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Newhall Ranch: Tip of the Iceberg of Major SCV Developments

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 17:36:17 GMT

From Issue #4

A Wider View of the Santa Clarita Valley Housing Crunch

Where will all the new SCV residents find mortgage-paying jobs as the population keeps growing faster than local housing and availability of those high-quality jobs?

Second in a Series by Stephen K. Peeples

In Part 1 of our series last issue, Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness focused on Newhall Ranch, and how Los Angeles County planning officials see it as part of a solution to the region’s worsening housing crunch.

But pulling back to a wider view, the massive 21,500-unit mixed-use development along Highway 126 just west of Interstate 5 and Six Flags Magic Mountain is just one of more than half a dozen major housing and commercial projects in progress or planned in and around the Santa Clarita Valley.

And viewing many of these project sites from a few thousand feet above the valley floor provides a dramatic big-picture perspective, as we saw on a recent flight over the SCV with Aviator-CPA Jorge Perazzo to shoot photos for this story.

The concerns many SCV residents share about Newhall Ranch – increased SCV population density, not enough mortgage-paying jobs in the SCV for the new residents, the killer commute south on the I-5 and Highway 14 through the Newhall Pass to and from those mortgage-paying jobs – seem compounded when one factors in the potential cumulative impact of these additional developments.

When it comes to SCV development, Newhall Ranch is just the tip of the iceberg.

Housing by the Numbers

Based on LA County and city of Santa Clarita planning documents (including the “ One Valley One Vision ” strategy adopted in June 2011 by county and city planners) and figures from the SCV Economic Development Corporation-College of the Canyons 2018 Economic Outlook , all the approved and pending SCV developments would add 36,593 new housing units to the valley over the next several years (8,694 in the city and 27,899 in unincorporated county territory).

But even all those new homes may still not be enough to ease the regional housing crunch.

As we noted in Part 1, LA County needs to build 180,000 new housing units between now and 2021 just to keep up with the county’s rapid population growth, according to Southern California Association of Governments statistics.

As to density, figuring three-person households, the developments we surveyed could add roughly 110,000 residents to the SCV’s population (293,042 as of 2016).

And figuring two vehicles per household, that could add 70,000-plus vehicles to traffic on local streets and highways. Of course, county and city planners require major developments to also make infrastructure improvements including roads, but it’s too early to tell if those improvements will be adequate.

High-Quality Jobs, Traffic Corridors

It all begs the question: Where will all those new Santa Clarita Valley residents find mortgage-paying jobs as the population keeps growing faster than local housing and the availability of those high-quality jobs?

Which leads to the next question: How will those commuters get to their mortgage-paying jobs?

According to SCAG, the median home price in our region is $600,000, and a person has to earn $106,000 to pay the mortgage (or persons, in a multi-income household).

One must assume most of the people buying these homes already have mortgage-paying jobs. But not necessarily in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Despite the best public and private SCV business development efforts, at least some, if not many, new residents may find it difficult to find mortgage-paying jobs close to home in an increasingly competitive local jobs market.

Instead, those untold thousands of additional job-seekers are likely to join the SCV residents already jamming the I-5 and Highway 14 through the Newhall Pass on their commutes to mortgage-paying jobs in employment hubs such as Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Downtown LA, Century City, Playa del Rey, or Santa Monica.

We’ll take a deeper dive into those employment and traffic questions in forthcoming installments of our series.

On the next pages, with the two freeway corridors in mind, we start an overview of several major SCV developments by flying with Aviator CPA Jorge Perazzo over the I-5 from north to south. Then we fly northwest across Santa Clarita and finally south again above Highway 14 toward the Newhall Pass.

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

1). Centennial at Tejon Ranch – Just off the I-5 near the Kern County border, Centennial at Tejon Ranch would build 19,500 homes there if approved by LA County planners. On July 11, the day 3W published the print edition of this issue, the Planning Commission ordered developers Tejon Ranch Co. back to the drawing board to plan more affordable housing, hiring and transportation options. Like future Newhall Ranch residents, Centennial residents are not likely to drive north to Bakersfield for employment. They, too, are more likely to join the local commuters already driving south on the I-5 to the SCV, or farther south “over the hill” if they can’t find work in the valley.

2). NorthLake – If approved by LA County Regional planners, the NorthLake development in unincorporated county territory between the I-5 and Castaic Lake would build up to 3,150 housing units in two phases on 345 acres of a 1,330-acre site.

3). Tapia Canyon Ranch & Los Valles – The first development proposes 405 homes built on Tapia Canyon Road in unincorporated county territory in Castaic. The second, a 430-acre parcel northeast of Hasley Canyon Road and Del Valle Road, has been county-approved for an upscale neighborhood of 497 single-family homes.

4). Entrada North & South – The 479.3- acre Entrada North in the southwest corner of the I-5/Highway 126 junction in unincorporated county territory is a town center-style development slated to include 1,150 multi-family residential units. Now being graded, the 501-acre Entrada South project just west of Six Flags Magic Mountain and north of Westridge will add 1,574 residential units (339 single-family and 1,235 multi-family) plus 730,000 square feet of commercial development. Part of the Newhall Ranch development, the Entrada developments were first proposed by original Valencia and Newhall Ranch developer Newhall Land & Farming (now owned by FivePoint Holdings).

5). Porta Bella (Whittaker-Bermite) – The 996-acre former Whittaker-Bermite munitions property in Saugus, the “donut hole” of open space within the city of Santa Clarita, may soon be developed after more than a decade of environmental rehab. In 1995, the Santa Clarita City Council approved a plan to develop the property into a 2,911-unit residential community to be called Porta Bella. But when toxic chemicals were found in the soil and groundwater, the Porta Bella Specific Plan was put on hold until cleanup completion, which is now slated for the end of 2018 .

6). Skyline Ranch – Just outside the city of Santa Clarita’s northern border, the massive Skyline Ranch development is situated on 2,173.25 hilltop acres north and east of Nadal Street, west of Sierra Highway and south of Vasquez Canyon Road. Pardee Homes (a division of Weyerhaeuser, owned by TRI Pointe Homes) will build single-family homes on 1,032 lots and 188 single-family condominium units on three large lots.

7). Vista Canyon Ranch – JSB Development is building what it calls “the first transit-oriented sustainable community to be created in Santa Clarita” on 185 acres just east of Highway 14 and south of Sand Canyon, off Soledad Canyon and Lost Canyon Roads. Inside the Santa Clarita city limits, the Vista Canyon Ranch project includes 1,100 residences, nearly a million square feet of office-retail space, 200 hotel rooms, a Metrolink station and a bus terminal. What JSB bills as “the first truly car-optional community ever conceived in the SCV” is a worthy goal, considering the additional traffic of a couple thousand new Vista Canyon Ranch residents on Highway 14.It remains to be seen if those residents will actually take advantage of their “tremendous opportunities for non-personal vehicle commuting,” give up their cars and take the train to their jobs in Burbank or Downtown LA or even the West Side.

8). Fair Oaks Ranch & Aliento (Golden Valley Ranch) – Farther south on Highway 14, between Via Princessa and Golden Valley Road, Pardee’s Fair Oaks Ranch and Aliento (Golden Valley Ranch) developments continue creeping east into the foothills of the Angeles National Forest. Also inside Santa Clarita city limits, Fair Oaks Ranch is approximately 1,082 acres with several hundred homes, while the newer Aliento project – five gated master-planned sub-communities (including one for seniors 55+) – is approximately 900 acres with 499 homes.

Stephen K. Peeples is an award-winning journalist based in the Santa Clarita Valley. Contact him at stephen@ct3media.com .

Dr. Sepi Fatahi: Valencia Dentist Lives a Childhood Dream

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 16:56:33 GMT

From Issue #4

By Stephen K. Peeples

As a precocious Santa Clarita Valley third-grader in the late 1980s, Sepi Fatahi became fascinated with dentistry after a female dentist visited her school on a Career Day.

The eight-year-old decided that day she wanted to be a dentist and own a dental office when she grew up, so she could help people in her new hometown of Valencia keep their teeth clean and healthy.

Fast-forwarding to August 2017, Dr. Sepi Fatahi, D.M.D finally achieved her dream – to become a general dentist and own and operate a multi-specialty practice in her hometown.

Baywood Dental Team above, from left: Candice Linkmeyer, Assistant; Tony Garcia,
Insurance Specialist; Bahar Salemy Kochesfehani, Dental Assistant; Mayra Castillo, Treatment Coordinator;
Patricia Orozco, Front Office Supervisor; Dr. Sepi Fatahi; Nicole Salcido, Dental Assistant;
Dr. Izzy Korobkin; Angela Mayelian, Office Manager; Hasmik Harutyunyan, Hygienist; Sherri Sherman,
Dental Assistant; Rosa Mercado, Treatment Coordinator; and Summer Lopez, Dental Assistant.

By then a graduate of Valencia High School, UCLA, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dentistry, and a practicing dentist for six years, Dr. Fatahi acquired Baywood Dental Group. Situated at the corner of Baywood Lane and McBean Parkway in Valencia, Baywood was established in 2004.

She quickly assembled her own dental dream team of top generalists, specialists and support staff, many of whom she had worked with at another local practice. She also upgraded the office’s equipment and technology to state-of-the-art.

“I understood how to manage an office with multiple doctors,” Dr. Fatahi said. “I just changed the doctors and staff to bring in the best people I have worked with over the years. I wanted only the best for our patients, and I feel that’s exactly what we have now at Baywood Dental Group.”

Augmenting her own expertise in oral surgery as well as general and cosmetic dentistry, Dr. Fatahi works closely with associate Izzy Korobkin, D.M.D, a graduate of BYU.

“A guest female dentist came to speak at school. During recess, while the other kids played, I stood there thinking about it. From that point, I knew I was meant to be and wanted to be a dentist.”

As detailed on the Baywood Dental Group’s website , the practice provides patients of all ages with virtually everything dental, from basic care like exams, x-rays using a digital panorex machine, 3D x-rays (precise cone beam CT scans limited to a 6” x 8” field and the mandible, not the chest or whole body), teeth cleaning, gum treatment and teeth whitening to specialized care including oral surgery, root canals, implants and reconstruction.

“We believe in being a one-stop practice where our patients can have all their dental needs met by a team of caring profession- als,” Dr. Fatahi said. “Our goal is to provide superb dentistry in a comfortable atmosphere. We truly care about our patients and treat them like family. We know they are happy because many have given us the greatest compliment – referring their family and friends.”

Chasing a Sky Blue Dream

Sepi Fatahi’s experienced more than a few unexpected turns on her journey to Baywood Dental Group.

Born in Iran, Sepi was 6 years old when her family endured a lengthy process to emigrate to the United States. They finally settled in the SCV just in time for her to start third grade at Skyblue Mesa Elementary.

That life-changing event was soon followed by another.

“A guest female dentist came to speak to us at school,” Sepi said. “During recess, while the other kids played, I stood there thinking about it. From that point, I knew I was meant to be and wanted to be a dentist.”

Fortunately, Sepi had her family’s encouragement. Her father, Ray, is an electrical engineer and a longtime employee at Pitchess Cogan, a power plant in Saugus. Her mother, Mansoureh (Mary) Varshovi, has held various jobs over the years to help support her family, which also includes Sepi’s brother, Ali Fatahi, older by just 11 months.

Sepi kept nurturing her dental dream as she moved on to Sierra Vista Junior High, then Valencia High School. She played on the Vikings basketball team for a year, but otherwise devoted most of her time to preparing for college and graduated at the top of her high school class in 2001.

“I was very studious, a bookworm, with straight A’s all the way through,” she said. “Valencia provided me with all the resources to prepare me for my career, including great teachers and counselors who were supportive and knowledgeable. I am more appreciative and grateful today than ever for the education I received here.”

In high school, though, Sepi’s career track veered away from dentistry and more toward medicine.

“At the time, my parents had a strong influence on my career decisions, not to mention my uncle, a retired surgeon doing radiology in Texas,” she said. “They wanted me to follow their dream of me becoming a medical doctor.”

So Sepi volunteered at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, did research in an AIDS lab at UCLA, studied all the med school prerequisites, took the Medical College Admission Test, and even filled out her med school application.

“That’s when I realized I was pursuing someone else’s dream,” she said. “I didn’t send the application.”

Instead, Sepi enrolled at UCLA as a biology major. For her sophomore year, she switched to molecular cell development biology (MCDB) because it had more of the development-related courses she desired.

But by her junior year, she again realized she wasn’t chasing her own dream.

“Three years into college and with nothing planned toward dental, I basically had to start over,” Sepi said. “So, when I graduated from UCLA a year later with a B.S. in MCDB, I went back home with no plan to go into the field.”

Meanwhile, throughout college, even while continuing to pull down A’s, Sepi also pursued her passion for another kind of teeth – as the gear-head owner of a race car.

“My daily driver was a turbo-charged 2001 Acura Integra GS-R,” said Sepi, who shared her brother’s love of muscle cars and drag racing.

“It was an 11-second car on the quarter-mile after tuning it up on the Dyno and putting on a pair of slicks,” she said, fast and furiously. “There was a shop on Main Street in Newhall called Trackmasters that sponsored my car. Modified Magazine featured it in April 2004. But that car took a lot of time and money to maintain.”

Back on the Dentistry Track

Sepi credits her parents with helping her finally get back on the dentistry track after she graduated from UCLA.

“They got involved again, and this time I’m glad they did,” she said. “I got a job at a dental office in Valencia, which gave me the opportunity to not only learn more about the career, but also to prove to myself that this field was my true calling.”

Sepi’s next major move was to get into a top dental school.

“Fortunately, the major I chose at UCLA worked for both medical and dental school, and I was thrilled when UNLV (the University of Nevada, Las Vegas) gave me the opportunity to finally fulfill my dream to become a dentist,” she said.

By then, Sepi had also put the brakes on her racing hobby.

“I realized it was too time-consuming and too expensive, and if I was really going to get focused on my career, I couldn’t have a hobby like that on the side,” she said. “So, I sold my GS-R for $15,000 cash just before leaving for Las Vegas.”

While studying general dentistry at UNLV, Sepi discovered the university’s oral surgery department and grew to enjoy the surgical side of the field.

“After graduating UNLV in 2011,” said Sepi – now Dr. Sepi Fatahi, D.M.D – “I decided to do a one-year internship in the oral surgery department at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, then apply to become an oral surgeon at the end of that year. I thought by becoming a dental surgeon, I could make my parents and uncle and myself happy at the same time.”

Not quite. After a year interning at CWRU, Dr. Fatahi stopped listening to her head and tuned back into her heart.

“I canceled the dental surgeon application at the last second and vowed once and for all to be a general dentist with my own practice,” she said. “Of course, I had to start over again with general dentistry because I had only focused on oral surgery the previous three years. But by then I was used to starting over.”

You CAN Go Home Again

Back in Valencia, Dr. Fatahi landed a position as a general dentist in the same office where she’d worked before heading to UNLV.

“The owner encouraged me to spend time with patients perfecting my hand skills and gaining knowledge for general dentistry beyond just the surgical aspect,” she said. “I was dedicated and a quick learner, so it wasn’t long before I became the office’s managing dentist, even being the youngest of the many dentists who worked there.”

Dr. Fatahi shadowed many of her colleagues during those years, soaking up invaluable general dentistry knowledge and expertise and adding to her years of surgical training and experience.

“I wanted to know everything about everything, so I would be well prepared to open my own practice,” she said.

She also secured a license for conscious intravenous sedation (limited IV sedation during which the patient remains conscious and can talk to the dentist) and served as a volunteer dental surgeon. That included extracting wisdom teeth for local uninsured or under-insured teens and young adults (something she does to this day).

Dr. Fatahi looked at dental practices in the SCV for several years with an eye to buying one. By 2017, when she discovered Baywood Dental Group was on the market, she knew she’d found what she’d been looking for and moved fast.

“It took a lot of hard work and inner strength, but I succeeded this time because I stayed on my path, chosen without influence,” she said. “At the same time, I don’t regret any part of the journey for a second.”

The Tree That Keeps on Giving

It’s doubly sweet for Dr. Sepi Fatahi that she’s finally living her dream, and in Valencia.

“This is the town that gave me every opportunity to be the person I am today,” she said. “It was the first place I truly called home, where I grew up emotionally and physically, where my family lives.”

Dr. Fatahi remembers when she left Iran as a 6-year-old, she had nothing but a favorite book, “The Giving Tree.”

“I kept it until I finished college and realized I couldn’t read Farsi, and ended up tossing the book – a mistake,” she said. “However, I recently bought a new copy in English and read it to understand what was so special about the book.”

The message was clear to her: “Valencia represents my giving tree,” she said. “But I don’t want the tree to be the only one to give, as in the story. I want to give back in every way I can, hoping this place gives to others what it has given me – hope, support, kindness and knowledge. So, I am changing the ending of that story by giving back to the community that gave me everything I have today.”

Dr. Sepi Fatahi, D.M.D
General & Cosmetic Dentist
24121 Baywood Lane
Valencia, CA 91355
661-291-1200
sepi@baywooddentalgroup.com
baywooddentalgroup.com

Aging with Power: Myles McNamara, Comfort Keepers In-Home Care Help Seniors Stay Home

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 16:48:48 GMT

From Issue #4

“If you needed somebody to take care of your mom so she could stay in her own home, would you want to just Google somebody and get some stranger?” Myles McNamara, Comfort Keepers In-Home Care owner-president, asked rhetorically. “Of course not. You’d rather say, ‘Wait, I know Myles. He owns Comfort Keepers. He’s hands-on, they’ve been engaged in our community for almost 20 years. Let’s call him.’"

By Stephen K. Peeples

There’s been a “silver tsunami” rising in healthcare as Baby Boomers born between 1946-1964 hit retirement, and McNamara and Comfort Keepers In-Home Care have stayed ahead of the wave for almost two decades by helping Santa Clarita Valley seniors stay in their own homes.

McNamara established Comfort Keepers In-Home Care as a licensed home care organization, or HCO, in 2001, and it’s now the SCV’s top private provider of in-home care, serving hundreds of seniors.

“We help people with all their daily living activities, nothing that takes a medical license to do,” McNamara said. “We work in conjunction with home health, hospice, and other medical companies.”

Comfort Keepers’ care managers all have nursing backgrounds who conduct the primary assessment of prospective clients and create an initial care plan, which is flexible and can be modified as conditions change.

“Our care managers oversee every single case, including the caregivers, and maintain communication with the family,” McNamara said. “It’s a seamless process. The communication…you can’t have too much. The caregivers love it as much as the clients. It’s like having 20 sets of grandparents. They really bond with each of our clients. It’s pretty special.”

McNamara’s success with Comfort Keepers in the SCV combines a proven business model, long-range business planning and top-quality caregivers, underpinned by savvy marketing that directly involves the operation with local senior-related organizations.

Community Involvement, International Reach

As owner-operator of the SCV Comfort Keepers franchise and a second in Encino purchased in 2014 that now serves hundreds of seniors as well, McNamara is directly connected with Comfort Keepers Franchise Inc.’s nationwide network, which in turn is an extension of Sodexo, the progressive multi-national healthcare consortium based in Marseilles, France.

“Our local operations benefit greatly from the franchise network’s and parent company’s ongoing support,” McNamara said.
“And Comfort Keepers has just initiated an incredible partnership for senior services with Kaiser Permanente and AARP, who like Comfort Keepers’ footprint with all the franchises and coverage we offer nationwide,” he said. “So, there are lots of pros to our connection to the franchise network.”

Senior Advocacy, Engagement Builds Trust

By publicly and privately advocating for SCV seniors in myriad ways for 17-plus years, McNamara has demonstrated to them – as well as their younger family members and loved ones – how Comfort Keepers’ benefits extend beyond in-home care, to the local senior community at large.

“My team and I are very involved in our community, meeting the people who make referrals for home care,” he said.

