Homeschooling? This is not what I signed up for and neither did my husband, but this is where we are and, in many ways, I’m thankful for it. The school leaders had tough decisions to make and I’m thankful for their diligence and leadership during these hard times. I’m also thankful for the teachers working overtime to make this transition as easy as possible. My daughter has learned to love her Zoom meetings with her classmates especially the days they have a dress-up theme. Today is wear your old Halloween costume day 😊. I wish that was a call I was on today! So, what can we do all day? I’m at work in the office as we have a very small office with private working spaces, but my husband is working from home every day. There’s a lot of work being done, but also a lot of playtime, computer time and some whining in-between. But, I’m so thankful for Gabby’s teachers asking her to do projects at home such as build a tee-pee, make a boat that can float in water, and build a structure that can endure rain. These off-topic, fun and challenging projects has made her day… Read More
The neighborhood – Isolation, self? Pattie is going a little berserk: it’s between seeing me and the being with the cat – who do you think she prefers? After a little while, she goes a little bonkers and it’s time for Publix, damn the little bug. Our neighborhood is a little over-the-top social – there’s a group messaging chain, and it’s fun to see the creativity spawned by boredom. We had a cemetery in our neighborhood, in a lot just recently being built on, after a lot of tuggers and pullers it was moved, thank goodness, but we still have haunting visitors from time to time. I think they preferred the old place. In addition to the deer, dogs, cats, horses, squirrels, birds, geese, ducks, raccoons, I’ll tell you about the raccoon shooting another time; we now, also, have a family of foxes. Thank goodness they are foxes, for a while, we thought we had coyotes, no-loose dogs or cats for a while: The cat owners were worried about being cat-feed for the foxes – we think they eat rats, squirrels, and dead stuff: the message board calmed down, but it was buzzing for a while. The foxes visited this… Read More
Warfare, every day: Surgeon-in-chief, at Columbia University and Chair of the Department of Surgery, Dr. Craig Smith, informs and inspires his warrior-troops every day. It turns out, as reported by the Wall Street Journal that the same surgeon who gained some fame by completing President Bill Clinton’s quadruple bypass surgery send emails to his colleagues every day. Sometimes the communications are alarming other times, inspiring. Here are three excerpts, more at…… https://columbiasurgery.org/news/covid-19-update-32020 3/20/2020 – “Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to apologize profusely in a few weeks for having overestimated the threat. That would mean we never exceeded capacity, and that mortalities and morbidities rarely seen in non-pandemic circumstances were avoided. The next month or two is a horror to imagine if we’re underestimating the threat. So what can we do? Load the sled, check the traces, feed Balto, and mush on. Our cargo must reach Nome. Remember that our families, friends, and neighbors are scared, idle, out of work, and feel impotent. Anyone working in health care still enjoys the rapture of action. It’s a privilege! We mush on.” 3/26/2020 – “Stepping out of the sunshine and back into the cave, I must report that the number of… Read More
At our small practice, is our most cherished value. Each of us, Bobbie, John, Christina, and me*, have absolute faith in each other that our interests are not only aligned with that of our clients but also that they come first in everything we do. We also have faith that Americans and our innovators are well on the way to conquering the current virus. Yes, the government blew it: The CDC, by maintaining absolute and exclusive control over new virus test development, as is now apparent, delayed the process – they screwed-up. The cavalry has arrived. Yes, the private sector is now on a tear to provide us testing, cures, and remedies. We have faith in capitalism. Some folks in our country are advocates for a centralized health care system because as they have loudly expressed all drug company CEOs, to quote a recent candidate for president “are a bunch of crooks.” Maybe we should ask the Italians how their centralized system is responding to the virus. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Italy had 62 cases on February 22nd, a month later that expanded to over 41 thousand instances with more recorded deaths than any other nation in… Read More
We are well-prepared and here for you. Life is changing, faster than many of us can keep up with, but as our routines shift in an effort to protect those most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to take a few moments to update you on how our office is changing, and, more important, what will stay the same. Since our group is small and we have a lot of space between the five of us we will continue working out of our office and be available for phone calls during our normal business hours. If we are mandated to stay home for any period of time we will set up our office at our home and provide cell phone numbers to you so that you can continue to reach us during our normal business hours. Regardless of what’s ahead, we are here for you and will be conducting normal business transactions in our business office or out of our home offices. Starting, Monday, March 23rd we will discontinue all in-office meetings and will proceed with those meetings either via phone calls or webinar-type meetings. We are appreciative of your business and your trust. We are continuing to track… Read More
