Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 26, 2014

FAMILY MATTERS 

By Marc Garlett 

VACATIONS ARE THE PERFECT TIME FOR FAMILIES TO TALK 
ABOUT ESTATE PLANNING 

 
If you are like most Americans, you will probably Respect boundaries. Many parents feel 
be spending at least some of your vacation time uncomfortable discussing their finances with 
this summer with older family members. While their children. If you face this obstacle, let your 
there are few perfect times to talk with parents parents know that you at least need to know 
about their estate plan, the relaxed times you where to find their important documents when it 
spend together on vacation can be one of them. becomes necessary, but that you aren’t attempting 

to control them in anyway. You simply want to 

Here are some tips on how to conduct this critical 

help and make things as easy as possible for you 

conversation: 

and your siblings when something does happen. 
Find a good place to start. One of the best ways to 

Sometimes initiating a conversation with parents 

ease your parents into this type of discussion is to 

about estate planning can be easier with the help 

bring up your own planning. Tell your parents you 

of a trusted professional. During a Family Estate 

were looking into estate planning and wondered 

Planning Session we can guide the conversation 

if they had already executed a plan of their own. 

and help you and your family take control of their 

Sometimes you can use current events to good 

affairs. Call our office today at 626.355.4000 to 

effect – there are lots of recent stories about 

schedule a time for us to sit down and talk about 

celebrities or others who neglected to plan and 

designing an estate plan that fits the needs of you 

whose families suffered the dire consequences. 

and your family, or visit www.GarlettLaw.com for 
Take it easy. If you feel your parents may need more information. 
some help with organizing their financial lives, 

Marc, a local attorney, father, and CASA volunteer 

be reassuring rather than applying pressure. 

(Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children) is 

Let them know your goal is to make sure their 

on a mission to help parents protect what they love 

financial independence is kept intact for as long 

most. His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., 

as possible. Take things one step at a time, such as 

Ste. G, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. 

extending an offer to help them use online bill pay 
or assist them with organizing their information 
at tax time. 

NEED SOME MONEY? CHECK OUT THE BANK 
OF DAD 

By Gregory J. Welborn 

We’ve all done it, usually when we were kids to 
impress a date or just hang out when we’d already 
burned through the week’s allowance. We called it 
a loan, but in many instances, the old man forgave 
the debt. 

Fast forward to the present, and we’re all grown 
up now. While few of us need money for frivolity, 
there are occasions when borrowing from dear old 
dad makes sense. Of course, there are times when 
it doesn’t, and I’ll cover those a bit later. When 


The details are key. The loan should be structured 

does it make sense? When the money will be used 

with a properly written and executed note, 

to purchase something valuable and securable. 

and a properly drawn and recorded deed. This 

The ideal situation is to purchase a house. 

secures the lender’s interests and makes clear that 
repayment is expected. Repayment schedules 
can be flexible, but they need to be documented. 

Borrowing from family offers both sides several 

If you’re not going to formalize it, don’t lend 

benefits. First, for the borrower, the trust factor 

the money. It also helps to use an intermediary. 

is already established. Mom and dad know you 

National Family Mortgage is one such institution. 

better than any banker ever will. Assuming you 

They can offer invaluable advice, help structure 

really are good for the money, family will be more 

the deal and monitor payments. 

willing to lend based on your character than will 
a bank. Qualifying is easier, and borrowing from 
family allows you to make an all cash offer for the 

Borrowing from dad isn’t like it used to be, and 

property, or at least to put more down and get 

it can certainly provide benefits to both parties. 

a better deal from the bank. The borrower also 

The secret is to be honest about what’s expected, 

should be able to get a better interest rate than 

document it, and treat it like any other loan or 

borrowing from the bank. 

investment. 

About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is the 
For the lender (dear old dad), a loan to the kid is Managing Partner of First Financial Consulting, 
more secure and can pay better than a comparable a fee-only advisory firm. He has worked with 
investment. The loan, which should be secured The Today Show, Kiplinger’s Magazine, and USA 
by an interest in the house, can be more secure Today to provide objective financial advice to their 
than buying a bond, and the loan certainly will readers and listeners. He has 3 grown children and 
pay better rates than a CD or many bonds. Both is honored to be married to his wife of 25 years. He 
parties can benefit here. can be reached at gwelborn@ffconsult.net

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 26, 2014 
B4 BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS 
*the creative entrepreneur 
by Lori Koop, Business Coach 
Fresh Business Ideas. 
New income opportunities. 
www.LORIKOOP.COM 
DON’T CHASE THE 
MARKET 
SIERRA MADRE BUSINESS WATCH 
Business owners are invited to joining the Police Department for a 
Business Watch Meeting on Wednesday April 30th at 7:30 AM in the City 
Council Chambers. 
Buyer's market or seller's market - the simple fact is that your home is worth only what a buyer will 
pay for it. The simple law of supply and demand usually determines the final sale price. If there are 
fewer homes for sale in your area, then buyers must compete for those listings, making it a seller's 
market.