McNamara’s a past president of the SCV Senior Center’s nonprofit foundation and has served on the Newhall-based center’s Committee on Aging operations board.

He and Comfort Keepers have donated substantial sums to the center, including an ongoing capital campaign to build a new Senior Center. One of the rooms will be named after Comfort Keepers in recognition of the company’s contributions.

McNamara currently serves on the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Foundation and Valley Industry Association boards of directors. The father of two daughters, he is a supporter of Soroptimist, as the nonprofit’s mission is to educate and empower women.

McNamara hosts the “ Aging with Power ” program monthly on Santa Clarita radio station KHTS hometown station fm 98.1-am 1220. He’s trademarked the name and has plans to develop a companion website to provide resources for seniors and their families.

Not surprisingly, when SCV seniors and their families are considering alternatives to assisted-care facilities or nursing homes, they contact McNamara and Comfort Keepers for advice and assistance.

“We’re not selling widgets, we’re selling trust, and that’s priceless,” he said.

Vetting the Comfort Keepers

To keep and build upon that trust, McNamara adheres to a rigorous employee vetting process to ensure Comfort Keepers’ caregivers are the best and most reliable available. This includes background checks for skills and experience, plus a TB test and security checks including LiveScan fingerprinting and U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security clearances.

“We go even deeper than the law or Comfort Keepers policies call for, by drilling down to check on the state and local levels, too,” McNamara said.

“Then every prospective caregiver goes through training with the staff at the Comfort Keepers caregivers’ skills lab in our office on Lyons Avenue,” he said. “They train people to help with ambulation devices, bed changing, taking a bath, cooking meals, house cleaning and whatever the need may be.”

Local caregivers consider Comfort Keepers the employer of choice, McNamara said. “People know we pay well and treat them well, and that’s important because the battle now and in the next decade is for the best caregivers.”

Interactive Caregiving, Management

McNamara incorporates Comfort Keepers Franchise Inc.’s trademarked “Interactive Caregiving” into his service philosophy, which invites clients to participate in their own care.

“The biggest things we see afflicting our seniors are isolation and depression,” he said. “They may have lost a spouse of 40 or 50 years. So, Interactive Caregiving involves clients in their own care, keeping our seniors active spiritually, mentally and physically, so they’re not just sitting on the couch inactive while the caregiver works around them. The caregiver and client find things they can do together, and the results have been tremendous.”

Interactive Caregiving keeps seniors more active and engaged, McNamara said.

“We’ve seen the difference when we come onto a case, and the client is depressed. We’re never going to replace their spouse, but if we can get them out of that dark place and re-engaged in life and society – just to watch them blossom is tremendous.”

A Universal Approach to Interactive Caregiving

“Interactive Caregiving” could also describe McNamara’s enthusiastic and colorful management style, which is informed by his pre-Comfort Keepers experience as an entrepreneur helping others create and run new businesses, and as an entertainer and actor with roles in popular TV shows, movies and commercials.

McNamara also enjoyed a nearly two-decade stint at Universal Studios, starting as a tour guide, then directing all the live action shows at the theme park, and climaxing with a seven-year stint in the “Miami Vice Action Spectacular.”

Why and how McNamara traded a career on the silver screen to surf the silver tsunami almost sounds like a live-action script. On a recent visit to the Comfort Keepers SCV office, we got a reading.

3W: Where did you grow up and go to school, and how did you break into showbiz?

McNamara: I grew up in Middletown, in Northern California. There were 26 people in my high school graduating class. Then I attended junior college in Yuba City, played basketball and baseball, and got involved in theater. After earning a Liberal Arts degree, I moved down to L.A. to pursue a career in acting.

Immediately I got a job as a tour guide at Universal Studios, which is where I met my wife, Jane. She was a tour guide that summer before heading off to college. She’s now an elder law attorney in the SCV, one of the best-known in Southern California.

Luckily, I got Taft-Hartley’d into the Screen Actors Guild and started working almost immediately. My first SAG job was a national Pepsi commercial. I was getting TV roles and a lot of commercials while also working as a tour guide.

Then the infamous 1980 actors’ strike hit, so I went back to college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and got my business degree. Also played a little baseball and got involved with a little agency and did some local acting there.

When I came back to L.A., Universal Studios wanted me back, this time as a director of the entertainment center – all the live shows, strolling characters, and special events like “He-Man, Master of the Universe,” “Transformers,” “Barbie & The Rockers” and many others.

They were grooming me as the Director of Entertainment for Universal Studios Tours. But I was also still doing a lot of auditions and acting parts and eventually got so busy I was about to leave Universal.

Just then a new live show called the “Miami Vice Action Spectacular” was coming in, so I stepped down as entertainment director and took the steps to have myself cast in the show. I played the part of the emcee and “Director,” as the show was presented as if the audience were watching an episode of “Miami Vice” being filmed. I had an understudy so if I was off shooting a TV show or commercial, he’d fill in.

It was a great gig. The show ran for seven years. We were No. 1 in the park. Then Universal, for unbeknownst reasons, closed us down for a new show based on the movie “Waterworld” starring Kevin Costner.

Of course, the studio didn’t expect the movie would not be as successful as they had hoped. But the “Waterworld” show has done very well for more than 20 years now. It used basically the same set and the show followed pretty much the same action-type format, so I think those Miami “Detectives in Pastel” should get some credit.

THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS: 1980-2001

3W: How did you make the leap from Universal Studios action show star to Comfort Keepers franchisee?

McNamara: I was also on the long-running NBC soap “Days of Our Lives” for a while, but by 2001 my storyline was coming to an end.

About the same time, I went to a family reunion and met an uncle who worked in the financial offices of a homecare company in the Midwest.

Home care, as we know it now, didn’t really exist back then, but when he explained the concept, it really intrigued me.

As we talked I remembered when I was growing up, my mom took care of my grandmother, who lived with us and had what we now know as Alzheimer’s. I’d seen what my mom went through and started connecting the dots.

Meanwhile, as I was ending “Days of Our Lives,” NBC wanted me to try out for a new soap called “Passions.” I decided to continue my acting career if I got the show, and if not, to just walk away from the entertainment industry and open a home care business.

Obviously, I didn’t get the “Passions” part. So, after learning about homecare from my uncle, then doing my own due diligence of what would be a good, recession-proof business venture that would also help people, and knowing the age tsunami of senior Baby Boomers was starting to build, I opened Comfort Keepers In-Home Care in 2001. I went through the training and never really looked back.

When I do, though, I’m so glad I started my own operation from scratch rather than buy an existing franchise with all the baggage. Homecare companies have come and gone, but after more than 17 years, Comfort Keepers and I are deeply committed to and deeply rooted in our community, and we’ve experienced tremendous growth.

VOTED BEST SENIOR CARE 8 YEARS IN A ROW

Myles McNamara President/Owner
23900 Lyons Avenue
Santa Clarita, CA 91351
661-287-4200
myles@comfortkeepers.com
comfortkeepers.com

All in the Family: Nola Aronson, Advanced Audiology Help the Peeples Hear Better

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:46:04 GMT

From Issue #4

Two Peeples’ Experiences with Advanced Audiology’s Free Hearing Checkup and 45-Day Hearing Device Test-Drive

Nola Aronson, the award-winning Santa Clarita Valley audiologist, entrepreneur, teacher, philanthropist and author, recently invited this writer to her Advanced Audiology office in Valencia for a free, no-obligation hearing checkup.

It was part of my research for a showcase interview about her and her business, the largest hearing diagnostics center in the SCV, published in the previous issue of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness . In this issue, I get to write about my experience – and my wife’s – from a first-person perspectiv e.
– Stephen K. Peeples

As Nola Aronson escorted me from Advanced Audiology ’s plush waiting room to the hearing test room, she off-handedly mentioned she was writing a book about hearing.

At least that’s what I thought I heard her say, but I wasn’t positive.

Aronson paused a beat, waiting for my response.

“What?” I asked, basically asking her to repeat herself.

“Exactly!” she said. “My book’s title is just that – ‘What?’”

We had a great laugh, and I’m certain it wasn’t the first time Nola had rolled out that gag for her rookie patients.

But our “Who’s on First?”-esque exchange quickly illustrated a couple significant points.

First, as we approach a certain age – as have many Baby Boomers including both Aronson and yours truly – we seem to use the word “what” more frequently in our daily conversations than when we were younger.

“It’s our generation that’s going to need to hear better because we’ve had a lot of noise exposure in our days,” she said.

Second, Aronson has a playful sense of humor and knows how to use it to put first-time audiology patients completely at ease.

After nearly four decades in audiology, and now with Advanced Audiology offices also in Mission Hills and Northridge, Nola has certainly fine-tuned the client experience so it’s as much fun for her patients as it is for her and her dedicated staff.

Inside the Inner Sanctum

Her light-hearted approach continued as she escorted me into the exam room, which, like the plush waiting room and hallways and other exam rooms, looks more like a warm, well-appointed family room, with lots of beautiful antique furniture and creative design touches.

Even the sound isolation booth in the exam room has a cushy armchair inside, where the patient gets comfy.

As she seated me for my free checkup, Aronson used a doctor’s flashlight to check my left ear, presumably for wax buildup, which can affect hearing for some.

“Looks pretty clean,” she said, deadpanning. “Didn’t see any light come out the other side, either, so I think we’re okay.”

We laughed again. Another vintage audiologist joke, no doubt.

“Yes, and there are actually some people who get concerned for a moment before they get it,” Aronson said.

She left me alone in the isolation booth, closed the door, sat just outside at her double-monitor computer workstation, and directed the checkup.

Highly customized software played a series of high and low tones through surrounding speakers in the booth, and when I heard one, I clicked a button on a cable connected to Aronson’s computer.

The software recorded all my reactions and provided a visual assessment on her monitors. My test took less than 10 minutes, and she spent another 10 showing me the results on the screen and explaining them in detail.

The Results

My checkup showed about a 20 percent hearing loss in the upper high-frequency range, Aronson said, not unusual for someone now in his mid-60s.

Then I told her about the five decades of playing drums in jazz, blues and rock bands and four decades of reviewing rock concerts, without ear protection the first 15 years. (Since my ears almost bled at The Ramones’ 350-db L.A. debut at The Roxy on the Sunset Strip in 1976, I’ve religiously worn earplugs at loud music shows or while playing drums.)

“You’re lucky it’s not worse,” Aronson said. “You don’t need hearing aids now, but we’ll check again in a year.”

Now that she has a baseline, she can gauge any change in hearing loss in the next checkup and suggest the best solution.

Our Family Affair

My wife Nadine, now in her early 60s, was paying close attention as I researched and wrote the previous spotlight feature about Nola Aronson and Advanced Audiology.

For the past few years, Nadine has suspected she’s suffered some loss of hearing. After she read (and approved) my final draft, she was motivated to find out for certain.

“My first clues were not hearing what people said to me unless they were facing me,” Nadine said. “If the people were talking behind me, I didn’t hear them well. Another clue was, at work, I found myself saying ‘What?’ and asking people to repeat themselves. I could just hear the irritation in my mostly younger co-workers’ voices when they had to do that.

“Even more embarrassing, I would sometimes hear a completely different word and not understand the conversation,” she said. “Not good, professionally or socially. So, I had to do something.”

Nadine scheduled a free audio checkup at Advanced Audiology and the Hearing Instrument Specialist, a bright young woman named Strawberry, conducted the same evaluation in the sound booth with Nadine that Nola had done with me.

The test confirmed what Nadine had suspected. Since her hearing loss was most pronounced in her left ear, she decided to try a hearing device in just that ear and gauge the difference.

Then Strawberry showed Nadine the options – three different hearing aid brands, all top-of-the-line technology, and available only at Advanced Audiology.

Nadine chose a Bluetooth-equipped device for a 45-day no-obligation test drive. It took her just a couple days to get used to the device, which slips into her ear canal and is virtually unseen, and to learn to use it with her smartphone.

Almost immediately, Nadine and I noticed she was saying “What?!” far less frequently in our conversations – and that’s not only helped make our family life a little more pleasant, but also improved things for her at work.

“Simply put, I can hear better,” she said. “I don’t have to be facing people anymore. I can hear people talking to me from across the room. When my phone rings, I just tap to answer the call, and I can hear the caller through my hearing device.

“When I’m not taking or making calls I can also get a channel of music on my phone and with the Bluetooth connection hear it just in my ear,” she said. “No one else around me at work hears it. It’s just a huge improvement.”

As Nadine evaluated the device, she also shopped around to see if any other local audiologists or box stores had the same thing, or an equivalent, at a better price.

She also wanted to see if others had anything like Advanced Audiology’s Exact Match Hearing Process, which guarantees Aronson and her team will personalize the hearing improvement experience just for the individual.

At the end of her search, Nadine found that Advanced Audiology’s hearing device was the best and latest available. Competitors didn’t even carry it. Their brands and models were generally less expensive but used older technology.

No one else had anything like the Exact Match Hearing Process, either, Nadine said. Not surprising, since it’s a trademarked system also available exclusively from Advanced Audiology. Nor could others compete with the personalized package of care Aronson and her staff provide.

“I was very pleased with all three devices Strawberry showed me, and the 45-day trial of the one I chose was awesome, so
I bought it,” Nadine said. “They gave me enough batteries to last a couple years, and I can get my aid cleaned at their office any day of the week between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. The quality of the product and the personalized care were definitely worth more to me than any difference in price.

“All things considered, Advanced Audiology really had no competition,” she said.

As Aronson told me in 2017 when she was celebrating her 30th anniversary in audiology, she’s not out to just sell people a hearing aid.

Nor are her three Doctors of Audiology – Ginny Veloz, David Hsu and Mary Porath – who also treat their clients like family.

The Peeples family’s experiences provide just two more examples of how Nola Aronson and Advanced Audiology help people enjoy better lives through better hearing.

Nola Aronson, M.A. FAAA
CEO/Clinical Audiologist
Advanced Audiology
23822 Valencia Boulevard, Ste. 103
Valencia, CA 91355
661-253-EARS (3277)
SCVAdvancedAudiology.com

Time is Running Out for SCV Teen with Deadly Genetic Disorder

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:40:24 GMT

From Issue #4

Update on Sebastian Velona Foundation’s Race to Cure Batten Disease CLN8

Story and Photos by Stephen K. Peeples

There’s good news and bad news in our third update on a Santa Clarita Valley family’s race to find a cure for Batten Disease CLN8.

As detailed in our last issue , the neurological disorder strikes children, including 14-year-old Sebastian Velona (nicknamed Sebi). It degenerates their nervous systems and is usually fatal by Sebi’s age.

First, the good news. Through tireless fundraising efforts and a personal contribution of $500,000, Sebi’s mom Teri Hughes Fox and her husband Michael E. Fox (Sebi’s stepdad) have now raised more than $1 million for the nonprofit Sebastian Velona Foundation, which the couple established in early 2017.

More good news is that public awareness of Batten Disease is on the rise, thanks in part to the efforts of one of the SCV’s elected officials and Sebastian’s birth father.

In May, the California Senate approved a joint resolution introduced by Sen. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) declaring the first weekend of June 2018 and each year to follow as “Batten Disease Awareness Weekend” statewide, after Chris Velona reached out to Wilk. The resolution generated valuable press and social media exposure about the disorder.

Sebi, Teri and Michael show the power of love.

But there’s still a long way to go on the quest to find a cure.

Since Batten Disease CLN8 is a genetic disorder, replacing bad genes with healthy ones may provide a cure not only for Sebi, but also for untold other children and adults affected by genetic disorders.

The Foundation’s fundraising goal is $3.5 million, to pay for a full clinical trial of gene replacement therapy.

The clinical trial, to be conducted by a “dream team” of genetic research specialists at The Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, will include Sebastian and a test group of other American kids fighting Batten Disease CLN8.

The goal is to secure Federal Drug Administration approval of the treatment and get it into general use as soon as possible.

First, though, the initial donations and personal funding have allowed the Velona Foundation to move forward with preliminary efficacy studies, as well as production of the clinical vector, a harmless virus used to transport a replacement gene into the body via an epidural injection.

“We just put up our last $500,000 to pay for developing the clinical vector,” Teri said. “It’s a huge step forward and will buy us some time. But the Foundation still needs $1 million to get to the clinical trial. Once started, that would take about six months. So even if everything was to fall in line, the earliest Sebi could be into treatment is seven months.”

Sebi takes a therapy ride at Carousel Ranch in the SCV.

Which brings us to the bad news: Time is running out fast for Sebastian.

The disease that’s attacked his nervous system relentlessly for nearly a decade is now attacking more aggressively every day.

He’s rapidly losing the ability to see, speak and walk, and the debilitating seizures he suffers have become more frequent, severe and damaging.

The harsh reality is that Sebastian may not live to see a cure for Batten Disease CLN8. That’s why donations to the Sebastian Velona Foundation are so urgently needed right now.

“We need to raise the next million dollars like yesterday,” Teri said, adding that she and Michael have now “tapped out” their personal wealth, and would never expect others to donate if the parents weren’t all-in.

The Foxes vow the Foundation will carry on with this quest no matter what, because if the gene replacement therapy indeed proves successful, it will revolutionize treatment of many other genetic disorders.

“We’ve got to get some major people to commit right now so we can fully fund the clinical trial,” Teri said. “That could really be our home run.”

We encourage you and your company to donate to the Sebastian Velona Foundation both now and in the future with recurring donations at CureBattenCLN8.org . Please also contact Teri or Michael to arrange a future fundraising event. Meanwhile, you can send and receive Sebastian’s Healing Hugs on Facebook at HealingHugs4Sebi .

Life Coach Marguerite Berg: For Each Person in Life, it’s ‘My Shoes, My Journey’

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:35:05 GMT

From Issue #4

By Stephen K. Peeples

“Effective coaching involves thought, strategies and action. In my personalized sessions, I focus on the present and the future, with client-defined goals, well-thought-out strategies and step-by-step action plans.”

Walking into Marguerite Berg’s cozy Santa Clarita office as she welcomes you with a big smile and warm embrace feels like finding shelter from a storm.

With the certified Professional Life Coach’s expert guidance and caring encouragement, you can relax, unwind, decompress from stress, take the time to truly zero in on your true goal(s) in life, and then figure out how to get there.

“For each person in life, it’s ‘ my shoes, my journey ’ – that’s why I chose that name for my life coaching practice,” Berg said. “We can only walk in our own shoes on our own personal journey.”

As a Life Coach, Berg engages and encourages motivated clients for personal growth and change. She works with individual clients who need help with a life transition, singles who want to get back into the dating world, and couples who want to enrich their relationship with their partner.

“In my personalized sessions I provide a space of self-awareness, self-discovery to individuals and couples who are struggling at a crossroads,” she said.

Berg helps her clients map out their goals, one step at a time.

“This is about your soul’s journey as you discover your authentic self, find mind-spirit-soul wellness, and learn how to live a more joy-filled life,” she said. “‘Freedom to Be, Freedom to Become Who I Am’ is another way I like to express it.”

Life Coaching is Not Psychotherapy

Unlike psychotherapy, where therapists help patients heal from past hurts, life coaching involves working with already motivated people on the present and future.

“Life coaching is not therapy,” Berg said, addressing a misperception she hears often.

“Therapy is all about healing – a therapist explores your past and provides recommendations to help you work through issues and move forward,” she said.

“That’s different from a Life Coach, who is all about the here and now and moving forward,” she said. “I work with people to make a difference in their lives, one goal at a time, one step at a time. I guide my clients to create a personalized action plan, then motivate and challenge them to achieve their goals through the realization of that plan. I focus on growth, helping clients to unleash their potential, so they are able to perform at their peak, and live a more joy-filled life.”

Inspired by Hard-Working Parents

Marguerite Berg grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley, daughter of a hard-working heavy equipment truck driver and a nurturing stay-at-home mom who were both quick to help anyone in need and taught their children the value of community service.