And “I stopped making contributions to my retirement account until the “Stock Market” recovers.”- Otto said. Cecilia, on the other hand, is oblivious to the value of her retirement account, and her contributions continue. So, what are the outcomes? The following hypothetical example tests the question.* Let’s say Otto stops making retirement plan contributions when the “Stock Market” drops from $50.00 to $47.50; then, resumes making contributions when prices climb back where he left off, at $47.50. This action would have skipped the drop to $35.00. Yet, his account value dropped by about -28%. As the “Stock Market” recovers back to $50.00, the price at which he started making deposits, his account balance reaches $6,158 for a compounded rate of return of 2.63%. By neglecting to look at her account, Cecilia lets her deposits continue, and allows the investments to ride. As a result, her maximum draw down is only -17% to Otto’s -28%. And, her compounded rate of return is 14.77% versus Otto’s 2.6%. How are these seemingly counter-intuitive outcomes possible? Simple: by continuing to purchase as prices decline, Cecilia accumulates 241 shares at an average price of $43.50 to Otto’s average share price of $49, resulting in 123 shares… Read More
In late 2009, you may remember, the Greek economy suffered the longest recession of any developed capitalist-based economy, overtaking the U.S. Great depression. Not only did the Greeks spiral into history’s deepest and longest recession but also, failed to make their International Monetary Fund loan repayments on time – they went broke. Their friends, the Germans, led the effort (paid most of the bills), leading to bailout loans in 2010, 2012, and 2015. You may recollect, the government raised taxes, cut spending and reformed their pension system leading to riots and nationwide protests – tourism suffered, nothing worked in the country. Banks closed, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped to negative numbers. Oh, what fun. That was then. On Friday (1/24) FitchRatings upgraded Greek debt up one notch to semi-lousy from lousy: Not investment grade yet, but better junk than before. But that is not all, investors are bullish – the Greek stock market scooted to a 49% gain last year. Unemployment dropped to a whopping 16.6% in October the lowest unemployment rate since 2011. And, the administration’s GDP goals for this year of 2.8% seem doable: They are estimating GDP growth of greater than 3% in the future.… Read More
On December 20th the SECURE Act – Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, was signed into law. There went yours and my daughter’s Stretch IRA: If you recollect, under the old rules, a beneficiary, an heir, could stretch the required distributions over their lifetime. This had the effect of allowing funds to build over a lifetime with relatively small withdrawals over the heir’s lifetime. The new rule requires heirs to empty their inherited IRA in 10 years – welcome to a tax increase. Exceptions include spouses, minor children, and heirs who are chronically ill or disabled. If the stretch IRA was part of your estate strategy, we’ll think-up something different: A Charitable Remainder Trust or similar charitable strategy or transferring more assets to a Roth IRA may help, on this later. If you just turned 70 ½ mandatory distributions now start at 72 and if you are still employed at age 70, IRA contributions are allowed. On the positive side of the legislation the rules have been simplified and strengthened, in my opinion, to encourage increased 401(k) plan participation by allowing pooled employer plans creating lower cost, more accessible plans. I’ve included a link to the bill if you… Read More
The Gainesville Red Elephants played in the boy’s basketball state championship game on March 9th at Georgia Tech, and my fifteen-year-old daughter Mia went to the game with her friends. I casually mentioned to her that I played in the same building and tournament thirty- years ago. She looked amazed and said “ thirty years”? She was taken aback and for a brief second so was I at the thought of that much time passing by in my life. Mia was not at all interested in hearing more of my story, but I forced her to listen before she could leave the house. Gainesville VS. Langston Hughes at Georgia Tech. My dad, John N. Lilly II, became a principal at Jonesboro High School in 1976 when I was six years old. My Friday nights were to become any Jonesboro sporting event that was taking place that night, and I absolutely loved it. I dreamed of Jonesboro winning a championship in something, so I could go about bragging to my friends. During this time my dad would also take me to Georgia Tech to watch the state championships in basketball. There would be four games a night with different schools from… Read More
