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The old adage about turning lemons into lemonade may turn out to be true with investment portfolios. While we all struggle with the down market and the possibility of further decline before it bottoms out, now may be a good time to gift a portion of your assets to beneficiaries, thereby reducing your taxable estate. (This is for federal taxes only. State laws on transfer taxes vary and may or may not apply).

      The key advantages are:

          o Lowering your property transfer taxes (for gifts and estates)
       

As you attempt to build your financial life over the coming months and years, consider that if you are not working with a trusted financial advisor, you should make this priority number one. I have been a certified financial planner for the past thirty years and have always reminded clients that good financial advice doesn’t cost, it pays in more measurable ways than you can imagine.

But today, never has this been more true. Given the current world financial collapse, it has been the watershed event that proves that no one  

There’s no such thing as a perfect investment but if there were it would look a little like this.
  
It would be extremely safe and secure with very little chance of losing any of your principal.  There would be Govt Guarantees to insure that your money would be returned. Remember in today’s investment environment the return OF your money is as important if not more than the return ON your money.
 

Many investors have rightfully asked  Is this the beginning of a bull market rally or just a bounce from the devastation weve sufferred over the last 9 months.  Do we first have to retest the November 08 lows or did the March 09 lows already do that?
  
Theres perhaps nothing worse for ones confidence whether youre an investor or an advisor to have lost
20, 30 ,even 40% of your investments  or more over the last year and then to get back into the market only to have it trick you again with a new bear market correction.
 
So what can we do to protect ourselves and the money we have left from further losses.  Some people say  

How you view this recent economic fallout has more to do with age than people suspect. My younger clients, even those dealing with job losses and high mortgage and tuition payments, have confidence in a market rebound. Though they are distressed about the big dent in their portfolios, time is on their side. It is my older, retired clients, who are struggling, not just because they may live on fixed incomes or fear outliving their money. This generation has ridden one of the longest financial waves in our country’s  

wayne wilderson effect

With stock prices hitting rock bottom, I keep thinking it’s now or never to jump into the market. Question is for a newbie, what’s a good strategy for picking stocks? Is it any different than walking into a casino or going to a race track and having a feeling about a lonely slot machine or a horse with a name you like? I’ve been asking around for advice and in the process, noticed a pattern I’m calling the Wayne Wilderson effect. What is that? Hang in there and I’ll tell you.

This past Sunday I watched the “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Biden(below), and among the many interesting things he said was that the federal government would be committing $500 billion dollars to support green/energy projects. This could cover everything from solar tax credits to hybrid and electric cars, to windmills and battery technology to water, hydro power and thermal nuclear power to biofuels and  

Beyond the Panic
After grinding nearly to a halt last year, the global credit markets are showing signs of life.

To be sure, credit markets around the world remain tight. Lenders are so wary of risk that many corporations are being forced to pay much higher interest rates than they did a few years ago, or even last summer.

Still, borrowing costs have fallen from record levels in October and November, especially for investment
grade bonds, and an increasing number of companies have sold debt in the past few months. In the high
 

When it comes to making deposits into a 403b or 401k, a typical investor goes on auto-pilot. They make the same decision they did the previous month or quarter, assuming that it’s safer to stick to an old game plan rather than explore new opportunities. But if we have learned anything from this market volatility, it is that to insure growth, you must be proactive, assess your risk tolerance and focus on long term goals.

The first step in accomplishing all of this is to understand your mindset. When making a deposit, are you only thinking about buying the safest investments and parking the money until you have more confidence in the market? Or, or are you an opportunist who is willing to look for the greatest values, knowing that your