Inspired by her big-hearted, open-minded parents to pursue social work and help others as a career, Marguerite earned a B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Northridge in 1994.

She went on to earn an M.A. in Education (Elementary Ed emphasis) and another M.A. in Clinical Psychology (with Marriage & Family Therapy emphasis) from Pepperdine University in 1998 and 2008, respectively.

After two decades of working in the social services system, she knew there was more to her life’s purpose of serving others but didn’t know the direction she wanted to take. She discovered the field of Life Coaching in 2007 and knew that was to be her path. However, she didn’t pursue that path until 2014.

She completed her Professional Life Coach Certification program at Erickson College in 2015, then established My Shoes My Journey, opened her practice and launched her website that July.

Along the way, Berg has been active in the Santa Clarita Valley community, part of her life’s mission of service to others. She is a member of Zonta International, Soroptimist International, the Relationship Coach Institute, and the International Coaching Federation. She is an Ambassador for the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, and a member and past president of the Holistic Chamber of Commerce, SCV Chapter.

On our recent visit to Berg’s office, kicking back on her comfy couch, we had a chance to find out more about who she is, what she does, and why.

3W: We’d love to hear more about how your mom and dad inspired your life’s work helping others.

Marguerite: My parents had an open-door policy: If someone needed a living space they were welcomed to live with us. We took care of many relatives who were medically or physically challenged. My dad would give the shirt off his back to help someone else.

My parents have taught me to have love and compassion for others and to always know that someone else has a greater need than we do.

They were good role models who inspired me to strive to be of daily service to others in need. That’s why I went into social work, and why I volunteer in my community. I always want to find ways to give back.

3W: What was your path to a career in social work?

Marguerite: After receiving my B.A., I worked at various group homes for emotionally disturbed adolescents. I began doing employee trainings and really enjoyed that, so I decided to get into education and teach children.

I completed my M.A. in Education and worked at a couple of private Christian schools. The challenges of working with children who have behavior problems at school made it clear to me that the need was greater in the family home. So, I pursued an M.A. in Psychology with emphasis in Marriage & Family Therapy.

That was followed by several years working with agencies that provided services for children in foster care and wraparound, then working with the Developmentally Disabled population and the homeless population.

3W: A career in the public social services field must have many challenges.

Marguerite: Yes, you are expected to serve others, but also you are hindered by many constraints imposed by “the system.”

Eventually, I came to a crossroads with the social services system and was driven to help others in a different capacity, but didn’t quite know what direction to take.

In 2007, I came across a book on CD by Cheryl Richardson, a Life Coach. After hearing her story and learning about the field of life coaching, I knew I wanted to pursue coaching as a career.

However, various things happening in my life at that time led me to put coaching on the back burner for a few years.

Finally, in 2014, I met Kimberley Barclay, an amazing soul-centered woman who is also a Life Coach. I felt so inspired by her that at that moment I decided I didn’t want to wait any longer. I knew it was time for me to actively pursue life coaching.

3W: How did you then turn that passion into a plan of action, and establish your own practice?

Marguerite: I created a plan and action steps, starting with researching life coaching programs, accredited programs, and programs recognized by the International Coaching Federation.

After discovering Erickson College, I completed its program, my intern hours and the oral exam, and received my Life Coach certification in 2015, during the time I was working with the Developmentally Disabled population.

3W: After opening My Shoes My Journey in July 2015, how long until you were able to exit your day job?

Marguerite: I continued working full-time during the day while growing my business in the evening, and by 2017, I was able to make the transition to dedicating myself fully to my passion as a Life Coach.

3W: What’s an effective Life Coach, in your view?

Marguerite: Effective coaching involves thought, strategies and action. In my personalized sessions, I focus on the here and now and moving forward, establishing well-defined goals, well-thought-out strategies and step-by-step action plans.

An effective life coach poses questions to challenge desired growth and change.

Through coaching, I encourage clients to think deeply, and inspire them to create a plan to achieve their goals. I challenge, motivate and support clients along their journey.

With an open mind, through self-discovery and self-awareness, we focus on growth and change either personally, at work, in relationships, or within families.

Then we focus on their desired goals, and I guide my clients in creating a personalized action plan to achieve their goals, one step at a time.

My desire is for clients to learn to embrace their chosen path and enjoy their journey while reaching their desired goal, while embracing joy and happiness and achieving balanced mind-spirit-soul well-being.

I’m here to motivate and challenge my clients. But I also promote self-empowerment, so if I’m not around, or after our time together has ended, they can be their own source of solutions and resources as they continue on their path.

3W: What’s a personalized coaching session with you like?

Marguerite: A coaching strategy session is an experience from start to finish. My typical strategy session is one hour. It can be less or more depending on the client. I incorporate essential oils and meditation during the session. I also have my clients keep a journal as part of their journey and growth work.

Typical coaching sessions can last anywhere from 30-90 minutes depending on the type of coaching and the client’s goal. The work can last anywhere from a minimum of three months to several years depending on the client and their objectives. Three months is the recommended minimum timeframe to create change and growth.

3W: What’s the greatest reward you get from being a Life Coach?

Marguerite: It’s one thing when my clients tell me how happy and grateful they are to finally be on their way to fulfilling their goal. But it’s something else to actually watch them achieve their goals and see how their lives change for the better. That’s my greatest reward.

Marguerite Berg, MEd., MPsy., CPC
My Shoes My Journey
661-714-3193
mmargoberg@gmail.com
myshoesmyjourney.com

Laura Troost Found Her Path with My Shoes My Journey: A Testimonial

After working as a Certified Public Accountant for the same employer for 17 years, I was contemplating changing jobs or starting my own practice.

I came to Marguerite Berg to help me decide what to do based on my best interests, versus what everyone else was telling me I should want for my life.

Marguerite guided me through a process to help me articulate my goals and priorities, so I could make my own decision.

She helped me figure out that my goal was to start my own practice. So I finally separated from my old firm, and have just completed my third tax season in my own practice as Laura Troost, CPA.

How to Combat Alzheimer’s Disease Without Drugs

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:28:49 GMT

From Issue #4

Healthy Diet, Lifestyle Can Delay or Diminish Dementia

By LaRue Palmer & Stephen K. Peeples

Researchers have not yet found a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, a usually fatal form of dementia named after German physician Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who first identified the disease in 1906. In fact, we’re still a long way off.

But after more than 100 years of research, we know a great deal more about Alzheimer’s. It’s the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60-80 percent of all cases, which is why so much attention is given to Alzheimer’s.

Scientists are learning a great deal about the relationship between cognitive decline and dementia and vascular conditions such as heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure, as well as metabolic conditions such as diabetes and obesity.

An article published in The Lancet Neurology in May stated that almost a third of all cases of Alzheimer’s disease worldwide could be prevented if people took charge of their unhealthy lifestyle issues.

Hypertension in middle age, diabetes, obesity, physical activity, depression, smoking, and low education all play a role, according to the article. Of all these factors, heart health seemed to be the most significant.

I agree wholeheartedly, because heart disease risk factors also have a significant effect on brain health, and research shows that a heart-healthy diet low in saturated fats may also help reduce the risk of dementia.

Over the last half-century, the high-fat, high-sugar, highly processed Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) has gone global, and so have the same chronic illnesses we suffer from as a result. In future years we can expect to see Alzheimer’s cases increase worldwide.

A condition known as insulin resistance has been identified as a precursor to chronic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and, of course, Alzheimer’s disease.

Of course, advancing age is the greatest known risk factor for dementia. The likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s doubles about every five years after age 65. Usually, at that age and even younger, we start to see signs of memory loss and diminished cognitive function.

The Lancet article is part of what’s now a mountain of evidence indicating that overall healthy living – no matter at what age – may help keep the brain healthy and may even reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s in later years.

The Alzheimer’s Association agrees, noting those measures include “a healthy diet, staying socially active, avoiding tobacco and excess alcohol, and exercising both the body and mind.” All those factors contribute to our staying healthy as we age.

Ongoing research will help us understand more about how to reduce risk factors for these conditions, which in turn may help us learn to better reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Better Health Without Drugs

But we already know enough to act now, which is why millions of Americans are now looking for new ways to achieve better health without pharmaceuticals.

As a certified health coach and diabetes educator, I encounter people daily whose bodies are suffering the consequences of a lifetime of abuse.

For most, just the decision to modify their lifestyles to reduce the self-abuse is a big step. But it’s just the first.

When people are ready to act, a health coach is an invaluable ally.

In my case, my culinary background, knowledge of nutrition and coaching expertise represent lethal weapons in our modern-day version of the Battle of the Bulge.

In my health coaching program and others like it, my clients get the tools that enable them to take those next steps.

They learn proven mind-over-mood techniques so they’re strong enough to overrule their emotions when it comes to making health-conscious diet and lifestyle decisions.

Often for the first time in their lives, my clients are empowered to modify their behavior in a way that transforms their lifestyle over time.

Food becomes the secondary issue to the behavior modification, and they have greater success because they have a coach that guides them every step of the way.

Regaining better health is a huge motivator to stay on the healthy path because they see results and have someone keeping them accountable along the way.

My clients’ success is a testament to the benefits of a comprehensive health program that has a weight loss component. It’s not just a diet, but a lifestyle transformation that will vastly improve their health by effectively lowering their risk for Alzheimer’s and other chronic illnesses.

Hippocrates’ words ring truer now than ever: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food!”

LaRue Palmer is a Certified Health Coach and Diabetes Educator. His optimal health program is Dietbetic Healing. He shares a practice with Tyra Beavers, DC at Chiro-Integrative Health Center, 250 N. Robertson, Suite 516, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Reach him directly at 323-620-1601.

Douglas Furniture: An Evergreen Family Business Grown in the SCV

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:25:10 GMT

Issue #4

Co-Owner Doug Green Looks Back on Four Decades, Ahead to the Next Generation

By Stephen K. Peeples

Furniture retailers may come and go, but not Douglas Furniture , a well-appointed fixture in Newhall since 1975.

Owners Doug Green and his wife Pat Green were in their early 20s when they opened with a single 1,500-square-foot storefront in downtown Newhall.

Douglas Furniture thrived, and eight years later the Greens purchased their current property on Newhall Avenue. By 1988, again running out of space, the family bought and built on adjoining property. The showroom now measures 30,000 square feet.

The high-end store carries most of the top American-made brands and collections for living, sleeping, entertaining, offices, bathrooms, outdoor living, and design accents, as displayed in their massive showroom, and detailed on the company’s colorful website.

With that worldwide reach, Douglas Furniture also ships to discerning customers in Hawaii, Germany, England, Japan and China.

Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness recently sat down with Doug Green on a cushy sofa in Douglas Furniture’s main showroom to find out what this company does right that others don’t.

3W: The showroom’s comfortable. Very tasteful, but still feels like home. Maybe you and your family essentially growing up in this showroom has something to do with it.

Doug Green: Our business is all about family. When Pat and I opened the store, I was just 22. Now, my son Jeff is general manager. Our daughter Erica, who was one year old when we opened, is head designer. Our other daughter has her own business. But yes, this is like a second home to us.

3W: What prompted you to open a retail furniture store at such a tender age?

Doug: Pat and I married very young, at 19. I was going to Pierce College in Woodland Hills at night and working days at a furniture factory. I became head production manager for a plant here, then corporate production manager for a plant here and one in Kentucky.

I was running both plants and realized I felt smarter than my boss – not a good thing in the corporate world. So, I thought I’d better start my own business.

By then I’d learned about furniture from the inside out. I was also in a production association and knew all the other production managers in the best U.S. furniture factories. I was able to get lines of credit and bring in product right away. I loved to sell to people, talk to people, so it just took off.

Today, we’re one of the largest furniture stores around and the largest high-end furniture store in the Santa Clarita Valley. We’re also the oldest furniture retailer in the SCV.

Doug and Pat Green cop a pose outside their first store in Newhall in the late 1970s. (Courtesy photo.)

3W: Who’s your competition?

Doug: I don’t know that we even have any. We’ve always marched to the beat of our own drum and done it our way, whatever it is.

The two most important things to us are customer service and quality products.

We’re here for 43 years because we take care of our clients. We’re a full-service store, providing free design services, delivery and setup. A dozen employees handle our warehousing, shipping-receiving and deliveries.

And everything you buy at Douglas Furniture is real furniture, heirloom-quality. If it looks like an inlay, it IS an inlay. If there’s a leather look, it IS leather.

Lots of sofas may look like ours now, but in 10 years, 10 weeks, they won’t. When you put our furniture in your house, it will look beautiful forever. So in the long run, it’s an investment.

3W: How much of your furniture is American-made?

Doug: We work very hard to have the finest furniture made in the USA. We also want our lines to be full, so we do some world purchasing of quality items. My main job now is purchasing – used to be 10 percent, now it’s 90 percent – so I know at least 75 percent of our furniture is “Made in the USA.”

3W: How much of your business is local, how much outside the SCV?

Doug: About 40-60.

3W: And, why would someone from Beijing buy furniture from an independent retailer half a world away in Newhall? How would they even know about Douglas?

Doug: The internet. And we have strong word-of-mouth among our clients. Quality American furniture is very expensive in Hawaii, Asia and Europe, so it’s often cheaper for people to fly and shop here, and even cheaper to use our website, to purchase from us and have us to ship it back to them.

3W: Back to family – Jeff, your dad tells me your two daughters were out on the showroom floor last weekend doing a little marketing.

Jeff: Yes, Abbie and Ella, who are 8 and 6, was were putting little notes on the items, trying to entice customers to buy the items. One said, “Ooh, this is pretty! Buy me!”

3W: Looks like the third generation’s already moving in. It must feel good to know your family business is in such good hands.

Doug: Yes, I’m very happy with what we’ve done over the years. We’re all proud to live here in the SCV, too, and can hold our heads up high when we’re out in the community.

Douglas Furniture

Free Delivery • Financing Available • Designer Services
23661 Newhall Avenue
Newhall, CA 91321
661-255-8421
dougfurn.com
Since 1975 • Open 7 Days A Week

Aviator CPA Gives Overview of New Tax Law’s First Year

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:20:38 GMT

It's All About Finding The Balance

Story & Photos by Stephen K. Peeples

When Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness last spoke with Valencia’s Aviator CPA , Jorge Perazzo, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act passed by Congress had just been signed into law by the president.

As we neared the end of the second quarter since the law took effect in January 2018, we checked back with Perazzo and his wife and partner Peggy for a mid-year update.

3W: The transition to the new tax law must be a challenge for you and other accountants who also work with high-wealth clients.

Jorge: Yes, but the most challenging part about the new law is that it’s not straightforward.

Yes, it doubles the standard deduction for individuals, but they lose the personal exemptions. Yes, the tax rates are lower, but itemized deductions are limited to $10,000 for state and property taxes.

Yes, there’s a $2,000 per child credit, but no itemized deductions for below the two-percent threshold. Deductions like union dues, tax prep fees – those are gone.

So, there’s no way for me to look someone in the eye and say, “You’re going to pay less tax.” Truth is, I don’t know until I run the numbers.

When I first had a sense of what the new tax law was like and was talking to my clients, I threw out the concept of a bell curve.

The more money people made, I thought, the more they would benefit from the tax law change. Well, that’s generally true, but at a certain point, they break even or pay more tax. As it’s turned out, the bell curve is flatter than I expected. That bubble is a little more stretched out than I thought originally.

It seemed like I had another little tax season built into my regular tax season this year. Almost every time a client came in
to do their taxes, their first question was, “What’s going to happen in 2018 with the new law?” So, while we were doing their 2017 tax returns, we were also running scenarios for 2018, all things being equal with their income, expenses and so forth.

Thankfully the extra numbers-crunching didn’t take us too much longer. New software came in that provides us guidance in comparing the IRS’s 2017 tax code versus 2018. So, when I returned the client’s tax return copy, I also included a separate sheet that projected what their taxes for 2018 would look like – again, all things being equal.

Peggy and Jorge Perazzo are a power team for their clients.

3W: That’s the personal side. What about your business clients?

Jorge: No matter which way they slice it, people who own businesses win. This law was really designed for them. Everyone who owns an LLC, or rental property, an S-Corp gets a K1 or reports pass-through income for the net taxable income of the business they actively participate in. That net taxable income (known as Qualified Business Income or QBI) is reduced by 20 percent under the new law before tax is applied.

With some exceptions like service business, like lawyers and accountants, if they make more than $400,000, they don’t get the deduction.

But for the most part, business owners will. I have a manufacturing client who’s going to get the 20 percent break. Another client, a veterinary center, will, too.

I had a lot of business from LLCs that elected to be treated as S-Corporations so all the money that comes in for self-employed people doesn’t just land on their Schedule C, and they wind up paying self-employment tax on all their business income.

Instead, they cut themselves a salary, manage the self-employment tax and how much they pay on their Social Security. They can set up and manage 401Ks. And as a result, they save taxes, plus they get the 20 percent QBI deduction. So, I must have set up 15 LLCs this year for people with S-Corp elections.

3W: What do you see on the horizon in the third and fourth quarters of 2018?

Jorge: My tax planning will be magnified as we get closer to the end of the year because of this new law.

Clients are already starting to say, “Okay, so we talked about 2018 briefly when you did my 2017 taxes, and you gave me a preview. Now that we know more about what’s going to happen in 2018, what will my taxes really look like?”

Fortunately, our updated software is making it much easier for us to provide the answers.

3W: Speaking of tech, last time we spoke you said your operation was almost paperless.

Jorge: We’re even more paperless now. That’s our other big development this year. Both Peggy and I got new iPad Pro tablets we’re now using instead of paper notepads. We can write notes and save them as PDFs. We never print anything.

And when somebody comes in we scan their documents and give them all back. After that, we don’t touch any paper. It’s not so much about saving the paper, even though that’s also good. It’s mainly about efficiency.

3W: Along with being a CPA, you’re also a savvy business advisor who people trust to protect their personal wealth or businesses. But who do you look to for advice when considering ways to build your own practice?

Jorge: That’s something we’re doing now with Mike Myers from Johnson Myers Consultants. He’s helping us a lot, doing flowcharts, for example, of our processes so we can figure out better ways to work.

Believe it or not, the one or two minutes less we spend doing mundane things enables me to help my current clients be more efficient.

The veterinarian I mentioned, for instance: He and his wife own one of the largest pet clinics in the SCV. She’s the vet, he runs the business. He had a gut feeling their expenses were higher than they should be. So last year I ran a financial analysis of their company, comparing key performance indicators against benchmark points of their industry.

Theirs was really easy to pinpoint: veterinarian with sales up to X. With those statistics in hand, we saw that last year, for example, they overpaid their lab fees. The benchmark was three percent, but they were at seven percent, paying more than double what they should have. So, we confirmed his suspicion and he went to work on renegotiating their lab fees.

When we met again a few months later he was improving his lab fee costs but was hyper-focused on controlling his expenses. But now, I said, he should focus on the top line: bringing in more clients. If he didn’t bring in more money on the top, he was never going to see a better cash flow result since, for the most part, his expenses were reasonable.

I said, “Just using a number for the sake of argument, say you’re going to save $20,000 a year by hyper-focusing on your expenses. Well, since there’s nothing more you can do to cut expenses, what if you hyper-focus on sales instead, and increase sales by $100,000? Wouldn’t that be better than just saving $20K?”

3W: Last time we talked, you were looking forward to getting back up in the air after tax time.

Jorge: Yes, tax season was a bit more intense and lasted longer this year, but I finally got together with my instructor in early June for a Piper Cherokee flight to get my pilot’s license current, so I’m ready for takeoff.

3W: Do you and Peggy plan to fly to any major tennis tournaments this summer?

Jorge: We were trying to find mixed doubles teams we can sign up for, but it’s tough. One was in Delaware, the other Austin, Texas. That was about it. But we do want to get out there and participate more in some family sports, couples sports. Maybe just not so far away.

