Ten Money Questions for Ken Page

Ken Page, LCSW, psychotherapist and lecturer, is also the director and founder of numerous LGBT personal growth events including the upcoming LGBT Spring Intimacy and Spirituality Retreat. He is also the founder of Deeper Dating, a dating event for singles committed to deeper values which has received much attention in the New York LGBT media.

He believes that LGBT people hold unique gifts, and that healing involves rediscovering and embracing these gifts, which have often been shunned in our families and by the larger culture. Ken is also the proud father of five-year-old David Page. Rich Taylor asked him to get personal about money and relationships.

Mosey on over to Queercents to read more and catch other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.

The Longevity Risk: Outliving Your Money

“The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income.” – George Foreman

Recently, Jeanine and I were having dinner with a friend visiting Southern California on business. She lives on the east coast and works for one of the big investment banks as an account manager for their high net worth clients. She has a great gig and dashes around wealthy sections of LA and Orange County dishing out portfolio advice to an impressive list of business and entertainment executives.

When asked what the major concern of her typical client was, she replied, “Outliving their money.”

It’s a fact. We’re living longer. And we better plan for it. Ken Little, the Stock guy at About.com adds this color, “In addition to the usual risks facing investors – inflation, market risk, economic risk, and so on – there is a new risk to confront. Actually, it’s not new, but investors and financial advisors have given it a name: the longevity risk.”

“The longevity risk is the good news/bad news that modern health care has extended the average life span, which is the good news part. The bad news part is that many of us may outlive our retirement plan. That’s the longevity risk.”

He continues, “It’s been around for some time and most financial advisors and folks working in the retirement planning field have been talking up the dangers of outliving your money in retirement for some time now. In the last couple of years, the interest has really picked up as Baby Boomers get serious about their retirement and start doing the math. In too many cases, the numbers aren’t pretty.”

Lewis J. Walker at the Free-Market News Network discusses The Real Retirement Number and writes, “As people reach milestone birthdays like 50, 55, or 60, increasingly they are asking, ‘Am I (are we) on track for retirement?’” Well, I’m not a baby boomer, but I’m about to hit one of those milestone birthdays: forty! It gets you thinking…

“Money magazine noted, ‘57% of workers age 45-50 have saved less than $50,000.’ A new National Retirement Risk Index crafted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College in Massachusetts indicated that ‘45% of working-age households are at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living during retirement.’ (Journal of Financial Planning, 8/06).”

Lesbians, pay close attention to this here: “Women particularly need to be concerned. A 65-year-old woman has a 19% chance of living to age 95 versus 11% odds for a man. If both people in a marriage reach age 65, one of them has a 28% chance of reaching age 95. The odds of long life are even greater if a couple ages 62 to 65 have never smoked and have not had cancer.”

Fred Yager at ConsumerAffairs.Com offers his view on the “longevity risk” and notes, “You have to figure that if the finance experts have a name for a problem, then they probably also have a solution. Recently, a pair of investment gurus were awarded a patent for inventing a system that directly addresses the challenge of outliving our assets.”

“Moshe Milevsky, from York University in Toronto and Peng Chen, president of the investment advisory company Ibbotson Associates were issued U.S. Patent 7,120,01 for coming up with a system that takes longevity risk into account when recommending investment strategies to those looking to finance their retirement.”

“The system considers three basic risk assessments when making asset and product allocation decisions in retirement:

• Financial market risk
• Inflation risk, and
• Longevity risk

This model integrates all of these risks and provides a solution to help investors have a comfortable retirement.” To find out how it works, click over and read the entire article as it’s too long to reprint here… but in my opinion it’s a strategy worth following.

Yager concludes by asking and answering, “So how much do you need to save by the time you retire? There are a lot of ‘guestimates’ but the low end number seems to be around $450,000. Anything lower than that and it becomes a real struggle. To live really comfortably, you need close to $1 million in savings.”

The number is relative so land on the perfect number for you that will minimize the longevity risk. And then, as Robert Powell at MarketWatch reports, “Strike a delicate balance between creating a guaranteed stream of income to meet basic needs in retirement and having a pool of assets that grows and can help one maintain a decent standard of living in retirement.”

Live long and prosper!

GayFranchise.com: Out to Buy a Business

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” – George S. Patton

Anyone who knows me knows that I have threatened to buy a Quiznos franchise for years. I’ve attended seminars, interviewed franchisees and befriended the sweet Indian couple that owns the location on Newport Blvd. Every time I stop in, the husband always inquires if I’m ready to buy them out.

I speculate that’s a bad sign… although he claims business is good and has grown every year for the last five. They’re in their mid-fifties and I get the sense that it’s a bit of grind. They work hard or so it seems as I watch them while I wait for my Turkey Ranch & Swiss to exit the toasting conveyor. Food service is not for the faint of heart.

I haven’t taken the plunge and will probably keep my corporate job for years to come, but that still hasn’t prevented me from trolling the franchise sites to whet my entrepreneurial appetite. I’ve written about my dreams in the past and even offered up a few franchise horror stories, but I still believe that in order to be wealthy and retire rich, I need to generate additional income streams outside of my employee earnings.

