Graham Cleveley- Insurance, Finance, Stocks

CAR INSURANCE

Get an Auto Quote — It's Fast and Easy

Choosing the right auto insurance can be tough. State Farm® makes it easier with a fast online quote that helps you get car insurance discounts as you go. You can compare options and customize coverage to fit your needs. After you choose State Farm, we're there anytime, anywhere you need us, with helpful advice and award-winning service. That's why more drivers trust us than any other auto insurer. Get your auto insurance quote now, and get to a better State®.

Get more for your money when you buy auto insurance from Progressive. If something happens to your car, you get full service (just drop off your car and pick it up when it's ready) and guaranteed repairs—this is included in your coverage—and you're back on the road fast.

HOME INSURANCE

Our home property insurance coverage is packaged with liability protection..

There's No Place Like Home. Be Sure It's Protected.

Protect your home inside and out with a homeowners insurance policy from Allstate. You'll have access to a dedicated insurance agent who can help you understand what your policy covers and answer any questions you may have. Your home is where the heart is-and it's one of the biggest investments you have. Put it in Good Hands.

LIFE INSURANCE

We do everything we can for our loved ones, not because we have to, but because we want to. With the right life insurance coverage, we can be happy knowing that our loved ones will be able to live out their dreams, no matter what the future holds. What could be better?

Getting Started With Life Insurance

Life insurance is a great way to prepare for life’s unexpected moments. Like most of us, you probably worry about the future; can we pay off the house, will my kids get a good education, will they grow up healthy and happy?

With Life insurance, you can know that no matter what tomorrow may bring, your family’s financial future is ensured.

How do you get started though?

Kleiner exec to Pao: Don’t 'make a mountain out of a molehill’

How to pump up retirement income by as much as 30%

‘Even if the luxury watch contains only one troy ounce, it is still an unfathomable — perhaps even unprecedented — amount of gold for a single company, even one as large as Apple, to consume.’

Can American Capital Agency Maintain Its Dividend?

Dividend investors have learned a lot about real estate investment trusts in recent years, with REITs that invest in mortgage-backed securities producing double-digit dividend yields in the current low-interest-rate environment. American Capital Agency has been one of the most popular mortgage REITs, with its balance sheet ballooning in size as business has grown. Yet on several occasions in recent years, American Capital Agency has had to cut its dividend payment. Even with the company now making monthly payouts to investors, some shareholders wonder whether it can sustain its dividend without making any further reductions.

How American Capital Agency got such a big dividend yield
American Capital Agency uses one of the oldest business models in the financial industry. The company borrows money at short-term rates, which tend to be relatively low; it then purchases mortgage-backed securities with the proceeds, looking for investments that pay yields higher than its borrowing costs. The difference between the two is effectively net income that falls to the mortgage REIT's bottom line. American Capital Agency must pay at least 90% of that income to shareholders in order to maintain its tax-favored status as a REIT.

By itself, the difference between short- and long-term rates wouldn't be enough to generate double-digit dividend yields. To boost its income, American Capital Agency uses high levels of leverage, multiplying its borrowings and the resulting spreads between its financing costs and its investment income.

During the first few years after the financial crisis, American Capital Agency reaped the full rewards of its business model. Not only did investors get lucrative flows of dividend payments, but their share prices rose fairly substantially. That double-dip of income and capital gains produced impressive total returns for shareholders.

What changed for American Capital Agency?
Since mid-2013, however, American Capital Agency has faced much different challenges. When the Federal Reserve first signaled it would stop buying mortgage-backed securities on the open market, interest rates jumped, tightening the spreads mortgage REITs like American Capital Agency could earn. That led to multiple dividend cuts, with three consecutive reductions in late 2013 slicing the payout almost in half. Share-price declines followed, adding insult to injury.

Yet many investors don't realize that American Capital Agency's income drop owed at least partially to a change in business strategy. With the expectation of higher interest rates, the mortgage REIT reduced the amount of leverage it took on. That should leave it less vulnerable to future rate moves, protecting shareholders from the possibility of additional dividend cuts.

American Capital Agency has also taken steps to reduce other risks in its investment portfolio. By buying mortgage-backed securities with lower coupon rates, the REIT reduces the likelihood of early prepayments, thereby avoiding the need to reinvest returned capital at what is usually a less-than-perfect time in the credit markets. In addition, American Capital Agency has used other hedging strategies, including swap agreements, to offset losses related to rate movements.

What's ahead for the REIT's dividend?
American Capital Agency's most recent results show all these dynamics at play. Rates fell during the fourth quarter, and that caused the REIT's investment portfolio to collect a nearly $600 million boost in unrealized gains on mortgage-backed agency securities. Offsetting those gains were losses related to hedges, including one-time costs from canceling nearly $5 billion in hedge positions. Add in interest from the investment portfolio, and American Capital Agency's comprehensive income was $0.86 per share -- more than enough to cover the $0.66 per share in dividends over the three-month span.

From quarter to quarter, rate fluctuations will produce widely different results. For instance, in the previous quarter, the situation was largely reversed, with unrealized losses on the REIT's investment portfolio wiping out the company's net interest income even as hedges didn't provide much protection.

The key to maintaining American Capital Agency's dividend, though, is for the company over the course of the full year to manage its investments and derivative positions to offset volatility and allow its basic business model to generate profits. CEO Gary Kain appears up to the task, as he sees the current environment as having "familiar challenges for us [that] favor our disciplined and active approach to portfolio management. We believe our portfolio is well positioned for this [low-rate] environment given our relatively low leverage and our favorable asset composition."

