these turn out to be beneficial, and some to our detriment.

Because the economy was in such a strong position prior to the pandemic, we believe the timeline and breadth of the recovery will be relatively short and wide. Had we been in an economic downturn at the end of 2019, we would be singing a very different tune.

The U.S. government pumped $5 trillion into the economy last year in an effort to help households and businesses bridge the pandemic. While the intention is laudable, it is not without consequences. This money will need to be paid back at some point, with interest, by our children and grandchildren. Expect future tax rates to consequently be higher than today.

Having increased the money supply by 30 percent in just one year, the economy is now awash in cash, and is ripe to experience higher rates of inflation than many of us have seen in a very long time.

For over a decade, inflation has been extremely tame, but that is unlikely to last. Cases in point: the price of gas is up over 20 percent from pre-pandemic levels, and used cars are up 30 percent while clothing is up 7 percent. Higher inflation hurts the most economically vulnerable among us, including low-income families and the elderly, and may further exacerbate social inequities we are purportedly committed to quelling.

By Rose Miller

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (NY HERO Act) into law on May 5. This new act will impose substantial responsibilities on all private employers to provide and maintain safe workplaces for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and for all airborne infectious disease outbreaks in the future.

Don’t shoot the messenger. Seems like New York has rolled out a new regulation to implement every month. A whole host of changes will need to be put in place by Sept. 2. As a small business owner, I feel your pain.

The first thing employers will need to do is to develop an industry specific prevention work plan. Work plans include how the employer handles workplace safety protocols such as health screenings, face coverings, personal protective equipment, hygiene stations, regular cleaning/disinfecting, social distancing, and other controls related to infectious disease safety concerns.  There are some options for employers under a collective bargaining agreement.

Some employers have had some type of prevention work plan already in place.  My firm was one of the only vendors, who included such a work plan as a supplement to the employee handbook.  Existing plans will need to be updated to comply with the act and it must be included in all employee handbooks and posted at all work sites.

Many employers are waiting for the Department of Labor model which is expected around July 4.  However, there is great deal of work to be done in mapping out the who, what, where and how the plan works specific to your organizations. A customized plan must meet or exceed the minimum standards in the act and plans must include participation of employees in its development.

By Brian M. Johnson

There are three primary uses of life insurance. The first is to provide a replacement source of income should a primary provider of income die.

The second is to provide liquidity for the payment of estate taxes or provide a legacy for heirs or a philanthropic cause. 

Third is for the financing of long-term health care via a rider added to the policy.  Less common uses of life insurance include such functions as funding buy/sell agreements, or other finite period requirements.

Income replacement

The key characteristic of the use of life insurance for the replacement of income is that it generally covers a finite period and does not require permanent insurance. During the primary earning years of a person, two things should be occurring.

One is that assets are being accumulated which could provide income in the future. The other is that the life expectancy of those who are dependent on that income is getting shorter and shorter.

In most cases, there is a cross-over point where enough assets have been accumulated to satisfy the income needs for the remaining years of those dependent on the income. At that point, the person or couple or family is self-insured and no longer has a need for income replacement life insurance.