Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 27, 2014

B3

 

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

 Mountain Views News Saturday, September 27, 2014 


FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


HOW TO BUY LIKE A SELLER

 If you�re in the market to buy a home, take a counter-
intuitive tip and imagine the day you�ll be selling it. That�s 
right - whether you�re a first time buyer, or relocating, this 
home probably won�t be your last, so look for features that 
will pay off when the day comes to move again. 

 North, south, east or west, the biggest amenity the next 
buyer will look for is central air conditioning. In the Deep 
South, over 90% of buyers rank central air as critically 
important, and three-quarters of buyers everywhere else 
put it high on the list. 

 Another often-overlooked feature is storage. Over half 
of buyers desire a two-car garage and a walk-in closet for 
the master bedroom. Ample closets and storage space just 
can�t be stressed enough. 

 If at all possible, avoid costly upgrades and offer 
incentive down the road by purchasing an energy efficient 
home with newer windows, pervasive insulation, and 
Energy Star appliances. If the home is already wired for 
cable, satellite, and high-speed Internet, so much the 
better. 

 Finally, it�s still all about location, location, location. It�s 
the one thing you can�t change about the home you buy, 
so look for good schools (even if you don�t have children) 
and proximity to shopping and recreation. Just ask your 
agent about the most popular features in your area and 
take heed!


Prepare Your Heirs to Receive, Protect, 

and Grow Their Inheritance

 There are many iconic American families that come 
to mind when we think of vast family wealth. The 
Vanderbilts, for example, were one of the riches families 
in America in the 19th century. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
the family patriarch, built his railroad and shipping 
fortune to $100 million � which was more than the U.S. 
Treasury held when he died in 1877.

 That massive family fortune -- which would be more 
than $200 billion in today�s dollars -- has been gone 
for more than 40 years now. It did not survive past 
three generations, primarily due to mismanagement by 
successive generations of heirs.

 A recent Forbes article looked at ways to prepare heirs 
for an inheritance, with an emphasis on protecting and 
growing that inheritance. Here are some tips:

 Share your vision. Conduct a family roundtable where 
the heads of the family come together with everyone and 
share their hopes and dreams for the family, as well as 
how they plan to reach their goals for the future. The 
idea is to start an open multi-generational dialogue.

 Tell your story. To help younger generations 
understand the importance of protecting and growing 
inherited wealth, it helps if they first understand the 
values and visions of their predecessors. Sharing family 
memories, experiences and life lessons from older 
generations is one key component to ensuring the family 
story continues on well into the future. 

 Record your story. Your lasting legacy should be much 
more than just money; it should also be about those 
valuable intangibles that make your family unique, told 
through your insights, values and experience. We do 
this through our legacy planning process, helping you 
capture and pass on your own story and your aspirations 
for your loved ones through a special video we produce 
for each of our clients. 

 Gather together. Annual family retreats, gatherings, 
or reunions also help solidify family values and nurture 
common ground and goals. Consider holding an annual 
retreat where multiple generations can gather to bond, 
make plans for the future, and renew family harmony.

Family is one of the great human institutions. Yours 
can, and should, be the foundation for building real 
wealth � both financial and personal � for your children 
and for generations yet to come. With a little foresight 
and effort it can be done. You can do it. We can help.

 As always, I wish all the best to you and your family,



 Marc, a local attorney, father, and CASA volunteer 
(Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children) is on 
a mission to help parents protect what they love most. 
His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, Sierra 
Madre, CA 91024. Call 626.355.4000 to schedule an 
appointment to sit down and talk about ensuring a 
legacy of love and financial support for your family, or 
visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more information. 

The to-do list of most entrepreneurs is long. We wear 
many hats. And we want to succeed. So, nose to the 
grindstone, we �do� long and hard, each 
day giving our best effort to complete 
the list. This often means eliminating 
the things that refuel us. 

 When we �catch up,� we�ll resume 
the exercise, the creative play, our time 
with friends. And each day, after a 
full day of doing, we often feel like we 
haven�t done enough. There is still so 
much to do. Tomorrow we�ll be more 
focused. Work even harder. And get 
everything done!

 Do yourself a HUGE favor and 
shorten the list! Choose one major 
thing you�d like to accomplish this 
week. Focus on the thing that will move 
your business forward. Then each day, 
define one or two key action steps you will take towards 
it. And do them FIRST. The other things will get 
done if they�re written down, but your 
�success� is based on these one or two 
supporting tasks. 

 When they are done, you will feel 
successful. It feels a heck of a lot 
better than defeat. With the space you 
create, there will be energy to refuel. 
Remember, fumes can only take you so 
far.

LORI KOOP, coaching the 
creative entrepreneur. Schedule 
a complimentary session: www.
LORIKOOP.com or call 626-836-1667. 
(Location: 47 E. Montecito Avenue, 
Sierra Madre 91024) I�m here every 
other week.


Manufacturing alive and well in SGV

From The San Gabriel Valley Economic 
Partnership

By Cynthia Kurtz

 Friday, October 3, 2014 is National Manufacturing 
Day. You might think that this isn�t particularly 
important to California. There is a perception that 
manufacturing has left California and the San 
Gabriel Valley. 