I’m on my way with owning income producing rental properties, but buying a business is part of my plan. Franchises can be tricky though. On one hand, chances of success improve because you’re buying a proven formula and you can focus on execution. However, that proven formula will cost you in franchisee fees and you’ll lose some of your autonomy as a business owner. Evaluate the pros and cons and do your research.

Here are two things I’ve learned along the way. 1. Buy multiples. You’re not going to get rich on one franchise; you need to buy multiple units. 2. Don’t be an absentee owner. Be an owner-operator. That’s the clincher for me: I’m not quite ready to give up my career at this point to make sandwiches. But that day could come.

In the meantime, here’s something else to help with your research. GayFranchise.com is a new site that is an online franchise directory established in part to assists self-identified LGBT business professionals in becoming successful franchisees.

The site offers a comprehensive Franchise Directory that includes a company history, training, qualifications and the company’s diversity statement. The site is still in start-up mode (the list of companies is short) but as they grow and add franchisors to the list, they will also include capital partners, attorneys and consultants to guide beginning franchisees to success.

Grant Courtney, one of the Co-Founders of GayFranchise.com, recently said, “Until now, the GLBT community has gone virtually unrepresented in the franchise industry. We are seeking to change that pattern by linking forward-thinking franchisors with one of the most lucrative markets in the U.S. economy today.”

This is good to know when I finally decide to make my move.

The Skinny on Sub-Prime Loans

“In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Much has been written of late about lenders, homeowners and sub-prime loans. TIME magazine provided A Sub-Prime Primer on why this is such a big issue: “A wave of defaults on ‘subprime,’ or high-risk, home mortgages has not only rocked the Dow; it also threatens to ripple through the economy.” Here’s how:

1. When Homeowners Can’t Pay…
“Borrowers with poor credit and unusual loans have often taken on more debt than they can handle. And if rates rise, they are vulnerable to default and even foreclosure.”

2. Mortgage Lenders Get Hammered…
“Many lenders resell their high-risk mortgages to investment banks. If defaults rise, the lenders are often forced to buy back the bad loans, which hurts earnings and stock prices.”

3. Investment Banks Lose Business…
“The firms that buy the loans usually repackage them and sell them as securities (for a profit, of course). As securities get riskier, there are fewer buyers. That means lower profits.”

4. Institutional Investors Are Exposed…
“Banks, hedge funds, insurers and mutual funds have been buying the risky bonds because they promise high rates of return. As defaults spread, that promise evaporates.”

5. And They Flee the Stock Market
“The mortgage storm plus slowing consumer spending lead investors to look for safer bets than stocks. Another fear: tighter credit further weakens the housing market.”

Gretchen Morgenson at The New York Times agrees that tighter credit will further weaken the housing market and warns that Crisis Looms in Market for Mortgages. She noted a paper published last month by Josh Rosner and Joseph R. Mason assessing the potential problems associated with disruptions in the mortgage securities market. The authors said, “Decreased funding for residential mortgage-backed securities could set off a downward spiral in credit availability that can deprive individuals of home ownership and substantially hurt the U.S. economy.”

That’s bad news for those trying to buy and finance a home today and in the future, but what about the millions of people who are in over their head with sub-prime loans. The Mortgage Professor has an excellent tutorial on “What is a Sub-Prime Mortgage Lender?” and defines both the sub-prime lender, borrower, the 2/28 ARM and why prime borrowers often find themselves in sub-prime loans.

By the way, the Mortgage Professor isn’t just some guy dishing out his opinion on the Internet; he is Jack M. Guttentag, Professor of Finance Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. You should bookmark his site and refer to it before you finance or refinance any real estate.

Moving on… what happens if you are a homeowner at risk or worse, you have gotten behind on your mortgage payments? Sandra Block at the USA TODAY explains how Foreclosure Hurts Long after Home’s Gone. She suggests taking action and cutting a deal while you can. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

I’ve written in the past about preventing foreclosure in Dial the Lender. Last August, Noelle Knox also reported in the USA TODAY that, “Almost 280,000 Americans lost their homes through foreclosure last year. But that’s not the surprising part. This is: Half of them never even talked to their lenders.”

Now, less than a year later, Block writes, “More than 2.1 million Americans with home loans missed at least one payment last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Even more troubling, the rate of new foreclosures hit a record.”

Block continues with tips to avoid default and suggests, “If you’re suffering a temporary financial setback, your lender may offer programs that will help you get back on track. They include:

• Forbearance. This is an agreement that lets borrowers make a reduced payment, or none, for a specific period. You might have to make larger payments once the crisis has passed. To qualify, you might need to show that you’re expecting a bonus, a tax refund or other income that will let you catch up.
• Reinstatement. You agree to pay the full amount of your missed payments by a specific date. Reinstatement is sometimes combined with forbearance.
• Modification. Your lender agrees to change the terms of the loan to make payments more affordable. Your lender may agree to add missed payments to your loan balance or extend the term of your loan, reducing the size of your payments.”