3W: You both work hard, you deserve to play a little. And breaking out of one’s daily environment and routine is good for one’s mental health.

Jorge: Peggy and I have talked a lot about that. There’s more to finding the balance of work and life than meets the eye. But if you don’t find it, you’re a lot more likely to die of a heart attack at your desk while you’re working, or within five years after retiring.

We wondered why people work so hard most of their lives just to have all this money at 65, for the next 15 or 20 of what may not be their best years. Why not stop and smell the roses along the way?

Peggy and I agreed that we don’t want to work full-time full-throttle until we’re 65, and then stop and retire, which is what people have been wired to do for generations.

I’m certainly not saying you should not work hard and plan and save for retirement. That’s all good, and Peggy and I do all that, too.

But we don’t need to drive ourselves crazy about working so hard. We also need to enjoy life. For us, it’s all about finding the balance.

The Office of Jorge Perazzo Certified Public Accountant
Accountancy Corporation

23822 Valencia Blvd. Ste 306

Valencia CA 91355

661-481-2219

jorge@jorgeperazzo.com
jorgeperazzo.com

Beyond FANG: IBD’s Amy Smith Spotlights Four High-Performing Stocks

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:15:51 GMT

Issue #4

What do Netflix, SolarEdge, Etsy and Shake Shack Have in Common?

Former host of Investor’s Business Daily’s Market Wrap, Amy Smith also co-hosted IBD’s “How to Make Money in Stocks” radio program and wrote the companion book “How to Make Money in Stocks Success Stories” (McGraw-Hill, 2013).

Smith is a frequent speaker and panelist at major IBD events, where she shares her prescient views of current and future market conditions. A keynote speaker at Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness’ inaugural Santa Clarita Family Wealth Summit in May 2017, Smith was profiled in 3W’s premiere issue and her tips featured in our second and third issues as well.

In this edition, Smith spotlights four stocks that were major movers in the tumultuous first two quarters of 2018.

3W: The FANG stocks – Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google parent Alphabet – sold off a bit but otherwise survived the market’s volatility earlier in the year. But you’ve also been tracking a few major movers that aren’t as well-known.

Smith: Yes, let’s start with one of the key FANG stocks and then a few people may not be as familiar with.

Netflix [NFLX, NASDAQ] of course is a FANG stock that everybody knows: a lot of original content, TV shows, comedy acts, documentaries. Even though Netflix raised the subscriber rate last year, they still saw subscriber growth, not only in the U.S. but also internationally. That’s why the stock recently topped $360.

Netflix is also a liquid name, meaning it trades 10 million shares a day in its average daily volume.

Netflix’s next report is August 1.

SolarEdge [SEDG, NASDAQ] , revolutionizing the way solar power is collected and stored even on a cloudy day. Their residential and commercial applications have made this stock go higher.

Their earnings top at 142 percent in the most recent quarter. Their stock is at about 73 percent for the year.

And, I’m sure you probably heard recent- ly that California passed a law saying that newly built homes must have solar panels by 2025. So, this is an industry that will continue to go up.

Etsy Inc. [ETSY, NASDAQ] is a website that sells handmade goods. It’s a place where artisans and craftspeople who don’t have their own websites can set up and manage their own e-commerce store. I have a friend who sells handmade pillows on Etsy. It’s a newer IPO, in April 2016.

Etsy disrupted the way crafty items are sold. They actually solved a problem for individuals or small business owners who don’t need or want their own websites. Companies that solve a problem tend to go up in value.

Shake Shack Inc. [SHAK, NYSE] is the final name I have for you. It’s a burger chain. So, what’s new about this?

Well, they have great milk shakes people love. Their earnings have beat expectations. The stock price was up like 35 percent in one 11-day period. Its 52-week range as of mid-June is $30.12- $65.47.

So, the newer IPOs can sometimes really generate big gains, but of course, not all do. Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat didn’t do well at all when they first started trading. It was only after Facebook came out with its first big earnings numbers that the stock really took off.

You can see what Netflix, SolarEdge, Etsy and Shake Shack have in common. In a word: innovation. They are all success stories because they’re doing things nobody else is doing – or doing quite as well.

IBD: Bringing together some of the smartest minds in the industry to show you stock ideas, market trends and profit-boosting ideas.

Try IBD Digital 5 weeks for only $5. Go to Investors.com to get started today.

Dr. Craig J. Helm Takes a Closer Look at Summer Eye Injuries

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:12:24 GMT

Issue #4

A Conversation with Stephen K. Peeples

“I’ve seen everything from ice picks to drills, weed- whackers to blow darts, broken Christmas ornaments to gunshot wounds – the whole gamut.”

Summer’s here and the time is ripe for – accidents, including mishaps involving our eyes and eyesight. We take our vision for granted until we, or a loved one, suffer some traumatic injury.

Fortunately for Santa Clarita Valley residents, Dr. Craig J. Helm is an expert in treating severe eye trauma, so help is not far away.

Dr. Helm earned his B.S. in biochemistry from UCLA, graduated from Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans and completed his residency at the renowned UCLA/Jules Stein Eye Institute.

After fellowship training in cornea and refractive surgery and uveitis at UCLA, Dr. Helm served three years in the U.S. Air Force, based at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia.

In 1996, Dr. Helm opened a private practice in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, specializing in laser vision correction, corneal transplantation and cataract surgery.

When he and his family moved west in 2001 and established a state of the art practice in Valencia, Dr. Helm brought all that knowledge and expertise to the SCV.

Today, he and his highly qualified colleagues and staff provide university-level eye care of all kinds, from vision checkups and eyeglasses to major surgery – including emergency surgery.

Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness visited Dr. Helm at the expansive, bustling Helm Vision Group office on Tourney Road in Valencia to find out more about the emergency side of his ophthalmology practice.

3W: When it comes to treating eye trauma emergencies, you’re well-known in your field and in our valley for your surgical expertise. What kinds of eye injuries are the most common?

Dr. Helm: Most often they are related to a motor vehicle accident, a physical assault or an accidental fall. Those are probably the top three.

It’s shocking the variety of ways I’ve seen eyes injured since I began my training in 1999. I hope you’re not squeamish, but
I’ve seen everything from ice picks to drills, weedwhackers to blow darts, broken Christmas ornaments to gunshot wounds, the whole gamut.

3W: What’s a recent example?

Dr. Helm: We had a two-year-old patient who had severe trauma due to one of those toy propeller launchers. It looks like a pencil with a propeller at the end, and you just twist it and the propeller takes off flying.

Well, the edge of the flying propeller lacerated the cornea, the front part of one of this poor little boy’s eyes and damaged the lens inside, and the iris, the colored part of the eye. So, we took him to surgery and did a successful repair.

3W: And how long, typically, would something like that little boy’s injury take to heal?

Dr. Helm: Months. And you never know if the person’s vision will be restored to normal. Sometimes it’s surprising that someone can go through something so traumatic and come out with normal vision. And other times, the results are disappointing, visually. But some vision is better than no vision.

We’ve had two patients here who had nail gun injuries during the construction boom back in the first decade of the 2000s. In both cases, the nails went fairly deep, in through the face, through the eye socket, and into the brain. They’re lucky they didn’t die.

One of them ended up with 20/20 vision, but the other suffered a loss of central vision because the nail damaged the central part of his retina.

Those surgeries took a team approach of a neurosurgeon, myself, and in another case a head and neck surgeon as well since the nail went through the sinuses. So, the surgeries can be very extensive.

Before I came to the Santa Clarita Valley in 2001, there was nobody here who would do that type of surgery. Those cases were sent either to County-USC downtown or to UCLA.

3W: We’re certainly happy you chose our community when you moved west from Virginia.

Dr. Helm: Yes, it’s been nice to be able to provide that trauma capability here in town. We always hope our neighbors will take care of their eyes so there are fewer accidents. But we’re here to help if traumatic eye injuries occur.

Don’t gamble with your vision.

Helm Vision Group
27420 Tourney Road, Suite 100
Valencia, CA 91355
Phone: 661-259-3937
HelmVisionGroup.com

Publisher’s Note: Welcome to the Latest Edition of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:09:49 GMT

Issue #4

Welcome to the latest edition of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness (3W), a magazine of collective wisdom on family wealth and health featuring in-depth showcase interviews with select business owners.

Like others who live and work in and around the Santa Clarita Valley, these business owners have helped create this platform to connect with our readers by sharing the success stories of their businesses. They want you to get to know them beyond price points and carnival-barking ads.

On the cover of this issue, we are proud to feature Myles, Sepi and Marguerite. We found them to be truly inspiring professionals dedicated to perfecting their businesses and bringing satisfaction to their customers.

Through their stories, we learn how hard each of them works to provide their customers with excellent products and services.

Their experiences and those of our other featured business leaders in this edition provide relevant, useful insight on wealth, wisdom and wellness for all our readers.

As you get to know all the business owners featured in Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness, we hope you’ll feel comfortable reaching out to them the next time you’re looking to make a good buying decision for your family.

Happy reading!

CEO | President, CT3Media, Inc.

P.S.: A special note of appreciation to Aviator CPA Jorge Perazzo for taking 3W Editor Stephen K. Peeples on a special flight just to take aerial photos of our beautiful valley for this issue.

CT3Media, Inc.
25350 Magic Mountain Parkway #300, Valencia, CA 91355
818-636-2964
www.SantaClaritaWealth.com
info@ct3media.com - Comments and Advertising Inquiries

Chet Thompson Publisher
Stephen K. Peeples Editor/Features Writer
LaRue Palmer Staff Writer
Rory Aronsky Editorial Assistant
Ben Lizardi Art Director
Julian Le Ballister Photography
Lusine Tarakchyan Business Development Specialist
Remy Cashman Business Development Specialist

Newhall Ranch: SCV Boon or Boondoggle?

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 16:43:38 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Part 1: The Housing Crunch

First in a Series by Stephen K. Peeples

Imagine, if you will, a city with the population of Northridge dropped into the backyard of Stevenson Ranch, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Val Verde, and just over a ridge from the Chiquita Canyon Landfill.

But it’s no scene from “The Twilight Zone.”

That’s what’s about to happen, as a massive 21,500-unit mixed-use development called Newhall Ranch is built in the Santa Clarita Valley, along a six-mile stretch of open space off Highway 126 west of Interstate 5 in the northwest corner of unincorporated Los Angeles County.

Artist’s rendering of a Newhall Ranch community, courtesy of FivePoint Holdings.

With final county approvals in July 2016 and settlement of most pending litigation in September 2017, Orange County-based developer FivePoint Holdings started clearing brush, grading and laying out roads in October.

Build-out won’t happen overnight, of course. FivePoint predicts the first two Newhall Ranch phases, Landmark Village and Mission Village, totaling about 5,500 units, will hit the market in 2020.

But once the master-planned, 15,000-acre, 11 million-square-foot project is completed in 15-20 years, figuring three people to each of those 21,500 households, approximately 64,500 new residents will have moved to the development.

That means Newhall Ranch’s population would be greater than those of Northridge, Chatsworth, Azusa, La Crescenta, La Canada or many other communities or cities in L.A. County.

By any measure, 64,500 is a lot of new residents to add to the already large and fast-growing population in the Santa Clarita Valley, an estimated 293,042 residents as of 2016, according to the latest stats from the nonprofit SCV Economic Development Corporation. [ http://www.scvedc.org/datacenter/scv-demographics/ ]

That included the 219,611 people who resided within the city of Santa Clarita, now the largest city within the SCV (and the third largest of L.A. County’s 88 incorporated cities, after Los Angeles and Long Beach). Newhall Ranch is a stone’s throw from the city’s northwestern border.

Population growth in the SCV has been more than three times the state- wide rate just in the past 15 years (up 41 percent compared to 14 percent). In Part 1 of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness’ series previewing Newhall Ranch, we’re taking a closer look at the SCV’s growing population and the local-regional housing crunch.

In future editions, we’ll look into how the development and its new residents may affect the SCV employment picture, the valley’s infrastructure, vehicle traffic, water supplies and the natural environment. We’ll also look at fire danger in the Newhall Ranch area, which was scorched in the Rye Fire in early December.

Newhall Ranch – The Promise

As has been extensively documented by Santa Clarita Valley and Southern California media over three decades-plus, Newhall Ranch was first proposed during the 1980s housing development boom, but delayed by lawsuits and investigations until 2017.

Now, in the development’s latest state, county and tribes-approved iteration, FivePoint Holdings promises the 21,500 new housing units will help ease the local-regional shortage of homes. Newhall Ranch will also provide 120,000-130,000 jobs during buildout (many in construction) and ultimately up to 60,000 permanent jobs, FivePoint predicts.

“Even with the best projections and environmental impact reports and mitigations agreed to by FivePoint, county and state officials, and the California Supreme Court, not everyone who resides in the Santa Clarita Valley is convinced Newhall Ranch is a good idea.”

The developer has promised the project will not disrupt historic indigenous peoples sites, harm endangered species, or pollute the water in the adjacent Santa Clara River owing downstream west through Ventura County to the ocean.

FivePoint assures Newhall Ranch will have a net-zero impact on adding greenhouse gas to the natural environment. Homes will generate their own clean energy via solar systems, and each home will be equipped with an electric car charging station.

FivePoint promises additional off-site GHG mitigation to zero out the entire Newhall Ranch development, via installing charging stations in other California locations, contributing clean-burning cook stoves to people in remote areas of Africa, and paying for forest preservation in other parts of the world.

New, Existing and Semi-Affordable Homes

Obviously, the true impact of Newhall Ranch and its population on the SCV will take years to play out.

Today, though, the improving economy and aforementioned shortage of existing homes is putting upward pressure on purchase prices and rents. It’s also fueling purchases of new homes when and where buyers can’t find or afford an existing home. Since housing prices are rising faster than most people’s income, that crunch is not likely to ease anytime soon.

L.A. County needs to build approximately 180,000 new housing units between now and 2021 to keep up with the area’s population growth and keep home prices from spiking even higher, according to the Southern California Association of Governments, the largest urban planning organization in the country.

But home building in L.A. County, especially affordable housing, is actually moving at a much slower pace.

“In the last five years, only 1,200 residential units were developed in unincorporated Los Angeles County,” Hasan Ikhrata, SCAG’s executive director, told The Los Angeles Times (Sept. 25, 2017). [ http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-newhall-ranch-20170925-story.html ]

“And a person has to earn $106,000 a year in order to afford a home in the region, where the median price is currently $600,000,” Ikhrata said.

Right now, a FivePoint single-family home in nearby West Hills-Valencia or Stevenson Ranch, considered upscale neighborhoods in the SCV, starts in the high $500K range.

FivePoint is projecting homes in mixed-use Newhall Ranch to range from $300K for a condo to $1 million for a home, according to the L.A. Daily News (Dec. 3, 2017). [ https://www.dailynews.com/2017/12/03/work-begins-on-21500-home-project-with-ambitious-goals-to-combat-climate-change/ ]

That would put the median cost of a new home in Newhall Ranch between $600K-$700K, which may be beyond the budget for many Santa Clarita Valley residents.

While a third of wage-earners make more than $125,000 a year, median household income in the SCV (i.e., all wage earners in a household) is $95,064, according to the latest figures from the SCVEDC. [ http://www.scvedc.org/datacenter/scv-demographics/ ] That’s $11K less than the income SCAG says is adequate.

The Need for Quality Jobs

Then who will be qualified to buy those 21,500 Newhall Ranch homes?

Obviously, only people who already have quality jobs with $100K-plus salaries – or households in that range with more than one income earner – can afford a $600K-plus mortgage.

Of the 60,000 permanent jobs promised, how many will be quality jobs with salaries high enough to pay a mortgage? For a Newhall Ranch home?

Based on local housing costs, median income, and employment opportunities, the people who buy Newhall Ranch homes will most likely move there from areas outside the SCV, and continue to commute to their existing jobs.

With 21,500 homes and figuring two working adults per household, that could mean as many as 43,000 new freeway commuters. They would add to the already nightmarish traffic jams on Interstate 5 of workers headed south to those quality jobs at innovation centers like Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena, Hollywood, Downtown L.A., Century City-Westwood-Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Playa Vista/LAX.

“So, in addition to supplying homes,” SCAG’s Hasan Ikhrata told The Times, “we must combat the congestion problems along Interstate 5, in part by creating enough jobs in the north county areas so that people don’t have to commute.”

Do those jobs exist in the SCV now, or will they exist by the time the first Newhall Ranch homes hit the market a couple years from now?

“Based on local housing costs, median income, and employment opportunities, the people who buy Newhall Ranch homes will most likely move there from areas outside the SCV, and continue to commute to their existing jobs.”

Major corporations with a clear vision of the future are relocating to innovation centers with large, talented and skilled Millennial workforces.

Does the SCV have a Millennial workforce that can compete with the innovation centers over the hill? Can the area compete with Playa Vista, now emerging as a new “Silicon Beach” by attracting companies like Google and Yahoo?

Or will the SCV be able to develop a Millennial workforce by the time all those 64,500 additional Newhall Ranch residents move to the valley?

We’ll hear the voices of several sides in Part 2 of our series, as we take a closer look at how Newhall Ranch may affect the SCV employment picture and the commute. Stay tuned.

SOUND ADVICE: Hear Better, Live Better with Nola Aronson

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 16:36:03 GMT

From Issue #3

“I want to help you lead a better social life. I will not give up until you can say I changed your life. Otherwise, there’s no sense in doing it.”
– Nola Aronson

I just love helping other people, and creating and growing my business,” said Nola Aronson, owner/CEO of Advanced Audiology in Valencia, the largest diagnostic hearing center in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Aronson has helped countless others in her 39-plus years as a hearing specialist, business owner, mentor and philanthropist.

Not surprisingly, she is among the most revered and respected members of the Santa Clarita Valley community.

Nola started in a practice on Lyons Avenue in 1987, then another in 2001. She founded Advanced Audiology in 2010, and in 2017 celebrated her 30th anniversary of helping SCV residents hear and live better.

Her expertise as an audiologist is core to her success – she is an esteemed board member of the California Academy of Audiology.

But Advanced Audiology has thrived and grown into a multi-million-dollar operation with satellite offices in the San Fernando Valley because Aronson is also a very savvy businessperson.

Among other evidence, repeat clients: Many of her patients have been with her for years. She also empowers her highly trained staff as business partners, so they are motivated by more than a paycheck, and believes strongly in promoting from within.

Aronson has mentored scores of aspiring audiologists and business people over the years. And she stays on top of the latest developments in audiology through continuing education.

Beyond her patients and colleagues, she genuinely cares about people, and actively works to improve life for everyone in the SCV.

“I’m not just about hearing,” Aronson said. “There are more than 100 nonprofits in the Santa Clarita Valley, and many, many philanthropists like me who like to give. That’s what I love so much about this community.”

She has served as a major donor and/or volunteer with dozens of those nonprofit groups, with the Circle of Hope especially close to her heart.

“I’m a 17-year breast-cancer survivor,” Aronson said.

Significantly, each month, Advanced Audiology donates 10 percent of all hearing aid sales to a different local charity.

“I decided to make my business and my love of people and life and health part of a whole picture,” Aronson said. “And I feel that helping others in every possible way is what has led to my success in business.”

From Special Ed Teacher to Audiologist

Growing up in New York, Nola Aronson always knew her calling was to help others in some way. She also keenly observed how her father, Jack Clark, became a very successful businessman.

“He was actually a self-made millionaire,” she said. “He was the first to import men’s and boy’s clothing for stores like Target and K-Mart. The one really good thing I got from my dad is his business sense.”

While in high school, Nola volunteered at a local school helping pre-school-age kids with spina bifida and other major disabilities. Inspired, she studied at the University of Hartford in Connecticut to be a special ed teacher.

But after she graduated in 1976, a few life-changing events altered her path. First, she treated herself to a cross-country trip to California, fell in love with the environment and moved to Southern California permanently the next year.

