Americans need to know

I (Shelly)came across this article this weekend and thought it’s worth reposting for you.  It’s called 50 Things Every American Should Know About the Collapse of the Economy.  Chances are, there’s something in there you weren’t aware of.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/50-things-every-american-should-know-about-the-collapse-of-the-economy

Travel certificate: Thank you for your referrals!

Palka Financial Group is moving toward becoming a company that works by strictly by referral.   To that end, we encourage and reward people for referring other people they care about to us for their retirement income planning, asset preservation and distribution needs.    Every month, we’ve been putting the names of anyone who refers someone to us or who refers someone to come to one of our free educational “The Eye of the Storm” seminars into a drawing for a travel certificate to a nice resort destination.

Here are the names of the winners since the inception of that program.

Aug 2010- Regina Spriggs referred Ethel White.

Sept 2010 – Nanette Grys referred Pat Corsica.

Oct 2010 – Bill Cairney referred Kristiann Saunders

Nov 2010 – Terry & Kathy Mikesell referred Rosarita Hernandez

Jan 2011 – Richard Strecker referred Darrel Grantz

Feb 2011 – Judy Bingman referred Cindy Breeding

March 2011 – David Heffner referred Patti Davis.

April’s winner hasn’t been determined yet because we still have one more seminar to go.  (From here on out, the winners will be posted as the drawings occur, rather than after the fact, as we’re doing now.)

Thank you to all these people (and more!  These are just the winners of the drawing), who are enthusiastically telling their family and friends about the way we help people keep their assets safe from the ravages of the economy and the uncertainty in the markets that have caused many people to lose 1/3 to 1/5 of their portfolio twice in the last 10 years.

Who’s the next person you know who needs to hear what Greg has to say about this important topic? Call us at the office, 719-475-0084, and let us know who they are so that we can invite them to get more information that can possibly give them great peace of mind.

Inflation in the United Kingdom (UK) jumped to the highest level in two years in February, and, as you know, inflation around the world, seeps into the US.  Here, we’re seeing it as Producer Prices, (which look at wholesale inflation), are running at very hot levels.  Prices are up 3.3% in just the last 3 months. If pricing pressures don’t recede for producers of goods and services, companies will have one of two choices.

Either: Absorb the higher cost of goods – and, thereby, hurt earnings growth, which can negatively impact your money in the stock market, or

Or: Pass those increased costs onto consumers – thereby, creating consumer inflation, which is not only bad for all of us at the cash register, but which could also ultimately effect sales, which can effect your money in the stock market…

Both of those scenarios would be bad for Stocks and Bonds.

This is just another one of those “Eye of the Storm” things you need to be aware of.  How safe are your assets?

The pennies to the right of the blue line represent money we have to borrow

Most people don’t fully get the concept of the magnitude of the amount of money being discussed when talking about the federal deficit and attempts to bring it under control.  When the president proposed to take $100,000,000 out of a $350 trillion dollar budget, all we hear is that he wants to take a big pile of money out of an even bigger pile of money.

This video puts it into perspective.   It Ain\’t Easy Cutting the Federal Deficit

Like the guy says at the end of the video, suddenly, a million dollars doesn’t seem as big as when we heard it in the press conference.

We’re going green:  This was previously posted on our facebook page but it stays up a little longer here so it’s being “recycled.”

Broken Bank

There have been hundreds of bank failures in the last 2 years.  I (Greg) believe each citizen should investigate and make their own informed decision regarding the banks they use.  I do not recommend either for or against a particular institution, but do recommend each consumer becomes informed about their bank’s or Credit Union’s financial stability.

The FDIC does not list banks that are in trouble until the bank actually goes into receivership.  You can use the private firms who rate the banks for your discernment. (See below for a partial list.)   These private firms are not in any way affiliated with or endorsed by the FDIC.   They charge for the information, however there is some free information available at www.bankrate.com.

Companies who provide information on banks that are in trouble

• A.M. Best Company
• Bankrate Inc.
• BauerFinancial, Inc.
• Creative Investment Research, Inc.
• FIS – Financial Information Systems, LLC
• Highline Data LLC
• IDC Financial Publishing
• Institutional Risk Analytics
• LACE Financial Corp.
• Veribanc
• Weiss Ratings Inc.

Are there safer places to put your money than in the bank?  There are — but that’s a whole other post.  For now,  just be informed that your “Certificate of Disappointment” may or may not be the safest way to protect and shield your assets.   (We cover some of them in our Eye of the Storm seminars.)    We’ll talk about others in future blog posts.

Thank you for joining us and thank you for not keeping us a secret!

When there is a natural disaster, so many are so generous with their donations to humanitarian efforts.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your money goes where you think it’s going?  For some relief agencies, (including several that come to the top of your mind when tragedy strikes), the overhead is extremely high.  This means that money you want to go to a particular place or to help hurting people is actually going to fund high salaries for the executives heading the charitable  organization you’re donating to.

Here’s a link to find out how much of the money you send gets to where you’re wanting it to go.  Charity Report Card .  There are other charities that aren’t rated by this organization that also do an excellent job of making sure the funds go where you want them to.  The Salvation Army is one that’s particularly efficient and that already has a presence in Japan.

Water, at 211 degrees is hot, but it’s not boiling hot.  Just one degree more though, and it boils.  It produces steam, and steam can power a locomotive.  One more degree of excellence represents power, and that can be profound!  Our black wrist bands remind us that at Palka Financial Group, we’re all about excellence in everything we do as company, a team, and as individuals.  That benefits the people we serve in powerful ways.