She concludes with what to do if your financial setback isn’t temporary and you’re really in a home that you can’t afford, then it’s time to move in order to avoid foreclosure. She suggests these three options:

• “Put your home up for sale. This may be the best choice if you’ve been in your home for several years and have built up some equity.”
• “If you have no equity or your local real estate market is depressed, ask your lender to consider a ‘short sale.’ In a short sale, the lender agrees to accept the proceeds from the sale of your home, even if they don't cover the amount you owe.”
• “Ask your lender to accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure. If you can’t sell, your lender may agree to take the deed to your home and cancel your debt.”

In some states, the foreclosure process begins as soon as you have missed just one payment. It’s important not to ignore things and take action with your lender at the first sign of trouble.

Whole Life Insurance: Borrowing Against Your Policy

“If you must play, decide upon three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the quitting time.” – Chinese proverb

So last week, Tony Forcucci at The Anthidote Report left this interesting comment on my Sitting Pretty post that mentioned the debate between Term Life insurance vs. Whole Life insurance. If you don’t know the difference between these two insurance products, then click here for a primer.

There are two schools of thought and I personally, subscribe to Suze Orman’s team with regards to term life insurance. She advises, “Keep it simple and buy term life insurance; it’s good only for a specific number of years and then expires. That’s okay – life insurance wasn’t meant to be permanent; it’s there to protect your family before you’ve had a chance to accumulate enough funds (through investments and savings) to do so.

But Tony provided a different perspective that I had never heard of or considered. I’ll let you read it first and then I’ll add a few comments below.

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First of all, I’d like to say up front to my comment that I do not sell any financial products nor do I sell life insurance. I am NOT in that business. I also recommend that anyone reading this go to their professional financial advisor for advice and not rely on this below comment as coming from someone in that line of work - I am not. Having said that I’d like to shine a light on something you may not have ever been explained about Whole Life Insurance.

Most people do not know how to approach or USE this product in the right way. There is a concept known as the velocity of money. The idea here is to use the same dollar 3, 4, 5 times. A way (maybe the best way) to do this is to do it through Whole Life Insurance. Look here:

What does a bank want? Your money. How much of it does it want? As much as possible. For how long does it want it? For as long as possible. Keep this idea in you mind as you read the below.

Most people in their 20’s or 30’s look at life insurance the wrong way - they want as much coverage for a little as possible. The reality is however that statistically speaking the chances of you dying at this age are pretty low. What you need in this stage of life is financial power to build upon. Here is how you use Whole Life Insurance to pump up your ability to grow your net worth.

Open up a $500,000 or a $1,000,000 policy and this will cost you about $6,000 to 10,000 per year in premium. Let’s use the $1,000,000 policy for my example.

In five years time, how much have you put into a Whole Life policy? $10k x 5 = $50,000. For the first 5 years, your cash value is always worth less than the amount you put in. But around year 5 or 6 it breaks even then continues to grow. OK. Now the way to approach this is to not only put in your $10,000 premium but to double fund it and put in an additional $10,000 per year (all of which is always immediately yours at full value). This is called a PUA (Paid Up Addition). Now after 5 years you’ve got $100,000 in your life insurance policy (cash value). What now?

You can borrow against this without touching your specific money. You borrow against this to purchase appreciating assets (a rental property for example).

When you borrow money from your policy you have effectively become your own bank. So let’s say your borrow $20,000 to get into a $200,000 rental. The interest rate may vary from company to company but the policy I’m familiar with lends money at 8% and rebates back to you 7% for a net cost of 1% money. Remember - you are not using your money from the policy, it is coming from an enormous pool of billions of dollars. This means you borrow at 1% while your policy money continues to work for you. You buy a rental for $20k down on $200k property. Even if this property appreciates at the rate of inflation (3%) you are ahead of the game 2%.

Buy let’s say you rent this property - now you’re doing great. On top of that you get to depreciate this property. Now you’re doing really great. Now let say this property in 5 years is worth $300,000. You are up big time all using the same dollar 3-4 times. You leveraged the purchase, you borrowed at effective 1%, you rented it, you depreciated it, it appreciated, and you sold it for a profit. It all started because you “super-funded” your whole life policy and used it as the way to acquire property, all the while maintaining its ability to continue to grow for you.

You can do this more than once. Later on in life, when you actually NEED a death benefit, the policy is worth quite a lot and when you start making withdrawals, the money comes out Tax Free (unlike many retirement vehicles such as a 401K or a traditional IRA).

The up front sacrifice is no doubt hard ($20k per year for 5 years) - but why would you want to give your money to an institution that will not let you have it back for 30/40 years? They are using your money to do exactly what I explained you can do with it.

Suze Orman and company are against a Whole Life policy because most people do not have the up front kind of money it takes to make this worthwhile (a $1,000 annual premium is not gonna cut it if you want to be serious about this). Plus Suze is certainly against the up front big commissions the salesman makes. But who cares? Look what you can do with just 5 years of putting your nose to the grind.

