LOHENGRIN GROUP

CLIENT NEWSLETTER

Volume 4, Issue 6

Safe At Home? Well, Sort Of…

Home is usually the safest place you can be, but not always. It depends on what you are using. For example:

* Lawn mower: It's the most dangerous tool you have. It can throw debris into your eyes or those of bystanders. It can cause serious injuries to hands and feet. Remove twigs, sticks and rocks before mowing. Keep children and others away. Wear safety glasses with side shields and wear sturdy shoes, not sandals. Use hearing protection.

* Electric hedge trimmers: Every year emergency rooms see many people with fingers mutilated or clipped off. Wear sturdy gloves and shoes while trimming. Wear long pants and don't lean over too far or you could lose your balance and fall. Turn the trimmer off to clear it of debris.

* Electric garage doors: They have heavy springs on each side. If one loosens, it can hit your head or take off a finger. Always have garage doors serviced by a professional.

* Poison ivy, oak and sumac: Even brushing against one of these can cause a painful rash. If you, your clothing or your tools come in contact with them, wash the body area or the object immediately with soap and water, even beer or soda can help.
Better yet, use rubbing alcohol.

Swimming pools: Never dive headfirst into water if you are not sure of its depth. Have flotation devices available for swimmers who get into trouble. Never let unsupervised kids into the pool area.

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1.) Consider Exterior Lighting For The Safety and Beauty of Your Home…Lighting can do more for your home than make it look awesome to people on the street. It can make it safer in many ways. Some areas to consider:
First, identify areas you use at night and check for hazards. Illuminate the steps and the door, so you can easily put your key into the lock. Make sure walkways are lighted so no one trips on whatever you forgot to pick up. Uneven ground is also a potential for falls and should be lighted.
Think about your driveway and garage areas. Use lighting to direct people to the safest routes by placing lights along the pathways you want them to follow. Home advisor Bob Villa says areas around the pool and leading to it should be lighted as well.
Architects at the University of Kentucky have confirmed that having an area lighted helps deter crime. Check for dark spots around your home that could be used as hiding places for thieves. Test these areas by asking yourself if you would be uncomfortable walking there in the dark.
Selecting LED light bulbs is a good investment. They produce more light per watt than any other bulbs. They last up to 100,000 hours when incandescent light bulbs last
only 20,000 hours. That also means you won't have to change them as often. Stroll through local stores to find deals on exterior light fixtures.

2.) Driving Is Safer…But Safety Still Depends On The Driver…Cars have changed since Ralph Nader wrote his highway safety book, Unsafe At Any Speed. In 1966, 51,524
people died in traffic accidents, or about 5.98 deaths per 100 million miles driven. In 2008, there were 37,261 deaths, or 1.27 per 100 million miles driven, a huge reduction from 1966. The number of deaths declined again in 2009 to 33,963, an 8.9 percent reduction from the previous year. Fatalities have fallen every year since 2005.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says that's good news, but nothing for the individual driver to become complacent about. Check these safety factors:

* The most important player in safety is still the individual driver. Those who keep their hands on the wheel (instead of reading a website on their iPhone or eating a hamburger) and focus on the road are more likely to stay safe.
* Highway engineering improvements have helped. They include median barriers to prevent head-on collisions, rumble strips and strips on the sides of roads to alert drivers that they are running off the road.
* Improvements in vehicles have reduced fatalities. They include safety features such as anti-lock brakes, stability control systems, rollover protection and side air bags.
* Buick, Ford, Lincoln, Volvo, Infinity and others offer blind-spot detectors that activate flashing lights to indicate vehicles in the blind spot.
*Many vehicles now have a Power Pedal system that helps the car stop if the engine accelerates on its own.
* Because of strict laws, there are fewer drunk drivers on the road.
In the end, when you are behind the wheel, driving safely is the best protection. Statistics are down, but far too many people are still being killed on our highways.
You don't have to be one of them.

3.) Your Reality, Augmented…Imagine if your phone could use GPS information and a compass to lead you to the nearest restaurant or cash machine. In fact, it already can: welcome to "augmented reality", or AR, a technology that overlays digital information on a real-world view, typically using your mobile phone's camera and screen.

"Point your phone at a building and see its history or look at a painting and see the Grove Dictionary article on it. In 2010, this revolution in travel information is just beginning," says James Governor, an industry analyst with Redmonk. Mobile phone AR apps Layar (www.layar.eu) and Wikitude World Browser (www.wikitude.org) are already out there, serving up travel information from the likes of Spotted by Locals (www.spottedbylocals.com), Yelp! (www.yelp.co.uk) and social game Noticings (www.noticin.gs) Lastminute.com was among the first travel companies to experiment with the technology. "We think AR will take a significant chunk of the market in time," says Marko Balabanovic at Lastminute.com. "What we've seen so far are the primitive beginnings, and there will be massive improvements over the next two years.

Our goal, with apps such as Nru and Snaffle, is to enable "n-commerce", where "n" stands for "nearby" – showing customers great things to do nearby, right now, with real-time availability, and a great selection of deals."