With a current yield above 12%, American Capital Agency shareholders could weather a dividend cut. Yet if the mortgage REIT pursues the right long-term strategy, they hopefully won't need to deal with reduced income payments in the future.

The $60K Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook
If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could ensure a boost in your retirement income of as much as $60,000. In fact, one MarketWatch reporter argues that if more Americans used them, the government would have to shell out an extra $10 billion... every year! And once you learn how to take advantage of these loopholes, you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to receive your free copy of our new report that details how you can take advantage of these strategies.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Source - http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/030615/can-american-capital-agency-maintain-its-dividend.asp

Is Loan Protection Insurance Right For You?

Loan protection insurance or payment protection insurance (PPI) is designed to help policyholders by providing financial support in time of need. Whether the need is due to disability or unemployment, this insurance can help protect monthly loan payments and protect the insured from default. The loan protection policy has different terms depending on where it is offered. In Britain, it could be referred to as accident sickness insurance, unemployment insurance, redundancy insurance or premium protection insurance. These all provide very similar coverage. In the U.S. it is oftentimes referred to as payment protection insurance (PPI). The U.S. offers several forms of this insurance in conjunction with mortgages, personal or car loans. Read on to find out how these insurances work and if they could be right for you.

How Does Loan Protection Insurance Work?
Loan protection can help policyholders meet their monthly debts up to a predetermined amount. These policies offer short-term protection, providing coverage from generally 12 to 24 months depending on the insurance company and policy. The benefits of the policy can be used to pay off personal loans, car loans or credit cards. Policies are for usually people from age 18-65 who are working at the time the policy is purchased. In many cases to qualify, the purchaser has to be employed at least 16 hours a week on a long term contract, or be self-employed for a specified period of time.

The two different types of loan protection insurance policies are:

Standard Policy
This policy disregards the age, gender, occupation and smoking habits of the policyholder. The policyholder can decide what amount of coverage he or she wants. This type of policy is widely available through loan providers. It does not pay until after the initial 60-day exclusion period. Maximum coverage is 24 months.

Age-Related Policy
In this case, the cost is determined by the age and amount of coverage the policyholder wants to have. This type of policy is only offered in Britain. Maximum coverage is for 12 months. Quotes might be less expensive because according to insurance providers, younger policyholders tend to make fewer claims. Depending on the company you choose to provide your insurance, the loan protection policies sometimes includes a death benefit. For either type of policy, the policyholder pays a monthly premium in return for the security of knowing that the policy will pay when the policyholder is unable to meet loan payments.

Insurance providers have different starting dates for when to begin coverage. Generally, an insured policyholder can submit a claim 30 to 90 days after continuous unemployment or incapacity from the date the policy began. The amount the coverage pays will depend on the insurance policy.

What Are the Costs?
The cost of payment protection insurance depends on where you live, the type of policy you select, whether it is standard or age-related and how much coverage you would like to have. Loan protection insurance can be very expensive. If you have poor credit history, you might end up paying an even higher premium for coverage.

If you think this type of insurance is something you need, consider looking for a discount insurance group that offers this service. Premiums through large banks and lenders are generally higher than independent brokers, and the vast majority of policies are sold when a loan is taken out. You have the option of choosing whether to buy the insurance separately at a later date, which can save you hundreds of dollars. When buying a policy with a mortgage, credit card, or any other type of loan, a lender can add the cost of the insurance to the loan and then charge interest on both, which could potentially double the cost of borrowing. Get the policy that best applies to your needs and current situation; otherwise you could pay more than you have to.

Pros and Cons of Having Loan Protection
Depending on how well you research the different policies, having a loan protection policy can pay off when you select a policy that is inexpensive and will provide the coverage that is suitable for you.

In terms of credit score, having a loan protection insurance policy helps maintain your current credit score because the policy enables you to keep up-to-date with loan payments. By allowing you to continue paying your loans in times of financial crisis, your credit score is not affected.

Having this type of insurance does not necessarily help lower loan interest rates. When you shop for a policy, be leery of loan providers that try to make it seem like your loan interest will decrease if you also buy a payment protection insurance policy through them. What really happens in this case is that the loan interest rate difference from the now "lowered" rate is latched onto the loan protection policy, giving the illusion that your loan interest rate has decreased, when in fact the costs were just transferred to the loan protection insurance policy.

What to Look out for
It is important to point out that PPI coverage is not required in order to be approved for a loan. Some loan providers make you believe this, but you can definitely shop with an independent insurance provider rather than buy a payment protection plan from the company that originally provided the loan.

An insurance policy can contain many clauses and exclusions; you should review all of them before determining whether a particular policy is right for you. For those working full time with employer benefits you migh not even need this type of insurance because many employees are covered through their jobs, which offer disability and sick pay for an average of six months.

When reviewing the clauses and policy exclusions, be sure you qualify for submitting claims. The last thing you want to have happen when the unexpected occurs is to discover you aren't qualified to submit a claim. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous companies sell polices to clients who don't even qualify. Always be well informed before you sign a contract.

Make sure that you know all loan protection insurance terms, conditions and exclusions. If this information is on the insurer's website, print it out. If the information is not listed on the website, request that the provider fax, email, or mail it to you before you sign up. Any ethical company is more than willing to do this for a prospective client. If the company hesitates in any way, move on to another provider.