There are different ways of looking at wealth planning and as I said up front, you nor your readers should rely on my two cents as replacing professional guidance in this area – it’s just something I’ve come across in my world that I’d thought I’d share with you.

Tony Forcucci
The Anthidote Report
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Tony makes some valid points but I’m still skeptical. I would like to read the fine print of the company’s policy that lends money at 8% and rebates back to you 7% for a net cost of 1% money. That seems too good to be true. Let’s assume this was true then I like his “use money to make money” approach by borrowing against the policy to purchase appreciating assets, specifically rental properties.

But borrowing could be tricky so I would caution people to read the fine print and do their research. Kathy M. Kristof at The Los Angeles Times warns readers: Borrowing From Life Insurance Can Have Dire Consequences. Click on the article to find some horror stories that will scare anyone.

At MoneyInstructor.com you’ll find the same cautionary tone but agree that it’s an option if you need the money. They write:

“If you do have enough equity in your life insurance policy, you may be able to use it as collateral for a loan, or cash it in outright. As a loan, you must pay it back as you would any other type of loan. Because the loan is secured against a solid asset however, you are likely to be able to get an attractive interest rate, and this may offer you a major advantage”

“The first thing to consider is the cost of money. If you are in need, what are the alternatives to leveraging your life insurance, and what will those alternatives cost? If your credit is sterling enough and you can obtain a low-interest signature loan without using your life insurance as an asset, then take the signature loan and leave the insurance policy unencumbered. However, if the only way you can raise money is by getting advances on credit cards that carry interest rates of 18 to 24 percent, it’s likely you'll be better off borrowing against your life insurance.”

“When you first purchase your life insurance policy, think ahead and decide whether you may need to borrow against it in the future. Policies will differ, but most will have a loan clause that will allow a loan to be taken against it for as much as 90 percent of the policy’s cash value.”

But the above is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Needing money is different from leveraging money and this is Tony’s point. I agree with him in principle, I’m just still skeptical in his specific approach. However, his idea makes me consider how my money is working for me and I’m in favor of people broadening the scope of this conversation.

Ten Money Questions for Joy Silver

Joy Silver is the President and CEO of RainbowVision Properties. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico; RainbowVision provides premier resort & retirement living for the LGBT population. The first RainbowVision community opened in Santa Fe in November 2005 and another will open soon in Palm Springs. I asked Joy a few question to get her candid thoughts about money, retirement and building intentional communities.

Mosey on over to Queercents to read more and catch other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.

Sleeping with Money: Who Pays for What

“Money and women. They’re two of the strongest things in the world. The things you do for a woman you wouldn’t do for anything else. Same with money.” – Satchel Paige

Sleeping with Money is our series at Queercents about money lessons learned from past lovers and partners. These include a few escapades:

Rachel was my first encounter as a lesbian. The year was 1994 and America Online was the only reputable place on the web that had a section for gays and lesbians: those were the days of the chat room and that satisfying sound of hearing “You’ve Got Mail”… remember that? Looking back, it seems a bit sleazy and doesn’t mesh with my wholesome reputation, but I was young and eager to meet a woman that would change my standing as a latent homosexual.

Geography was our biggest challenge. Rachel lived in Cincinnati and I was located north of Hartford, CT so it wasn’t as if we could meet at the corner Starbucks. Our first meeting would require more than happenstance. After 3 months of emailing and phones calls, we finally made the decision to connect in person and meet in New York City.

Of course this required some planning and with it a negotiation about money and who was going to pay for what. There were many unknowns… such as would she like me, would there be chemistry, and would we actually have sex. Because of this, I didn’t want to stress about what the weekend would cost me. At the time, I was young, on a strict budget and a get-a-way to the big “expensive” city could wreck havoc on my bank account.

So we talked about it…we had a money conversation… I undoubtedly introduced the topic. I’ve never had a problem with talking about money and setting expectations, so I’m sure I’m the one that said, “How do you want to split the costs of the weekend?” That sounds so dreadfully dull but trust me, after three months of suggestive phone calls, I guarantee the conversation that night ended with our version of “what are you wearing?” after we put the business issues to bed.

Rachel appeared to be wealthy and I later learned that she was… she had a good job and prosperous life in Cincinnati, Ohio. But this physical distance required that she hop a plane and pay for a ticket to meet me. I just needed to board Friday’s 4:24 PM Metro-North train from New Haven to Grand Central (round trip this had to cost less than $28 back then). So I offered to splurge for the hotel room that weekend. This way, it there wasn’t a love connection she always had the option to pack up and get her own room at her expense. Perhaps, I thought this might give me leverage in the setup… in my opinion, I was little bit out of my league and wasn’t completely confident with how the weekend would turn out. But even then, I understood that the power shifted to the person paying and I was going to do everything in my power to finally get laid.

So I pushed for reserving one room under the guise of saving money. Isn’t that thrifty? In return, Rachel would pay for dinner and I probably suggested that I would kick in for lunch and coffee and the secret hope that we might just stay in all weekend and order room service.