She worked in a school for retarded and emotionally disturbed children, which eventually inspired her to enroll in a Master’s program at California State University, Long Beach, in speech pathology.

“A lot of the kids I worked with had speech and language problems, so I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to go be a speech pathologist, so I could work with these kids even better,’” Aronson said.

“I was teaching educable mentally retarded children, but they would learn something one day and forget it all the next day, so you’d have to teach it again,” she said. “ The same thing was true for speech therapy because you never got your results right away.”

Aronson’s big a-ha moment came during her second year at CSULB.

“I had to take a pediatric audiology class,” she said. “I would test the child, or an adult, and get the results right away. I said, ‘Oh, this is what I want to do!’ So, almost ready to graduate, I changed my profession. And that’s how I got into audiology.”

After graduation, she worked at an audiology clinic in Orange County, moved to Van Nuys and built an audiology department at a local hospital, then relocated to Santa Clarita, where she started her audiology solo career in 1987.

‘Hearing Loss Separates People’

“Hearing loss separates people from people,” Aronson said, paraphrasing a famous Helen Keller quote.

People suffering from hearing loss usually have no idea how disconnected they’ve become from what’s going on around them, and from their loved ones, just because they don’t hear as well as they used to.

“Hearing loss is not about being deaf,” Aronson said. “A very small percentage of the population is deaf. Most people just have a slight hearing impairment, but it’s mostly in the high frequencies, which is where the unvoiced consonants are, like ‘s’ and ‘f ’ and ‘th’ and ‘v.’ Those sounds are in 80 percent of the English language, so when you miss one letter in a word, you say, ‘What?’ automatically and not even realize it.”

Advanced Audiology offers free, no-obligation hearing screenings, which takes the guesswork and frustration out of the equation and provides a baseline to compare with future tests. You can find out exactly if you have a problem or not. It’s a painless procedure, just like getting your eyes, heart or teeth checked.

“That’s what it’s all about – catching people before they really get isolated or don’t want to do things they used to do anymore because they can’t hear well enough,” Aronson said.

The next step – restoring or enhancing hearing to the extent possible (each person’s hearing is different, of course) – can bring a tremendously positive change in the quality of life and relationships.

‘Only Your Audiologist Knows for Sure!’

Steve Lettau is Practice Development Representative at Nola Aronson’s Advanced Audiology.

Advanced Audiology has several hearing device options to offer, because audiology technology has made quantum leaps forward in the past 65 years, from the Transistor Age to the Digital Age.

Today’s devices are small personal wireless sound monitors that slide into the ear canal and the user easily controls using a smartphone or other Bluetooth-equipped device. The ear inserts are so small, they don’t show at all.

Still, Aronson’s clients are sometimes reluctant if a test shows they need hearing aids.

“They say, ‘Oh, no! My hearing’s not that bad!’” she said. “And I say, ‘Just come to my office. Let me show you.’ I put them on, and show the (client) in two mirrors.

They say, ‘Where are the aids? Oh, I don’t see them!” They’re totally surprised.

“I say, ‘Yes, and now you’re not only going to hear better, but you can also answer your phone using your hearing aids, so you can be hands-free,” she said. “You can watch TV, listen to audiobooks and listen to music because now you have your own personal headset.”

Advanced Audiology has a variety of devices from top manufacturers in various price ranges, and there’s no pressure to buy anything. Clients can even test-drive a device before buying.

Big box stores may carry less expensive devices, but can’t compete with the knowledge and service of Aronson and her large team of hearing experts.

“When you come to us, you’re not just buying a hearing aid – you’re also buying a complete package with service and care for years to come,” she said.

And, as Aronson tells her patients: “Only your audiologist knows for sure!”

‘Giving Back’ is No Cliché‘

A list of Nola Aronson’s donations to Santa Clarita Valley nonprofits over the years would probably fill every page in this issue.

Nola Aronson was recently honored by the United States Marine Corps Toys for Tots Literacy program for donating more than 1,500 books to be distributed to children in need. She’s pictured with John Goodwin, president of Galaxy Press (left) and Lt. General Pete Osman, USMC (Ret.).

But most recently, she donated 250 books to the SCV Boys & Girls Clubs to help in the fight against illiteracy. She just received the Commanders Award for the Toys for Tots literacy program. She also provided funding for the IWC Ballroom Dance Youth Foundation so the children at the Boys & Girls Club can have free dance lessons.

She’s been involved in many Celebrity Waiter fundraisers for the SCV Senior Center. Recently, she chipped in $25,000 toward the center’s new building fund and will have a room named after her company. Last year Advanced Audiology was a Gold Sponsor of the Valencia Industry Association’s “Connecting to Success” business education program for high school students.

Aronson’s participated in many of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital’s golf tournament fundraisers, and been a title sponsor of Circle of Hope’s “Vine to Wine” and “Afternoon Tea” events to raise funds for cancer treatment for people who can’t afford it.

She’s donated to the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Diabetes Association, the Michael Hoefflin Foundation’s fight against children’s cancer, and numerous SCV Boy Scout troops and veterans’ groups as well.

Aronson currently serves as an ambassador for the SCV Chamber of Commerce and was the dinner sponsor for chamber’s 2017 golf tournament. In addition, Advanced Audiology sponsored the 2017 Latino Heritage Gala.

In return, Aronson has received countless accolades, most recently the Valley Industrial Association’s 2016 Rising Star Award; the 2016 Ultimate Female Small Business Executive award from Elite Magazine; the 2015-2016 Small Business of the Year award from the SCV Chamber of Commerce; and the 2017 American Hearing Aid Associates Organizational Development award. The Signal newspaper also named her one of the SCV’s Top 51 most influential people in 2017.

Not surprisingly, Aronson was also recently named a Santa Clarita Valley Community Champion.

Changing Lives for 30 Years

In November 2017, the Advanced Audiology team and hundreds of friends gathered to help Nola Aronson celebrate her 30th anniversary helping Santa Clarita Valley residents with their hearing.

In early November, at least 400 of Nola Aronson’s biggest fans packed the Bonefish Grill in Valencia to help her celebrate Advanced Audiology’s 30th anniversary.

The long check-in line included a remarkable cross-section of the SCV community – local, county and state dignitaries, community leaders, fellow business owners, Advanced Audiology colleagues, doctors and their staff, valued vendors, colleagues from a dozen nonprofits, current patients, and patients she’s helped for years.

Among her longtime clients in the queue was Shasta Elgin, a San Fernando Valley resident who has been seeing Aronson all her life – 31 years.

“I was six months old when I first saw her,” Elgin said. “I was in a foster home and my foster mother suspected I had a hearing problem, so she took me to Nola. She did my hearing test and confirmed I had a significant hearing loss. She fitted me with my first hearing aids. I’ve only gone to her.”

Conversing with Elgin face to face, one would have no clue she was hard of hearing or wearing hearing devices.

Elgin’s experience perfectly exemplifies how Nola Aronson changes lives for the better.

“I’m not interested in selling you a hearing aid,” she said. “I want to help you lead a better social life. I will not give up until you can say I changed your life. Hearing your stories and encouraging you to keep going are the only things that have kept me in this profession for this many years. Otherwise, there’s no sense in doing it.”

Advanced Audiology
23822 Valencia Boulevard, Suite 103
Valencia, CA 91355
661-253-EARS (3277)
www.SCVAdvancedAudiology.com

Fred Wachtel Helps Families

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 15:43:07 GMT

From Issue #3

“I like being able to guide people on a path to greater wealth.”

As a financial advisor and Vice President – Investments with Wells Fargo Advisors, Fred Wachtel helps his Santa Clarita Valley high-net-worth clients grow their families’ wealth by learning their financial needs, then implementing strategies to help achieve those goals.

“I like money, I like making money, and most of all I like helping others make money and reach their goals,” Wachtel said. “It’s very satisfying personally and professionally to see my clients reach their goals and not have to worry about where money is going to come from in the future. I’m in a good profession. I do what I love and it helps others at the same time.”

“I regularly meet with my clients to make sure the plan is still suitable for their goals. Goals change and adjustments to the portfolio need to change to match those goals.”

Wachtel combines a personal passion for wealth-building with deep knowledge, extensive experience and access to Wells Fargo’s vast “Private Bank” resources to provide his clients with solutions tailored for their individual goals.

He started in the industry 12 years ago with Morgan Stanley and moved to Wells Fargo Advisors a year and a half ago. What has always set him apart from his peers is his close communication with his clients. He believes that once the accounts are open and the plans are in place, making sure they stay on track is the key to a successful financial plan.

“It’s important to meet quarterly to review strategy performance and make sure the strategy is still in line with the client’s goals,” he said. “People’s goals change and when they do we tweak the strategy and portfolio to keep them in line.”

Health of Family Wealth

As a devoted family guy himself, with his wife, Denise, and their 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, the 47-year-old SCV resident also understands the importance of a family’s long-term financial security.

“Growing up I watched my parents struggle with money, and I didn’t want to live like that,” Wachtel said.

“In my 20s I had an employer who saw I wasn’t taking advantage of the 401K plan he offered, and he called and asked me why,” he said. “I told him I needed every penny in my check. He talked me into putting 10 percent away annually and assured me I wouldn’t miss it. He was right. I had a nest egg and realized how big it could grow if I stuck to a plan. I was very lucky to have him guide me and I love returning the favor and helping others realize their goals and what it’s going to take to get there.”

Diversification the Key

In his years of following the markets, Wachtel realized early on that diversification is the key to saving for long-term goals, by reducing risk and weathering fluctuations. So he’s always looking for the best ways to diversify his clients’ portfolios.

“Every client is different and every plan should be set up to meet the client’s specific goals,” Wachtel said. “There are many asset classes, including but not limited to large-cap, small-cap, mid-cap, international, emerging markets, real estate and fixed income. There are also different insurance products that can complement a portfolio if appropriate such as an annuity or another product to help with particular goals. Nothing ever does great every day. You want to be in different investments to capture gains when they are doing well. You need to rebalance portfolios to make sure it stays in line with the goals set. Rebalancing is how you buy low and sell high. You sell what is doing well and buy what is not. It sounds crazy but this is what makes a diversified portfolio work.”

Wachtel closely manages the funds he will use for each asset class, and adjusts them as goals and market conditions change.

“I regularly meet with my clients to make sure the plan is still suitable for their goals. Goals change and adjustments to the portfolio need to change to match those goals. This is how I handle my personal funds. I want to make as much money with as little risk as I can, and that is my goal for my clients. I won’t recommend something for someone that I would not use myself. I eat my own cooking.”

Wachtel typically avoids speculative investments and follows strict guidelines. “I am never going to try to invest your money in an investment that is beyond your risk tolerance,” he said. “I recommend traditional investments that are in line with your goals.”

Access to Wells Fargo Advisors’ Vast Resources

Wachtel can quickly call on the coordinated expertise of his colleagues anytime, as needed.

“With Wells Fargo Advisors, I have access to resources/services available through the Private Bank.” he said. “For high-net-worth clients we have specialists through Wells Fargo affiliates to help manage debt, charitable planning strategies, business succession planning, cash management, lending and banking services and more.”

That’s especially helpful when it comes to managing volatility.

“I am not a stock picker,” Wachtel said. “I use quality mutual funds for specific asset classes and customize portfolios using these funds based on my client’s goals and risk tolerance. I let the fund managers with large teams of financial geniuses pick the stock for me. It’s great having a team behind me that can help with every single financial need my clients have.”

Wealth Health is a Family Affair

Wachtel expects his clients to be just as proactive as he is about the health of their families’ wealth.

“I look for people who want to invest their money properly, so they can pursue whatever they want when they retire, and leave something for their families,” he said.

Wachtel’s first step is information-gathering, to get the family’s financial Big Picture. “The more information the client gives me, the better,” he said. “Usually I just ask questions and listen. That’s my thing. When I find out their assets, goals and timeframe, I can figure out how to correlate new investments properly with their current assets and help diversify them.”

That takes extensive research, which is at Wachtel’s fingertips. “Wells Fargo Advisors has great research,” he said. “I have access to some great minds who do nothing all day except research trends, performance, earning growth, employment, everything. They give us lots of useful information that I use to make sure we are allocated in the right things at the right time.”

The clients Wachtel finds need the most help are high-earners in their late 40s, early 50s who also have some money put aside in a 401K or an IRA.

“They haven’t really been watching their account, but they’re starting to see the future and want to plan for it,” he said. “Now they need somebody to manage their money. That’s my sweet spot because it gives me 10 years plus to put a portfolio together for them and be realistic about reaching their goals. And if they’re also continuing to save, they will be on track by retirement age.”

Wachtel also said he enjoys working with folks who are retiring or are already retired. “I meet a lot of retirees and people close to retirement whose main concern is income but they are invested for growth, which is usually way too risky for what they need. They have been invested a certain way for decades and need advice on switching from an accumulation mindset to an income mindset. I call it ‘setting up a personal pension.’ We seek to find the right combination of products to get you the monthly income along with modest growth to combat inflation. We do not want you to have to take a pay cut because of a market downturn.

“Most retirees I meet are still invested in higher-risk asset classes,” he said. “I help them find the suitable investments that are consistent with their goals.”

A ‘Fairly Boring (Family) Guy’

Wachtel describes himself as a “fairly boring guy” and loves to drive around in his 2015 Ford F-150 King Ranch pickup. His wife Denise is an executive with a major studio. The couple’s financial health allows them more quality time with each other and their daughter.

Fred, Hannah and Denise Wachtel enjoy the natural beauty of the Santa Clarita Valley’s open space.

“Our day starts with my wife and me getting Hannah breakfast, dressed and teeth brushed,” Wachtel said. “My wife does Hannah’s hair every day. Then I take Hannah to school. We get to walk a bit so we talk and pretend not to step in the hot lava. Then I go to work, go to the gym, pick her up, make her dinner, and play all night!

“I’m an older parent and appreciate being around my family more at this point,” he said. “I still love going out with friends but I mostly I love having my little girl cuddled up on my lap watching cartoons or reading a book. I’m very lucky.”

It all circles back to where our story began: Fred Wachtel helps families.

“In a humble way, I like that I can help families with this job,” he said. “Some people are out feeding the children in Africa, others running charities. I like being able to guide people on a path to greater wealth.

“There are lots of people in dire straits financially who don’t seek out help in time,” he said.

“So if I can help make sure that someone doesn’t turn 70 and can’t afford anything except rent because they never made a proper investment, that’s priceless.”

Fred Wachtel

Financial Advisor

Prosperitas Financial

25060 Avenue Stanford Suite 100

Valencia CA 91355

661-255-9555

1.Wells Fargo Private Bank provides products and services through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and its various affiliates and subsidiaries. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is a bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.

2. Diversification does not guarantee profit or protect against loss in declining markets.

Investment and insurance products: Not FDIC insured. No Bank Guarantee. May Lose Value.

Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.

Health Coach Brings Hipness to His Healing Practice

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 15:32:17 GMT

From Issue #3

Hippocratic quotes inspire mission to extend healthspan

Hippocrates is considered by many to be the father of modern medicine, to whom we attribute a number of quotes relevant to medicine, most famous of which is: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”

LaRue Palmer is a career chef turned integrative nutrition health coach, turned diabetes educator, with a mission to teach people to do just that, let food be their medicine and, therefore, their medicine be their food.

Palmer will launch his newly created Dietbetic Healing program early this year as part of Chiro-Integrative Health Center’s restructured chiropractic and wellness practice run by partner Tyra Beavers, DC, in Beverly Hills.

In his role as the program coordinator, Palmer will teach clients how to lose weight (especially persons with diabetes) and how to heal their bodies and minds through whole food nutrition and meaningful lifestyle modification.

A play on words, Dietbetic Healing hints at diabetes, a largely preventable dietary disease where nutrition and lifestyle play a major role in prevention. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S., is largely preventable, and in many cases even reversible.

Obviously no stranger to food, Palmer was fortunate enough to begin his career as a personal chef to clients that had dietary restrictions due to various health conditions.

As his career took off he never lost that personal touch, even doing a stint as chef for Sunrise Senior Assisted Living in Beverly Hills, one of the top five largest assisted living service providers in the country.

The Dietbetic Healing program incorporates a sensible, nutritionally sound weight loss program managed by OPTAVIATM, along with an evidence-based diabetes self-management education and support program (DSMES) for those at risk for type 2 diabetes. The DSMES is sanctioned by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), of which Palmer is an active member.

Food as medicine is a strange notion to some, but the problem is that much of the food we consume today doesn’t actually qualify as real food, but processed food-like substances often referred to as “Frankenfood.”

Dietbetic Healing is based on the health benefits gained from a predominantly plant-based, macronutrient diet, while incorporating clinically proven methods that result in improved health outcomes for its participants.

“America’s appetite for fast foods and processed foods with too many carbs and added sugar is literally making us sick,” Palmer said.

“We are headed for a collision course with soaring costs and rise in diseases like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and stroke to name a few, and most of it is due to the poor food and lifestyle choices we make,” he said.

“In addition, because of so many additives in our food and genetic modifications, people are looking for information they can trust that will keep them out of the healthcare system and off prescription drugs for as long as possible,” Palmer said. “ Dietbetic Healing is one way you can get a new lease on life by looking at health and wellness in a whole new light.”

A lesser known quote by Hippocrates is noteworthy: “Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”

Take an opportunity to learn more about Dietbetic Healing by visiting Chiro-Integrative Health Center in Beverly Hills, where you can learn to heal your body through nutrition.

It is owned and operated by

Dr. Tyra Beavers, DC
250 N. Robertson, Suite 5
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
310-859-7696 2# or 4#
www.tyrabeaversdc.com

Saenger Associates: First Call for Retained Executive Search

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 15:28:12 GMT

From Issue #3

“‘We find great people for great companies’ is more than a tagline for us. That’s what we do.”
– Gary Saenger

When Saenger Associates’ corporate clients need to hire qualified top-level executives, founder Gary Saenger and his team of executive recruiters are first-call.

“We’re the proverbial head-hunter that’s on retainer with a company, and work exclusively and confidentially to find the best candidates to fill those positions,” Saenger said in a recent conversation at his company’s Valencia headquarters.

Saenger Associates is especially expert with companies in the industrial and consumer products sectors, and senior-level positions in the manufacturing supply chain with a minimum annual compensation of $100K, but usually at the $200K-250K level.

Son of successful Idaho farmers, Saenger learned the value of hard work early. That served him well in a colorful life that’s included stints in the Air Force spying on the USSR during the Cold War in the mid-1960s; studying for a degree in math and Russian; and earning great success and recognition as a businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and community leader.

Currently a board member for the nonprofit SCV Economic Development Corporation and the College of the Canyons Foundation, Saenger has previously served on the boards of the SCV Boys & Girls Club (25 years) and Single Mothers’ Outreach (four years).

He describes himself as a “complete sports nut,” especially for Dodgers baseball and UCLA basketball. As a player, he “hacks around” at golf, and his 190-yard hole-in-one on the 10th hole at Glen Eagles in Scotland in 2006 is certified.

Foremost, though, Saenger is devoted to his family. He and wife Christy, Sand Canyon residents, celebrated their 45th anniversary in November. They’re proud parents of two grown daughters, Ashley and Whitney.

More of our conversation follows:

3W: How do you achieve a 95 percent fill rate? That’s among the highest in your industry.

Saenger: We take a lot of pride in that. We never give up. Bigger firms will bill out and quit. The big boys have a 55 percent fill rate. But Saenger Associates never quits. We stay with the client unless they stop the search. We’re going to get that fill.

But it’s also going to be the right person for the job. When we look at a resume, we know exactly what boxes to check.

We have a one-year guarantee on our placements. We don’t want to do the work over. So, we’re invested in vetting candidates very thoroughly. ‘We find great people for great companies’ is more than a tagline for us. That’s what we do.

3W: Tell us about your Associates.

