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Show Sunday, April23, 2006 DAILY HERALD THE WALL STREET JOURNAL SUNDAY. Love & Money / By Jeff D. Opdyke Health Costs / By Sarah Lueck aT monly known as “summer- butdid just fine—andit made a big difference in her self-image. camp planning,” has descended over myhouse again. Each year about this time, my Thenhe introduced her to soc- cer. She resisted a bit, in part because at age 12, when other kids had beenplaying for years, it was wife, Amy, lays out calendars and pamphlets for everything from rocket camp to reading camp to soccer camp, trying to occupy our son's summer productively. It's quite the ballet, choreographing camps with family vacations, while giving our 9-year-old enough free time to play with neighbor- well outside her comfort zone. But he pushed herto join. He used the baseball experience to remind her that he had been right before— and assured her that he would be proved right again. It was a disaster. hood friends. “She hated it,” myfriend says. But perhaps the biggest challenge came recently when Amy made a reque: If you want him to go to bas camp, youneed to talk to him,” shetold me. “I don’t think he wants to go.” It turns out that he doesn’t, be- “All the confidence from baseball, she lost playing soccer. It was a huge setback. She was miserable a group of high-school ballplayers were running some of the drills _ and were muchtoo harsh with the league, and he and | routinely drive past the park where myer- different baseball camp last sum- mer. But here's the challenge: 1 younger kids. Obviously, though I'm talking about my son and baseball, this just as easily could be about pushing your daughterto pursue dance lessons...or, as I expect to do with my2 -ar-old daughter one day, sign her up for soccer. This is myteam the chanceto playin the city final when | was myson's age, and where pitched myfirst no-hitter a few years later. Maybe it's selfish, maybe it's precisely the sort of vicarious living parents should avoid when steering lar activity that you,.mom and dad, are convinced is perfect for your child, despite your child's ries of baseball. | knowhe’s good and I know he will enjoy the game, and I know his decision is based onflawed reasoningthat he will one day regret. As I see it, one of myroles as a parent is to step in and makethose cause of a sour experience ata want him to go. He's a naturally gifted athlete, with a_ terrific swing. I want him to have the opportunity to improve his skjlls. And, selfishly, 1 grew up playing the game andstill do, and: I see baseball as a way to bond with him in thefuture. And so I wonder:-How far doI push? Do you throw money at a summer camp or extracurricular les: sons that kids say they don’t want and are far from crucial, but that you'reconvinced will be beneficial at somepoint in thefuture? Or are kids allowed to havethefinal say on such matters, even if you think they're making a mistake? aboutany voluntary, extracurricu- protestations. Another example: Amywants to enroll our son in pianolessons, an activity he's also spurning. But is lack of interest, or one bad experience, a valid basis for a decision that may have long-range repercussions? In other words: Father may 1 will concede that baseball is still know best, but how much dif. not so important that its absence will alter my son’s life. Moreover, he already plays soccer and goes ference should that make? * * * For me, thebasicissue is this: kids often don't know what they want until they. want it. I see this routinely with my son, carping About some event or food, and then, when he experiences what everhe's dead set against, it turns out hereally likes it, and he sheepishly concedes he was complaining for naught. Only, this time it’s different. He does knowwhathe’s talking about because he's been there and done that and Has the T-shirt—from a baseball camplast summer, where Drug Deadline Is May 15 her athleticism. She wasn't a star to a soccer camp.so it’s not asif he's missing outonlife lessons in teamwork,individualeffort and humility that sports can provide. Nevertheless, baseball is one of those universal experiences among boys, particularly the pack myson runsin, and as he and his friends age I don't want him to miss that camaraderie just be- cause of an uninformed decision he made when he was9. Also—andthis is where a bit of blind ego comes in—-I grewup playing in the local recreational rant throw from third base cost their children’s activities, but I want him to have similar memo- occasional executive decisions. That doesn’t meanI don’tlet him: fail; 1 do, because those lessons carry value, too. But there are some mistakes you don’t want your kids to make because they can't be repaired. This is one of those mistakes. * * o* Years ago, a close friend goadedhis then 9-year-old daughter to play baseball—a venture newforher. She'd never been comfortable athletically and was leery, and argued vehemently agains’ ‘t. Normally, he says, he would have given in. But he ‘felt strongly that the experience would build her confidence, so he signed her up. d He says he was right. She played three years and loved it, and gained confidence in herself and ith less than a month left to enroll in Medicare's new drug coverage, about six million eligible beneficiaries haven't signed up. May15is the last day that most Medicare beneficiaries will be able to enroll in a drug-benefit plan for 2006. People who already have good drug coverage—from a former employer, for example— don't need to worry, and can stick with what they have. But people who lack drug insur- ance or havea plan that’s