The weekend was a fabulous success and if I was posting anonymously, then I would try my hand here at writing some lesbian erotica. But some of my family members occasionally lurk on these pages and that would just be a tad bit weird albeit a really hot story to share with the rest of the world.

That’s for another time and place… sorry to leave you hanging… but know this, on Sunday when I took the train back to Connecticut, I had less money in my pocket but had one rich experience that made me officially queer! We saw each other a few more times… but then the expense of our long distance set in… money and relationships… it’s all connected.

When Do You NEED a Financial Planner?

“In real life, events seem much less dramatic.” – Jessica Savitch

Last week I wrote a post about how to pick a financial planner and a few people asked how you know when you NEED a financial planner. This is a good question.

Recently, I spoke with Jennifer Hatch, President of Christopher Street Financial, a New York-based firm that provides life and wealth management for high net-worth gays and lesbians. She said that most Christopher Street clients initially come to their firm because of a specific life event.

It makes perfect sense that people seek out financial advice at certain times throughout their lives. The Financial Planning Association offers this explanation, “How do you know if you could benefit from the services of a financial planner?”

“You may not have the expertise, the time or the desire to actively plan and manage certain financial aspects of your life. You may want help getting started. You may benefit from an objective, third-party perspective on what are often emotional, difficult decisions. And in today’s hectic world, it can be beneficial just to have a financial planning expert help to make sure you stay focused and follow through with your financial plans.”

They list specific life events that often require professional financial planning guidance:

Planning for retirement

• Buying a home
• Saving for your child’s education
• Handling the inheritance of a large sum of money or other unexpected financial windfall
• Preparing for a marriage or divorce
• Planning for the birth or adoption of a child
• Facing a financial crisis such as a serious illness, layoff or natural disaster
• Caring for aging parents or a disabled child
• Coping financially with the death of a spouse or close family member
• Funding education
• Buying, selling or passing on a family business
• Charitable giving

My life event: I was a twenty-two-year-old college graduate who had started a business and my older sister suggested that I meet with her financial advisor. She had cosigned a small business loan for me several months earlier and perhaps wanted to ensure that I was making smart money choices.

I later figured out that her financial planner was really just a guy pushing variable life and annuities and this was called financial planning. I eventually wised up. I’m on Suze Orman’s side with this one: always buy term insurance. Even so, he introduced me to the concept of putting away a set amount every month (pay yourself first) and this was the start of my financial education and financial plan.

In my twenties, I probably could have done my own financial planning and skipped the variable life insurance premiums. But with age comes wisdom. My parents didn’t exactly teach me financial literacy and it wasn’t learned in school either. It was trial by error and as a small business owner at 22, and then a second attempt at 27, well; I made a boatload of errors and failed miserably.

But all the while I learned what it meant to sock away money and not rack up consumer debt. Over time, the advice became more sophisticated and the life events more plentiful. But back to the question of the day: Can You Do YOUR OWN Financial Planning?

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards suggests it’s time to make the switch from personal finance software packages, magazines and self-help books and seek help from a professional financial planner when:

• You need expertise you don’t possess in certain areas of your finances. For example, a planner can help you evaluate the level of risk in your investment portfolio or adjust your retirement plan due to changing family circumstances.
• You want to get a professional opinion about the financial plan you developed for yourself.
• You don’t feel you have the time to spare to do your own financial planning.
• You feel that a professional adviser could help you improve on how you are currently managing your finances.
• You know that you need to improve your current financial situation but don’t know where to start.

So is there a “best age” to start financial planning? I was twenty-two without any wherewithal or knowledge to make what little I had work for me. Financial planning back then was really just financial education. Kim Snider, host of Financial Success Coaching on Dallas-Fort Worth radio, disagrees that most people need a financial planner.

She writes on her blog, “Do you really need a financial planner? For most people, I believe the answer is no! Very few people actually need a financial planner because most of you don’t have enough money to make anything about your financial plan so complicated that it requires a planner.”

“What most people need instead are education and discipline - and a financial advisor can’t and won’t give you either one. I have no problem with the financially educated person who goes to a planner as a partner in the process, who is educated enough to contribute to the process, express what he or she wants to achieve specifically, and already has a pretty good idea of how to get there but simply wants a different perspective in case he or she hasn’t thought of something.”

What most people need is education, discipline and time. Financial planning is worthwhile at any age but we all know that time goes by quickly, so start planning now… either on your own or with the help and guidance of a professional. Albert Einstein said it best: “Compounding is mankind’s greatest invention because it allows for the reliable, systematic accumulation of wealth.” Plan now!

Gay Ghetto or Integrated Neighborhood

“A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.” – Aristotle

In the March 27, 2007 issue, The Advocate named the Best Places for Gays and Lesbians to Live. Click over to read the article and get the skinny on these cities and some surprising small towns. The Top Ten Places are listed below in alphabetical order:

Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Ferndale, Michigan; Ithaca, New York; Lexington, Kentucky; Missoula, Montana; Portland, Oregon; San Diego, California; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Tucson, Arizona.