The Saenger Associates team is dedicated to finding great people for great companies.

Saenger: I have the most amazing team. Katherine Hayes has been with me for 15-plus years. Myrna Bell, going on 11 years. Gina Bergren, five years. Daytona Tatman, four years. And Jerald Quizon is my newest member, in 2017.

All we do is retained executive search. We serve some very demanding clients and are responsive in a way that makes our clients look great. I wouldn’t trade my team for anybody.

3W: Your path from your folks’ farm through the Air Force to the business sector to Saenger Associates includes 20-25 years of HR experience. But how did you zero in on executive search?

Saenger: My path in personnel and human resources always included recruiting. Then when I left the generalist HR role, I took a GM position with a consulting organization that was helping people who had lost their jobs decide what to do next. So it was a natural extension to open my own retained executive search firm in 1999.

Today, along with our own local, regional and national search work, we can widen our search to 80 cities in 45 countries through our alliance with IRC Global Executive Search Partners.

Saenger Associates has been connected with IRC since 2008. It has the largest geographical coverage of any executive search firm or alliance. We can serve a local client who has operations in Asia, Europe, North America, South America. That extended reach has been hugely valuable for us to serve our clients better.

3W: Going back to that 95 percent fill rate…

Saenger: It’s about the basics. I had a couple very basic reasons for founding Saenger Associates.

First, to make sure every search has two winners. One must be the corporate client because they pay the fee and have the job. The other must be the candidate, because he or she will do all the work.

The other reason, I wanted very free-flowing and timely communication between everyone. If you’ve done any executive interviews, many times you are never told what the result was. We don’t do it that way. It’s just not right, not the way we should treat people.

We think those things are an important part of why companies call us first, and why we score two winners 95 percent of the time.

Saenger Associates
28494 Westinghouse Place, Suite 315
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
661-284-3818
www.SaengerAssociates.com

IBD’s Amy Smith is Bullish on Short- and Long-Term Trends

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 15:20:50 GMT

From Issue #3

Amy Smith of Investor’s Business Daily is the former host of IBD TV’s daily “Market Wrap” video and co-host of the “How to Make Money in Stocks” radio program. Smith also authored the companion book “How to Make Money in Stocks Success Stories,” published by McGraw-Hill in 2013. Smith is an in-demand speaker at national IBD events, sharing her insight into current and future market trends. We were honored to have her as a featured speaker at 3W’s first Santa Clarita Family Wealth Summit in May. We profiled Smith in the premiere issue of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness, and circled back in mid-December to get her reading on the market as we headed into the first quarter of 2018.

3W: What is IBD’s take on the current market?

Smith: Wall Street soared on rising tax cut reforms. Global stocks around the world embraced improving economic data and are counting the benefits that will be created by the historic tax reform bill. The Nasdaq popped above 7,000 before pulling back some. And the Dow is above the 24,000 benchmark level, at 24,754 as of Dec. 22.

Many people are asking when we will finally get a pullback and shake the branches a bit. No one can predict exactly when that will happen, but when it does, the pullback could be swift as buyers dry up and a vacuum occurs.

Investors should look at the longer term and not be overly concerned with a six-to-10 percent pullback, which is an intermediate correction. This is healthy for the overall market and gives stocks a breather.

After a mild correction, investors get a fresh opportunity to get into stocks that take off with the overall market. A more serious correction of 20 percent or more would be called a bear market.

But even if this happens, the longer term for investors is very positive for 401K and retirement accounts. Stick to the plan and don’t panic.

In other news: Holiday spending was on track to be the highest in at least 12 years, according to a CNBC survey in early December. For the first time in the survey’s 12-year history, spending was going to top $900 per household. And almost a third of Americans said they planned to spend more than $1,000. That means the economy is healthy and on a good track for now.

3W: What should investors expect from equities in 2018?

Smith: Analysts expect equities to rise, but by how much is anybody’s guess. Year 2 of a presidential cycle doesn’t usually provide any kind of an investment edge historically. But the tax cuts should help businesses with their profitability. Earnings growth anticipates a six percent price appreciation, but the tax cuts could boost that to 13 percent. Investor psychology could push returns much higher.

On the other hand, valuations are already very bullish and on the high end. And some of the gains we have seen recently in the market are already baked in. The Fed will likely continue to raise interest rates, but not at a fast pace.

3W: What’s up with Bitcoin? The stock is partying like it’s 1999.

Smith: If you traded the internet bubble back in 1999-2000, the action in the cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related stocks should bring back some memories, because this is what it felt like.

There are some people who think these currencies will go to the moon, such as Ronnie Moas from Standpoint Research, who said: “I don’t know how much gold there is in the ground, but I know how much Bitcoin there is, and in two years there will be 300 million people in the world trying to get their hands on a few million Bitcoin.”

And others like Jaime Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, say Bitcoin is a complete fraud.

Whether it is a bubble or not – time will tell. Traders are beating the bushes looking for anything with a connection to the group. Longfin (LFIN) had a 12-fold move in a matter of days. When a stock pops 1,000 percent in only two days, one has to wonder if the market cap is justified.

CEO and Chairman Venkat Meenavalli stated publicly that the current valuation is not justified. Longfin announced in December that they were buying Ziddu.com, a company focused on the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin with zero revenue.

Meenavalli went on to state: “We have nothing to do with this euphoric mania,” and later added that the valuations are “not a reality.”

Document Security Systems doubled in one day following news that it had trademarked the word “AuthentiChain.”

Traders who choose to gamble in the Bitcoin area should know the risks and keep a tight rein on their positions. Investors need to realize that when there is dangerous speculation, what goes up can come crashing down.

3W: Another mover in the market is Tesla.

Smith: Tesla received its largest order for all-electric big-rig semi-trucks from UPS. The package shipper just announced it had placed a reservation order for Tesla tractor-trailer trucks, the largest order received for the vehicle since Tesla introduced it in November.

UPS follows soda giant PepsiCo, which placed a reservation to early December, although the vehicles won’t be shipped till the end of 2019.

Anheuser-Busch also placed orders for the Tesla electric tractor-trailer earlier this month to “reduce the environmental impact and increase the efficiency of its operations.”

Food distribution company Sysco has placed a reservation for 50 of Tesla’s new electric trucks, which have an estimated range between 300 miles and 500 miles on a single charge depending on the model.

Down the line these orders could add to Tesla’s profitability, which could cause the stock to rise. The stock did not make much headway in 2017 and was in fact down for the year.

Contact Amy Smith at amy.smith@investors.com . Her book is available at www.investors. com/stocksuccessbook .

Jeff Brandolino on Building a Brand

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 15:17:37 GMT

From Issue #3

From Real Estate Sales to Flipping Investment Properties

Real estate expert Jeff Brandolino, president of the Brandolino Group, Inc., has developed a set of methods and tools to grow his and other local businesses even in an economic downturn.

The Brandolino Group’s story goes back a decade. California’s real estate industry had taken a hard hit over
the first couple years of the Great Recession of 2007. Disappointing job numbers along with stagnant home sales caused many real estate offices around California to shrink.

To keep him and his employees in the real estate business, Brandolino knew something had to change. His vision was to redefine his team’s role as real estate agents by going beyond the scope of a traditional realtor, from sales to investments.

Brandolino aligned his team with a group of private investors to orchestrate the research, acquisition, renovation and sale of distressed properties around Los Angeles County.

Acquiring foreclosures for investment purposes not only proved profitable for the investors, but also helped add construction jobs in various trades, while growing local sales and beautifying neighborhoods throughout L.A. County.

The Brandolino Group expanded. Today, the company is a thriving full-service real estate investment firm based in Valencia, and located on The Old Road.

In 2016, Brandolino and the Brandolino Group earned the No. 1 spot at Realty Executives Santa Clarita for listing sales and number of units sold. In the Top 100 Executives on an international level, the Group reached No. 7 for commissions earned and No. 29 for total units sold.

The Group is comprised of three divisions.

Acquisition of Distressed Properties

The Brandolino Group pursues the L.A. County trustee sales daily, bidding and acquiring properties for flip purposes. Additionally, the Group’s reputation and track record have made them the local go-to source for acquiring distressed properties all cash, in as-is condition. Check out the before-and-after videos at www.BrandolinoGroup.com .

Listing and Sales

Jeff and Tina Brandolino enjoy quality time with their three children, Benjamin (3), Alyssa (7) and Emma (2)

The Brandolino Group continues its long-time affiliation with Realty Executives, successfully selling more than $300 million in listing and sales and earning national recognition. Brandolino and his group are the No. 1 selling team at the Valencia Realty Executives office in Westridge.

Property Management

After years of experience managing the Brandolino Group’s residential, multi-family and commercial properties, Jeff Brandolino and Tammey Mai formed Valleywide Leasing, Inc., a property management/leasing company. The Brandolino Group thinks of Valleywide Leasing as its sister company. Today, Valleywide Leasing offers its services throughout L.A. County.

Q&A: Jeff Brandolino

We spent some time with Jeff Brandolino to find out more about him and his views on investing in Santa Clarita Valley real estate.

3W: Jeff, how did you begin your real estate career?

Jeff: I started under my uncle and aunt as their apprentice/assistant, and later became a licensed Realtor on their sales team. Starting in sales was a very important chapter in my book. A couple months ago I read about a study of the world’s wealthiest 100 people and the most common first job of billionaires was salesperson.

When the Great Recession hit in late 2006, I sold a property for an investor who later opened the gateway for me and my team into the investment world. Today he is one of my active business partners and continues to be an inspiration to me.

After learning and testing the water with some smaller flip properties and rental property acquisitions, I took the plunge and started an investment company. I took my father’s advice and found partners who had more money than I. They have been my mentors first and partners second and we have done very well. I believe if you ask them they would say the same.

Now I have people who want me to be their mentor. I guess at some point I am going to pay it forward, as they say.

3W: Tell us more about your experience with buying and selling investment properties.

Jeff: I started by buying condos and houses in Santa Clarita, using the residential bank financing available for properties up to four units.

As equity increased over the years, that allowed me to sell and 1031-exchange these properties into larger assets. That is when I decided to move my investments into limited liability companies and create partnerships with my mentors.

Pooling funds helped open the door for buying multifamily (more than five units) as well as commercial properties. It is hard to find five-unit or more multifamily properties in Santa Clarita. But when you can scoop something up it is a nice property for your portfolio. I believe there are more commercial real estate opportunities available in our community for the bigger scale investors.

3W: Can you give us an overview of real estate opportunities in the Santa Clarita Valley compared to other areas of L.A. County?

Jeff: Sure. Santa Clarita is definitely a great place to own real estate. Most of the properties are much newer than what you will find in the San Fernando Valley or on the West Side. Another plus is that there is no rent control in Santa Clarita.

3W: The Brandolino Group and sister company Valleywide Leasing have become well known as the best in class for all real estate needs – buying, selling, investing, leasing, property management and so much more. What do you and your team do differently for your clients?

Jeff: It’s all based on our personal experience with investing in real estate. We have bought and sold well over 500 properties and that is like having a Harvard degree in real estate investing.

3W: What criteria do you have when searching for a good investment?

Jeff: We find value-add opportunities. A property performing at its best can only get worse. We look for properties we can add value to and increase profits by rolling up our sleeves and doing what we do best.

3W: When do you turn down an investment opportunity?

Jeff: We’re always on the treasure hunt. And with that hunt comes our due diligence. We acquire as much information as possible. Despite how interested we might be in a property,
if we don’t see how we could add value or turn a profit from it, then the search continues. Not every investment is a gold mine.

3W: Are there trends with people living beyond their means, being “house poor,” or do you see families investing in real estate living moderately but enjoying rental income which helps pay off their mortgages?

Jeff: In my humble opinion I believe many people do not adequately prepare themselves for retirement. I suggest that once you have a few bucks in the bank, start investing in real estate. It will insure you have something that will pay you rent/income in the future.

3W: Can people manage their own real estate investments, or should they hire a property manager?

Jeff: Yes, of course people can manage their own investments. But if they are very busy and productive with their work it might make more sense to hire a professional management company to manage their rental properties.

We formed Valleywide Leasing because we have so much experience managing our own property portfolio that we now offer property management services to investors. It just made sense that we would not only be able to help our investors find properties, but also manage them.

I have to say that our team is on top of things. Every time I personally buy a property I can close my eyes at night and know it is being well taken care of by professionals.

3W: Is owning property with rental income similar to the concept of paying yourself automatically and first?

Jeff: Yes. If you use leverage and have a bank loan they typically have principal pay down. In theory you are automatically paying down a loan and saving money – or better yet, your rent-paying tenant is paying down the loan for you and saving you money.

3W: Should people pay off their mortgages?

Jeff: Not if they have a fixed loan with an interest rate anything like rates are today. I would suggest riding out the loan since you borrowed money so cheap. Find something else to invest your money in and let the loan ride.

3W: Is there good debt and bad debt? What’s the difference?

Jeff: I guess good debt would be fixed loans with good rate and terms. Bad debt would be adjustable loans and or hard money loans with high interest rates and less than favorable terms. If you are brave enough to accept bad debt I suggest you make sure you have a very solid plan to pay it off. I would only consider taking bad debt for a short-term deal if you are expecting to be profitable.

3W: What inspires you to keep making profits for investors?

Jeff: Well, first, I’m one of the investors. I am a firm believer in always having skin in the game.

It is very rewarding when you are distributing a nice return to your investors each year. We have been fortunate to have remained profitable all these years. When you have good partners the general thinking is that we either win together or lose together and knowing that helps us keep pushing daily.

So to answer your question, I draw inspiration from the pleasure of being successful and delivering a nice return on investment to the people who put their trust in me and my team.

3W: If our readers want to learn more about how they can profit from investing in real estate with your company, how should they contact you?

Jeff: Thanks for asking. For anything investment-related, I would be the best point of contact. For buying or selling real estate, we would connect them with the best agent on my team based on their specific needs. Call 661-600-9410.

They can also visit our website anytime at www.brandolinogroup.com .

Family, Flying and Federer

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 15:08:10 GMT

From Issue #3

CPA Jorge Perazzo Puts His Clients ‘At Ease’ About Their Finances

Valencia-based Certified Public Accountant Jorge Perazzo heads a full-service accountancy corporation that helps businesses, families and individuals stay in control of their finances.

With more than 25 years’ accounting experience and more than 30 years of information technology expertise, Perazzo knows how to help his high-income clients maintain financial control and put them at ease.

Perazzo can help with anything from paying off a credit card to selling a business, with highly personalized, fast, accurate service.

Among his firm’s specialties are setting up accounting systems, internal controls, tax planning and return preparation, small business consulting, succession and exit planning, and more.

“I’ve been around PCs since the Charlie Chaplin commercials for IBM PCs.”

“We set up accounting systems from scratch including QuickBooks,” Perazzo said. “We prepare complex tax returns, from individual to S-corporations to multi-partner and multi-state partnerships. We represent clients in IRS, EDD and state tax audits, and prepare projections for clients seeking financing or investment partners.

“I love being able to give people information that empowers them to make a good decision,” he said. “That’s why our website’s tagline says we provide ‘Tax Preparation, Accounting Services and Business Consulting Designed for You to Take Control.’”

Perazzo Goes Paperless

There are no rows of filing cabinets lining the walls at Jorge Perazzo, CPA’s cozy third-floor office-with-a-view on Magic Mountain Parkway.

He conducts all his and his clients’ business electronically, using customized accounting software and email.

“We’re paperless, other than what clients give me to prepare a return,” he said. “We scan everything and return the paper to the client, or shred it if they don’t want it. If they ever need a copy, I can email what they need in three clicks.”

Perazzo’s tech savvy goes way back to the dinosaur personal computers of the early 1980s.

“I’ve been around PCs since the Charlie Chaplin commercials for IBM PCs,” he said. “I’m a gadget guy. I always have the latest iPhone, always download the latest updates, use Macs in my office. I go onto a remote server because it’s always backed up and I never have to worry about it and I can access it anywhere.”

Perazzo has a multi-user server he set up so his clients can access it. “They can easily log in and open their QuickBooks account from my server,” he said. “They never have to update the software. And I can access the data at the same time they can.”

Perazzo provides clients more easy-to-use tools at www.JorgePerazzo.com .

“They can upload files to our secure portal, get a blank tax organizer, and even have me do a remote session on their computer,” he said. “It’s all so easy. I hear that a lot from new clients. They say, ‘I don’t remember this being this easy with another accountant.’ That’s part of putting my clients at ease.”

‘Tranquilo Para Los Clientes’

Perazzo, who is bilingual (“My Spanish-speaking clients call me ‘Jorge,’ and my English-speaking clients call me ‘George,’” he said), said that the sense of financial stability he creates for his clients might translate to “tranquilo” in Spanish.

“It means calm, tranquil, at ease – how I want my clients to feel,” he said. “Of course, that’s part of trust, but putting them at ease is also an important part of the service I provide.”

Another is close communication. Perazzo spoils his clients by replying to emailed questions quickly, usually within five minutes. Sometimes even nights and weekends.

“It may be crazy, but it’s because I would want an answer that quickly, too,” he said. “I want them to feel at ease, to say, ‘I can always go to Jorge.’ And even if I don’t reply right away, I’m still replying a heck of a lot faster than what my clients are used to from other accountants.”

From Buenos Aires to Santa Clarita Valley

Peggy Perazzo co-pilots the Office of Jorge Perazzo, CPA.

Born in New York, Perazzo grew up from a young age in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved back to the United States in 1982.

In the States, he and his father Jorge Perazzo Sr. in the mid-1980s established a successful import-export business for locomotive parts, which were in big demand in South America and other developing nations across the world at the time. Jorge set up the company’s accounting system using then-new PC’s.

In February 1990, Perazzo joined Burns Audio as controller, serving as a full-charge accountant, overseeing company cash flow management. From July 1992 to July 1994, he handled all accounting for Pro-Fit Distributing, then joined Barry Krowne CPA, which became Krowne & Perazzo CPAs in 2001 when he became partner.

After years of building and refining his accounting skills using cutting-edge technology, and earning the trust of an ever-increasing number of clients, Perazzo launched his own firm in June 2016.

The 2017 Tax Bill

Peggy and Jorge Perazzo are proud parents of Nicolas and Daniela.

In December, Congress passed a massive tax overhaul which the President signed into law.

“My take on the legislation has been and will remain neutral,” Perazzo said.

But he is not convinced the legislation will deliver what the Senators and Representatives promise.

“One thing I am of a strong opinion is that no tax law in U.S. history has ever moved the needle on the economy – for better or worse – in any significant or permanent way with the exception of WPA programs passed after the Great Depression of 1930s,” Perazzo said.

“Politicians tend to oversimplify the relationship between tax cuts and economic growth,” he said. “The U.S. economy has a life of its own of peaks and valleys of recessions and growth periods which are based on many factors. These factors follow for the most part traditional laws of supply and demand of a free-market economy and not changes in tax law. Think of the past few recessions, particularly the last one. These were caused by housing market bubbles and creative stock market instruments – none of which were derived from or encouraged by any new tax law.”

Personal Passions:
Family, Flying and Federer

When Jorge isn’t navigating finances for his clients in Valencia, he’s piloting a private plane over the Southern California sky.

Jorge and wife Peggy, who is the company’s executive assistant, have been married five years; both have children from previous marriages. He has two sons, Matthew, 25, and Bryan, 20. Peggy’s daughter Daniela is 15, and son Nicolas is 13.

When not putting his clients at ease or spending quality time with his modern-day Brady Bunch, Perazzo just might be flying several thousand feet over Southern California.

“My favorite passion is flying, and I’ve been a licensed private pilot since 2005,” said Perazzo, who usually rents a single-engine plane at the Van Nuys airport for a day, with Peggy a frequent flying partner.