Policies differ, so check terms and conditions of the coverage to see what exclusions and clauses are stated in the policy and when they would start. Review the policy carefully. Some policies do not allow you to receive a payout under the following circumstances:

If your job is part-time
If you are self-employed
If you can't work because of a pre-existing medical condition
If you are only working on a short-term contract
If you are incapable of working at any other job other than your current job

Understand which health-related issues are excluded from coverage. For example, because diseases are being diagnosed earlier, illnesses, such as cancer, heart attack and stroke might not serve as a claim for the policyholder because they are not considered as critical as they would've been years ago when medical technology wasn't as advanced.

The Bottom Line
When searching for a loan or PPI, always thoroughly read the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy before committing yourself. Look for a reputable company. One way is to contact the consumer advocacy facility where you live. A consumer advocacy group should be able to direct you to ethically responsible providers.

Review your particular financial situation in detail to make certain that getting a policy is the best approach for you. A loan protection policy does not necessarily fit everyone's situation. Determine why you might need it; see if you have other emergency sources of income through either savings from your job or other sources. Go through all exclusions and clauses. Will getting the insurance be cost-effective for you? Are you confident and comfortable with the company that is handling your policy? These are all issues that must be addressed carefully before making such an important decision.

Source - http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/loan-protection-insurance.asp?rp=i

UK General posts £436m GWP for 2015:

Group CEO Peter Hubbard says the insurer is aiming for half a billion pounds.

UK General's group CEO, Peter Hubbard, said the insurer is aiming to become a half-a-billion pound business as he revealed the provider's gross written premium (GWP) for the year to the end of March 2015 is £436m.

That compares with £395m for the previous 12 months while Ebitda for the current year is around £10m set against just under £5m in 2014.

Hubbard said GWP for their schemes division was £362m in 2015 set against £338m last year, and the comparative figures for Rural Insurance were £37m and £32m, while commercial remained flat at £28m.

Grow
The CEO outlined how he thinks each area of the business can grow supported by UK General's Ireland underwriting arm where necessary.

"Our objective in Rural is to become the second largest player in the market," Hubbard said.

"If we get to eight to 10% we'll absolutely be the second biggest."

He noted UK General currently has a five to six percent share of the market and NFU is way out in front as the big dominant player with around 60 to 65%.

Products
Hubbard conceded that there's quite an extensive range of products in the rural market they don't offer so one of the things they need to do is to improve their proposition.

UK General's objective in commercial has been to refocus the provider around small independent intermediaries, according to the CEO.

The insurer has cut back from over 3,000 agencies to 450 and that will go down further to around 250.

Better
"Our objective is to use that smaller number to build a better relationship and be able to provide a better level of service on the ground," Hubbard explained.

He added the commercial division is launching new products and the aim over the next year is to grow the business by about 10 to 15%.

Hubbard said in schemes the opportunities for being specialist continue to grow and brokers keep telling them about growing demand in the field.

"Our approach to that is to improve our product portfolio. We've got 61 at the moment but we need to have more," Hubbard added.

Protecting The Elderly From Scams:

Financial fraud is increasing in volume and variety. In many instances, these scams are targeted at the elderly. While everyone victimized by these frauds suffers financial setbacks, it is usually more detrimental to seniors, as they have less time and energy to replenish their losses, which usually includes their retirement savings.

Here are some of the more prevalent scams as well as some measures that your elderly relatives can take to avoid them.

SEE: Tips For Keeping Financial Data Safe Online

876 Scam
A major online newspaper recently reported that an 88-year old retiree was scammed out of $250,000 under the 876 Scam, better known as the Area Code Scam. This scam, while relatively new, is becoming increasingly common. The calls originate from Jamaica, for which the area code is 876, and the caller misleads the individual to believe that they have won large cars prizes or valuable big-ticket items. Typically, the person being scammed is required to send cash to pay "fees and expenses" due in order to claim these prizes. In some cases, the scammers resort to threatening the victims and/or their families with bodily harm if the victim does not pay the amount demanded by the scammer. You can visit this site to learn more about the 876 scam.

Contractors/Repairmen Scam
This case of fraud happens when the scammer contacts the manager of an elderly home, claiming to be a contractor who is offering home repairs at a discounted price. Sometimes they will offer a free "assessment," and produce reports that are padded with incorrect information about what needs to be repaired. In some cases, they will start working after receiving a down payment, but fail to complete the repairs and in some cases cause intentional damage.

Reverse Mortgage Scam
The reverse mortgage scam targets the equity in the victim's home, and can even lead to the victim losing his or her home. The scam artist usually promises the victim a retirement nest egg based on the equity in his or her home, as would be the case in a legitimate reverse mortgage. However, the documentation presented to the victim may include a provision that transfers ownership from the victim to the scam artist. Usually, the damage has been done by the time the fraud is discovered.

Tips for Avoiding Scams
In many cases, your elderly relatives will need your help in avoiding scams. Persuade them to check with you before signing any paperwork, regardless of how insignificant it may seem, and you in turn should check with the Better Business Bureau and regulatory agencies to determine the legitimacy of offers.

SEE: 6 Red Flags Of A Financial Scam

For scams that involve making calls overseas, encourage elderly relatives to restrict their telephones from receiving or making calls outside of the country. Bear in mind that advance technology has now made it possible for calls to originate from overseas, from what used to be local area codes. As such, encourage relatives to be aware of unsolicited calls, primarily if the caller promises cash awards or prize monies.

