Dan Harmon was behind both Community and Rick and Morty. Here are ways the shows are similar, and what they do differently.

From a failed pilot on Fox to getting removed from The Sarah Silverman Program, it seemed like television didn't love Dan Harmon the same way that he loved it. However, that all changed when he got to create Community, a cult-hit comedy series about the trials and tribulations of college life. Sadly, Harmon would see the same rejection that plagued him for years and was removed even from his brainchild (though he'd return soon enough).

RELATED:Community: 10 Small Details You May Have Missed

His other seminal series has been the Adult Swim giant, Rick and Morty, which has penetrated the zeitgeist as a sci-fi epic and gotten a lot of kids in trouble for staying up late. Given that they're from the same mind, it's a given that there are some similarities between the two Harmon works, but Rick and Morty has still done a lot to maintain its own identity.

Something that's just embedded in Harmon's DNA is the capacity to call out television tropes on-screen while also calling out the fact that a character is calling out things. This confusing eye on an eye is the meta-humor and dialogue that has made Community and Rick and Mortyseemingly smarter than their television colleagues.

While Rick and Morty's writing prides itself in being mostly improvised, it still facilitates the same genre self-awareness that made Community so inventive. If anything, this type of writing is even more necessary for a series about the "Smartest Man in the Universe."

While Community has always dipped its toes into action/adventure tropes and science fiction, it always had to revert things back to reality. Set in a community college, Dan Harmon ran the risk of doing what Charles Schulz did to Snoopy if he were to let the school get too fantastical to still maintain its human charm.

RELATED:10 Non-Sci-Fi Movies To Watch While Awaiting Rick And Morty's Return

Fortunately enough, none of those concerns exist in a series about exploring, saving, and destroying the world with the half-baked experimentsof a mad scientist. Using animation to its fullest extent, Dan Harmon got to revel in the type of high-concept, surreal adventures that he could only ever dream of implementing in Community.

Television can take Dan Harmon away from Jeff Winger, but it can't get the cold lawyer's voice out of his head. With plenty of disillusionment and hardship going on within his own life, Harmon is famous for bringing his pain onto the screen and allowing it to entertain and empathize with the same lonely outcasts that his shows attract.

In Community, the main cynic of the series was the cold, calculating, and street smart Jeff Winger whose always had to fend for himself, though his same capacity for being realistic has bled into the study group every now and then. In Rick and Morty, every character besides Jerry Smith seems to have been infected by Rick's logic and skepticism and now battles the cold truth of reality more often than they actually fight aliens.

One of the most subtle differences between Community and Rick and Morty is the change in character dynamics. Community focused on a close, friend group comprised of people from starkly different backgrounds. This always kept the faces fresh in the series while also bringing a constantly different voice on the topic at hand.

RELATED:10 Best Television Families Of The 70s and 80s

Rick and Morty, however, has a much closer dynamic, bringing the family close to a family with their own, interwoven stories but a much more familiar understanding of one another. They don't have the same intermingled romances or buddy themes from Community. If something goes wrong between the Smiths, it's not just a group of friends growing apart from one another but an entire family falling apart.

Meta-humor just wouldn't be the same without a wide, lexicon of movies and television to draw from. One of the most famous elements of Community was its long line of genre parodies that helped paint college life as this one, big movie waiting to happen.

RELATED:Rick And Morty: The 10 Best Pop Culture References In Season 2

While most Rick and Morty stories aren't as obviously derivative, they do have parodies of Mad Max, The Nightmare on Elm Street, The Purge, and the entire heist genre under their belt, and their dialogue is rife with actors constantly trying to one-up one another with what celebrities and films that they know.

Community may have had its fair share of adult situations; but at the end of the day, it was a family sitcom that always held back from being even cruder and more immature than it already was. That same restraint is gladly not seen in the Adult Swim landscape which eats adult situations for breakfast.

With the freedom of a network literally dedicated to being as mature as possible, Rick and Morty's dialogue reaches new levels of color as it allows its cast to use the full expanse of the urban dictionary to their advantage. While plenty of this dialogue is still heavily bleeped, the series isn't making the job of the censors easy.

While Community and Rick and Morty may be advertised as comedy series, they've managed to maintain the imaginations of their audience by taking some of their more adventurous and physical elements seriously. This is more apparent in Rick and Morty where the titular duo's adventures are constantly putting them at odds with galactic federations and killer aliens.

Community, however, was directed by the Russo Brothers, the same, acclaimed duo responsible for the recent films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They allowed the action and camera work in the series to be much more dynamic, with episodes like the paintball series and "Pillows and Blankets" having their clear influence.

As action-packed as Community may have gotten, the series never treaded even close towards PG-13 territory. Not wanting the show to get much more colorful than paintballs would allow, Community kept its violence and gore to a minimum. Rick and Morty has no restraints and uses the color red more often than the silver in Rick's hair.

Taking full advantage of the dangers of the universe and Rick's own disillusionment, the series has gotten bloody and killed multiple characters with ease, almost to the point where it seems like Rick and Morty are the real villains in the series.

It's weird thinking that a show about community college and a show about a drunken scientist share the same proclivity for alternate dimensions. But that's the type of world(s) that Dan Harmon lives in. Rick and Morty obviously loves to utilize Rick's portal gun to go on a variety of mind-bending adventures, and the duo have even utilized the infinite expanse of possibility to skirt grander consequences.

Community gets to share that same, high-concept thread with one of their most famous and critically-acclaimed episodes to date, "Remedial Chaos Theory." Here, a dice roll creates Community's iconic, alternate timeline gag as well as the "Darkest Timeline" that haunts the study group for a couple of seasons.

One of the greatest advantages that Rick and Morty has over Community is how its story and settings don't have to be limited by resources and budget restraints. While the audience has grown familiar and even adoring of Community's study room, it is only a symptom of a series that never tried to stray too far from Greendale.

In Rick and Morty, one would be hard pressed to accurately describe the Smith household given that most of the show's adventures are exploring some strange and visually exciting world. Straying further and further from a small, community college in Colorado, Rick and Morty always has a fresh, new background to delight fans.