less generous than the new federal program will face a financial penalty if they miss the deadline and de- everysingle minuteon thefield. I blew it.” cide to sign up in the future. The lesson he the two episodes, parents have to eachactivity and took awayfrom he says, is that carefully weigh their child's ob- are confused about what to do, or haye decided not to enroll in a “You can't impose your desires just because you're convinced it will ultimately be good for your kid,” he says. “They're protesting program, despite an onslaught of mailings, community events and jection to it. for a reason. You havetolisten to those reasons. Sometimes - they shouldn't carry the day. But sometimes they should. That's the trick: figuring out whatactivity will ultimately be for the good, and which will lead to misery on the soccer field. If the activity is a leap—meaning the necessary skills surpass your children’s capabilities—I'm not so sure you push. I certainly understand why you might: to expand their abilities and offer access to something they might one Many beneficiaries apparently drug plan because they don't think it will save them money. Others might not have heard about the television commercials. Enrollment began in mid-November. The initial message from Medicare experts and the govern- ment was to take time to review the offerings from the private insurers thatare selling the new government-subsidized Medicare drug plans, Butnow,“it’s timeto getoff the bench and makea decision,” says WendyZenker,director of the Access to Benefits Coalition at the National Council on Aging, one of the groups’ working to spur enroll- ment. daylove. Yetthis could be so wrong Coverage for Big Bills that, as with myfriend's daughter, you dolong-lasting damage. If, however, the activity is borderline—meaning the necessary kK are probably within your kid's range—I think you push. If it turns out your child despises the activity; well, at least you gave him or her that opportunity. And that's why my son will be going to baseball -camp this sum- A big reasonto sign upfor coverageis thatit provides protection against very high drug costs. The drug plans vary. Different private companiessell them. ; mer. Father does know bestin this case, and I'm making him prove me wrong. In all of them, however, after patients spend $3,600 out-of-pocket on medications, they'll have to pay for only 5% of their additional costs for the rest of the year. People wholack another source of drug coverage and don’t sign up for Medicare's “are takinga risk,” says Tricia Neuman ofthe non- profit Kaiser Family Foundation. Jeff Opdyke covers personal finance for The Wall Street Journal. Write him at lovemoney@wsj.com “They maynotbe thinking about a long-term strategy if they're sitting out this year because they're |5 Barron’s Insight / By Jacqueline Doherty Family Finances/ By MichaelA. Pollock Rates at Web Banks Beckon—But Wait Sepracor Stock’s a Sleeper mid higher interest rates, A banks are offering the best returns eral years, on savings in sev- The juiciest returns are at banks that do business only online, without any branches. Some pay more than 4.5% on savings or money-market accounts, comjared with 1° or less on savings at many branch banks. That's a nice vain for anyone with a big bal- SomeHigh-Yielding Online Bank Accounts Account Annual WebAadress Tie Yield HSBCéirect hsbodirectcom savings 480%" money market 4.75 GMAC Bank gmactiank.com Heritage Bank Online hertagebankna.com savings and mm. 4.72 VirtualBank virtualbank.com money market 4.60 Wester Financial Bank www.nfb.com money market 4.60 EmigantDirect emigrantdirect.com savings 450 Etectne only through Apni30 ance. On $20,000, you could earn more than S700 a year in addi‘onal interest. since the mid-1990s, but have seen But there are downsides to Internet-only- banking. line access to accounts, as well as services such asonlinebill paying. epracor’s shares (SEPR) could Minimum Deposit $1 500 1,000 100 1 1 Sources: Bankrate com: idwdual bank Web sites in Seattle. But some have seen ingtellers at its branches, Openinganonline accountisn't difficult. -banks have applications on their Web sites and generally require the samepersonal data as other banks. While you can typi+ cally link an online account to your existing checking account, seeif there is a monthly limit on the numberof times you can move money. Note that transfers can take as long asfive days. i Hear Miche!Pollock talk about online rapid growth. Andold-line banks are capturing someofthat online Check the Fine Print ‘banking. Go to WSI.com/Sunday.Click on growth. Last year, after it began The eye-catching rates some hanks offer are “teasers”that drop ifter an initial period. Online banks also may limit access to yourfunds by not offering check: writing and by restricting the frequency of transfers from the on- the newspaper where you read The Wall Street Journal Sunday Follow the ink to ur SundayJournal “podcast.” | aah fine account to your regular checking account. Unwary consumers also can fall prey to online fraud, such as by inadvertently turning over personal information to a scammerinstead of a real bank, although banks saythey are work- ing to cut fraud risks. For some people, though, the biggest differenceis having to navigate online without the personalized service they're used to at a branch. Internet banks expect you the greatest growth since 2000. Tra- ditional banks also nowoffer onL-banks that don't have a branch-based parent represent a small part of the total bank market, with just 1°of the $6.2 trillion in U.S. deposits, says Jim Bruene, editor of Online Banking