 Off-shore production, strict environmental 
regulations, and automation have taken a toll on 
the number of manufacturing jobs. But these good 
paying positions are far from gone. The SGV can 
still boast of 58,900 jobs in manufacturing having 
added over 700 new jobs in 2013.

 There are significant shifts in the types of 
manufacturers that choose to locate here. Based 
largely on our incredible research and educational 
institutions, Southern California and the SGV are 
enjoying a resurgence in aerospace and bio-science 
manufacturing.

 A great example of these emerging new 
companies is Prolacta Bioscience. Founded in 
1999, Prolacta screens, collects, tests, pasteurizes 
and fortifies lifesaving products for use in neonatal 
intensive care units. As demand increased the 
company outgrew its first home - a 10,000 square 
foot facility in Monrovia. In 2013 the company 
moved to a new $18 million 67,000 sq. foot 
pharmaceutical grade processing plant in the City 
of Industry. 

 According to the US Center for Disease Control 
and Prevention, 1 in 8 babies in the United States 
are born prematurely. These fragile infants - often 
weighing between 1 and 2 pounds - face a variety 
of risks with many related to feeding and getting 
enough nutrition. 

 Ample evidence exists to show that a mother�s 
own milk reduces the risk of illness in her infant 
but mother�s milk may not be available or may not 
contain enough calories for premature infants. 
Milk and concentrations made with cow or other 
animal milks can cause other complications.

 The answer was to develop products that could be 
used when a mother had insufficient milk or when 
there was a need to boost the nutritional intake of 
human milk for premature babies.

 Prolacta Bioscience has created specialty 
formulations specifically for the needs of premature 
infants. The City of Industry facility is the first large 
scale human milk processing facility in the world 
and Prolacta is the only company to offer products 
made with 100% human milk. 

 Healthcare experts have praised the company 
for its innovative products. Studies show that 
premature babies who are fed a 100% human milk 
diet have a better chance of survival and a better 
quality of life. 

 The company intends to grow here. Scott Elster, 
Prolacta�s Chief Executive Officer said, �The 
opening of this (City of Industry) facility means 
that Prolacta can meet the nutritional needs of 
every extremely premature born infant in the 
country.� 

 So make your plans for National Manufacturing 
Day. We definitely have something to celebrate.


WHAT SHOULD YOU DO 
WITH YOUR OLD 401K?

By Greg Welborn

 Even given the current economic times, 
surveys continue to show that Americans change 
jobs very 3 to 5 years. If your employer offers a 
retirement plan, often times you have limited 
control over costs and investment options. But if 
you are leaving for greener pastures, you typically 
can gain more control over your retirement plan 
account. The usual choices are to leave it, take it, 
or roll it over. The usual education you receive 
in deciding which option to pursue is zero. So, 
here�s a little primer.

 Take It: If you take the money and run (by that 
I mean, you spend it on something worthwhile 
or not so worthwhile), then Uncle Sam and his 
cousin in Sacramento will want their pound of 
flesh. Any withdrawal you make will be fully 
taxed at your regular income tax rate and, if 
you�re under 59 ., will suffer a 12% penalty tax as 
well. The withdrawal could also push you into a 
higher tax bracket. This is not the ideal option.

 Leave It: If you leave the money in the old 
employer�s retirement plan (assuming that�s one 
of the plan options), then you can continue to 
watch the money grow tax free. But, you would 
still be subject to the same limited investment 
selections and the potentially higher-than-
average fees buried inside most employer 
sponsored retirement plans. There are some 
employer retirement plans with great investment 
options and low costs, but there are way too many 
where that is not the case. 

 When you�re an active employee and the 
employer is offering a match, then any limitations 
in terms of restricted investments or high fees 
is more than offset by the tax deduction and/or 
employer match you receive. If you�re leaving 
the firm, usually moving the money makes the 
most sense if the plan�s investments are overly 
restricted and the costs excessively high.

 Roll It: Which brings us to the rollover option. 
When you leave employment, you have the 
option to roll over the money in your employer 
retirement plan into your own Individual 
Retirement Account (IRA). Almost any bank 
or brokerage firm will set this up for you. Not 
all banks or brokerage firms offer the same 
investment selections and low fee structures, but 
there are plenty which offer great selection and 
rock bottom costs. By rolling over your money 
into an IRA, you retain tax-free growth benefits 
and you gain more control over performance. 
If fees are low, you�re even further ahead. The 
only caveat here would be for employees who are 
not yet 100% vested in their employer�s plan. If 
that�s the case, I wouldn�t recommend changing 
jobs for a while. Wait until you�re fully vested � 6 
years max in most cases.

 While not an exhaustive discussion of the 
options and their respective advantages and 
drawbacks, this is a pretty good primer on what 
to do when/if you�re looking at a job change. 
As always, if you�re in doubt, consult a trusted, 
objective advisor.

About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is the 
Managing Partner of First Financial Consulting, 
a fee-only advisory firm. He has worked with 
The Today Show, Kiplinger�s Magazine, and USA 
Today to provide objective financial advice to their 
readers and listeners. He has 3 grown children and 
is honored to be married to his wife of 25 years. He 
can be reached at gwelborn@ffconsult.net


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