NEXT:Rick And Morty: 5 Things That Changed After The Pilot (& 5 That Stayed The Same)

Next Supernatural: 10 Best Episodes Post-Kripke Era, Ranked (According to IMDb)

Read the original post:
Rick And Morty: 5 Ways It's Similar To Community (& 5 Things It Does Differently) - Screen Rant

The holiday season can be a paradox. We celebrate miracles that could only have existed because people were guided by their listening, witnessing, sensing, believing, and willingness to come together and be aware.

Yet, in our personal here and now, with holidays imminent, we are apt to turn away from community and away from ourselves as we drown in mind chatter of could-haves, should-haves, comparison, criticism, and unrealistic expectations of self and others. Often this chatter leaves us with spiraling feelings of disappointment, disconnection, and isolation.

The antidote to a mind that wanders through darkness and distraction? Be mindful.

While that might seem daunting, Chicago mental health professionals help break down what it means to be mindful and how to incorporate some of these practices in our daily life.

Mindfulness keeps us in the present moment. It encourages us to feel sensations, rather than judge them.

Mindfulness is a practice of embodiment, a moment-to-moment awareness that doesnt just include our thoughts but also our emotions, which are events in the body, and physical sensation, explains Rebecca Bunn, manager of mindfulness at Rush University Medical Centers Road Home Program. The program provides mental health programs for veterans and their families.

Sensation whether as awareness of breath, movement, or thought happens in real time in our body. But when we think about breath, movement, and thought we often apply judgment that removes us from the present. By attending to ourselves through the purity of sensation, rather than story, we are able to live embodied in our physical experiences.

We are all mindful already, to a certain degree, says Marita McLaughlin, a licensed clinical professional counselor, meditation teacher for more than 40 years, and Buddhist chaplain for more than 20 years. Getting dressed, choosing what we will eat, and decorating our space are all mindful activities, McLaughlin says.

Rebecca Davis, a psychotherapist and licensed clinical social worker who is formally trained in internal family systems (IFS), describes an IFS therapy session as a meditation led by the therapist.

Westerners typically think that meditation is about clearing or quieting the mind, she says. When we listen to the mind with criticalness, we are not really listening, Davis says. Mindful meditation can help people tune in to what their mind is saying with compassion and tenderness.

Meditation helps clients attend to the mind, Bunn says. I think one of the most valuable aspects of meditation is that it can change our relationship with our thoughts, she says. We can become aware of the presence of a thought without necessarily becoming engaged with it. Not all thoughts are useful, she adds.

It makes a lot of sense that we dont feel calm, we dont feel peaceful all the time, Bunn says, citing the prolonged period of uncertainty, unknowns, and heightened stress that we collectively have been experiencing during this pandemic.

At the Road Home Program, mindfulness offers veterans compassionate connection with themselves, first and foremost. Veterans are encouraged to find a kind, nonjudging awareness of their emotions, thoughts, and sensations that can then support their connection to others.

Sometimes it seems easier to support other people than to support oneself. With the veterans, Bunn says, It is truly remarkable the really natural, deep, and lovely instinct to care for and support one another, while at the same time feeling like, Oh, its so hard for me to do the same for myself.

When we are gentle with our self and build up tolerance for our own foibles as well as strengths, then we are able to extend it outward to others, McLaughlin explains. If we start with compassion for ourselves, then there will be compassion for others that will naturally arise out of that self-awareness.

So, how can we be more aware, more present, more self-kind? Here are some tips to begin a mindfulness practice:

Set doable expectations. Choose a realistic number of times that you can commit to practicing meditation during the week, McLaughlin advises. Perhaps once a week is possible, perhaps three times. McLaughlin suggests starting with five to 10 minutes. Set an alarm so that you are not watching a clock.

Choose good timing. Time of day is important, too. Some prefer the morning, others the evening. McLaughlin advises against meditating before bed. Meditation is not about shutting oneself down or shutting away. Its about really waking up to our life, waking up to the present, she explains. McLaughlin suggests having some space around you as you meditate, open to the environmental experience, with minimal visual distractions.

Build the capacity to be stable in the present moment. McLaughlin suggests meditating seated and attending to the following:

Pay attention to your breath. After feeling the body in this upright, noble posture not too tight, not too loose McLaughlin suggests paying attention to the movement and rhythm of your breath, however it is occurring in the moment. Then, begin to notice thoughts. Dont expect that you are going to stop thinking or that you are going to stop having feelings or emotions, McLaughlin says.

Notice where your attention goes. While we are using the breath as an anchor for our attention, we are acknowledging that other things are going to come and go. As they do, notice, McLaughlin says. Use the moment of noticing as a reminder to bring our attention back to feeling the breath, with gentleness, without judgment, without criticism. Every time we notice and come back, we are strengthening the mind, we are taking responsibility for our experience.

Be honest in your present. In any calendar year, the holidays can include feelings of disconnection, isolation, or loneliness. During this Covid-19 time, we are being asked to separate ourselves further from one another. One of the most mindful things we can do, rather than expect ourselves to feel peaceful and calm in the midst of real challenge, is to admit to ourselves how tough it is right now, Bunn encourages. In this acknowledgment, Bunn suggests we offer ourselves some comfort.

Peel the sticker. When we are stressed and upset, it is often difficult to move forward because we cant separate from the very thoughts and emotions causing us distress. For example, Davis says, when clients say they are experiencing anger, they often also say they feel frustration toward that anger. To reduce the added stress and distraction of frustration and to better tune in to the original feeling of anger, Davis asks her clients to imagine peeling the frustration off like a sticker and holding it in their hand. Im not asking to banish the frustration or throw it away. Youre just trying to get a little bit of separation. Its almost like youre imagining holding it, rocking it, and taking care of it, like a little baby. In the moment that youre peeling it off and holding it, youre beginning to get separation. And, once the separation starts to happen, you can look back at the anger and say, Oh, Im not surprised that the anger came up. Im not totally crazy, and maybe I have a little bit more understanding and compassion now.

Attend with curiosity, compassion, and no agenda. As you meditate or increase your mindfulness in other ways, Davis suggests bringing curiosity and compassion to your noticing. For instance, if you are noticing sadness, Davis suggests asking questions such as, I wonder how long Ive been holding this? I wonder how old this feeling is? This type of curiosity will help you connect without agenda. Conversely, when we try to force things to go away, they often get bigger and more persistent. When we can access curiousness and compassion, then the wounded inner aspects of self get to relax, Davis explains.