If your elderly relatives are approached by contractors, they should ask for references or refuse the assistance altogether. Regardless of price, hiring a contractor who can provide several local references and a good record with the Better Business Bureau is probably a better deal than hiring someone with no record and no references

The Bottom Line
These scams - though they can be targeted towards anyone - are usually directed towards the elderly because they are viewed as easy targets. The Federal Bureau of Investigation created a list of reasons why the elderly are easy targets. The website also includes tips on how to avoid being defrauded.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0712/protecting-the-elderly-from-scams.aspx#ixzz3XoxwaSDg

What Are The Best Mobile Banking Apps?

Managing your finances has become so much easier over the past few years. No longer is there a need to make a trip to your bank to deposit a check or transfer money to another account or even another person. Now, everything can be done from a personal computer or a smart phone. As a society we expect to have 24/7 access to everything in our lives, our bank accounts included.

A recent report put together by Xtreme Labs analyzed customer comments on the mobile capabilities of 53 of the nation's largest banks. They found that some of the biggest customer complaints included bugs in the app, not having the ability to make mobile deposits, and poor design. But, not all bank apps are bad. Let’s take a look at some of the best mobile banking apps available.

Simple

Simple is a smaller online bank, but it’s mobile app ranks as one of the best. Its user interface is extremely easy on the eyes and it has features that many other banks don’t offer.

While most banks simply display your account balance, Simple has a feature called Safe-to-Spend that takes your account balance and then deducts any upcoming bills that you might have. This lets you know whether you can afford to go out to dinner or buy that new pair of shoes you've been eyeing. Simple also features mobile check deposit and gives users the ability to transfer money to other Simple customers or even to someone that banks at another institution.

Bank of America

One of the greatest things about the Bank of America mobile app is that Bank of America designed the interface to meet customer needs. You won’t find yourself needing to go too deep into the app to find the information that you're looking for. Within the accounts tab you will be able to find information on your bank accounts as well as your Merrill Lynch brokerage account.

Another feature that many customers appreciate is Bank AmeriDeals. In this part of the app you will find several merchant deals and cash back opportunities.

Capital One

One of the highest-rated mobile banking apps comes from Capital One. They have a feature they call Capital One SureSwipe. Instead of using a password to sign into an account, customers use a quick custom keypad pattern.

They also have a feature called Purchase Eraser that allows customers to apply credit card rewards towards travel purchases. They have 90 days to apply rewards, and once applied, the credit will appear on the account in just 5-7 business days.

USAA

The USAA mobile app has just about everything that a banking person could ask for. You can pay your bills, send money, track your spending with Money Manager, and place trades from your investment account. The app even has a feature that will help you find the nearest ATM to your current location.

What might be the coolest aspect of the USAA mobile app, though, is that earlier this year they become the first financial institution to begin using facial and voice recognition as a way to log into an account: all it takes is a quick use of the smartphone camera and a blink of the eye (to make sure the picture is not of a photo), or simply speaking a designated phrase.

RBS Citizens

RBS Citizens is a smart business. They understand that we are conducting more and more of our business on mobile devices. Because of this, the bank used a 15-person customer advisory panel and a survey of over 900 customers to find out the features that they use most. The bank then designed the first version of its mobile app using the feedback from these two groups.

RBS Citizens has one of the highest-rated mobile banking apps in the Apple (AAPL) app store and on Google Play (GOOG). You will find a simple design and the important features that most people are looking for, including mobile deposit and the ability to make transfers on the go.

The Bottom Line

Mobile banking has helped make banking much easier for millions of consumers. No longer is there a need to physically step into a branch location. Instead you can do everything from depositing a check to moving money out of an investment account right from your smartphone.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/042415/what-are-best-mobile-banking-apps.asp#ixzz3YTvngA4k

5 Insurance-Buying Mistakes to Avoid

Buying insurance can be confusing, but when the unexpected happens – a house fire, a fender bender or a broken bone – it's a relief to know that some of those financial losses will be covered. But how do you know how much coverage you need? And what questions should you ask before buying a policy? Many consumers aren't sure. Insurance coverage is far from one size fits all, so here's a look at mistakes some consumers make when buying insurance.

1. Assuming insurance is out of reach. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 48 million Americans had no health insurance in 2012. And about 30 percent of U.S. households have no life insurance, according to LIMRA, a worldwide research and consulting organization for insurance and financial services. In some cases, consumers skip insurance because they think it's out of their budget. Often, that's not the case, according to Marvin Feldman, president and CEO of the LIFE Foundation, a nonprofit organization that educates consumers about financial planning and insurance. The LIFE Foundation collaborated with LIMRA on the 2013 Insurance Barometer Study, which found that the average consumer thinks life insurance is three times more expensive than it actually is. "[Consumers are] not researching it to determine what the cost is," Feldman says.

When buying health insurance or property and casualty insurance, ask about potential discounts. "Two-thirds of consumers don't realize they can get financial help if they buy their own health insurance, and they can get financial help if they go and buy in these health insurance marketplaces," says Lynn Quincy, senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, a division of Consumer Reports. "You may be way overpaying if you don't investigate this possibility." While health insurance discounts are often income-based, homeowners and auto insurers offer discounts for everything from being a member of groups like AARP, to being a good student or a good driver, to having a home security system.

[Read: Is Your College Student Properly Insured?]

2. Relying on assumptions or outdated figures. Changing economic conditions mean you might need more insurance coverage than you had in the past. Take life insurance. In the past, consumers might have based their life insurance coverage on their current income, but "if something happens and you're no longer around, you need more capital at work to provide the same income [to your beneficiaries]," Feldman says. Disability and long-term care insurance are even more complicated than traditional life insurance. "For disability, do you want coverage that lasts forever? Are there health issues in your family?" Feldman asks. "That's where you need to speak to somebody to get some guidance."

