Walid Petiri

Do You Have Enough To Retire?

Once you retire you’ll likely only want to work for the fun of it and not because you have to, so a retirement plan is a must. Yet for some reason (procrastination, fear, do-it yourself) many, many retirees never make a budget of any kind, and later regre... Read >

Is the Economy any Better? Jobs Increase Again, GDP Improves and Questions Linger

The U.S. economy is growing & healthy? The January employment report offered a surprising 243,000 jobs created, which was about 100,000 more jobs then the consensus figure amongst economists. Add to this the other good news that the overall unemployment r... Read >

How to Keep your Key Employees using “Golden Handcuffs”

Sweeten the pot so they never want to. “Golden handcuffs” or “golden handshakes” agreements between businesses and their key managers, (especially the owners of privately held companies) reward loyalty, promote retention and… Help owners maximize the tran... Read >

How To Use Life Insurance For Your Family

Procrastination is something that we all have in common; often it is as innocent as continually putting something off until a later date. However, in the case of life insurance putting it off until later could be a devastating decision for your loved ones... Read >

Baby Boomers Need Help & Hope to Keep Retirement Dreams Alive

Boomer's this is not your parent’s retirement. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), in 1980, 39% of American workers had a pension that paid a guaranteed payout during retirement. In 2010, that number had shrunk so that 15% of work... Read >

Why Debt and Debt Ceilings Matter

Déjà' Vu all over again... It was just last May in the fourth edition of the Foresight, European Debt & the U.S. Markets, (though that seems like years ago) that I was writing this column about the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, & Spain) and ho... Read >

Inflation is Back! Now Let's Tell The Fed

Everyone sees rising gas prices. According to AAA, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $3.98 per gallon as of Friday 5/06/11. The last time the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $4.00 per gallon was 7/25/08, and the all-time... Read >

Tips to Understanding Why The Markets Were Volatile During the First Quarter

Quarterly Comparison and Discussion In contrast to last quarter, the broad U.S. fixed income market, as measured by the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index, was in the black for the period, gaining about 0.4%. Longer-term fixed income bonds fared the... Read >

Taxes May Outweigh The Benefits For Early Distribution From Your Retirement Accounts

Clearly after experiencing the job losses and other turmoil that will make 2008-2010 forever memorable, many Americans have been feeling immense financial pressure. During these times, when families really need additional money to meet their needs, a ret... Read >

The Right Retirement Plan For You Or Your Employees?

Retirement is probably the number #1 reason that people invest and there are a variety of retirement plan choices. Whether you are an employer trying to provide the best benefit package options for your employees, or you want to make sure you have a good ... Read >

Should You Retire Your Mortgage Before Retiring?

Should you own your home free and clear before you retire? This is one question that frequently arises when developing and implementing a retirement plan. The answer to this question would seem to be an obvious no brainer. In retirement, a person or coup... Read >

While You Were Watching Egypt… Obama Proposes To End Fannie And Freddie

Mubarak is ousted! Egyptian citizens saw the culmination of 10 years of mounting frustration of the rule of President Hosni Mubarak finally end last week. The protests in the streets by millions in Cairo and other major cities that started on January 18th... Read >

Will Housing Recover in 2011?

Will Housing Recover in 2011? As clients know since 2007, I have spoken directly to them about, and written at length in the Market Commentary that is released each quarter and can be found on our website, my various concerns about the US housing mark... Read >

How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft As you were holiday shopping at full bore and you were searching online or in the store for the perfect gift, someone else may be seeking to steal your good name and credit. Identity theft can be as primi... Read >

How the Fed Could Save the Economy and Destroy the Currency

Is the glass half full? The Federal Reserve has committed to buying $600 billion worth of Treasury bonds between now and June, and it wants to purchase up to $900 billion in debt by the end of September 2011.1 This second round of quantitative easing has ... Read >