Listen to how your body is responding. During the pandemic, Davis has found that people who have been practicing self-connection have felt less isolated because they have themselves. They are not missing things. They are recognizing the silver linings, such as the chance to relax or reboot, even with the emotional and financial difficulties, she says.

Use technology and virtual classes. Apps such as Headspace and Insight Timer offer easy access to meditations for every occasion and every level. Check out virtual meditation classes, such as those through the Chicago Shambhala Meditation Center, Marita McLaughlin, and Rush University Medical Center. If you are a veteran, find out more about services at the Road Home Program. Find internal family systems therapists through the IFS Institute.

Kathleen is a lover of embodied, joyous living and deep engagement inour nature. She is an award-winning author and life/movement coach.

See original here:
Using Meditation to Achieve Mindfulness - Chicago Health

Text size

Almost half of all Americans who have yet to retire are anxious that they wont have enough savings to live comfortably in retirement, and that fear is most common among uncertain strugglers, one of five types of retirement savers identified in a new research paper.

Uncertain strugglers, with a median household income of $43,000 and median household assets of $13,000, by necessity are focused on making ends meet in the present, not the future, according to research from the Alliance for Lifetime Income, a group that promotes annuities as a tool for retirement income.

The alliance and research partner Artemis Strategy Group segmented Americans into five groups after conducting online interviews in August with 3,036 people ages 25 to 74. Participants answered questions about their expectations for retirement, the factors that shape their financial decisions, and their knowledge and interest in retirement planning, giving researchers a snapshot of their retirement readiness.

Barrons brings retirement planning and advice to you in a weekly wrap-up of our articles about preparing for life after work.

Uncertain strugglers make up about 29% of the U.S. population, according to the research, with the other types of retirement savers being ambitious risk-takers (28%), cautious preparers (17%), optimistic dreamers (13%), and purposeful planners (12%).

Heres a breakdown of the five types of retirement savers they found:

Ambitious risk-takers: This group generally is educated, optimistic, and young, with 49% under the age of 45 and 28% under 35. Full-time workers account for 72% of this group, the highest percentage among the five types of savers, and 52% have at least a bachelors degree.

This group has a median household income of $125,000 and the same amount in median household assets. Men make up 54% of this group, and 43% have a financial advisor. They are more likely to be open to new and different opportunities, and 75% expect their sources of income to last throughout retirement. They trust their financial advisors but do their own research and are more likely to consider themselves experts in retirement planning.

Cautious preparers: Men make up 56% of this group, which is fairly well educated, with 40% holding at least a bachelors degree. They skew older, with 68% being 45 or above and 20% being between the ages of 65 and 75. Their median household income is $88,000, with median household assets of $125,000.

Many cautious preparers have prepared for the worst and stuck with tried-and-true investment strategies. Though they have knowledge about retirement planning, they still have questions, so they do their own research and rely upon experts. Some have calculated their income needs in retirement, and 27% are retired, the highest percentage among the five types of savers.

Optimistic dreamers: Women account for 57% of this group, which skews young, with 49% under the age of 45 and 26% under 35. They have a median household income of $62,000 and median household assets of $38,000. They tend to be less educated, with 46% having a high-school diploma or less.

For optimistic dreamers, retirement seems far away, but they expect to lead active, rewarding lives as seniors. They generally have a basic understanding of retirement planning and contribute to their employers 401(k) or similar plans but arent fully comfortable with retirement planning and dont spend much time on it.

Few have calculated their income needs in retirement, and many make financial decisions based on instinct or through recommendations from family or friends.

Purposeful planners: It pays to be a member of this most exclusive group, which has a median household income of $125,000 and median household assets of $325,000. Men make up 58% of this group, which tends to be highly educated, with 52% having at least a bachelors degree. Many are nearing retirement or have already retired, with 42% ages 55 and older.

Purposeful planners are well positioned to enjoy retirement. Most have a financial plan, devote time to retirement planning, and have extensive knowledge about retirement planning. Purposeful planners are likely to enjoy managing their finances in retirement, with 78% expecting their sources of income to last throughout retirement, the highest percentage among the five saver profiles.

Uncertain strugglers: This group generally is pessimistic about living comfortably in retirement, with many expecting to rely on Social Security and help from family to get by.

Women make up 61% of this group, which is less educated than the others, with 56% having a high-school diploma or less. Uncertain strugglers rely on instinct and recommendations from family and friends to make financial decisions. Just 39% of this group works full time, the lowest figure among the five types of savers.

Though 57% of them are 45 or older, they dont know much about retirement planning, dont have a financial plan, and havent calculated their income needs in retirement. Only 24% expect their savings and sources of income to last throughout retirement, the lowest percentage among the five groups.

For optimistic dreamers, our recommendation is to really engage in financial-planning education. Youre really excited about retirement, but lets think about how youre going to get there, says Anne Aldrich, a partner at Artemis Strategy Group and a co-author of the report. Uncertain strugglers aspire to have some control over the direction of their financial lives, and many of them dont have a financial plan, so our recommendation is to gain a sense of control, take hold of the resources that they do have, and start taking the next steps toward developing a plan.

Write to us at retirement@barrons.com

Link:
There Are 5 Types of Retirement Savers, New Research Says. Which One Are You? - Barron's

IRA guru Ed Slott doesnt trust politicians with his taxesand doesnt think you should, either.

A well-known retirement expert (and a recovering certified public accountant), Slott leads seminars for financial planners, advises regular folks on how to retire securely and recently updated his 2003 classic, The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb, to address Congress latest indiscretions.

He recently spoke with Forbes Advisors Taylor Tepper about how savers should do whatever they can to avoid taxes in their golden years, even if it means paying taxes upfront. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What is the retirement savings time bomb?

The time bomb is the tax liability building up in your individual retirement account (IRA). Most people dont think about it, but some of your IRA already belongs to the government. The question is how much.

Most retirement accounts are tax-deferred, not tax-free. You can have someone with a million dollars in their IRA, but its not all theirs.

When they take out the money, theyll have to pay taxes. You dont know exactly how much youll be able to keep unless you take action to lock it down now.