Report, offering a-high-yield savings ac- countin February, the HSBCdirect. com unit of HSBC Holdings drew in about $1 billion in deposits. Nearly 40% of U.S. households do some kind of online banking, either at a virtual or traditional bank, bankers estimate. Bank of America saysit has the largest on- line banking unit, with around 15 million customers. “We have more interaction online now than we do across our telephone and bank branches combined,” says Sanjay Gupta, Bank of America’stop electronic-commerceexecutive. to be your ownteller, and some Branch, Web Rates May Differ close the accounts of people who. Deposits at online banks, like call several times a week to ask questions. > “If you needa lotof hand-holding, or you want to have coffee every day while you talk with our staff, this isn’t the place for you,” says Jim Kelly, chief operating of- ficer of ING Groep NV's ING Di- rect unit, which ranks amongthe largest Internet banks, or “I- banks,”with somefour million customers. Online banks have been around HOWTO CONTACT US Our address: The Wall Street Journal Sunday 4300 Route 1 North South Brunswick, N.J. 08852 Our email: ‘sunday03@wsj.com those at traditional branch banks, , are protected by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage, notes Greg McBride, seniorfinancial analyst at Bankrate.com, which tracks rates. But rates can be very different, even between an online bank and a corporate sibling that is a traditional branch bank. Last week, one of the highest savings-account returnslisted on Bankrate.com was HSBCdirect. Attractive online. rates may have strings attached. Citigroup's Citibank unit recentlyrolled out a virtual bank that provides the full range of its products and pays 4.5% on savings. But getting that rate requires also having a Citibank checking account. And to avoid fees on checking, customers must keep a $1,500 combined mini- mum balance or doa certain number of transactions electronically their accounts at the bank's automated teller machines,butnot us- Waiting past Novemberofthis year would mean even higher charges, based on the average premiumsin future years, which are unknown butlikely to be higher. It is possible that the governmentwill changetherules, either to lengthen the initial enrollment period or removethe financial penalty for waiting. But this is far from guaranteed, and may not happen before the deadline. There are some exceptions al- ready to the hard-and-fast deadline. Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for extra federal subsidies for their drug costs, because they have incomes of less than about $15,000 a year for an individual andassetsofless than $11,500, are allowed to enroll in drug coverage after May 15. People who mightfit these criteria should contact the Social Security Administration to get an application. People in nursing homes or the Medicaid program for the poor also are allowed to sign up outside the enrollment period. So are people who lose other sourcesof cover- age, such as a retiree plan. “Encore” by Kelly Greenewill be back next week. For comments :on today's “Health Costs" column, write: forum.sundayO3@ws}.com verts that come duein 2024. Like conventional bonds, convertibles pay their holders fixed interest Tate, but they can be converted into stock, making them good bets if a company's sharesrise. ‘The insomnia-drug market soared 31%last year, to $2.77billion, but some worry that sleeping pills are overprescribed. Reports of adverse effects from leading sleep drug Ambien, have spooked investors. Some users said they've sleep- bers, it's a stock for'a bio- of Sepracor's $821 million of revenue in 2005, have hurt the stock of the Marlborough, Mass.,_ pharmaceutical producer. head of U.S. equities at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. Hethinksit could be worth $70, up from less than $49 recently. It trades at 19 times next year's average estimate, versus multiples of 25 to 30 times at other specialty-drug firms. There is a yawning gap between centreview indicates there has been “nosignificant changeto the safety profile.” It adds that sleepwalking has always beenlisted as lenges, earnings could surge to Wall Street analysts’ low and high $1.51 this year and $2.61 in 2007, compared with an 11-cent estimates of $1.80 to $3.63 for 2007 per-share earnings. Investors price in the mid-70s.Forholders, that could mean sweet dreams. Bulls say Lunesta has fewer unwanted side effects than rivals. And they believe the company should prevail in the Xopenex.patentfight. If Sepracor fends off both chal loss from operationslast year. Sepracorpreviously has guided Wall Street to expect 2006 earnings of Sepracor does hit these numpretty cheap technology company,” says Owen Fitzpatrick, walked, eaten meals, even driven cars without rememberingit. 