In the online version, you’ll find a Poll raising this question, “Do you prefer to live in an integrated neighborhood or a distinct gay ghetto?” Twice as many people seem to prefer the integrated neighborhood… which may explain why the places listed above appeal to queers.

I agree with the majority casting votes and personally prefer environs that aren’t defined by my sexual orientation. I like the convenience of suburbia with neighborhoods that have curbs, sidewalks and a tidy street right-of-way. That said… Jeanine and I are the only gay people on our block in Newport Beach. But that just makes us more interesting in my opinion. We get invited to all the barbecues and Super Bowl parties… probably more than we care to attend.

Perhaps times are changing along with the face of gay real estate. Lisa Leff of the New York Post writes, “For more than 30 years, most big cities have had a district either explicitly or implicitly understood to be the place to go if you were gay - the West Village and Chelsea in New York City, Washington’s Dupont Circle, Boston’s South End.”

“But as gays and lesbians win legal rights and greater social acceptance, community activists worry these so-called ‘gayborhoods’ are losing their relevance. Don Reuter, a New York writer who is researching a book on the rise and fall of a dozen gay neighborhoods in the U.S., has observed the same trend in cities as far-flung as New Orleans, Philadelphia and Seattle.” Is there really any reason to segregate these days?

In San Francisco, Wyatt Buchanan of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, “To walk down San Francisco’s Castro Street — where men casually embrace on sidewalks in the shadow of an enormous rainbow flag — the neighborhood’s status as “gay Mecca’ seems obvious.”

“But up and down the enclave that has been a symbol of gay culture for more than three decades, heterosexuals are moving in. They have come to enjoy some of the same amenities that have attracted the neighborhood’s many gay and lesbian residents: charming houses, convenient public transportation, safe streets and nice weather.”

The integration of gay and straight is increasingly evident not only in the Castro District but across North America, from Chicago to New York City to Toronto, where urban revitalization is bringing new residents at the same time some gays are settling in other parts of cities or the suburbs — such as the East Bay.”

Just down the road from me in Laguna Beach the same has happened on a smaller scale. Laguna’s gay identity has all but disappeared. One by one the gay bars have closed. Steve Lowery of the OC Weekly explains, “Steadily, gays have been leaving Laguna. High rents and real estate prices have chased out a lot of the younger crowd, which has fled to places like Palm Springs and Long Beach. Laguna got rid of its gay pride parade years ago. People who paid millions to purchase homes in quirky Laguna all of a sudden feel like they’d like a little less quirk.”

Okay, so the gay bars are gone and perhaps the twenty-something queers can’t afford the rent, but trust me, gay people still live in Laguna Beach. Maybe the point being is that gay people just aren’t considered quirky any more. Do we need our own bars and bookstores and community centers? Or is it okay to just be a neighbor without the gay neighborhood?

You tell me… Would you only buy a home in West Hollywood or is Silver Lake a better place? Is Midtown in Atlanta a must or could you survive outside the Perimeter? Is a Chicago condo in Lake View (Boystown) the place to live or are the suburbs calling you, your partner and kids to the village of Inverness? Where are you buying homes and choosing to live these days?

Ten Money Questions for Erin Hamilton

All my friends know that I’m like a gay man when it comes to dance music and my love of the remix! So when I was serendipitously introduced to Erin Hamilton I jumped at the chance to interview her. Erin was a fixture on many circuit party stages of the late 90’s and it’s likely that you have danced to her music. If you haven’t, then you’re not really queer in my opinion. Of course, others might recognize her as Carol Burnett’s daughter. This is a yummy interview… one of my favorites… I’m giddy… and yeah, she has plenty to say about money.

Mosey on over to Queercents to read more and catch other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.

The Financial Power of Social Networks

Here’s a guest post from our friends at Family Pride, the national non-profit organization helping to secure family equality for all loving families. Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director shares these words…

We all know the value of a dollar. But few people think about the power of a dollar. Or, say, the power of 500 million dollars. That’s the estimated combined budget of the four richest right-wing fundamentalist Christian groups - all of which oppose LGBTQ equality. It may appear to be a David and Goliath situation, but there’s good news: we’re smarter.

Here’s how. If someone gives you $10, then your funding increases by that amount. But, if someone gives you $10 and asks ten friends to do the same, your funding increases by $110. If those ten friends ask ten friends, then the amount increases to $1110. That’s the power of grassroots organizing, and that’s the power of harnessing social networks. And now, in addition to a substantial increase in funding, you have 111 new individuals participating in social change...

Click over to Queercents to read the rest of this important post.

How to Pick a Financial Planner

“Never completely trust any trusted advisor.” – Allan S. Roth

A few years back Jeanine started using my financial planner. Our advisor is a SmithBarney Certified Financial Planner that I met during a gay business seminar while living in Atlanta ten years ago. She’s not gay, but gay-friendly which is important to me and I’ve been very satisfied with her services over the years. Jeanine has been a bit more skeptical.