How can people defuse the tax bomb in their IRAs?

You cant rely on Congress to keep their word, so you must be proactive and take steps to keep more of your money. To pay as little tax as possible along the way you need to turn taxable accounts into tax-free accountsmove your money from accounts that I call forever tax to ones that are never tax.

So youre talking about converting to Roth IRAs, right? Youre a big fan Roths.

Not a big fan, a huge fan.

But many people have already built up their savings in an traditional IRA, or other tax-advantaged accounts, which means theyd have to use a backdoor Roth IRA conversion. Who would benefit from this?

Just about anybody who doesnt want to worry about the uncertainty of what higher future tax rates can do to their standard of living in retirement.

Lets say the top tax rates go up to 50%, just as an example. Youd have half the money you thought you had. So as rates go up, the value of your retirement savings effectively goes down.

The thing I like about the conversion is that it gives people certainty. People dont like the uncertainty of What is Congress going to do? We already know from their broken promises that we cant trust them.

But you dont think a Roth IRA conversion is the best move for everyone, right?

No, and I have a section in the book that describes who shouldnt do a Roth IRA conversion.

(Editors note: In his book, Slott advises against doing a Roth conversion if

OK, lets say I go ahead and do a backdoor Roth IRA conversion. What if youre wrong? What if Congress doesnt end up hiking tax rates substantially, a thing they have not done in years?

I do a lot of speaking engagements. I was doing a virtual program recently and someone told me, Ed, I went to your big two-day IRA training program 10 years ago and you said the same thing then. You said taxes were going to go up, and you know what? They didnt. In fact, they went down. You were wrong. What do you have to say about that?

I said, Well, if you had listened to me and converted to a Roth IRA 10 years ago, all of those gains from a booming stock market would have grown tax-free in your Roth IRA. Thats what I have to say about that.

So a Roth IRA conversion is a way to cover yourself, just in case?

I call Roth IRA conversions tax insurance. Thats why you get insurance: In case something bad happens. It doesnt matter how much they raise tax rates; your tax rate will be zero.

Any financial decision has benefits and drawbacks. You have to look at both sides to see whats best for you. With the Roth IRA, I look at the worst case scenario. Whats the worst thing that can happen? Lets say I was wrong and tax rates didnt go up. Youve still locked in a 0% tax rate on your gains for life.

Why dont more people do Roth IRA conversions?

The downside is that you pay taxes up front. But those are taxes youd have to pay anyway. Not if, but when. The only way to get money out of a traditional IRA, even if you just want to spend it, is to pay taxes.

Maybe some people really dont believe that Congress will raise their taxes?

You cant believe these guys. With the SECURE Act, they showed their hand again. The minute they need money the first thing they turn to is retirement savings. Why? Because that money is a big juicy steak to Congress because they know that money hasnt been taxed yet. Its low-hanging fruit.

As part of the SECURE Act, Congress made many IRA beneficiaries take withdrawals over 10 years instead of stretching them over a much longer time period. Why is that so bad?

The whole fact that Congress pulled the rug out from everybody when most people were relying on promises made by politiciansI know thats almost ridiculous to say. But they promised!? A congressman, a politician, can you believe that?

Many people made plans to stretch IRA savings a long way after they died.

This is why I begin my book with a chapter titled The Broken Promise. The theme is you cant rely on these guys, youll need to make your own plan, as best as you can.

But were mainly talking about adult child beneficiaries, right? Minor child beneficiaries, spouses and others are exempt. Basically Congress is scaling back the estate planning benefits of an IRA. Is that really so bad?

When youre planning for retirement, whats important is not what youre going to do tomorrow. Its a long-term plan, a 20- to 30-year plan. So you need to be able to rely on the rules. And the rules were the same for over 20 years, and then all of a sudden they changed them.

A lot of people I hear from are not super wealthy people. They simply arranged their life a certain way because thats what they wanted. Maybe they lived more frugally because they wanted to leave their kids and grandkids a legacy for years to come. So they adjusted their lives based on these rules.

What can someone do if they dont want to do a Roth conversion or if they still want to leave their adult children a financial legacy?

I have to tell you as a tax advisor, who doesnt sell life insurance or any financial product, the tax exemption for life insurance benefits is one of the single biggest pluses in the tax code and most people dont take advantage of it.

When I talk about life insurance Im talking about permanent cash value policies, and its very similar to Roth IRAs in the sense that you can leave someone tax free money.

But why should someone pay the premiums for a policy just to use it as an estate planning tool?

People want to know, Whats in it for me?

What most people dont know is that many policies, like my owneverything Im telling you Ive done myselfhave long-term care riders. You can tap into that life insurance money, in effect taking an advance, if you need it to pay these huge health bills later in retirement.

Thats one way to turn the tables on Congress. You just cant trust themyou have to trust yourself and do what you can to control your own tax rate.

View post:
IRA Guru Ed Slott On Taxes, Retirement & Roth IRAs - Forbes

Carol Petrov

The way Certified Financial Planner Carol Petrov sees it, women in the advisory business are given only two options: a financial advisor who hunts and kills for their meat, or somebodys assistant with a steady paycheck.

Petrov, the vice president of Kendall Capital, started out as an advisor, switched after seven years to be a brokerage assistant (which she did for six years) and then returned to her FA career when she joined Kendall Capital in Rockville, Maryland, six years ago. With $310 million in assets under management, the RIAs client focus is Middle-Class Millionaires, and theyve trademarked the moniker.

Petrov, 48, specializes in retirement planning for seniors, which is often challenging because most of the firms older clients became millionaires by dint of saving all their lives and now worry that if they stop working, they wont be able to pay their bills.

In the interview, Petrov, who grew up in the Maryland suburbs and earned a B.S. from George Washington Universitys business school, talks about what drove her to give up advising and work instead as a client service associate at Morgan Stanley. The 2008-2014 stint was not fulfilling, as she explains.

To help both her and other women to an improved experience, she urged the firm to offer, as an alternative to evolving into an FA, financial planning jobs with flexible hours and steady pay that would allow for a better work-family balance. That appeal proved to be in vain.