By the end of this year, expect to see traditional travel publishers pushing their content through to us, hotel chains superimposing their latest offers over your real-time street view, and perhaps travelers using AR as a social space to share experiences and advice with other visitors.

Tim and Sharon have owned a very successful business for 17 years. They have 3 kids, one has graduated college and 2 who are still in college.

The couple is basically as honest and nice people as you could ever want to meet. In fact, any time anybody ever has a problem with their product, if they can't fix it, they immediately give them a refund - and never give anybody a hassle. They are really the kind of people that we would like to be, and that we'd like our children to grow up to be.

One day, one of their their customers used one of their products incorrectly, violating one of the warnings that comes in their instruction kit.

The customer got hurt pretty badly by this, and instead of blaming himself as he should have, he decided to blame Tim and Sharon and their company. Tim and

Sharon weren't very concerned, because they thought they were pretty well set up to protect themselves from any kind of problems with liability.

They had a liability policy on their business, personal liability policies, as well as being set up as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), which as the name implies, adds further liability protection. They figured they couldn't wind up with any kind of personal liability, should something go wrong with the business.

Well, this customer and attorney decided to sue Tim and Sharon personally, and their company, for over $3 million dollars. Tim and Sharon thought that their liability policy, would pay for their defense and protect them.

Then, they got some bad news. Their insurance company said they wouldn't pay for their defense, because they said Tim and Sharon violated some fine print in their liability policy. (Which of course was bogus, so Tim and Sharon had to pay for their own legal defense, and sued their liability insurance carrier. So now they were in the middle of TWO lawsuits, one of which included suing their OWN insurance carrier!)

Besides the huge amount of lawyers’ fees they had to pay, Tim and Sharon estimated that they spent somewhere between 50% an 75% of their time over a 2 year period, working on this legal case, instead of working on their business. All this in the middle of the worst recession in 80 years, housing prices plummeting, business off because of the lack of consumer spending. Not to mention other distractions like the stock market dropping 1000 points in one day, and so on.

As a result, morale in their company dropped when they had to layoff some employees, their 401K plan sunk over 37% in value, profits dropped, all of which made their home lives become very stress filled. To be honest with you, their marriage became quite tenuous at this point.

By the end of 2009, Tim and Sharon ended up having to settle for over a million dollars.

See, they found out the LLC company they found on some website had messed up their LLC paperwork, and were now personally liable for the lawsuit.

They were forced to liquidate a great deal of their assets, borrow against the company, their retirement plan, and other assets to pay off the settlement and get this

awful situation out of their lives. (They couldn’t use their home to refinance as the equity has been gone since early 2008.)

When the suit was finally settled, Tim and Sharon were referred into us by their attorney. When they came in to see us, they were in a real mess. They were seeing a marriage counselor, and weren’t sure if their relationship would last through this disaster.

They tended to blame each other for the mistakes, and as one could understand, lost their passion for each other as the stress of this unfair event piled on and on.

Bottom line, their finances were a disaster.

Even though he wasn’t supposed to, Tim had even dipped into their kids college money to pay for a portion of the suit. (This act, upon discovery by Sharon had actually caused a period where she moved out of the house to live with her divorced girlfriend. Fortunately, she moved back home.)

When the couple assured us they wanted to be with each other, we went about analyzing their current financial chaos…and how to re-arrange things so they could get back on track. We found so many things that needed fixing, such as:
• Getting rid of their old world, ridiculously expensive, and woefully inadequate life insurance, and replacing it with a modern, cost effective policy that covered both Tim and Sharon for more than twice their current coverage…and that cost over $1,000 a year less than their current policy!
• Showing them several perfectly legal tax strategies their tax preparer never told them about, that could save them as much as $40,000 in income taxes!
• Using some of these tax savings to repaying their 401(K) loan and replace the funds that were borrowed from their kids education accounts!
• Switching the assets in those funds out of the high risk investments Tim had them in, to low risk, tax deferred accounts!
• Establishing an estate plan that met their goals for the family, instead of the old, out of date wills they had in place since the kids were little!
• Beginning an asset protection plan to make sure their assets were as safe as possible in the event of another financial catastrophe!

See, financial planning is not just about investments - its not just about insurance, its not just about risk management, its not just about tax reduction, and so on.

Financial planning is about ALL OF YOUR ASSETS AND FINANCES!

Making sure that everything you are doing is all tied together and coordinated. That you are doing everything properly, and that things like your liability exposure are not left to chance!

Since Tim and Sharon finished off with their miserable experience, and had no other claims against them, they are hopefully going to be able to rebuild their financial lives. We hope they can rebuild their personal life at the same time.

If you are interested in learning more about this, or want to sit down with us and have your plan reviewed or updated, give us a call! We're here to help you, and to help you keep on track with your planning. Don't be a stranger. Call us, and we'll assist you in having the best shot possible of reaching your goals, and having peace of mind! Don't wait until it's too late!