 However, when there is a glut of homes for sale, buyers have more choice and more power to 
dictate price and terms, creating a buyer's market. Many communities are seeing large inventories 
of homes for sale, due to economic conditions and defaults.

 So if your home is to get attention in those conditions, you've got to price aggressively against your 
competition. Do not overprice your home, because you may end up making even less money than 
if you had priced properly from the start. Why? Because sellers who overprice have to keep chasing 
the market down by reducing their price. 

While setting a price is ultimately your decision and your decision alone, do some research and 
educate yourself first. Order an appraisal and consult with a real estate professional to get a realistic 
figure for your home's value. If you choose not to comply with current market value, then you won't 
be a seller, you'll just be an owner with a For Sale sign in the yard. 

I know you’re an entrepreneur… but do you LOVE what you do? 

It’s easy to get side-tracked. To start following the customer, rather than your own heart. To work 
around the clock and forget balance. To ignore passion in lieu of the sale. Bottom line… it’s easy to 
fall out of love with your business. 

It happens subtly. Each action sending you in an ever- so-slightly revised direction. And eventually, 
you end up in a different business. And you can’t get out of bed in the morning. 

Where the heck are you? Far from your true self. 

It’s important in business, as in life, to stay connected to The Real You. To your essence… your spirit. 
Your spirit knows you intimately, and it knows why you’re here. Its job is to help you reach your TRU, 
outrageous potential! There’s nothing to guess at. You simply have to stay connected within to hear 
and do what it’s telling you. 

But there’s an antagonist…. that part of the left brain containing those recordings of fear and doubt. 
It’s the part of you that does not want risk, is afraid of the unknown, who runs from possibilities. It 
seeks safety, not adventure. And its voice is powerful and can overshadow the softer, pure voice of 
the spirit. 

The spirit knows the way, but you’ve got to make room. Find a place to be still in each and every day 
to listen. Write down what you hear your spirit saying. Ask questions as you would a friend. It IS your 
friend. And it will always guide you to the adventure. It will tell you where to go and how to get there, 
when you’re off base and when you’re in LOVE. 

. . . . . 
LORI KOOP, helping creative entrepreneurs prosper. Schedule a complimentary session: www.
LORIKOOP.com or call 626-836-1667. (Location: 49 S. Baldwin Avenue, Suite L, Sierra Madre 91024) 
I’m here every other week. 


 Instead of social skills, family income, good looks, 

STUDY SUGGESTS 'GRIT' 

or even IQ, she determined it was "grit." What is 

CAN BE DEVELOPED 
grit? Remember the movie True Grit? The John 
Wayne movie in which a young girl decides to 
track down her father's murderer. She didn't know 

By Cynthia Kurtz President, SGVED 

it wasn't proper or possible. She simply decided to 

do it and she did it. That pretty much is "grit." It 
What makes one business person successful is a pervasive stamina, a determination to succeed 
while another in the same business fails? Why do along with some just plain old follow-through.
students with the same backgrounds perform so 

 Grit raises the same questions we have about 

differently on difficult tasks? Is it possible to predict 

IQ - how do you get it? Can you learn it? Do you 

which employees will do well on challenging work? 

inherit it? Can it be taught? The exact answer is still 

Traditionally, when we ask these questions, we unclear but Carol Dweck at the Stanford University 
look to IQ - the Intelligence Quotient -as the has published interesting research that suggests 
way to predict achievement, job performance that there is a way to develop grit.
and even income potential. IQ is measurable. 

 Professor Dweck says it starts with "growth 

It is mathematical. It is a standard that allows 

in mindset." To the non-academic that means 

comparisons between people.

believing that you have the ability to learn and that 
There is research underway that suggests that failure isn't permanent. 
IQ is not the only measure, maybe not even the 

 When self-worth is measured only by success, then 

most important measure that can predict whether 

it is unlikely that a person will pursue anything 

someone will do well in school and in life. 

that doesn't guarantee success. 
Angela Lee Duckworth was teaching seventh 


 Students who are taught that the brain is a muscle 

grade math when she began to notice that it wasn't 

that grows with exercise are fueled by setbacks. 

always her high IQ students who did best on tough 

Failure becomes an opportunity to learn instead of 

assignments. She began to watch more closely to see 

a reflection of inadequacy. Not getting a problem 

if she could determine what it was that determined 

right the first time means working harder and 

success.

trying again. 
She became so interested in understanding this 


 The theory of mindset growth has implications for 

phenomenon that she decided to study psychology 

many aspects of our lives but most certainly for how 

and started working with children and adults 

businesses develop employee skills and encourage 

in difficult situations - rookie teachers in tough 

innovation. Good performance shouldn't be 

schools, West Point Military Academy cadets, and 

just about success but also about how someone 

people in high pressure sales positions. She looked 

approaches risk and responds when things don't go 

for the variables that would allow her to predict 

as planned. The result could well be motivation and 

who would do well. 

productivity gains for employees and businesses.

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com