“I have about 260 hours,” he said. “I don’t fly much, but I fly enough to have fun. Once I’m in the air, it’s this three- dimensional feeling you don’t get in a car or on a bike. We fly to another airport, have a burger or go shopping somewhere, and fly back. Something fun.”

As office visitors can surmise by the Roger Federer canvas oil portrait on the wall, both Perazzos are also dedicated tennis enthusiasts. They play each other, follow the pro circuit participate in competitive leagues and occasionally attend major tournaments.

But Jorge Perazzo is primarily focused on putting his clients at ease about their finances. His dedication has earned the respect of not only his private and corporate clients, but also top financial advisors who refer their clients to him.

Among them is Fred Wachtel, financial advisor and Vice President – Investments with Wells Fargo Advisors .

“I am very pleased with the feedback I get from my clients who have used Jorge,” Wachtel said in an online testimonial. “He takes time to get to know them, so he can give them the best advice possible. Anyone in the market for a CPA will be in good hands with Jorge.”

With Perazzo as their financial co-pilot, helping keep their wealth on course and climbing, it’s no wonder his clients experience “tranquilo.”

“I really enjoy meeting new people, because when they become clients they tell me how much I’ve put their mind at ease so they can concentrate on their business,” he said. “I get such great satisfaction when I know I’ve helped them.”

Jorge Perazzo CPA

Accountancy Corporation

23822 Valencia Blvd. Ste 306

Valencia CA 91355

661-481-2219

Batten CLN8 Update: Genetic Therapy Dream Team Seeks to Save Kids’ Lives

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:43:08 GMT

From Issue #3

In the last issue of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness, we put the spotlight on the urgent quest to find a cure for Batten Disease CLN8, a genetic disorder that affects children by attacking and degenerating their nervous systems.

CLN8 and variants like CLN2 and CLN6 are often misdiagnosed because DNA analysis is required for a proper diagnosis. The disorder is usually fatal before a child reaches adulthood.

And we introduced you to a local family that’s fighting CLN8. Valencia parents Teri and Michael E. Fox are witnessing their 14-year-old son Sebastian, nicknamed Sebi, a bright, active, loving child, rapidly lose his ability to walk and talk.

“Children deteriorate extremely fast with seizures and progressive blindness, loss of motor control and cognitive decline,” Teri said. “In later stages, the children lose all ability to walk, talk, eat and care for themselves. It’s horrific to watch. And we’ve been told that’s what will happen to Sebi eventually.”

Even with proper diagnosis, though, there’s no cure yet. But researchers have discovered that gene replacement therapy has worked in sheep afflicted by Batten Disease. Simply put, treatment replaces a defective gene with a healthy one.

To date, drug companies have not invested in research, development, testing and approval of gene replacement therapy for CLN8 and related disorders. So it’s been up to the private sector to pick up the tab.

And families like the Foxes are stepping up, because they are dedicated to finding treatments that not only may save their own child, but also the lives of other kids suffering the same or similar genetic disorders.

Teri and Michael found out they are not alone when they read a 2016 People magazine profile about Hollywood producer Gordon Gray and his wife Kristen. Their daughters, Gwyneth and Charlotte, were diagnosed with Batten Disease CLN6 at ages 2 and 4, and their doctors said they could do nothing.

“Gordon and Kristen Gray didn’t take no for an answer,” Teri said. “They searched the world and found a lab that had used gene replacement therapy to treat sheep in New Zealand with Batten disease.”

After more than a year of research and development and clinical trials, using gene replacement therapy to treat children with CLN6, began at The Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Inspired by the Grays’ story and the work already being done on CLN6 – even though it is a completely different genetic disorder from CLN8 – the Foxes began exploring how gene replacement therapy might also help Sebi and other children with CLN8.

In January 2017, Teri and Michael created the nonprofit Sebastian Velona Foundation to find a cure for CLN8 (Sebi is son of Teri and her previous husband, Chris Velona). They brought in experienced non-profit managers, and they connected with the Grays’ “dream team” of doctors and scientific advisors to build upon the research already done for CLN6.

And the Foxes staged fundraisers, by year’s end receiving more than $225,000 in private and corporate donations. That was enough to fund the first phase of a long, estimated $3.5 million process of researching and testing CLN8 gene replacement therapy and eventually securing FDA approval. By incremental fundraising, the Foundation seeks to keep the quest for a cure moving forward.

“A harmless virus is used to transfer good CLN8 genes to replace the defective gene,” Michael said. “When the good genes get injected via spinal epidural, the virus does what a virus does and it spreads the good CLN8 genes through the body. The defective gene still stays in the body, but becomes inactive.”

“That’s how simple it is once we obtain FDA approval for the therapy,” Teri said. “And other kids with CLN8 will be included in the clinical trial, along with Sebi. So, it’s a pretty miraculous thing.”

But if ultimately successful with the Batten CLN6 trial, and an eventual CLN8 trial, doctors think this type of gene replacement therapy could also be applied to treat a much wider range of genetic disorders, both common and rare.

“These scientists have come up with a promising therapy,” Michael said. “We have a goal of curing CLN8. We just need financial help to get there. Importantly, Sebastian Velona Foundation donors aren’t just helping kids with CLN8. If successful at treating CLN8, gene replacement therapy could ultimately prove to be a cure for any genetic disorder.

We encourage you and your company to donate to the Sebastian Velona Foundation both now and in the future with recurring donations at CureBattenCLN8.org. Please also contact Teri or Michael to arrange a future fundraising event. Meanwhile, you can send and receive Sebastian’s Healing Hugs on Facebook at HealingHugs4Sebi .

Donate now online at www.CureBattenCLN8.org .

CT3 Media Brings L.A. Marketing Savvy to SCV

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:40:31 GMT

From Issue #3

CT3Media is a full-service Los Angeles marketing agency which also has a publishing division putting out products such as Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness magazine and the latest No. 1 seller on Amazon in the Philosophy section, “Atheism Kills” by Barak Lurie.

CT3Media brings the power of L.A.-savvy marketing to benefit Santa Clarita Valley business owners. The agency is a force in the valley, exemplified by its presentation of the Santa Clarita Family Wealth Summit at TPC in May 2017. The summit featured five speakers on the topic of wealth including keynoter Catherine Austin Fitts, a former federal housing commissioner, and Amy Smith from Investor’s Business Daily.

In 2016, CT3Media launched Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness magazine, reaching the highest income households in the Santa Clarita Valley. CT3Media has an impressive list of clients on radio, TV, digital and print such as wealth managers, doctors, attorneys and high-end retailers.

Stephen: We’re here with SCV resident Chet Thompson, CEO of CT3Media and publisher of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness magazine, and my first question is why in the world any- one would want to launch a magazine in a city already loaded with magazines? Isn’t print dead?

Chet: No! (laughs) They’ve been saying that for years now, but print, radio and TV are still here. Traditional media is more powerful than ever.

Stephen: Why do you say that?

Chet: Because the businesses with the best stories win. Apple, Virgin, Tom’s shoes and many others proved the best way to tell a story is with traditional radio, print or TV. And a business that tells their story has the best chance of connecting on a personal level to the reader without any carnival-barking advertisements getting in the way. It’s pure content; people/readers appreciate that. That’s our magazine.

Stephen: Haven’t people gone all digital now, getting stories online or via their mobile app?

Chet: Sure, but a beautifully laid-out story with artwork in a magazine held in your hands is far more impressive
and captivating than a digital version on your computer or 4-inch screen on your phone. Besides, with digital you always get interrupted and have to close out the app, but with a printed piece, you can set it on your desk and it’s still right there when you come back. at means more frequency and depth by our readers which is a more effective way for the business owner to connect.

Stephen: What is your mission statement or what are you trying to do with Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness?

Chet: We created the magazine to serve as a platform for business owners to connect with our readers by sharing the story of their business, how hard they work to provide excellent service and products and express personal, meaningful, and relevant insight on family wealth, wisdom, and wellness for our readers.

In so doing, these business owners created something unique and extraordinary; an opportunity for consumers to get to know them beyond price points and advertisements.

Stephen: The business owners have to be selected in order to be in your magazine?

Chet: Yes. We match business owners to the highest income earners in the Santa Clarita Valley by way of proprietary software which we regularly use for our Los Angeles clients. We offer this to select SCV business owners, too. It’s targeting way beyond just digital marketing.

Stephen: So that’s your secret sauce. I’ll bet you can’t or won’t tell me what’s involved.

Chet: What I can tell you is that it is scary how accurately our software can profile and target the exact right customer for a business. But targeting is nothing without a good story. Otherwise you’re just carnival-barking at folks, which wastes the business owner’s ad spend and turns off consumers.

Stephen: You’ve spent decades in marketing internationally in Russia, Bangladesh and Japan and have been focused on Los Angeles for the last 18 years. What advice do you give your clients here in the SCV?

Chet: Always be a class act. We tell them to advertise always and only in a media outlet that you would hire to be an ambassador for your company, to deliver your message.

That’s because people judge you based on the messenger you choose. You can’t fool people into thinking you deliver products/services of class and worth if you advertise in a giant piece of junk mail, or use radio, TV, websites and print products that have an overwhelmingly amount of carnival-barking ads with little or questionable content.

Furthermore, choose a media product that will lift your business in good light. If your ads or commercials are the best looking in the entire media product, then the other advertisers should pay you, because you’re the tide that is rising all boats in that media product.

Stephen: Speaking of hiring, what do you look for in a client when they ask you to consult with them?

Chet: We have a cup of coffee with them, we listen, and if we’re interested we’ll do a deep dive and direct their needs to a CT3 solution. We don’t charge for any of that. It’s a free consul- tation. Only if they like our solution do we go to contract with them.

We have an amazing team of Los Angeles professionals – no other company in the Santa Clarita Valley comes close. And we’re affordable, too, because we charge our rates for the market were in. Los Angles is the No. 1 revenue market for media in the nation, but Santa Clarita is not Los Angeles. We understand that, and know how to bring the power of L.A.-savvy marketing into play for the benefit of our Santa Clarita Valley business owners.

Stephen: Tell us about your company’s team of experts.

Chet: As a company we’re blessed to have a staff of professionals who put their own skin in the game. We hold ourselves accountable because we know business owners count on things just like we do.

Stephen: What’s your advice on leadership?

Chet: Ha! I lead by staying out of the way so our team can bring forth the solutions our clients are looking for.

To find out more about CT3Media or to view the first issues, visit www.CT3Media.com .

Dr. Helm’s Top Tips for Eye Health

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:37:16 GMT

From Issue #3

Eat a Proper Diet: Most people could eat more leafy green vegetables. Cold water fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids are vital. Beta carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin are among the very important nutrients we get from leafy greens or eggs. Foods high in vitamins A, C, E and zinc benefit eye health. Low-sugar foods can also help in staving off macular degeneration.
Get screened: Anyone 40 or older should be screened regularly for glaucoma, which presents no noticeable symptoms, especially if there is a family history. Glaucoma can silently and painlessly sneak up on you and steal your eyesight when it could have been prevented.
Don’t smoke: Studies show smoking increases risk of age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, and dry eye syndrome. If you smoke, quitting can reduce risk.
Wear Sunglasses: Using sunglasses is the biggest controllable factor for reducing cataracts, macular degeneration and other eye problems. You can also have clear lenses that are 100 percent UV-protected.
Wear Protective Goggles: A smart idea when doing anything using power tools, and great idea for athletes, especially weekend warriors who tend to get hurt more often.

Helm Vision Group
27420 Tourney Road, Suite 100
Valencia, CA 91355
Phone: 661-259-3937
www.HelmVisionGroup.com

The Relationship Between Consumers and Business Owners in 2018

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 14:34:47 GMT

From Issue #3

Happy New Year! 2018 is here and regardless of what the future brings, most of us have in the forefront of our minds protecting our wealth and health by making wise choices and good buying decisions. This can be challenging as a consumer if all we know about the businesses in our community are their advertisements. This needs to change because the relationship between businesses in our community and consumers deserves more than the superficial pictures and prices of products and services. It’s imperative for consumers to learn more about a business; who operates the business, what they stand for, what their contribution to the community is, so consumers can make an informed and wise buying decision.

Some of the finest business owners in our region have created a unique platform for you to get to know them beyond price points and advertisements. We hope you enjoy reading their stories and collective wisdom on family wealth and health.

On our cover we are proud to showcase Nola , Fred and Jorge . We found them to be truly inspiring professionals dedicated to perfecting their business and bringing satisfaction to their customers. We hope you enjoy reading their stories and their thoughts on wealth, wisdom and wellness. As you get to know them we hope you’ll keep them in mind the next time you are looking to make a good buying decision.

Happy Reading.

CEO | President, CT3Media, Inc.

Designing the Future of Smiles

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 18:00:02 GMT

Dr. Siman is an architect of smile design. He is also a world renowned leader in alleviating people’s suffering from TMJ issues such as headaches, migraines, ear congestion, ringing in the ears, neck pain and teeth grinding. He teaches dentists around the world the benefits of building a practice based on first balancing a patients bite by eliminating TMJ issues before designing and only then beautifying their smile. A graduate of UCLA, Eddie Siman received his doctorate from the University of the Pacific in San Francisco. He is the author of two books, Life Changing Transformations and TMJ/ TMD Treatment and Relief. Dr. Siman has transformed the lives of many Hollywood celebrities and has been featured in various media and publications, most recently on “The Doctors” television show featuring his one day smile makeover.

For over 30 years Dr. Siman has been perfecting his expertise in Smile Design, Cosmetic Dentistry, Implantology, Dental Surgery, IV Sedation, Neuromuscular Dentistry and TMJ Treatments. Dr. Siman has earned the right to be considered a true dental artiste.

When viewing before-and-after photos of some of Dr. Siman’s many happy patients, you can’t help but marvel at their life-changing transformations by looking at their eyes in the “after” photographs. They look years younger and much happier.

Let’s meet the amazing Dr. Eddie Siman at his modern, luxurious, state-of-the art facility in Sherman Oaks:

3W: Dr. Siman, when you were growing up did you always aspire to become a dentist?

Dr. Siman: Actually, no. When I was a kid I was more interested in becoming an architect. I always liked to envision and design things. I used to draw up plans for my ideas and I had a natural sense of how things should look and eventually turn out.

3W: Do you find that your early aspirations are somehow connected to what you do now?

Dr. Siman: Absolutely! There are many elements of construction, design and architecture in what I do. Creating a natural smile and a long-lasting, stable set of teeth that is going to feel good, requires a solid foundation. Building this foundation requires planning and visualizing the final product.

3W: What has been the driving force behind your gaining more knowledge and expertise year after year?

Dr. Siman: At the beginning of my career I was taught to restore just a section of the mouth. This limited approach didn’t even begin to address the extensive and complicated needs of my patients. In response, I dedicated my career to advancing my knowledge and keeping up with the latest technology and treatment protocols, all while adding three decades of invaluable experience. Now I can restore someone with no teeth to a full set of 28 teeth in one day while the patient sleeps. The first step is conceiving and building a foundation to support a smile that will look good within a unique frame, which is your lips and most importantly your facial
structure. As you can imagine, we can’t just take a cookie cutter approach! It’s all got to be custom designed because people come in all shapes sizes, and complexions.

3W: How does ethnicity play a role in your custom smile design?

Dr. Siman: Most of the textbooks we studied in dental school were based on studies done in the 1900’s on the facial structures of Europeans, essentially limiting our training to the aesthetic of just a fraction of the population. I wouldn’t dream of trying to apply those same principles to the patients we see in our practice today. I create beautiful smiles for people of all ethnicities, facial characteristics and skin tones. The concept that each patient’s smile is truly unique makes what I’m doing so much more advanced than that of general dentists.

3W: You have studied the “psychology” of smiles. How does changing the shape of a patient’s teeth effect the “psychology” of their smile?

Dr. Siman: Your smile is your introduction to the world. Often we look at someone and perceive them to be assertive if their front teeth have square edges and their canine teeth are pointed. Picture some of Hollywood’s leading men, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington or Harrison Ford; it’s not by accident or coincidence that they each have dominant and assertive smiles. By simply rounding or sharpening the edges of a smile, I am able to soften or harden its appearance in a matter of minutes.

3W: What types of equipment do you house here in your office that enable you to perform these types of procedures?

Dr. Siman: We have a 3D scanner that digitally scans a patient’s teeth and produces a model of the patient’s jaw. This allows me to plan what the teeth are going to look like on the computer, designing with precision a set of teeth that fits perfectly. As a side benefit, we no longer have to jam a tray into the patient’s mouth and wait for the molding goop to harden in the patient’s mouth. We also have a CT scanner that generates a 3D image enabling us to view the entire jaw joint so we diagnose what may be causing a patient’s pain. Another key piece of equipment is an electromyogram (EMG) that I use to test the relaxation levels of the jaw muscles related to TMJ to ensure that the smile reconstruction is comfortable and enjoyable for my patients for the rest of their lives.

3W: What is TMJ and why is it the source of pain and discomfort for so many of people?

Dr. Siman: Along with full-mouth reconstruction, diagnosing and treating TMJ disorders is the primary focus of our practice. TMJ is an acronym for temporomandibular joint and it is located near your ears where your jaw connects with your skull. This unique joint is the one we use the most in our entire body. This joint is necessary for nearly all of the activities that involve your mouth, including eating, talking, laughing and yawning. The health of the TMJ is important to your overall well-being because the muscles that move the jaw are connected to your head, neck and shoulders. If these muscles come under pressure due to misalignment, the result can be spasms that travel to the temples causing headaches or pain around the face or jaw joint limiting one’s ability to open the mouth.

3W: You spoke earlier of the “Happy Bite” what does that mean?”

Dr. Siman: With the textbook bite you have a slight overbite in which the top teeth rest slightly over your bottom teeth. But a good-looking bite is not necessarily a happy bite. A happy bite is when your muscles are happy. I see many patients that have had braces where the orthodontist has done a great job of giving them a very beautiful, straight set of teeth. Unfortunately, they may have jaw problems and muscle tension as the unintended consequence of this treatment.

3W: Let’s list some of the symptoms of TMJ.

Dr. Siman: They include migraines, headaches, facial pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, teeth grinding, ringing in the ears and ear congestion. The problem is that most practitioners, including dentists, doctors and chiropractors, address the symptoms because they don’t have the training and technology to diagnose and address TMJ, the root cause of all these issues. An all-too-common example of this is the night guard provided to teeth grinders. The night guard will physically keep the top and bottom teeth from touching but doesn’t prevent the grinding motion or address the source of the problem in any way. As a result, most night guard users have painful symptoms.

3W: Who is responsible for correctly diagnosing TMJ?

Dr. Siman: That’s another problem. TMJ problems should be treated as multi-disciplinary, meaning they are dental as well as a medical, issues. Unfortunately, as many TMJ sufferers learn only after seeing multiple specialists, TMJ falls into a gap between the two professions. As dentists, we are mechanical people. We are taught basic anatomy, but the core of our training is fixing dental problems such as gum problems, root canals, cavities and broken teeth. We are taught some things about jaw function, but that’s pretty much where it ends. Dentists who truly want to be well versed in other modalities need to study for years, continuing their education, which is what I chose to do. On the other hand, medical doctors rarely have any training in this field. The reality is that very few healthcare professionals have a complete understanding of this issue. I have dedicated 30 years of my career in expanding my knowledge in the field of diagnosing and curing TMJ.

3W: Dr. Siman, what is your vision for the future. How do we duplicate the kind of office and practice you have here with all this state-of-the-art technology under one roof?

Dr. Siman: Recent technology that is being incorporated into modern dentistry is not being taught in dental schools and I would like to see that changed. Dentists that have practiced for many years must learn new technologies in order to stay current. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine there would be a CT scanning machine sitting in my office. I’m involved in teaching dentists from all over the world the techniques I have developed to build a practice that offers implantology, TMJ and aesthetics. The synergistic combination of these modalities has enabled me to transform thousands of lives over the past 30 years. Imagine if you had two dentists to choose from, both of whom can give you a new smile, but with the State-of- the-art Technology I have under one roof I can give you a new smile, take care of your headaches, make sure you don’t grind your teeth, and eliminate your neck problems. Which dentist would you choose?