The wirehouse firm still does not offer such opportunity, she says, but has two salaried programs for those who do aspire to become FAs: Wealth Advisor Associate, a diversity initiative leading to the Financial Advisor Associate Program, which trains people with no financial or sales background.

Morgan Stanley offers several career paths to employees within the Field Service Organization, a Morgan Stanley spokesperson said. The [two noted above] are designed to guide employees through extensive training and development to help them succeed as financial advisors.

ThinkAdvisor recently interviewed Petrov, who was speaking by phone from Rockville. She discussed her detoured career trajectory and her key goal as an advisor: To help clients have a good experience. I want [them] to be happy and come back for more and, she says, refer their friends.

Here are highlights from our conversation:

THINKADVISOR: Your firm specializes in serving Middle-Class Millionaires, a term that Clark Kendall, president and CEO, trademarked. Do such clients feel rich and have no worries about money?

CAROL PETROV: Quite the contrary. The majority have worked and saved by living within or below their means. They feel they have to continue to work and save, and that their retirement is the security of knowing they can keep living the way theyve been living. So they feel just as insecure as before [they became millionaires] and worry that if they stop working, they wont be able to pay their bills.

Did President Trumps Tax Cuts and Jobs Act help Middle-Class Millionaires?

No. That tax package had a huge [negative] impact on them. It really wreaks havoc on the higher middle class, whose tax rates tend to be around 20%-22%.

Just what was the change?

The state and local tax SALT deduction was capped at $10,000 [$5,000 for married filing separately]. Most of our clients have property taxes alone that are well over that. So between [losing] the state income tax deduction and the property tax deduction, some lost a good two or three times what they used to be able to deduct.

Will President-elect Joe Bidens tax proposal benefit Middle-Class Millionaire clients?

Thus far, hes proposed raising taxes on income above $400,000. Thats far ahead of most of our clients. Most have $400,000, but theyre not earning that amount [or more]. So theyll stay in the bracket theyre in now and remain hopeful that the SALT [change] will be reversed.

How did you get interested in working in financial services?

In 2000, I was in customer service as the manager of a restaurant in Bethesda and figuring out what I should do next. At the restaurant, I met three middle-aged [male] UBS financial planners who said I had the right personality to be an advisor. I wasnt interested in stocks. They said, No, no not stocks. Financial planning. I said, Whats that? And thats how I got into financial services.

Whats your key strength thats helped you in your work?

My ability to relate to people, to listen. As a financial planner, youre working to help clients have a good experience. To this day, I feel like Im still working for tips, [as in customer service]: I want my clients to be happy and come back for more, and refer their friends.

Your first job in the industry was financial advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services. From there, after a brief stint as an FA at First Financial Group, you joined Morgan Stanley as a registered service associate. Wasnt that a step down on your career ladder?

It was. As a woman in this business, youre given two options: financial advisor who hunts and kills for their meat you get clients and make commissions or else, youre somebodys assistant with a steady paycheck and regular hours.

Was steady pay and set hours necessary for your lifestyle?

At Ameriprise, I was compensated on commission. But [after becoming a mother with a young son and single], I needed [income] stability and good health benefits. Thats why I switched to being an assistant. At Morgan Stanley, I was able to have that.

As a woman in the male-dominated world of financial services, have you encountered discrimination or bias thats stymied your career?

I got my CFP while I was at Morgan Stanley; they paid for it. But they wouldnt put CFP on my business card. That was discriminatory.

Did you experience any slights there just because youre female?

Youre definitely not part of a club. Youre not invited to golf outings or happy hours. Theres definitely a clique of men that you will not be part of. I personally dont have any me-too stories, but Morgan Stanley is, kind of, notorious for the way they treated women. They had so many lawsuits when I was there.

Anything else that dampened your spirit?

Youre not taken very seriously by people in the industry. At Morgan Stanley, even the nicest of brokers would still see you as just staff. Thats when I realized there was nowhere to go unless I became an [MS] advisor. Youre either an advisor there or somebodys assistant. But I didnt want to become a broker [on commission] because Id lose my steady paycheck. I wanted to find a better way. Thats when I started looking around and researching fee-only RIA advisors.

Did you try for a promotion out of your support role?

Yes. I spoke to Morgan Stanley folks in New York, telling them, We have a lot of smart women [support staff] working here for years and years. They know your clients better than your brokers do. Would you make it so they could do financial planning, have client interaction and help bring in more business? But also, if youre a mom, give us the flexibility to take time off if, for example, you have to take your kid to the doctor.

What was the response?

Good point we should reach out more [sounding offhand]. Were designing another role for the women. And they would come up with names for various roles.

Why did you leave the firm?

I was assisting three brokers. It was very much like being on a hamster wheel. Youre helping these people succeed, but youre not going anywhere. So many women in this business are stuck in the wheel and cant seem to see a way out.

Youre the vice president of Kendall. Is it possible for you to advance there?

Clark picks my brain and runs things by me. In that way, he sees me as a partner. Were hiring people under me so I can be in more of a supervisory role some day and work only with clients that have the most intricate needs. The skys the limit here because were a growing [RIA] and dont have as many restrictions as a broker-dealer.

How can the industry attract more women to become financial advisors?

By saying, We offer you a career path that balances work and family life. The firms have to acknowledge that most women still have the primary responsibility of taking care of their kids.

How, specifically, could they provide that balance?

They have to be more flexible with their scheduling. One of the reasons they lose [female] talent is by not being flexible. They need to say, We know you work your tail off when youre here. Youre not goofing off like those guys [FAs] in the kitchen talking about football for three hours on Monday morning. So if [a mom] needs to leave a little early or come in late [because of parenting responsibilities], they have to understand.

Any advice for women who are thinking of becoming a financial advisor or for FA assistants who want to move up but feel frustrated?

The most important thing is to invest in yourself. Once you have the experience and knowledge, you need to decide whether to move up. Its helpful to join a financial planning association, attend webinars, learn more about different aspects of being an advisor and get your CFP.

Whats the biggest hurdle?

Getting that knowledge and acknowledgment of being a CFP. Once youre a CFP, youre like, Hey, I know my stuff and you have your ticket out.

View post:
Soothing the Retirement Fears of Middle-Class Millionaires - ThinkAdvisor

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College published a brief saying public pension plans should avoid tailoring their investment strategies to satisfy calls for political, social and environmental justice, known as ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing.

