By Susan E. Campbell

Financial professionals helping clients plan for a comfortable retirement are accustomed to preparing for unknowns. But what happens when foundational systems like income taxes and health care are on the verge of massive change?

“People think things are unpredictable, but they are not,” said Stacy Clifford, president of Holistic Wealth Advisors in Clifton Park. “We can only plan on what we know, while being flexible and nimble based on changes down the road.”

Clifford said her biggest challenge today is constant negativity in the media, which “casts a cloud on people into thinking they will never have enough” to live on in their retirement years.

Her firm’s holistic approach to financial success can be likened to physical health and well-being.

“If your doctor says you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol and are feeling down, there are still positive aspects of your health,” said Clifford. “It is similar in the financial field. My challenge is getting people to feel positive but not complacent.”

Clifford tells clients that saving as much as they can and making sacrifices in the short term are key to realizing long-term goals.

By Susan E. Campbell

Spencer Montgomery and the co-owners of the West Mountain Ski Resort are within $2 million of realizing their goal of “rebuilding the nuts and bolts of the core business” and restoring the ski area to the “family run, family focused, affordable resort” it was built to be in the early 1960s.

The partners will learn in December if they will be awarded a $400,000 Empire State Development matching grant. If successful, Montgomery will have received “the spark needed to raise the remaining $1.6 million so that we can operate a full ski center with the amenities that go along with it,” he said.

“We really need that assistance,” Montgomery said. “But I knew that we would have to prove ourselves first.”

Some $5 million has been invested since the partnership took over the resort during the 2013-2014 winter season. Last year was the first break-even year, Montgomery said, noting that  “revenues will double” when fully operational.

“West Mountain had been operating as half of a ski area,” he said, and many acres of land are yet untouched. The owners originally had a five-year timetable for re-branding and updating the resort, he said. But they added another 12 months to the schedule because of a bad winter last year.

Over $40,000 was raised for the Veterans & Community Housing Coalition at its second annual Veterans Ball at the Hall of Springs in November.

Some 400 people attended to support of the mission of helping  local veterans and their families with affordable housing and services while they transition to independent living.

A highlight of the evening was a special tribute to area WWII Veterans who were honored and presented with quilts made by Loving Hands in all Seasons.

The list of honored WWII veterans included Walter Blair, U.S. Army 1943-1945; Marion Buchanan, Women’s Army Air Corps, 1943-1948; Stephen Dennis, U.S. Navy 1942-1945; David Forbert, U.S. Navy, 1943-1946; John Harrigan, U.S.  Army, 1942 -1945; Ralph Nicolson, U.S.  Army, 1943-1945; Corodon Norton II, Army Air Corps, 1942-1945; Dan Riley, U.S. Navy, 1943-1946; Mario Trieste, U.S.  Navy, WWII; Thomas Woods, U.S.  Army, 1943-1945