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Show Wednesday, January 19, 2000 The Park Record A-21 Talldng Shop Biilding wealth in the Millennium j , . - .. ... . by BfllMullan RECORCjfGUEST WRITER As predicted, Y2K turned out to be "Y'K." Now that we are in a new ctfitury, what should we be doing to make this Millennium more successful from a financial standpoint than the last? Un&rtunately, changing the century cen-tury dpes not mean the road to wealth is going to require different tactics! A new year sometimes means new resolutions. Maybe a new ceitury will help some to really real-ly change. Regardless, here are some things that yu should be doing to get yourself on the road to financial independence. " - Hare a goal Set specific goals. 1 want to build wealth" and "1 want to retire rich" are not goals. I used to say, "1 don't want to be rich. I just want to be able to reach in my pocket at sny time and find $10." That was back in the days when $10 purchased something. That is not a goal either. All of these are dreams, and vague ones at that. To build wealth, you first need to determine the purpose of wealth. Do you need the money to buy your own bminess or retire in a certain cer-tain place K a certain date? Once those questions are answered, you can then 'determine how much money you actually need to accomplish accom-plish those goals. 1 Instead of thinking ' about becoming "wealthy," a better concept con-cept might be to become "financial ly independent." That suggests enough money to allow you to make the choices you want to make. Perhaps you want to have enough money to quit the job you're in so you can pursue another career that you love more but that doesn't pay as well. Again, you must define "enough money" in terms of actual dollars. When I ask clients how much income they want each year in retirement, many times they respond with, "1 don know." Like all planners, I cant develop a plan for a client without a specific number. num-ber. After asking a number of questions, ques-tions, we always end up with a number. num-ber. This is not a complicated matter. mat-ter. Talk to a Certified Financial Planner practitioner for help. Spend less than you earn. There isn't a millionaire on the planet who got that way by spending all the money they made. That means living liv-ing below your means. ' When I talk to clients about saving, sav-ing, I explain that there are two ways to approach saving. The first way is to determine what you have spent over the past six to nine months, then comparing that with what you have earned over that same period. What is left over is what you can save. I do not recommend recom-mend this approach because ou can always find many more ways to spend than you can to save. The second way is to determine how much you want to save each month and then spend what is left over. This is the road to financial independence. According to the Financial Planning Association (FPA), research has found that Americans "waste" 20 to 30 percent of their money by not getting the most for their dollars through such simple steps as using coupons, comparative Will dot-coms lose race? shopping for the best buys from food to auto insurance, and a zillion other money-saving tricks. (I have told the folks at the FPA a million times not to exaggerate!) Minimize your debt. It's difficult diffi-cult and not always wise to avoid debt entirely, yet too many Americans saddle themselves with needless debts. It is little wonder that bankruptcies bankrupt-cies are near an all-time high despite a booming economy. Too many consumers cant wait to spend. One key is to avoid consumer debt that pays nothing in return unlike mortgage or college debt. Much of consumer debt provides no tax breaks and is often high priced. This is particularly true of credit-card debt. The credit cards 1 use are paid off each month and give me such rewards as free miles on particular airlines. Invest early, wisely, often and as much as you can afford. "Early" is especially the key. Nothing consistently consis-tently makes money like time. Investments that return even modestly mod-estly over the years will usually make far more money than investments invest-ments made hurriedly at the last minute. Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. Other "old fashioned" 20th-century 20th-century secrets to investing include nmimmng investments in tax-deferred tax-deferred accounts and investing regularly every month. And skip the day-trading and m.uket timing. A recent study of mutual fund investors by the Boston based financial services research firm of DALBAR found that investors who bought and held their stock mutual funds over the past 15 years earned 17.9 percent a year. Average investors, who switched in and out of funds every three years, earned just 7.25 percent a sear. Protect your wealth. As you build wealth, the last thing you want to do is lose it to an unexpected unexpect-ed financial catastrophe. Most of us get the basic insurances insur-ances life, auto and home. But some of us skip medical cov erage because it s expensive and tough to get sometimes, even though a serious seri-ous medical illness can wipe you out financially. Many of us overlook disability coverage insurance that replaces income lost because of sickness or disability. It is ironic that the great majority majori-ty of people do not insure their greatest asset -their ability to earn a living. Only a small percentage buys long-term care insurance and many overlook liability insurance and the use of asset protection trusts to protect us from someone suing us for all we're worth. You dont want others becoming wealthy on the money you worked