In the case of homeowners insurance, your home could be underinsured if you've renovated or if the cost to build a home has increased due to higher material costs or other factors. That's why experts recommend reviewing insurance coverage once a year to make sure it still fits your needs. Talk to your insurance agent if you're unsure.

3. Shopping on price alone. Comparing insurance policies can be confusing, but resist the urge to simply choose the policy with the lowest premium. Consider the company's reputation and the coverage you'd get for that premium. "As a general rule with health insurance, the higher the premium, the lower the amount you pay when you go to the doctor," Quincy says. Private health insurance plans must provide coverage examples showing what your estimated out-of-pocket costs would be for, say, having a baby or managing Type 2 diabetes. Some examples might not apply to you, but they can help you compare plans and see how much you might pay in coinsurance and copays.

"Make sure you're shopping apples to apples and getting quotes based on the same coverage that you have," says Lori Conarton, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Institute of Michigan. Your property and casualty insurance may not cover things like food spoilage in the event of a power outage or stolen electronics worth more than $1,000, so you may want to purchase extra endorsements to cover those possibilities, she adds.

With disability or long-term care insurance, prices can vary depending on the length of the elimination period – the amount of time you must wait before coverage kicks in – and whether the policy includes inflation protection, so consider these factors, too.

4. Glossing over the details. Make sure you understand what your insurance policy covers. For health insurance, it's cheaper to see doctors who are in-network and buy prescription drugs covered by the formulary, so Quincy suggests checking to see if your doctor is in-network and if your prescription drugs are covered before you buy a policy. Otherwise, you could get an expensive surprise.

Read your insurance policy and contact your insurance agent if anything is unclear. "Unfortunately, a lot of people don't find out what coverage they should have had until they have a loss," Conarton says. "Here in Michigan, we've had a lot of winter weather, and some people don't know that flooding is not covered under a regular homeowners insurance policy." However, you can usually buy a separate flood insurance policy. Many people also assume that drain and sewer backups are covered by insurance, but often they're not, Conarton adds.

[Read: How to Get Your Insurance Claim Paid.]

5. Setting your deductible too low. Setting a low deductible typically means higher premiums, and in the case of property and casualty insurance, a greater likelihood of small claims that could ultimately raise your premiums. Insurance is designed to protect against losses you could not cover yourself, so if you can afford to pay the first $500 or $1,000 in losses yourself, you may not need a lower premium. "Consider your own financial situation," Conarton says. "How much of the risk are you willing to assume before you make a claim and the insurance company pays on your claim? You really have to think about how much of that loss you could pay yourself."

more info click here: http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/01/27/5-insurance-buying-mistakes-to-avoid

Graham Cleveley Brighton

The Big Chill: What’s Wrong With The U.S. Consumer:

Last month’s five-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) auction drew nearly $48 billion in interest, a sign of recent renewed demand for this inflation indexed asset class among investors. TIPS can be an intriguing way to get exposure to Treasuries in today’s interest rate environment. With the recent rise in interest rates, and the continued low level of expected inflation, TIPS may provide an interesting opportunity. And, as my colleagues stress in a recent paper, it can make sense for some investors to buy inflation protection before they actually need it.

Inflation, duration and TIPS

Most U.S. Treasury securities have two sources of return: coupon and price. Coupon payments are paid semi-annually. The price of the security fluctuates with changes in market yields. TIPS securities have three sources of return. Like other Treasuries, they pay a coupon and their price will be impacted by changes in yields. Additionally, a holder of a TIPS bond is impacted by inflation; if inflation rises the holder could receive both higher income and a higher principal payment at maturity (although it should be noted that TIPS typically have lower yields than conventional fixed rate bonds). If inflation falls, income will likely decline, as would the principal payment at maturity (though you can never get back less than the original par value at which the bond was issued). TIPS are one of the few asset classes that directly pays an investor for realized inflation, making them attractive during periods of rising inflation. This compensation is the same for all TIPS securities. For this reason, investors who believe interest rates might fall often prefer longer maturity TIPS, while those who believe that rates will rise may want shorter maturity TIPS.

External factors driving demand for an inflation-hedged approach

The recent uptick in oil prices, coupled with the stabilization of consumer prices, have pushed the market price for expected inflation higher. You can see our comparison of several key inflation measures, including the two-year “breakeven inflation rate”, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the CPI excluding food and energy, in the chart below.

The “breakeven inflation” rate is the rate of inflation that the market believes will be experienced over the next two years. The CPI measures the change in prices for a basket of goods purchased by consumers. CPI excluding food and energy is this same basket with the food and energy components removed.

While we aren’t worried about inflation at this very moment, we expect that interest rates will rise at some point later this year. And if the Fed is successful in goal of increasing inflation, then we could see inflation measures like CPI rise as well. For investors who are concerned about potential inflation, TIPS may be a good solution.

Matthew Tucker, CFA, is the iShares Head of Fixed Income Strategy and a regular contributor to The Blog.

Help Parents Avoid This Retirement Savings Blunder:

It’s a common mistake. Parents forgo saving for their retirement in order to put their kids through college. In fact, more than half of them reported that they would rather tap into their own retirement savings in lieu of having their children take out student loans, according to the 2015 T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW) Family Financial Trade-Offs Survey, which questioned 2,000 parents. Almost half of the survey’s respondents also said they would be willing to work longer and retire later if it meant they could cover their children’s tuition. While such parental generosity should be commended, the truth is that sidetracking retirement savings in such a way will only hurt them in the end. Parents need to secure enough money for their own retirement before or while they save for their children to go to college.