6 06 Source: Thomsr/ Baseline seeking less risk might consider Sepracor's convertible securities: $500 million of zero-coupon con- Ask Dow Jones/ By Tom Herman ecb st Q 2 About electronic filing: 2 | wouldlove to e-file, but | absolutely refuse until | can file directly to the Internal Revenue Service without cost. | am ask them to pay extra tofile electronically—especially sinceit's Email: forum.sunday03@ws}.com month more in premiums for the rest of their lives. Sepracor's asthma drug, Xopenex, must overcome patent challenges. Worries aboutthe two drugs, which together accounted for most accuracy and speedier refunds, com's 4.8% annual percentage eral personal questions that they yield. In contrast, HSBC branches , previously provided answers to pay from 0.25% on regular savings whensetting up an account. to 3.5% for an accountof at least Banking online can actually help detect fraud, he adds. “By goButthe high onlinerateis effec- ing online regularly and looking at tive only through April 30 and may your balance and transactions, dropafter that, a spokesman says. you would be in a position to spot Hi irect customers can tap fraud, should any take place.” After May 15, the next chance for most people to sign up ‘is in November, for coverage that starts in January 2007. Based on that seven-month delay in coverage, from June through December, most people who don't sign up by May 15 will pay at least $2.24 a from indiplon, a new product to be co-marketed by Pfizer (PFE). And online banking hasfallen, a sur- Bank of America is trying to reassure people about the safety of online banking, says the bank's Mr. Gupta. Among upgrades, it has added an extrastepto its online sign-in routine. Customers logging on may be asked oneof sev- Next Chance: November including 33 52-yeek oe) cents of option ss expense.“If and credit-card companies, con- vey by Informa Research Services, Calabasas, Calif., found. ‘Sepracor For each month that eligible people without other drug coverage wait to sign up for a Medicare drug plan, they will be charged a 1% higher premium when they try to sign up down the line. The 1% penalty is based on the national average premium—not the premium of the drug plan the beneficiary ultimately chooses. In 2006, the average monthly premium is $32.20, so 1% is $0.32. finally wake up if the company's.two major drugs surmountthe hurdles they face. Salesofits sleep drug, Lunesta, will have to withstand impending competition each month. Bricks-and-mortar banks canprovide services online more 1 will not pay to help the IRS do cheaply than in a branch, says Pe- their job. ter Kovalski, a senior bank analyst W.J.B., Eatonville Wash. at Alpine Woods Capital Investors, A: You're certainly not alone, Al Purchase, N.Y. But after some sethough electronicfiling has curity breaches involving banks many advantages, including greater sumerconfidence in the safety of $1.50 a share, healthy and havelow drug expenditures. They may pay the piper if they get sick and need coverage.” many people agree ‘it's wrongto much less expensive for the IRS than processing paper returns. This issue ts drawing fresh scru- tiny this year because fewer people qualify for free online federal tax- preparation and e-filing services through a special agreement be- ‘tween the IRS and a group of software makers known as the Free File Alliance. ' Last year, all taxpayers. were eligi- ble for these freebies. This year, under a new pact between the IRS and software makers, the services generally are limited to people with adjusted gross income of $50,000 orless. Among the most outspoken crit- ies of the current system is Nina Olson, the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate. At a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing, Ms. Olson said “there is no reason” taxpayers should have to pay transaction fees to file electronically. The IRS “should place a basic,fill-in template on its Web site and allow any taxpayer who wants to self-prepare his or her return to do so and file it directly with the IRS for free.” To underscore her concern, Ms. Olson told a personal story. She said her government salary places her above the income cap to qualify for free e-filing available through the Free File program. To prepare ‘her own return electronically last month, she spent $19.99 to purchasetax-preparation software. When she was done preparing her return, the software program informed her she would have to pay at least $14.95to the software company tofile electronically. “Although | deeply believe that e-filing is best for both taxpayers and the IRS for a hostof reasons,| re‘sented the notion that | would have to pay separate fees to prepare my feturn and to file it, so | printed out my return and mailed it in,” Ms. Olson said. Many other taxpayers do the ‘same thing. IRS statistics show nearly 45 million retums are pre- France's Sanoft-Aventis (SNY), which makes Ambien, faces a lawsuit over the drug but says a re- a possible rare event. So far, Sepracor hasn't had similar complaints. Some analysts say Sepracor couldfind itself the target of a larger drug firm and command a Jacqueline Doherty is a senior editor of Barron's magazine, found online at www. com pared using software—but then are mailed in, rather than filed electronically, Ms. Olson said. “This is a shame because the practice delays the length of time for processing refunds,it requires the IRS to devote additional resources to entering the data manually whenit receives the return, and it creates a risk of transcription error,” Ms. Olson said. She reiterated her plea to the government. to allow free e-filing for everyone. Will there be major changes any- time soon? That's hard to say, The IRS usually doesn't move quickly but it does face strong congressional pressure to take steps to encourage many more people to file electronically. * * # MAKING AMENDS: If you just discovered a mistake on your return filed earlier this year, don't panic. Fixit by filing “Form 1040X.” It's available free on the IRS Web site (www.lrs.gov). Millions of other peo- ple file “amended” retums each year. Tom Herman's “Tax Report” appears Wednesdays in The Wall ‘Street Journal. Send questions on finances, investments oF taxes to: @wsj.com and include your name, address and a daytime telephone number. Questions may be edited; we regret ‘that we cannot answer every letter. earroe You’ll Play Baseball, and You’ll Like It hat annual scourge, com- |