so hard to save. So there are some old fashioned 20th-century ideas to help you achieve financial independence in the 21st Century. Need some help in achieving your goals? Call a Certified Financial Planner practitioner. practi-tioner. The first consultation is usually usu-ally free. Bill Mullen is a Certified Financial Planner and a resident of Park dry, He is a registered representative and offers securities through Walnut Street Securities, Inc. Securities activities are supervised from a WSS Branch office at 2180 South 1300 East Suite 420, Salt Lake Cit UT 84106. Mullen holds an MBA in Finance, is a member of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners ICFP) and is President of the Utah Stxietv of thelCFP Questions mav be addressed to him at Bill Mullen; co The Park Record PO. Box .W5S. Park Citv. UT84060. Continued from A-20 the stores they reiognize. This definitely defi-nitely gives tie customers a choice to ; sho online, in the stores, or by catiiog. If Williams-jonoma remembers the basks, a firly large number of those current ustomers may opt to visit the company's Web site, rather than catalog ordering or driving to Trolley Square. By allowing them to shop how they want to shop and when they want to shop, dor-coms are turning conventional retaling ideas upside-down. upside-down. Lot at Barnes and Noble and barnesaidnoble.com customers cus-tomers can broirse their stores with a cvp of coffecin hand, or browse their Web site with a cup of coffee in hand. Maybe the model that Bames and Noble espouses will eventually become the standard. Perhaps the line will blur between dot-coms and brick-and-mortar companies. Companies like Amazon.com probably know as much about running run-ning a retail store as a typical brick-and-mortar company knows about running a Web site. The precedent has been set already. Sharper Image started out as a mail-order operation. Then it moved into retail locations, loca-tions, and it pushed into Web territory ter-ritory last year. They still have a ways to go, but they're on the vvay,, Local convention properties have reported that the following groups will meet during the week of Jan. 23 - 29 in Park City. Information is supplied bv the Park Citv Chamber 'Bureau. (j roups AltfBvtcts Geiger 11 Marriott Vacation Club 20 Life Link 2UM 50 fidelity Investments 20 I'niv. of I'tah Surgical Pathology 30 Univ. of Utah Physical & Rehabilitation 15 Total Clews Attendees Gavel International 18 Prudential Securities 50 Citibank 50 Donaldson. Lufkin. Jenrette 20 Solulia 23 Alcon Labs 45 VH-1 20 PC Mountain Sports Club 20 392 This is 70 percent of the visitor total for the same week last year. Bills in tha Legislature Continued from A-20 HJEL2ii3 Truth in Taxation Judgement Levy Short. R. Places the judgement levy under the public notice and hearing requirements of Truth-ln-Taxation. HBJJ25 Property Tax Exemption for Disabled Veterans Tanner. J. Providing a property tax exemption for certain real and tangible personal property owned by a 100 disabled veteran or the unremarried un-remarried surviving spouse and minor orphans. HB 3ig Property Tax Deferral Tyler, A. Creates a mechanism by which property owners may take advantage of a loan which would act as a hen against their homes to pay property prop-erty taxes. Controlled by the counties. HB 336 Property Tax Exemption for Veterans Hoguc. D. Authorizes an exemption for veterans on the fees-in -lieu pain on their vehicles. This exemption was eliminated when. SB 52 passed in 1998 making the car tax fee based instead of value based. HBJ22 Tax Credit for Education Olsen, E HB2 Special Election Notice to Registered Voters Way. G. Requires that, when a bond election is held on a special election date, a postcard must be sent to all registered voters detailing the time and place of the vote and the impact of the bond on the average aver-age home. HiBl Resolution Requiring Extraordinary Vote To Raise Property faxes Way. G, Enacts a two-thirds vote requirement for both houses of the legislature legisla-ture before imposing or increasing a statewide real property tax. SJU5J Property Tax Law Amendment poult on. S. Requires a public vote on all property tax increases, but exempts schools who have recently held an election to impose a voted leeway and cities. Sales Tax: HB 125 County Option Sales and Use Tax for Conservation Easements Qlsen. E, Authorizes a 1 8-percent local option sales tax for the purpose of preserving open space and agricultural lands. HB 176 Income Tax Credit for Sales and Use Taxes Paid on Food Short. R. Provides a $20 tax credit per dependent to reduce the impact of the sales tax on food. HB 366 Repeal o f Sales and L'se Tax Diwrskw for Olympics Ure. D. Terminating the requirement that certain revenues generated under the local sales and use tax act be deposited into the Olympics special revenue fund. t HB 37 Sales and L'se Exemption for Firearm Safes Bush. D. Exempts safes specifically designed for storage of firearms from the sales tax. Sext issue: More introduced bills and some requested bills Dim to Monday's holiday, the Utah Mortgage Puts will appear in Saturday's issue or 71 PmHt Retard. r'QassiiieHs MNMMCOM B-15 The PafkReconl Cussihed Aommisc Rues IARK CITY. UTAH 649-9114 649-1942 Fax WrWMJUfCOUCOM 1470 fcurao Dnv PO Bon 3688 I jy, Ul 5J6U CiwKl fc M f p.rd w fvvl Op u Im tHw 1H .... WU . us $ Klrm . Mini.. . .. y . 1 1 to tm 1 Mr - on 0Mtrmmtm&mmm M)U" OR 'WS'WWHIW'W &m m wit immm mmm wMt j rm im CLASSIFIED - T nan m eu nm urn nm nm cm nm nm o find, . what you II need o o o wHat i ',. 649-9(0)14 Name Droppers r--r UGlGOSiiO SandanGG Mora . . 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