Times Have Changed

Past generations may have thought differently about paying for their children's education. One reason is that college used to be much more affordable. Additionally, in days gone by, many workers received more generous and guaranteed pension benefits via their employer, so saving for retirement was arguably safer and easier. Today, however, most workers rely on savings though their 401(k) plans and may or may not receive matching contributions from their employer. (For more, see: Is Working Longer a Viable Retirement Plan?)

Add to that the fact that people are living longer, which means that retirements can last far longer than they used to and savings assumptions made decades ago may be way off. That’s why it’s crucial for parents to start saving for retirement early and consistently. A retiree today may be looking at 20 or 30 years of living without a paycheck. That’s a lot to plan ahead for, tuition bills or not. (For more, see: How to Balance Retirement Savings with Tuition Costs.)

Don’t Increase Your Debt

According to the T. Rowe Price survey, many parents are willing to work harder and longer and even increase their own debt levels if it means their kids will be able to graduate college debt-free. In fact, some 51% of parents polled said that they would be willing to take on a second job or work an additional part-time job to cover their kids’ college expenses. Of those surveyed, some 52% also said they would be willing to take on $25,000 or more in debt in order to cover their children’s tuition. And 9% of those surveyed said they would be willing to borrow as much as necessary to help their children pay for college.

The not so distant memory of trying to pay off their own college loans has made many parents sympathetic to their children’s plight. In fact, according to the T. Rowe Price survey, 45% of parents who took out student loans to pay for their own college education believe that this burden had an adverse effect on their own ability to start saving for retirement. While that may be the case, many financial advisors are steadfast in advising their clients not to forgo saving for their own retirement or increasing their own debt while putting away money in their kids' college funds. They instead recommend saving for both simultaneously, if possible. They also recommend that people start saving money earlier and in larger amounts, as this can often alleviate the difficulty of having to come up with huge sums of money later. (For more, see: Financial Advisor Client Guide: Saving for College.)

Start a 529 Account

Setting up a 529 plan account is, indeed, a good way to get started saving for your children’s future. Contributions to these accounts often qualify for a state tax deduction, and when the money is withdrawn for the purpose of paying for college tuition, room and board, it is treated as tax-free income. That said, many parents have expressed fear that if they start putting money into a 529 savings account, it could ruin their children’s chances of qualifying for any financial aid packages from the schools of their choice. But this is rarely the case. The savings in a 529 account is, indeed, counted as a family’s assets when universities review an applicant’s financial situation, but it rarely gets factored into the financial aid formula that is calculated to determine who gets how much aid. It’s actually a family’s income that is most used to determine what is included in a financial aid package. (For more, see: Choosing the Right 529 Education Savings Plan.)

Still, parents who are investing part of their salary each month into a 529 accounts should also make sure that they are setting aside money in their own retirement fund. Saving about 15% of one’s gross income in a secure retirement fund each month is ideal, many advisors agree, and this figure includes any company match that may be given. Setting up age-based benchmarks is also advisable. Parents should aspire to having saved two times their annual salary by age 40, six times by age 50, and 10 times by the age of 60. (For more, see: Pay for a College Education with Retirement Funds.)

This is often not the case. One reason is that parents still tend to fall into the trap of saving for their children’s tuition before saving for their own retirement, mainly because college seems more immediate to them than retirement does. But once a person reaches their mid-40s or early 50s, retirement will be much closer at hand. The last thing that any parent wants to do is to be a financial burden on their children once their children become adults. So saving a lot and early for retirement is imperative.

Make Retirement Saving a Priority

The fact is that saving for their retirement should be a priority in everyone’s life — even if that means putting less aside for one’s kids to go to college, or living more frugally during one’s working years. Many financial advisors suggest their clients should attempt to live on 70% to 80% of their salary, while putting the rest into savings. And if at all possible, they should save for both their children’s tuition and their own retirement simultaneously — with saving for retirement as the priority. Maximizing one’s savings earlier during one’s working years is key to maintaining one’s financial security later on. (For more, see: Can Savings From a Roth 401(k) Be Used for College Without Penalty?)

The Bottom Line

Parents should make saving for their own retirement a priority over saving for their children’s college costs. Ideally, both should be done simultaneously. Starting early and saving more is always key. (For more, see: Don't Forget the Kids: Save for Their Education and Retirement.)

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionals/052215/help-parents-avoid-retirement-savings-blunder.asp#ixzz3b7b1dEV3

Quotes That Change Your Mind | Graham Cleveley Brighton | Inspirational

The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at Something:

Very often you’ll see blog posts or books teaching you to “master” a skill in only 10 days, or 3 days … in fact, it used to be 30 days but the time frame to master something seems to be shrinking rapidly.

I’ve even seen tutorials claiming to teach a skill in just a few hours. Pretty soon we’ll be demanding to know how to do something in seconds.

Instant mastery of skills and knowledge! Hey presto!

Unfortunately, the reality is something a little less magical. Or maybe that’s a fortunate thing.

There’s only one way to become good at something:

1. First, you must learn it by reading or listening to others who know how to do it, but most especially by doing.
2. Then do some more. At this point, you’ll start to understand it, but you’ll suck. This stage could take months.
3. Do some more. After a couple of years, you’ll get good at it.
4. Do some more. If you learn from mistakes, and aren’t afraid to make mistakes in the first place, you’ll go from good to great.