On their third date, the dentist asked if she would sign a prenuptial agreement. Her reply, "I will if you will," made sense to them both, especially since both had assets they needed to protect. Though the couple never married, they were wise to bring up the prenup well before one would be needed.
Financial advisor Suze Orman says love can drown out any thought that a marriage won't work. But the divorce rate in America is 50 percent. The average length of a marriage is 18 years. "Hope is not a financial plan," Orman says. Among other things, marriage is an economic contract. The time to plan for a divorce is before you want one.

Not everyone needs a prenup, but before marriage, couples should know each other's debt level, discrepancies in each other's wealth and the possibility of inheritances. They should also review each other's credit report. More than 36 percent of adults said prenups make smart financial sense, according to a recent Harris survey.
The International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers advises future partners to consider the consequences of signing a prenup, which is now a mainstream financial planning tool.

Consider what could happen in 10, 15 or 20 years. If there is a chance you would walk away with little or nothing, think long and hard about whether you want to be married to this person.

Some prenups go into greater details, including adultery, frequency of intimacy, scheduling of housekeeping and provisions for pets. It's about telling what's important to each partner, even if it's only about the right to an antique chair or who gets Fido.

These agreements could help people feel secure in a relationship. Is it right for you? Only you and your attorney can make the final decision, but it certainly is one to take a hard look at!

When it comes to exercise, there are two primary types of workout that can be done. First, there are anaerobic exercises that build muscle mass and increase the speed, strength and power of muscles.

The second type is aerobic exercise, also known as cardiovascular exercise, which improves muscle functionality by training the body to use oxygen more efficiently. Cardiovascular workouts tend to be longer in duration than anaerobic exercise because cardio workouts gradually release energy from fat after using up the glycogen energy stores in muscles. Among many positive effects, this makes cardio workouts ideal for losing weight and increasing how efficiently the body uses oxygen.
Cardio exercises should be done daily and for a continued duration in order to maximize their benefits. Low intensity exercises like walking or light jogging should be done for longer periods of time (45 minutes to an hour) where higher intensity exercises such as jumping rope or sprinting can be done for lesser amounts of time (20 to 30 minutes).

Running is considered one of the best cardio workouts out there because it doesn’t require a specific environment or any specific equipment. It can also be done at any degree of intensity. A 145 lb person can burn off 300 calories in 30 minutes by running at just over 5 miles per hour. Running is also considered a high impact sport which means that it builds muscle mass and increases a person’s recovery time. Elliptical training can be as effective as running when it comes to burning calories and it is the low-impact form of the activity, so it may be easier to begin with.

Next, there is biking, which is also a low-impact cardio activity. Depending on the speed, a 145 lb person can lose 250-500 calories in 30 minutes by biking. Swimming can also burn off just as many calories as biking, and in the same amount of time if done continuously. Remember, with cardio workouts, the idea is to keep going for a continued period of time without stopping because that is what gets the body to burn off fat and use oxygen as best as it can.
For lower-intensity cardiovascular workouts, aerobic classes, step aerobics, walking, and hiking are a few options. Activities such as shadow boxing, dancing, or doing jumping jacks can also be done without leaving home. For maximum benefit, these activities should be done for longer periods of time than more intense aerobic activities.
Beyond those activities, there are plenty more that improve cardiovascular health. A handful of these are racquetball, handball, rock climbing, skiing, and jump roping. Those beginning or returning to a routine of cardio exercise should begin with the lower intensity activities so that the body can get used to that form of burning fat and increase the intensity of exercise over time. Cardio exercises are a great way to burn off fat, especially from the stomach area, improve heart function and circulation, and improve mental health, so beginning a cardio exercise routine and sticking will only continue to benefit you over time.

Q. Two people save money in a tax-deferred Individual Retirement Account that earns 8% annually. Person A invests $ 3,000 a year from age 20 to 29, but then never saves another penny. Person B starts investing $ 3,000 a year at age 30 and saves that same amount annually for the rest of his life. Who has more money in the account at age 65?

Q. Assume that a "temporary" additional (US federal tax related) first-year bonus depreciation of 50 percent applies to a new, $100,000 piece of equipment purchased by Bellemans Chocolatier, Inc. The asset has a $10,000 estimated final salvage value. If this asset is fully depreciated for tax purposes over its useful life, the overall amount that Bellemans will have depreciated for tax purposes is .

1. $90,000
2. $100,000
3. $135,000
4. $150,000

The answer is # 2. $100,000.

Baton Rouge, LA- Did you know that all financial advisors are not the same? And, if you need to get some help with your money, you will need to know what to ask a financial professional before you make any moves!!

Most people really don't know what questions to ask, or what things they should be aware of. When it comes to your money, you had better know!
Picking the right advisor can help you, and picking the wrong advisor can be a big mistake!
Make sure you know which is which! In today's messed up economy, you cannot afford to take any chances. If you are like most of us, these days of world crisis, economic slowdown, and general confusion have you downright worried.

You know what? You should be! Managing money was always tough, but this last year has set records for government foul-ups and totally unpredictable markets.
These are scary times. And, therefore, you must be sure to use an advisor that will be right for you!

To help you, we have prepared a FREE REPORT called "Ten Questions You Must Ask A Financial Advisor BEFORE YOU HIRE THEM!"

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