The movement toward more socially and environmentally activist investing has gained traction in recent years and some investors are using it as a strategy to increase returns based on political, social and environmental movements.

According to CRR, The mechanism apparently must work through a decline in the value of stocks at bad companies and an increase in the value of stocks at good companies thereby encouraging more companies to adopt good behaviors.

However, CRR found that states adopting an ESG mandate for public pension plan investments earned lower returns than traditional investment strategies, often by a considerable margin, the authors wrote.

Even assuming that divestment and ESG inclusion were effective mechanisms to stop terrorism and slow the rise in the earths temperature and that state legislatures and pension fund boards are the right bodies to make foreign and climate policy, pension funds are not an appropriate vehicle for social investing, the CRR report states.

To put this finding in context, plans with state mandates have had them for an average of 10 years, the authors wrote. So the average annualized return for those with a state mandate would be 20 basis points lower than for those without a mandate.

Part of the problem is that ESG investing involves a number of different issues, ranging from guns and carbon emissions to the more nebulous social justice, which can all be distinct from each other.

Secondly, the researchers found that ESG investing is unlikely to affect the price of either the good or the bad companies. The report also noted that fees related to ESG investing tend to be significantly higher than traditional counterparts.

Connecticut manages over $37 billion through its Connecticut Retirement Plan Trust Fund investments, and in 2006 Connecticut was a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, which gives guidelines to selecting investment partners based on ESG issues.

In a press release issued by the UN, former State Treasurer Denise Nappier said Financial markets tend to focus too heavily on short-term results at the expense of long-term and non-traditional financial fitness factors that could affect a companys bottom line. For many institutional investors it is the long-term that matters and in this context environmental, social and governance issues take on new meaning.

According to the 2019 Investment Policy Statement for Connecticuts retirement fund, which was authored by State Treasurer Shawn Wooden and approved by the Investment Advisory Council, the state is also taking a more active role in ESG investments.

Article VIII of the Investment Policy Statement says Connecticut will Integrate the potential risk and value impact that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors may have on CRPTFs investment program.

A main driver behind the integration of ESG into the investment process is the desire to identify and select investment partners and money managers that carefully review the effect of ESG on companies and to use appropriate criteria to invest in better managed companies to improve on invested capital, the policy statement says.

The statement continues to indicate that part of that ESG criteria will be to afford more opportunities to emerging, minority and women-owned and Connecticut-based investment partners.

In 2020 Wooden announced the Connecticut would divest roughly $30 million from civilian gun and ammunition manufacturers, part of Woodens Responsible Gun Policy.

According to the CRR, ESG has its roots in the 1970s when states moved to divest from tobacco, alcohol and gambling stocks, as well as divesting from companies who did business with South Africa which, at the time, had a policy of apartheid.

The investment movement has since moved on to encompass terrorist states, Iran, gun manufacturers and fossil fuel companies.

According to CRR, public pension plans applied ESG to at least $3 trillion in assets, which represents more than half of all assets in public pension funds.

See the original post:
Center for Retirement Research: Public pension plans should avoid investing based on social and environmental movements - Yankee Institute

If youve been following the stock market news lately, youve probably heard about TeslaTSLA being ... [+] added to the S&P 500 Index a few times a day. But having a newsworthy change to an index may not mean its a good investmentit may just mean the opposite.

If youve been following the stock market news lately, youve probably heard about Tesla TSLA being added to the S&P 500 Index a few times a day. But having a newsworthy change to an index may not mean its a good investmentit may just mean the opposite.

Lets talk about what index funds are and whether theyre a good choice for your retirement portfolio.

Index funds are a type of mutual funda portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to match or track the performance of a particular market index. Unlike some mutual funds which allow managers to have some discretion to select underlying holdings and to determine when to buy or sell them, index funds are designed to track the performance of a market index such as the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 2000 Index, and the Willshire 5000 Total Market Index.

There are some attractive features to these funds.

Since index funds are passive management, managers are not actively picking securities, which means low costs for investors. Also, low portfolio turnover means modest tax impacts. Theyre the cheapest means to buy equity exposure, but that may not mean theyre the best option.

The S&P 500 includes 500 market-cap-weighted stocks. While this sounds like built-in diversification, theres actually a huge amount of concentration in favor of the biggest names because securities with a higher market capitalization value account for a greater share of the overall value of the index.

Currently, the top five stocks in the S&P 500 index make up over 20% of the holdings. These are Apple AAPL (AAPL), Microsoft MSFT (MSFT), Amazon AMZN (AMZN), Facebook FB (FB) and Alphabet (GOOGL). The top 50 stocks account for over 54% of the fund balance (Source). That means that more than half of the indexs return is linked to just ten percent of the stocks in the portfolio.

In terms of your portfolio, while you will own small pieces of 500 different stocks, your portfolio will be weighted in just those big names. That may not be the diversity you expected.

The manager of an index fund has less flexibility in terms of what to buy, what to sell or when to make the transactions.

Lets look at Tesla (TSLA). This year, there was tremendous talk about the possibility of Tesla joining the S&P 500 Index. That drove up the stock price. Since the beginning of 2020, the value of Tesla stock has grown more than 600%.

Tesla will be joining the index later in December. Managers will be forced to establish positions in Tesla stock, and theyre buying the shares at a grossly inflated price.

If you own the S&P 500 Index, youre about to own a lot of Tesla stockbut only after its price has been escalated to all-time highs.

When a stock is announced to be joining an index, the managers of the funds mirroring that index have no choice but to buy shares. But a lot of institutional and individual investors buy up the shares before those managers can, so index funds often buy at an elevated price on the way in.

The same thing is true in reverse. An index fund may have less flexibility to react to price declines in the securities within the index. If a stock gets kicked out of an index, the managers have to sell the shares whether they want to or not. That will drive the price down.

To have a successful outcome for an investment, an investor should choose what to buy, when to buy it and when to sell it. Getting any of those three components wrong can hurt returns, and index fund managers dont get to select any of the variables on their own merits.

In my opinion, the newsworthiness of a stock joining or leaving an index almost always leads to a public buying or selling frenzy and then a lousy deal for the index fund holders.