It takes anywhere from 6-10 years to get great at something, depending on how often and how much you do it. Some estimate that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, but I think it varies from person to person and depends on the skill and other factors.

Want to be a great writer? It’s possible to be great within a few years, if you have the God-given talent of Fitzgerald or Shakespeare, but most of us toil for over a decade and are still trying to get better. We’re still learning, to this day, and if we look back on our first few years of writing — of any kind — we’ll tell you we sucked (for the most part) back then.

Want to be a great blogger? Same deal. I’ve been doing it for almost three years, and I’m still only competent. Gruber’s been doing it for, like, 7 years and he’s still only … well, he’s pretty great by now. You have to do it, make mistakes, learn, really begin to understand it, and someday, if you stick with it, you’ll be great.

There’s no one who is great at his profession who hasn’t been doing it for at least 6 years — no designer, no programmer, no carpenter, no architect, no surgeon, no teacher, no musician, no artist … you get the point. I dare you to name one. Most have been doing it for over a decade, and are still looking to improve.

It takes desire, it takes drive, it takes lots and lots of doing.

So here’s the thing: don’t get discouraged if you’re just starting out. Have fun, like we all did in the beginning. If you have fun, you’ll learn to love it, and THAT’S when it clicks. When you love something, you’ll want to do it all the time, sometimes late at night and often, you’ll jump out of bed and want to do it before you move your morning bowels.

THAT’S how you get great. By loving it so much your morning bowel movement takes second seat.

“Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.” – George Lucas

Find that desire. Do it, don’t just read about it. Don’t buy a single product or book or magazine that claims to teach you something in minutes, hours, days. They’re lying to your face, with a hand in your pocket at the same time.

Do it, keep doing it, then keep doing it some more. It’s the only way to get great, but the good news: anyone can do it. It just takes some time and some doing. Hey presto.

When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown

Graham Cleveley, Graham Cleveley Brighton and life quotes

How to Shop for Home Insurance:

Own a home? Looking to buy a home? You’re going to need homeowners insurance. There’s no getting around it, especially if you'll be financing the purchase: Before handing you one dollar of their money, any lender will require proof that the property is insured. But for some reason, home insurance isn’t as talked-about as health, auto, or even life insurance. What do you need, and how do you find the best deal? We asked some insurance professionals to give us some of the lesser-known facts of home insurance life.

Calculate the Needed Coverage:

It’s a simple calculation, right? You need enough home insurance to cover the value of your home. Not so fast! You need enough insurance to rebuild your home, preferably at today's prices. According to Adam Johnson at QuoteWizard.com, “Often shoppers make the mistake of insuring [a house just] enough to cover the mortgage, but that usually equates to 90% of your home's value. Due to a fluctuating market, it's always a good idea to get coverage for more than your home is worth. Purchasing replacement cost value over actual cash value is a great idea too. Replacement cost value ensures any damages will pay out enough to restore to its original condition.”

“You can rest easy knowing that you could rebuild your home after a major loss without worrying about depreciation, policy limits or insurance construction costs once you've repaired or replaced the damaged property," agrees Joe Vahey, vice-president and personal lines product manager at Erie Insurance Group in Pennsylvania. "This is definitely a better option than actual cash value, which takes depreciation into account when calculating the amount of your reimbursement.”

If you're currently a homeowner, re-evaluate your coverage each year. If you’re in the process of house-hunting or building a home, start shopping now. It might seem a long way off before you need to decide on a policy, but mortgage underwriters will likely ask for proof of insurance earlier than you think. If you find yourself having to make a quick buy, comparing quotes or even getting enough quotes could become difficult. Hopefully, you'll be in your house for a long time – so ensuring it's well-protected shouldn't be a rush job.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/082115/how-shop-home-insurance.asp#ixzz3jhcXjlfs

Fitness Tips by Graham Cleveley

“You're thinking I'm one of those wise-ass California vegetarians who is going to tell you that eating a few strips of bacon is bad for your health. I'm not. I say its a free country and you should be able to kill yourself at any rate you choose, as long as your cold dead body is not blocking my driveway.”

About Our Atmosphere

As co-owners and lead figures of the Minneapolis-based hip-hop label Rhymesayers Entertainment, the indie hip-hop group Atmosphere have formed a style that is uniquely Midwest and completely contrary to the MTV-friendly hip-hop of guns, bling, etc. With the duo of Slug on the microphone and producer Ant making the beats, Atmosphere has been courted by the major labels, but in alliance to their music and themselves, they have stayed on their own small but growing label. Slug's rhymes have often been emotional and personal, and Atmosphere has been written about more in indie rock magazines than in ones that cater to rap, which has little to do with the color of their skin. "Slug has a way of drawing out the universal in the intensely personal, and his gaze into the mirror reveals two faces: his and ours," wrote Christopher Bahn of The A.V. Club. Atmosphere has been labeled emo-rap, underground, or indie hip-hop, with its self-deprecating lyrics. Ten years into the group, Atmosphere has continued to break new musical ground with each release. "One can feel Atmosphere loosening modern hip-hop from its moorings and yanking it into some weirder and far more interesting place," wrote Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill, in a review of the group's 2003 album Seven's Travels.