My school of thought has always been to manage the money manager. I think Jeanine wants a little more interaction when it comes to the “advice” part and is much more inquisitive about her monthly portfolio statements. When Jeanine has a question, I always suggest that she pick up the phone and call her. I like our advisor’s style. She’s been at it long enough that she has assistants and an admin and what appears to be staff, but… she always personally and quickly replies to my email inquiries with thorough answers. This is a huge benefit in my opinion and a “just the facts ma’am” style that I appreciate. Because of the nature of my career, I’m much more comfortable operating in a virtual and long distance world.

Jeanine wants a little more hand holding and perhaps might be happier working with the branch manager of the local Edward Jones office… a place where she could stop in and chat about her questions and long-term goals. What about our long-term goals? Well, as long as the end-game aligns, then do we really need to be using the same advisor? Our money is separate aside from our real estate holdings so why shouldn’t she go find an advisor more suited to her style and needs?

Where would she begin? Jane Bryant Quinn at Newsweek writes, “Financial planning is hot. The more people worry about their money, the more they look for experts to help them straighten things out. Supply is rising to meet demand. The planning process attracts not only young graduates and financial professionals, but a slew of career changers—business people, teachers with a knack for numbers and retirees. Certified financial planners number 50,377 today, up almost 40 percent in the past five years - and that’s just the serious side of the field. So how do you weed through the field and pick the right advisor?

Marketplace Money from American Public Media ran this interview with Chris Farrell about what qualities to look for in your financial advisor. Here are his 5 quick tips:

1. Consider the Certified Financial Planner designation. (This 10-hour certification exam tests their ability to apply financial planning knowledge to client situations and confirms that they have the required experience and educational credits.)
2. Find out how long they have been in business. (This is an indication of their commitment and their ability to sustain themselves.)
3. A financial planner should educate as well as advise.
4. Try to plan your future, not just finances. Keep in mind: “Financial planners are futuristic, accountants are historians, and attorneys are draftsmen.”
5. Avoid someone who only talks about money.

Allan S. Roth from Dare to be Dull (a great name for a financial planning site) suggests that, “Whether your advisor is in financial planning or any other field, always ask yourself what’s in it for him (or her). Healthy skepticism will help protect your interests.” Suze Orman also offers her Five Questions for Grilling a Potential Financial Planner.

The Financial Planning Association gives some worthy tips about how to find the right advisor as well as an explanation about how financial planners charge: Important point and worth clicking over to understand.

They also have this handy Planner Search tool. For the LGBT community, there is PridePlanners, an organization of financial, tax, insurance, and estate planning professionals who service our community as well as non-traditional couples and families.

And finally, before you meet with a financial planner for the first time, Errold F. Moody, the author of No Nonsense Finance created this extensive questionnaire. He writes, “This form is more extensive and intensive than what you would normally see from other planners. But if, as a client, you don’t know what is going on or where all your assets are (or you won’t take the time to figure it out), don’t expect much from your planner.”

As I said before: manage your money manager! And you’re more likely to be satisfied with the relationships and results.

Asking for a Raise: Who Earns What

“It’s not your salary that makes you rich, it is your spending habits.” – Charles A. Jaffe

I’ve written in the past about The Great Divide in Compensation and Equal Pay for Equal Work. The net of both posts: do you want to make big money? Then go work on Wall Street or at a minimum work like man!

For the rest… maybe now is the time to ask for a raise. CareerJournal.com gives a couple of ideas. In Getting a Raise from the Boss, Jaclyne Badal writes, “To help arm people as they seek raises, a broad array of job-search and other Web sites are adding salary calculators and other tools that help people figure out what is a competitive wage in their particular job. However, most of these tools are based on basic services provided by two sites: Salary.com and SalaryExpert.com.”

The above tip was published before PayScale was in full swing. In this month’s issue of Business 2.0, Paul Kaihla asks, Are You Paid Enough? He writes, “PayScale’s mission is to bring transparency to one of the deepest secrets in the labor market: who earns what. The site collects real-time pay data directly from workers and spits out an analysis showing what an occupation is worth - organized by a given city, industry, or company - with the speed of an online stock quote.”

“So far PayScale has collected the salaries of 5.5 million American workers. They entice people to cough up their confidential info with an incentive - free reports showing how they stack up against others doing similar work.”

“From PayScale’s homepage, you click through about 10 screens of multiple-choice questions about your total compensation, employer, work experience, and schooling. If you’re, say, a nurse with a degree from UCLA earning $28 an hour in an emergency room in Los Angeles, the site’s instant report will show you’re underpaid by about 15 percent.”

What better way to ask the boss for a raise… show a report about what others are making and ask that the company pony up the disparity with your salary. Damon Darlin at The New York Times calls it the Kelly Blue Book for compensation. In Using the Web to Get the Boss to Pay More, he writes that, “The salary sites give you a good idea of where to start the negotiations confidently… like that reference manual for used-car prices.”

Aside from PayScale and Salary.com, Darlin mentions a third site, Payscroll.com. Payscroll is beta testing at the moment and will be user-ready in the next 30-60 days. So check back on that one before your mid-year review!
Also, as he concludes, “Persuading the boss you need more money demands more than a report from an online service.” You might want to keep this in mind before you step into the boss’ office and plead your case… make sure your work justifies the raise and then use your Internet research to support the request! You still have to deliver, but PayScale can certainly help shore up your case.