When constructing a portfolio, asset managers look at various measures, including those known as alpha, beta and standard deviation.

Alpha is a measure of the fund managers selection skill. A positive alpha can add value to the fund. A negative alpha can detract value.

Index funds have no alpha because there is no control over selectionits all predetermined by the index, so it sets its own benchmark. You can never get excess performance on the upside or downside, so you can never do better than the benchmark.

Beta is the measure of risk. A beta of 1.00 means youre taking the exact amount of risk as the benchmark, in this case the S&P 500. If a beta is higher than 1.00 youre taking more risk than the benchmark and if its less than 1.00 youre taking less risk than the benchmark.

An index fund always has a beta of 1.00.Youre not creating any additional defense against risk.

With no alpha or beta, the standard deviation will be higher for an equity index fund than you may want for your portfolio because it cannot play any defense.

If the S&P index is up 40%, so is your portfolio. If its down 40%, so is your portfolio.

The best way to manage a portfolio is to reduce that downside. The force of the downside is double the force of the upside.

Lets say you make a hypothetical investment of $10,000 into an index and hold it for two years. In the first year, the fund gains 50%. In the second year, the fund loses 50%. The average annual rate of return is zero, but you still lost money. After year one, you had $15,000. After year two you had $7,500.

The same is true in reversethe sequence doesnt matter. If you lost 50% in the first year and gained 50% in the second year, youre still coming up with less than you put in.

Cheaper or inexpensive is not always the better choice when investing.

Passive asset management for widely traded asset classes may make a ton of sense, but you dont have to buy an index to be passive. All you need is fund thats primarily buy-and-hold and has low turnover. This wont be as cheap as an index fund, but it can still be inexpensive. It also has a chance to increase alpha and to reduce beta by avoiding some of the higher standard deviation positions in the index.

Read the original post:
Tesla Fever: Understanding Index Funds And How They May Hurt Your Retirement - Forbes

Grand Forks school administrators are studying ways to reduce the districts budget by $3.2 million next year, as directed by the boards Finance Committee.

Brenner outlined the process and the timeline for making budget reduction decisions at the boards regular meeting Monday, Dec. 14.

Taking into account inflation and other factors, we are really faced with an 8 to 12% gap between revenue and expenses for the next two years, Brenner said. With a current expense budget of about $112 million, realizing a $10 million reduction in expenses is going to be a heavy lift, because about 85% of the districts expenses are tied to salaries, he said.

District administrators are using a tiered approach to identifying budget savings, with Tier 1 being attrition; Tier 2, low-enrollment courses; and Tier 3, positions.

We want to stay as far away from Tier 3 as possible, Brenner told the board.

Recent discussions with local state lawmakers have indicated that no increase in per-pupil aid in year 1 and a 1% increase in year 2 are possible, said Scott Berge, business manager for the district.

Per-pupil funding (accounts for) about two-thirds of our total revenue, so its a significant portion, Berge said.

District administrators plan to gather input from Grand Forks Education Association members, teacher-leaders and classified staff members Jan. 12-20 and present budget reduction concepts to the School Board for feedback at its Jan. 25 meeting, Brenner said.

During a discussion about possibly rescinding the districts early retirement policy, several teachers urged the board to retain the policy, maintaining that to do so would, over time, save the district money.

The long-standing policy allows teachers who have been employed for a certain number of years and who are qualified, to apply for early retirement benefits, which are paid out in equal portion annually over four years.

Fifty-six teachers qualify to apply for the benefit this year; among them, 13 have become eligible to apply this school year, according to Melissa Buchhop, GFEA president.

The application deadline is Jan. 15.

Three teachers have already submitted paperwork for the benefit, Buchhop said. It is not fair to long-term teachers to rescind the policy at this time.

Penny Tandeski, who has worked for the district for 31 years and has submitted her retirement notice, said It seems loyalty means nothing and urged the board to find other ways to solve budget woes.

To rescind the policy now is like ripping the rug right out from under me, she said, and doing so with basically no warning, to say is crushing is an understatement.

Said Berge: We have a lot of difficult decisions ahead of us (including possibly cutting) individual classes, entire programs, staffing facilities, along with other adjustments we may have to make.

(During a time when) we have a shortage of teachers, it doesnt make sense to encourage teachers to retire, said Doug Carpenter, member of the boards Finance Committee.

We may have to look at each persons application and ask, Is that a hard-to-fill position? Thats another way of doing this.

Originally posted here:
Grand Forks School Board weighs budget reduction, early retirement concerns - Grand Forks Herald

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) today announced that Andy King is retiring from the company as president of the global components business, effective December 31, 2020.

Andy has been an instrumental part of driving the growth and success of Arrow during his 34 years at the company, said Michael J. Long, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Arrow. He has been a valuable member of our leadership team, and we wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.

Following Mr. Kings retirement, David West, senior vice president of worldwide supplier marketing and engineering for Arrow, will be named president of the global components business, reporting to Mr. Long. David has held wide-ranging leadership positions during his 22 years at Arrow, overseeing all critical aspects of our components segment, said Mr. Long. I look forward to seeing the business continuing to thrive and innovate under Davids direction.

Arrow Electronics guides innovation forward for over 175,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2019 sales of $29 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life. Learn more at fiveyearsout.com.

Continued here:
Andy King to Retire From Arrow Electronics, Inc. - Business Wire

Americas best-selling vehicle gets better, more advanced and more fuel efficient. Detroit Free Press

Thechief manufacturing and labor affairs officer at Ford Motor Co., a manpraised by union leaders for a negotiating style that helped avert strikes during contract talks in the U.S. in 2019 and Canada in 2020, is retiring, the company announced Tuesday.

Gary Johnson, 56, will end his career at Ford on Feb. 1. He began with the automaker in 1986 as a paint-shop supervisor at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant. He leaves as head of operations for every Ford assembly, stamping and powertrain plant. Previously, Johnson led manufacturing inAsia Pacific. Heoversaw construction of 12 manufacturing plants.

Gary Johnson, chief manufacturing and labor affairs officer, will retire on Feb. 1.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Johnson played a key role in responding to the coronavirus pandemic and rapidly manufacturingpersonal protective and healthcare equipment, while directing a safe return toglobal manufacturing.