Growing up in Minneapolis, Sean Daley was always a bit different from the other white kids in his neighborhood. When he was a teen, his parents (his father was African American and his mother was white) divorced, and Daley immersed himself in the graffiti culture of break dancing and hip-hop music. Daley started off break dancing, but discovered he was better at drawing and graffiti. He had to try his hand at everything, and after dancing and graffiti came spinning records. Emerging as a talented DJ, Daley dubbed himself Slug, and with his high school friends Stress (Siddiq Ali) and Spawn (Derek Turner), they formed The Rhyme Sayers Collective. Early live performances by the group had Slug on vinyl, making beats while Spawn MC'd. Slug and Spawn began working with other likeminded musicians who were making the kind of underground hip-hop that Midwesterners could relate to. One such peer was producer Ant (Anthony Davis). In 1998 Spawn and Slug rhymed on a record produced and made by Ant. They dubbed themselves Atmosphere and released their debut, Overcast!, on a label they co-owned, called Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Atmosphere began playing live shows around Minneapolis and the Midwest, and by 2000 Spawn had the group down to a duo. They started the Sad Clown EP series, and that year they released (now out of print) Sad Clown Dub II. A handful of singles and EPs were released as the band toured around the United States, and in 2001 they compiled 3 EPs and released them as one album. In 2001, in a distribution deal with Fat Beats, Atmosphere released Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs on Rhymesayers. Village Voice writer Christian Hoard called Slug "the most openhearted MC in history." All of the songs from the EPs were written about Slug's ex-girlfriend and his broken relationship. "Lucy Ford served up an everyman persona equal parts lovelorn poet, peripatetic slacker, drunken bar regular, and class clown," wrote the Voice's Michaelangelo Matos.

Because Ant often did not tour with Atmosphere, and Slug was the front man, the rapper started getting more attention than the group, most of it based on his bare-boned emotional rhymes. In 2002 Atmosphere released their breakthrough album God Loves Ugly. The album, via distribution with Fat Beats, went on to sell more than 130,000 copies in the United States. Matos wrote that the album "feels like hip-hop: the brusque party cuts, the embattled puffed-up defensiveness, the slightly stagy sense that Slug's soul-baring tendencies have taken on now that he's gotten our attention without having to fight quite so hard for it."

Atmosphere, with a full live band, toured across the globe to promote God Loves Ugly. More than a handful of major labels tried to entice Atmosphere to join their rosters, but the group wanted to stay true to their roots, and continued to build their own Rhymesayers community. As for the title of the record, God Loves Ugly, Slug felt it was up for each listener's interpretations. "To me, it was just a basic, broad statement," he told Synthesis writer Max Sidman.

Rhymesayers signed a new distribution deal with punk label Epitaph for their 2003 release Seven's Travels. The record was hailed in popular music magazines and newspapers as heralding Atmosphere's distinctive style, and it sold more than 150,000 copies in the United States. Blashill wrote that the group made "overeducated nerd rap: self loathing, navel-gazing and occasionally hilarious," and added that "the grooves are dusty and tasteful, and Slug's words are those of a smart guy who's tired of being nice." Ant's production of jazzy and old R&B samples didn't go unnoticed either. "His dusty grooves are hooky and R&B-informed, and even when they back up Slug's most manically depressed rhymes, they never feel heavy handed," wrote Hoard, of Ant's contribution.

Front man Slug gained a lot of attention for using rhymes that seemed heartbreakingly autobiographical. Like most songwriters, though, Slug wanted listeners to know that not everything was a personal diary entry, and that his lyrics were up for personal interpretation. Slug admitted to The A.V. Club, "I grew up on Slick Rick, who could tell any story he wanted, and you never stopped and wondered if that really happened. And rap has turned into such a literal thing. … Kids actually think that rappers do these things. It's like, I got news for you, Lloyd Banks has never shot anybody, and I've never done heroin. But at the same time, I'm not going to change my technique because I'm worried about whether people are interpreting it right or wrong."

In 2005 Atmosphere issued You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Indie Chart with 19,000 copies sold in its first week. Performances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live widened the group's audience to thousands of urban and suburban teens. Throughout You Can't Imagine, Slug raps about politics, murders, rage, and personal problems. "This all could have been a drag in the hands of a rapper with less self-awareness or sense of humor, or without access to the deft production skills of Atmosphere beatmaster Ant," wrote Christopher Bahn in The A.V. Club.

The Sad Clown series that the group began several years back kept Atmosphere busy. In July of 2007 it was Sad Clown Bad Summer, in November, it was Sad Clown Bad Fall. In December of that year, via free download on their Web site only, Atmosphere put up a new record aptly titled Strictly Leakage. In April of 2008, Atmosphere released the much-anticipated album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That S--t Gold. The group embarked on a tour with their backup band that included Erick Anderson (keyboards), Nate Collins (guitar), Brett Johnson (bass), and Brian McLeod (drums).

For the Record …

Members include Sean Daley (a.k.a. Slug ), vocals; Anthony Davis (a.k.a. Ant ), producer. Former members include Derek Turner (a.k.a. Spawn ), vocals.

Group formed in Minneapolis, MN, c. 1998; became co-owners of record label Rhymesayers Entertainment; released debut album Outcast!, 1999; released Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EPs, 2001; God Loves Ugly, 2002; Seven's Travels, 2003; You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, 2005; When Life Gives You Lemon, You Paint That S--t Gold, 2008.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/atmosphere.aspx

Addresses: Record company—Rhymesayers Entertainment, 2411 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404, Web site: http://www.rhymesayers.com. Publicist—Biz 3 Publicist, 1321 N. Milwaukee Ave., #452, Chicago, IL 60622.

Quotes About Yourself Graham Cleveley Brighton