Ten Money Questions for Jill Kimmel-Hankoff

Can you fall in love with a rich person just as easily as a poor one? It was this question that led me to Jill Kimmel-Hankoff several months ago when I posted about her Gay Millionaires Club. Jill is the Founder & COO and she has some thought provoking things to say about money, relationships and what bucks have to do with finding love.

Mosey on over to Queercents to read more and catch other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.

Coffee

“Put that coffee down. Coffee is for closers.” – Glengarry Glen Ross

I’m heading to Europe this week on business and hoping to drink a lot of coffee. If you want to catch my posts, then please visit Queercents where I’ve loaded up a few money thoughts while I’m traveling.

Ten Money Questions for Joe Lupo

As the co-founder of Visual Therapy, Joe Lupo dishes out advice on fashion and style. He’s been on Oprah, quoted in all the major fashion and lifestyle publications, and Out Traveler dubbed him the gay shopping guru! Since clothes and accessories cost money, I asked Joe to get personal about shopping, consumerism, his famous “cost per wear” formula and how we can all maximize our wardrobe dollars.

Mosey on over to Queercents to read more and catch other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.

Anyone have Unused Gift Cards from the Holidays?

“To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.” – Max Beerbohm

I love gift cards. I like getting them and the ease of giving them. My family depends on gift cards during the holidays and I’m often on the receiving end of the bookstore variety. I still have unused dollars on cards from Barnes & Noble and Borders and for weeks now, Jeanine and I have been trying to get to both stores to use them.

I know I can use the cards online, but going to the bookstore is about the only type of shopping that I like to do. The browsing feels like an event and new books always make me feel accomplished: thinking they will make me smarter or at a minimum more aware.

So at the moment, we’re in the market for “A Photographer’s Life”, the recent collection of work from Annie Leibovitz. We like coffee table books and since they’re typically expensive, it helps to offset the purchase with a gift card. See, that makes me a happy gift card user. And I will use up all my bookstore gift cards in the next couple of months.

But millions of Americans let their gift cards go unused. In The Gift-Card Economy, Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt of Freakonomics fame write, “The financial-services research firm TowerGroup estimates that of the $80 billion spent on gift cards in 2006, roughly $8 billion will never be redeemed — ‘a bigger impact on consumers,’ Tower notes, ‘than the combined total of both debit- and credit-card fraud.’ A survey by Marketing Workshop Inc. found that only 30 percent of recipients use a gift card within a month of receiving it, while Consumer Reports estimates that 19 percent of the people who received a gift card in 2005 never used it.”

“Perhaps you are among the exceptional minority, and you have already spent it, or soon will. But the odds say that it has instead wound up in your sock drawer.” Nice, I like being categorized as the “exceptional minority” but what about you? Where are your gift cards? Are any unused?

ConsumerReports.org reviews all the hidden gotchas that you should keep in mind. They write, “Gift cards eliminate the headache of choosing a perfect present, but the recipients might find some cards a pain in the neck. Many come with enough fees and restrictions that you might be better off giving a check. Most annoying are expiration dates and maintenance or dormancy fees, which can drain a card’s value.”

“Gift cards come in two flavors: Retail cards, from stores and restaurants, are valid only at the retailer named on the card. Bank cards are good at any merchant (and sometimes ATMs) that accepts the credit-card logo shown on them. But bank cards are especially apt to have fees.”

Here is their suggestion for what you can do: “Whether giving or receiving, read the terms on the card or packaging and on the issuer’s Web site. Avoid cards that make you call for info. Try to get a card without an expiration date, shipping charges (if you’re buying online), pre- or post-purchase fees, and maintenance fees.”

Finally, if you’re not using your gift card, then you’re letting the man win by letting the retailer come out on top! Donna L Montaldo at About.com writes, “Gift card sales for retailers and credit card companies are big business. Basically they receive payment in advance for products or services they may or may not ever have to deliver. For every dollar on a gift card that is not redeemed, the gift-card seller earns a profit. Last year, Best Buy Co., reported $43 million dollars in unused gift-card revenue over the previous two years.”

“Gift cards are a wonderful solution to gift-giving for reasons already stated. Once the card is given, how and when it is spent is out of the hands of the giver. If the recipient never spends it, there is really nothing that can be done.”

Finally, if you’re never going to use your gift card, then here is one other idea: donate it to charity and get a tax deduction. Is that an incentive or what? Donate A Gift Card explains, “Do you have unwanted gift cards collecting dust or waiting unused in your wallet? Whether you’ve received a gift card you don’t want or just don’t have time to shop why not use that gift card as an opportunity to help out one or more charities you feel strongly about?”

“At Donate A Gift Card we are dedicated to turning your gift cards into a helping hand for the charity of your choice, a donation usually eligible for a tax deduction. You can save the world AND get paid by Uncle Sam, just by donating your gift card.”

Now giver and receiver wins!