Hes been central to expanding and modernizing our operations to produce high-quality vehicles, our exceptional partnership with the UAW, and this past year leading our people and production through the coronavirus pandemic," said Kumar Galhotra, president, Ford Americas and International Markets Group.

From left, Ford engineering specialist Shaunise Williams, Gary Johnson, CEO Jim Farley, Dearborn Truck Plant Manager Debbie Manzano and launch team member Edana Jones discuss a machine operation in September. Johnson, chief manufacturing and labor affairs officer, will retire on Feb. 1.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

One day before the announcement,IndustryWeek named Johnson2020 Manufacturing Technology Leader of the Yearfrom what wasdescribed asanespecially competitive field of candidateschallenged byCOVID-19 disruption.

The UAW praised Johnson's ability to find common ground.

"Over the past year, as Ford and the U.S. auto industry faced unprecedented challenges over the coronaviruspandemic, Gary Johnson worked tirelessly with the UAW and our members to address the serious health and safety issues in our workplace with collaboration, honesty and real concern," Gerald Kariem, UAW vice president of the Ford Department, said Tuesday."Although we had differences at the bargaining table, Gary always understood that ultimately UAW members were his family too and it was reflected in the way he approached bargaining."

Ronald Green, left, is a 43-year Kansas City Assembly Plant worker who talked with John Savona, Ford North America Manufacturing vice president in October after a company celebration. They're standing in front of a 2021 F-150 pre-production prototype. Savona was promoted Tuesday.(Photo: Amanda Wilhite)

John Savona, 52, will succeedJohnson in overseeingworldwide manufacturing strategywhile continuing to leadmanufacturing in North America.

The UAWsaid it looked forward to working with Savona.

He joined Ford in 1989 as a security guard at the Wayne Assembly Plant after serving in the U.S. Army. Savonahas led manufacturing operations in North America since 2018 and currently serves as executive champion for the Ford Veteran's Network. He will report to Lisa Drake, chief operating officer, North America

These and other executive changes are part of an ongoing management overhaul since CEO Jim Farley took the helmOct. 1.

More: Ford hires global CMO from eBay amid shakeup in tech, vehicle launches

More: Ford CFO replaced in management shake-up on Day 1 of new CEO

More: Ford CEO Jim Hackett to retire; Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley will take helm

Johnson is one of two topFord executives retiring who will be succeeded by colleagues, "while assignments for two Product Development and Engineering leaders areevolving with the companys intense focus on connectivity and electrification," Ford said in a news release.

The changes "will assure consistency and capability as Ford works through next-level changes in its plan to transform, modernize, disrupt and grow its automotive business," Ford said.

Mark Ovenden, 56, president of Fords International Markets Group, is retiring effective Feb. 1 after 35 years at the company. He is credited with improving business in 100 markets including Australia, India, the Middle East, South Africa and Southeast Asia. He coordinated global demand for the Ranger pickup. Previously, Ovenden waspresident, Middle East and Africa; vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Asia Pacific; led transformation of Fords joint-venture company in Russia, and was chairman and managing director of Ford of Britain.

Mark Ovenden, 56, president of Fords International Markets Group, is retiring effective Feb. 1 after 35 years at the company.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Mark has been on the leading edge of expanding the worldwide reach and stature of the Blue Oval, Galhotra said in prepared remarks. He has sharp understanding of and been a strong and constant advocate for customers in places that were newer for Ford.

Dianne Craig, 56, who has for the past two years beenCEO of FordDirect, a digital marketing joint venture with Ford and Lincoln dealers, will succeedOvenden as president, International Markets Group and become a corporate officer. She willreport to Lyle Watters, president, South America and International Markets Group.

Dianne Craig, who has for the past two years beenCEO of FordDirect, a digital marketing joint venture with Ford and Lincoln dealers, has been promoted to president, International Markets Group.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Craig, whohas been at Fordsince 1986, was director, U.S. Sales, and president and CEO of Ford of Canada.

Starting Jan. 1,Dave Filipe, 53, will become vice president, Vehicle Hardware Modules, andChuck Gray, 56, vice president, Vehicle Embedded Software and Controls.

"Both represent shifting responsibilities within the new Ford operating model that CEO Jim Farley introduced in October," Ford said.

Filipe and Gray continue as officers of the company and reportto Hau Thai-Tang, chief product platform and operations officer.

Despite being seasoned veterans at Ford, their roles are new aspart ofrestructuring.

"They will support the companys aggressive push to raise overall product quality and employ a new approach that will scale the innovative battery-electric vehicle platforms and deliver its first fully networked vehicles and services," Ford said.

More: Ford wants to cut 1,400 salaried jobs in U.S.: Who is targeted

More: Ford cuts contract workers effective immediately, declines to say how many

Filipe, who has been vice president, powertrain engineering, for the past three years, will now lead hardware development and systems integration of exterior, interior, underbody, internal-combustion powertrain and electrified modules. Previously,he was vehicle line director for North America trucks; director of Global, Engine Engineering; and director, Transmission and Driveline Engineering. Filipe has been with Ford since 1992.

Dave Filipe will become vice president, Vehicle Hardware Modules, at Ford on Jan. 1.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Gray will be "responsible for transforming the in-vehicle service experience for Ford customers through embedded software, including those that enable over-the-air updates, vehicle controls, embedded connectivity technology, advanced driver-assist technologies and systems, and vehicle cybersecurity," Ford said.

Since 2019, Grayhas been vice president, Vehicle Components and Systems. Earlier, Gray, who joined Ford in 1991, was director of Fords Core Electrical team and also led Transmission and Driveline engineering.

Chuck Gray will become vice president, Vehicle Embedded Software and Controls, starting on Jan. 1 at Ford.(Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

With this new structure, our engineering teams will be even more agile, to capitalize on emerging trends and opportunities and the speed of innovation, Thai-Tang said in prepared remarks. Instead of focusing on components, we will use a systems view of technology and its integration at scale to unlock innovation for customers and Ford.

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard at 313-222-6512or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2020/12/15/ford-savona-gary-johnson-uaw-farley-retirement/3901848001/

Continued here:
Top Ford labor negotiator Gary Johnson to retire after 34 years - Detroit Free Press