September 2018
Greetings!

Donations...something most of us are inclined to make for a good cause, right? But how do you know if your donation is supporting a legit cause or a scam?

Like a story straight out of a movie, a young woman found herself stranded in the city one evening when she ran out of gas. Not knowing what to do, she was approached by a homeless man who used his own money...$20...to help fill her tank up. The young woman wanted to repay him, so she and her boyfriend started a GoFundMe account to help raise money for the homeless man, who she thought just needed one little break. They wanted to help him get back on his feet, and along with more than 14,000 donors, they raised more than $400,000.

Turns out, the couple is now being investigated for fraud as the homeless man, John Bobbitt, says he received very little of the funds. He believes the couple spent the money on a new BMW, vacations, and gambling. The couple cannot produce the funds, so the investigation is currently ongoing.

Long story short, this good-hearted story has a sour ending. More than 14,000 people have been scammed out of their donations where funds were misappropriated.

While making a donation can provide self-satisfaction, please make sure to do your homework before donating. Here are a few tools and tips to ensure your donations are legit:

  • Be careful with giving your credit card number over the phone or to an organization that only wants cash donations. Legitimate organizations typically have options for donating securely.
  • Understand that charities have administrative costs. If an organization claims that 100 percent of your donation will go straight to victims or resources, you may want to investigate further.
  • Trust your instinct; you should feel good about making a contribution.
  • Be careful about donating via text. Make sure you know what organization is receiving your donation follow the instructions.
  • When in doubt, consider making a non-cash donation such a food, clothing, or other goods.
  • Research Sites to check the charity
  • The IRS Nonprofit Charities Database
  • Charity Navigator
  • GuideStar

Finally, if you're still in doubt, please feel free to give us a call. We're always happy to help.

As always, it's a pleasure to serve your family.
Crafting Your Recipe for Retirement

A master chef knows the best meals come from the best ingredients, planning and preparation, and a proper recipe. The same is true for retirement. Don’t get burned by taxes, inflation and rising healthcare costs. Let us show you the right ingredients and the right recipe to craft the retirement you want. 
My husband is going into a nursing home. I'm afraid we are going to lose all of our assets. Is it too late to do any planning? What are some of the options?
I believe I am a successful professional making around half a million dollars a year, and I also have about $2 million in savings. Unfortunately, I do not know if this is enough for me to retire. What should I do? How do you solve these sort of problems?
Look Out For Eye Problems

"The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul." - Ralph Waldo Emerson  

The health of our eyes should be one of our highest priorities. After all, without good vision, you wouldn't be reading this, right?

Protecting your eyes and watching for telltale signs of potential health problems doesn't always top our list of health concerns - until it's too late. 

Eye problems can be harmless annoyances or early signs of a serious disease. Common complaints include blurry vision, spots, night glare, or flashing lights. Schedule a visit if you detect any of these symptoms.

Here are some common eye problems:
  • Color blindness. You can't distinguish colors. 
  • Nearsightedness. Items in the distance appear blurry.
  • Farsightedness. You can't clearly see objects that are close.
  • Presbyopia. You have difficulty seeing fine print. Lenses of eyes become less flexible as you age.
  • Astigmatism. Your vision in one or both eyes may be out of focus. 
  • Glaucoma. The optic nerves in your eyes are damaged. You often lose your side vision first.
  • Cataracts. More than half of people over 80 develop this condition, which produces a cloudy lens. Surgery may help.

Tip adapted from WebMD
Grilled Chicken Sliders

Yields: 12

Ingredients: 

  • 6 scallions, thinly sliced, divided 
  • 1 large clove garlic, pressed
  • 3 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • Pepper
  • 1 lime
  • 4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  • 1 bunch small radishes
  • 2 mini seedless cucumbers
  • 12 mini rolls, split and grilled
  • Hoisin, sriracha and cilantro, for serving

Directions: 

  1. Put ⅔ of the sliced scallions in a blender with the garlic, fish sauce, oil, honey, and a ½ teaspoon of coarsely ground pepper. Add zest from the lime to the blender and puree the ingredients.
  2. Pour the marinade into a bowl. 
  3. Pound the chicken breasts until ½ inch thick. Put the chicken in the marinade and coat evenly.
  4. Refrigerate the chicken for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
  5. Take the chicken from the marinade and place on medium heat on a preheated grill. Cover until the chicken is cooked through, 4-6 minutes per side.
  6. Before slicing, allow the chicken to rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes. 
  7. Slice radishes and cucumbers very thin. 
  8. Mix with the lime juice, then add ⅓ of the scallions. 
  9. Put hoisin and sriracha on the rolls. 
  10. Add sliced chicken, radish salad, and cilantro (if using) on the rolls.

Recipe adapted from Good Housekeeping
Monthly Riddle - Don't miss out on a chance to win LUNCH ON US!

Congratulations to last month's winner, Donna Richards!

August Riddle: 
What goes in the water black but comes out red?

Last month's riddle: 
What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?

The answer to last month's riddle: A Coat of Paint

Email   us with your answer; if it's correct, you'll be entered into a drawing amongst other correct winners. We will announce the winner in next month's newsletter, so keep those answers coming. We will draw one lucky winner to win lunch on us! 

Monthly Quote

" The four most expensive words in the English language are,
'This time it's different. ”
- Sir John Templeton

Fun Facts | Interesting, Amazing, Strange, Funny, and Weird

Both Amazon and Apple have a market cap of roughly $1 trillion, but over the past 21 years, Amazon’s profits have totaled less than $9.6 billion while Apple’s profits have been about $327 billion. Put differently, Apple, in just three months, took home more money than Amazon has managed to do over the last 21 years combined.
-BGR.com

Cosmetic surgery jumped 11% in 2017, with patients spending more than $6.5 billion last year. Some 229,000 cosmetic procedures were performed on patients between the ages of 13 to 19.
-MarketWatch

The world’s middle class now totals 3.7 billion people, or 48% of the world’s population.
-The Brookings Institution

The government has pushed up its estimate of the personal saving rate from 3.3% to 7.2%. That comes to $613.5 billion in additional savings, enough money to purchase more than 20 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks or 600 million iPhone Xs. 
-The Wall Street Journal

There were 309,000 new homes on the market in July, the most since March 2009. 
- Reuters

Americans paid a whopping $34.3 billion in overdraft fees in 2017- the most since 2009. If you were charged a $34 fee for being overdrawn by $24, and it took you three days to pay that overdrawn amount back – that’s the same as taking out a loan with a 17,000% annual percentage rate.
- Forbes

A recent study set out to determine what predicted the best outcome of surviving your first heart attack 12 month afterwards and based it on a single outcome: survival or death. The best predictor? The number and quality of friendships you had.
- Financial Times
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304.626.3900

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