Mosques And Minarets
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 30, 2010
The two-story, beige brick structure that houses the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation school and mosque squats alongside the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, not far from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Few motorists on the busy highway would notice the mosque but for its minaret and gleaming blue dome, which stand out in that drab [...]
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99 view(s)
March 30, 2010
The two-story, beige brick structure that houses the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation school and mosque squats alongside the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, not far from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Few motorists on the busy highway would notice the mosque but for its minaret and gleaming blue dome, which stand out in that drab [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
99 view(s)
Deferring Divorce In Hard Times
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 29, 2010
Hard times are doubtless putting a strain on a lot of marriages, but many couples may have to put up with one another longer than they would like. The Washington Post recently reported that divorce rates declined in 2008, as the financial crisis spiraled into the worst recession in generations. David Goldberg, a divorce lawyer and mediator [...]
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90 view(s)
March 29, 2010
Hard times are doubtless putting a strain on a lot of marriages, but many couples may have to put up with one another longer than they would like. The Washington Post recently reported that divorce rates declined in 2008, as the financial crisis spiraled into the worst recession in generations. David Goldberg, a divorce lawyer and mediator [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
90 view(s)
A Risk Premium For ‘Riskless’ Debt
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 26, 2010
For decades, finance professors have taught students that the interest rate on U.S. Treasury obligations reflects the cost of money for “riskless” obligations. Other borrowers’ riskiness could be measured by how much more than the Treasury rate they were required to pay. It is time to revise the lesson plan. Our national finances have deteriorated to [...]
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1 response
166 view(s)
March 26, 2010
For decades, finance professors have taught students that the interest rate on U.S. Treasury obligations reflects the cost of money for “riskless” obligations. Other borrowers’ riskiness could be measured by how much more than the Treasury rate they were required to pay. It is time to revise the lesson plan. Our national finances have deteriorated to [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
1 response
166 view(s)
Wi-Fi In The Sky
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 25, 2010
It is no big deal that I am writing this column on my laptop while flying from San Francisco to New York. People have done that for years. But as I write, I can send instant messages to colleagues at my office and surf the Web for research material. The Internet has arrived in the skies. [...]
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134 view(s)
March 25, 2010
It is no big deal that I am writing this column on my laptop while flying from San Francisco to New York. People have done that for years. But as I write, I can send instant messages to colleagues at my office and surf the Web for research material. The Internet has arrived in the skies. [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
134 view(s)
Captain EO Returns
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 24, 2010
Captain EO has returned to Disneyland. Now Michael Jackson’s posthumous comeback is complete. “Captain EO” is a 17-minute, 3-D space fantasy film that George Lucas helped produce and write, starring Jackson as the hero and Anjelica Huston as the villain. Francis Ford Coppola directed the big-budget short in 1986, when Jackson was at the height of [...]
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117 view(s)
March 24, 2010
Captain EO has returned to Disneyland. Now Michael Jackson’s posthumous comeback is complete. “Captain EO” is a 17-minute, 3-D space fantasy film that George Lucas helped produce and write, starring Jackson as the hero and Anjelica Huston as the villain. Francis Ford Coppola directed the big-budget short in 1986, when Jackson was at the height of [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
117 view(s)
Visiting Nelly
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 23, 2010
Not long ago, I took a colleague and his young daughter to meet Nelly, who is a very old acquaintance of mine. Nelly is 57, which would be unexceptional but for the fact that she is a bottlenose dolphin – the oldest one in captivity. She was born at Marineland, near St. Augustine, Fla., in 1953, [...]
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125 view(s)
March 23, 2010
Not long ago, I took a colleague and his young daughter to meet Nelly, who is a very old acquaintance of mine. Nelly is 57, which would be unexceptional but for the fact that she is a bottlenose dolphin – the oldest one in captivity. She was born at Marineland, near St. Augustine, Fla., in 1953, [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
125 view(s)
Retirement Annuities: A False Sense of Security
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 22, 2010
A lot of people worry about outliving their money. Commercial annuities, sold by insurance companies, promise to keep paying as long as the beneficiary lives. So it’s a good idea to buy annuities with our retirement funds, right? I don’t think so – at least not for most people, and not right now. On this point [...]
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127 view(s)
March 22, 2010
A lot of people worry about outliving their money. Commercial annuities, sold by insurance companies, promise to keep paying as long as the beneficiary lives. So it’s a good idea to buy annuities with our retirement funds, right? I don’t think so – at least not for most people, and not right now. On this point [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
127 view(s)
New York Hocks Its Future
By Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
March 19, 2010
While the federal government is putting money into stimulating the economy, the state of New York is taking money out. Strapped for cash, the state is sucking money out of its own industrial development agencies (IDAs). Industrial development agencies are local government-sponsored entities that work to promote commerce by providing assistance to businesses in their region. IDAs [...]
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143 view(s)
March 19, 2010
While the federal government is putting money into stimulating the economy, the state of New York is taking money out. Strapped for cash, the state is sucking money out of its own industrial development agencies (IDAs). Industrial development agencies are local government-sponsored entities that work to promote commerce by providing assistance to businesses in their region. IDAs [...]
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143 view(s)
Confessions of a Tax Preparer
By Paul Jacobs, CFP®, EA
March 18, 2010
In addition to preparing and reviewing tax returns for our clients, I also help some friends and family members with their taxes. Some of them have W-2s, some of them have small businesses and have to file a Schedule C, some of them have investment portfolios, but the one thing they all have in common [...]
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1 response
206 view(s)
March 18, 2010
In addition to preparing and reviewing tax returns for our clients, I also help some friends and family members with their taxes. Some of them have W-2s, some of them have small businesses and have to file a Schedule C, some of them have investment portfolios, but the one thing they all have in common [...]
To read the complete post, click here.
1 response
206 view(s)
Cross Singapore Off The Itinerary
March 31, 2010
This column is the reason I may never be able to visit Singapore. My firm cannot consider opening an office there, and I must refrain from dispatching staff to meet with Singapore-based clients should the opportunity arise. Even my travel-loving daughters ought to think twice before touring the Southeast Asian city-state, though I doubt they would [...]
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