800-92-SMILE

Dr. Siman has two offices to serve you:

Sherman Oaks Office
14629 Ventura Boulevard
(818) 574.5100
www.millenniumdental.net

Beverly Hills Office
414 N. Camden Drive #1240
(310) 734-8525
www.tmjbeverlyhills.com
www.youngersmiles.com

You Can Retire in Style Without Paying Fees or Losing Your Principal

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:47:04 GMT

From Issue #2

Arif Halaby is the CEO of Total Financial Solutions. Arif is not interested in making you rich, rather he is dedicated to making sure you don’t go broke. He helps you plan for a steady stream of income during your retirement years from indexed products. To retire in style, with the life you want, starts with a visit with Arif and together you can make a plan for perhaps the most important years of your life.

“We don’t speculate with our client’s money; we protect their money and grow it steadily over time.”

3W: Arif in our last issue our readers learned that you retired in your thirties due to your financial prowess, were featured in an ad for Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad author) and have dedicated your life with your company,Total Financial Solutions, to keeping people from going broke by utilizing annuities and insurance to protect their hard-earned money. I’d like to start off this interview with a story about how you’re different from other financial professionals.

Arif: Sure, I’d be happy to. A woman came to see us after she had met with other firms and she told us, “Everyone wants my entire portfolio. They don’t understand that we’ve just met. It’s like they want to get married on the first date. All I want to do was to take it slow and get to know my advisor.” So, I told her what I tell everyone who comes to see us, “Let’s just work with one account and let us prove ourselves to you first.” Long story short, we did very well for her. Had she gone with a different company she may have lost thousands of dollars. She recently called me and said, “I see the market is in decline. Did I lose any money?” I said, “No you did not. Remember we aren’t going to make you rich we’re going to keep you from going broke.”

3W: What do you mean by keeping people from going broke?

Arif: Our mantra is “Safety First.” Safety means not losing any of your principal. In other words, it doesn’t matter if markets go up or down, your money is protected from loss.” When we talk about safety first retirement strategies, the one big key component is not losing your principal. The second component to address is fees. I have seen fees you might have to pay to grow your money that can eat you alive.

3W: How do fees eat you alive?

Arif: Each year your retirement money grows, there can be fees on your money. The same money that you paid a fee on last year. So that same dollar is suffering a fee every year, over and over again, making it very difficult for that dollar to grow because it constantly has one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake.

3W: Can you give us an example of how fees eat away at our gains every year?

Arif: Sure, a client opened an account with a broker several years ago and put in $130,000. Today, it is worth $146,000. She came to our office and said, “Arif I’ve made $16,000 and certainly it’s better than losing.” But when we looked at her fees and costs, we discovered that it had cost her $21,000 to get that $16,000 return.

3W: Wow! People don’t take into account the fees that come with money management in the stock market.What about people who like to invest in the market?

Arif: We don’t mind you being in the stock market, but you need to know that the stock market can be 100% at risk. Think of the stock market as a bus. The front is risky so you might play it safe by sitting in the back of the bus. If the bus goes off a cliff; you’re still going to hit the bottom, it just takes a little longer. The outcome is the same no matter where you are on the bus.

3W: Good analogy. Then what would you advise people who have other investments and what percentage of a couple’s net worth should be in principal-protected assets such as annuities?

Arif: We call it the ‘Rule of 100’. Start with 100 and subtract your current age. This is the percentage of your money you might want at risk. So, if you’re 55 years old, then you could have 45% at risk, and 55% safe.

3W: What products do you use for “safety first”, to protect people’s principle and give them a steady stream of income for the rest of their lives?

Arif: We mainly recommend fixed and indexed annuities, but we use other insurance products as well, depending on the client’s goals and needs. The important thing is that we see steady growth while protecting the principal along the way, without putting the client’s money at risk. The products we use are built on contracts and guarantees with insurance companies that have a legal obligation for them to protect and perform, as opposed to products that are speculative. We don’t speculate with our client’s money; we protect their money from market decline and grow it steadily over time.

3W: Do you meet people who are successful but don’t think they earn or save enough to have that correct percentage of their money in a solid retirement plan?

Arif: You can earn $30,000 per year and be wealthy 25 years from now, or you can earn $30,000 per month and be broke 25 years from now. Being wealthy is rarely a determinant of your income. Saving for anything is a long-term goal. It’s a habit to save money. Just like you pay your mortgage and utility bills, you should be paying yourself and putting money into your retirement accounts because statistically speaking, we’re going to live a long time.

3W: So, it’s not the amount of your paycheck that makes you wealthy, it’s your behavior with your paycheck that makes you wealthy.

Arif: Or broke. Let me give you an example. A father and son came to see me. The father retired years ago in his 50s. The son recently retired in 50s as well. But here is the difference between the two. The son retired when the market was at an all-time high. He was making a lot of money and buying toys, boats, vacation homes, jet skis, cars, and storage units for all his toys. But the father consistently put money aside when he retired so by the time he was in his 70s his retirement accounts were yielding more money every year than he was spending. His son first came to me when he was in his 30s and felt that he had a long time to live and put off focusing on his financial future. So now 25 years making that big monthly income and spending it, the son is sitting in my office, with his father. His father said, “Son, the markets go up and down but your bills always go up; they never go down.”

3W: The wisdom of fathers.

Arif: Exactly right. If you have all money in stocks and the market declines while your bills go up, you might run out of money. But if you have investments that keep up with your bills you have a better chance of being protected. We want to outpace inflation, eliminate fees, and most importantly, we want to preserve principal. Those three concepts can increase your overall rate of return because we never have to go backwards.

3W: So its not about a high rate of return as much as it is getting a reasonable rate of return and protecting it from fees?

Arif: Yes. And the amount of risk if you chose to invest in risk assets like the stock market. The chart on the next page shows you that you can earn a lower rate of return and end up with more money. People think it’s only about rates of return; it’s not. As I said, two things can affect your principal: 1) the market can go down, and 2) fees can eat you alive. Pay attention to your risk of losing your principal, and the fees you pay against your gains.

3W: This is fascinating because the annuities made more than the S&P 500.

Arif M. Halaby is a Certified Estate Planner in California and is President/CEO of Total Financial Solutions, Inc., a financial and insurance services company based in Santa Clarita, California, with offices extending to the Simi, and Antelope Valleys.

Arif: Exactly, it is not designed to beat it, but it did during this timeframe. Let me share this story with you. A gentleman retired at 50 with a pension of $450 per month. Social Security was going to give him $750 per month, but of course he couldn’t take his social Security until he was 62. In the meantime, he had to pull money out of his savings to live. So, he depleted much of his savings waiting to turn 62. We worked with both his wife’s accounts and his accounts and structured their life to preserve what they had and establish guaranteed streams of income. They are comfortable now.

3W: Is it common for people to retire and start living the good life, thinking the good times in the market will stay?

Arif: What I see is that retiring at the height of the market is very misleading and euphoric because people get the impression that the market is always going to go up. This makes people feel comfortable with spending a greater percentage of their retirement money. But if the market declines by 20% they need to understand that their mortgage, car payment, insurance, utilities and grocery bills are not going to give them a 20% discount.

3W: Give us an idea of the products you use and the insurance companies you choose to work with.

Arif: We only work with A-rated companies. There are about 30 companies that offer fixed annuities. We work with about 6 to 8 of those at any one time that have contracts with guarantees, no fees, and have a track records of success. When we see companies that have consistencies in these areas then we work with them. No matter what company we work with, our members always have the final choice between several different options.

3W: Arif you truly have a calling; a vocation. You take it upon yourself, to help families live comfortably and financially sound throughout their retirement years. You are helping not only the parent’s and their children but the parents of the parents.

Arif: We believe the family’s goal with their financial advisors is to make sure that aging parents can afford to live without being a burden to their children financially. Otherwise you’ll have to take them in, which is honorable, but my point is that you want choices and having enough money gives you those choices. People are much happier when they have choices.

Total Financial Solutions, Inc.
A member of The Personal Financial & Insurance Group, LLC California Business License #0E11839
“Integrating your financial life…” ™
24322 Main Street, Newhall, CA 91321
(888) 99-RETIR / info@tfswealth.com

“Can You Hear Me Now?”

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:33:37 GMT

From Issue #2

Audiologist Dr. Patrice Rifkind Understands How Hearing Care is Health Care

No one in the Santa Clarita Valley knows more about treatment for hearing loss than Dr. Patrice Rifkind, Au.D., Doctor of Audiology. Dr. Rifkind is owner of Audiology Associates Hearing Center, located right here in the Santa Clarita Valley for over 15 years. She’s helped thousands of people hear better and communicate with family, friends and business associates.

I visited with Dr. Rifkind in her state-of-the-art office in Santa Clarita, and gained a wealth of knowledge. “Hearing Care Is Health Care” is the slogan that appears on Dr. Rifkind’s informative book entitled, Hear Better: A Guide to Finding the Best Hearing Healthcare. Anyone with hearing loss can benefit from an evaluation and the appropriate care and treatment, but there are a lot of obstacles that audiologists like Dr. Rifkind face on a daily basis that prevent potential patients from receiving proper care.

One of the jewels contained in Dr. Rifkind’s book is a recommendation from Donald Schum, Ph.D., vice president of Audiology and Professional Relations for Oticon, Inc., a company that manufactures and supplies hearing aid solutions in the United States:

“Oticon encourages hearing care professionals to explain the health risk of untreated hearing loss to patients as a way of motivating them to do the right thing to treat their hearing loss. ‘Cognitive health is a concern across all age groups but especially among older adults,’ says Schum. It’s not just about hearing well today, it’s about the long-term effects of untreated hearing loss.”

Dr. Rifkind strongly encourages people to get their hearing tested and get a baseline of where they stand because as we get older we need to take care of our ears and that helps take care of our brain.

According to the Better Hearing Institute, of the 48 million Americans with hearing loss, only about 35 percent are over the age of 65. Of those:

1 in 6 baby boomers (ages 54-72) have some form of hearing loss.
1 in 14 Generation Xers (ages 34-53) already have hearing loss.
1.4 million Children (18 or younger) have hearing difficulty.
2-3 out of 1,000 infants are born with a hearing loss in one or both ears.

While hearing loss is commonplace across all age groups, the severity of hearing loss does have the tendency to increase with age. From 2000 to 2015, the number of Americans with hearing loss has doubled, and globally the number is up by 44 percent. This makes hearing loss the second most common health problem worldwide.

So what we are dealing with is a very serious health problem that has ramifications beyond just the loss of hearing. Hence the slogan, “Hearing care is health care.” The good news is that most people can benefit from early diagnosis of hearing loss and appropriate treatment, and experience some degree of improvement.

3W: I saw that sweet couple that just left your office together, and I thought to myself “That could be me when I’m older, coming to you for help with my hearing.” I wonder whether I might have a difficult time facing some type of hearing loss, or would I let vanity prevent me from getting a hearing aid?

Rifkind: I see cases like that all the time. A typical scenario is when a couple comes to see me and the husband needs a hearing aid, and he may not even remember having seen me years ago when he needed a hearing aid back then. Then they’ll come back because he’s complaining of a ringing in the ear, and I diagnose that he still needs a hearing aid, only his condition has worsened. I wish he hadn’t delayed getting help with his hearing.

3W: Besides the obvious need to be able to hear voices, important sounds, and music for example, what are some other motivations for protecting against hearing loss?

Rifkind: Hearing loss causes auditory deprivation to your brain. It really does damage over time. For example, people with only a mild hearing loss that don’t do anything about it are twice as likely to have dementia. And it increases exponentially in relation to a higher degree of hearing loss. People who suffer from hearing loss are also inclined to avoid social settings, conversations and forms of entertainment because they become more and more difficult. Untreated hearing loss also increases the likelihood of depression, isolation, paranoia, insecurity, and can cause negative effects on a variety of medical health conditions too.

3W: That’s incredible! You’re telling me hearing loss can lead to chronic disease and other medical health conditions if left untreated?

Rifkind: Yes, and in the typical scenario I just shared, the hearing spouse who is well meaning, actually slows down the realization by the spouse who needs treatment. Because of the damage that untreated hearing loss can do, and the problem with gradual hearing loss being unnoticed or denied, it would be wise to catch the condition earlier rather than later. Screening for hearing loss should begin in young adulthood (a baseline by age 40), particularly for vulnerable groups, such as diabetics.

3W: Once you’ve managed to convince your patient that considering a hearing aid would improve their quality of life, what aid would improve their quality of life, what steps do you take to turn it into a positive situation where they will wear their device all the time?

Rifkind: With today’s technology, there is less worry of embarrassment from misunderstanding conversation, social activities are more enjoyable if you can hear better, and people generally have happier relations if they can hear well. And there are several types and styles that often make it impossible for people to even know that you’re wearing a hearing aid, especially if you have hair that can easily cover it up.

3W: So vanity can delay people from seeing you?

Rifkind: I just saw Morgan Freeman on TV the other day doing a promo for a movie, and I could tell he was wearing a hearing aid. A group of us audiologists were talking about it on our private chat because we could see it. The one he was wearing was silver, and somebody said they would have gone with the slate color for him which would have blended in with his hair better. Today we can make hearing aids that match your hair and skin color making them almost invisible.

3W: It seems that there are a number of different facets to your job. How many hats would you say that you wear?

Rifkind: One of the things I find interesting about my job is I’m not just a doctor working with patients, I also diagnose hearing loss problems; I’m in some ways a therapist providing counseling because there’s a lot of counseling involved for my patients in what I do regarding the stress and anxiety. I’m also a teacher, because I have to instruct people on how to wear and care for their hearing aids. Another thing I do is program these devices, so I have to understand the mechanics of it. Many of my patients are in their 80’s and didn’t grow up using a smart phone, so I have to guide them on how to use their smart phone application, which is not so simple to use. I’m also a mechanic because I have to take the hearing aids apart sometimes, then reassemble them.

3W: Dr. Rifkind, by your own admission you’ve been obsessed with hearing for the last 20 years, and you’ve no doubt seen a lot of changes in treatment, equipment and technology. Where have technological advancements had the biggest impact on hearing health?

Rifkind: The human ear is so much more complicated than the eye, which is amazing because it functions like
a camera. But the ear is much more complicated. The inner ear, or cochlea, is often described as looking like a snail shell. It is the most complex part of the hearing system and is the organ of hearing. It contains thousands of nerve cells, called inner and outer hair cells. These hair cells cause the nerve to identify a sound and send it to the auditory cortex of the brain.

Today, we see cochlear implants that enable a deaf person to hear. A cochlear implant is an electronic device that replaces the function of the defective cochlea. The person is still considered deaf, but the cochlear implant does
the work of the defected parts of the inner ear to provide sound signals to the brain.

We also have hearing aids that are Bluetooth enabled and interact with your smart phone. So if your phone rings you push a button on phone app to answer the phone and hear it through the hearing aid. You can do the same with a television audio reception, or even listening to music on their phone. These are just a couple of advancements I’ve seen in my field that I never imagined would be possible.

3W: I’m curious. Have you ever seen someone who’s deaf and receives a cochlear implant that enables them
to hear for the first time in their life? (Dr. Rifkind takes me to her computer where she shows me a compilation video of people of all ages hearing for the first time. Mesmerized by the monitor, our goosebumps quickly turn to tears, as Dr. Rifkind graciously passes her box of tissues to me).

Rifkind: I can just sit and watch these for hours in the middle of the night if I’m not careful! We sometimes get the same reactions we just saw when someone gets a new hearing aid. I often tell the story about adult children bringing in their parents who are in their 90’s and the mother hasn’t heard for years. So we put the hearing aid on her and adjust it, and almost immediately the couple is sitting there deep in conversation, oblivious to everyone around them. Of course the kids are seeing this and getting all choked up.

3W: Dr. Rifkind, what you are able to do for people is nothing short of a medical miracle.

Please feel free to email Dr. Rifkind at HearingHealthAdvice@yahoo.com if you have any questions or would like some advice on how you can “Hear Better.”

Audiology Associates
23838 Valencia Blvd, Suite 100
Valencia, CA 91355
661-284-1900
661-284-1988 (fax)
www.audiologyassociates.net

Collin Rigler, Wealth Manager with a Competitive Advantage

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:15:29 GMT

From Issue #2

Collin Rigler is an extremely successful and confident wealth manager. And he has good reason to be. Collin majored in applied economics, helped take companies public, consults with colleagues that work in the Federal Reserve and has an impressive list of CEO and executive clients in a wide range of industries.

While Collin’s credentials rank in the top of his field, he has an ace up his sleeve; a competitive advantage over most wealth managers. When Collin was managing institutional portfolios, he learned directly from William O’Neil + Co, the data analysis and investing style of its founder, William O’Neil. O’Neil founded Investor’s Business Daily and William O’Neil + Co. which provides investment analysis to top hedge funds and mutual fund managers.

For someone who is sought after by power movers in many industries, we found Collin to be quite humble. No doubt he is confident in what he does, he has real passion for keeping on top of his game in the ever-changing markets. He considers it an honor to be fortunate enough to use his talents to help many families grow their wealth and legacy.

3W: What are common mistakes that the intelligent investor should look out for?

Collin: Not selling! In my opinion, holding onto last year’s losers is a very costly mistake. More people have lost money

because they fall in love with a sector or a stock that has become like their pet which they never want to sell. Not selling losers and redirecting that money into something more productive is a mistake that everybody makes.

3W: What do you do differently for your clients?

Collin: We manage our client’s money on a proactive basis so we’re ready to buy into the market when there is opportunity to make money for you and get you out to minimize any loss. We do what you’re currently paying your financial advisor to do but may not be getting.

3W: Then what should we have in our portfolio?

Collin: You need something in your portfolio that has the ability to out-perform when the market goes down; you need some type of mechanism where you’re going to cash, and another mechanism knowing when the appropriate time is to buy back in. If you don’t have those you might as well just buy the S&P 500 and call it a day because you’re just paying management fees.

3W: So you’re on top of your client’s portfolios on a daily basis, what indicators and methods do you use?

Collin: We analyze data from 3,000 money managers in the country and we ask them if they’re bullish, bearish, or neutral. We look at the percentage difference between advisors who are bullish and those who are bearish. If there are too many bearish managers we know the market may be bottoming. If there are too many bullish managers we know the market may be topping. We look for readings that have been very consistent over time before we take action.

3W: What else do you research for market indicators?

Collin: Generally, we look at market direction, technical indicators (such as the 200-Day Moving Average), and we look at some tactical indicators. However, the psychological indicators are probably one of the best indicators you’re ever going to have in the market. In addition, there’s a system where we screen for current and annual earnings per share, new products, services or new management in the company; we look at some type of catalyst or trigger that we think is going to make the stock go up, and we also want to make sure it’s a leader in the industry.

3W: In layman’s terms?

Collin: We want to be invested in the leaders of an industry because there’s a reason they’re a leader. We want to be in companies that are big enough, that have institutional sponsorships where mutual funds and hedge funds are buying these companies aggressively; that’s really the fuel that makes stocks go up. But in the final analysis, none of this works unless the market is going in the right direction.

3W: If our readers are interested in what you might do for their portfolio how should they contact you?

Collin: I’m a family man just like them. Please have them call me at 424-303-6403 or they can email me. I love to talk about the markets with people who are interested. If you already have an advisor I’m happy to take a look and give you a second opinion. You may have started investing years ago and all you have been doing is rebalancing every year. That might not be the best portfolio for you. That is why we rebalance to the current market indicators and your unique situation. Also, they can simply call or email us and we can provide them with a weekly market recap and/or timely investment ideas.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. This material is for informational purposes only, and not intended to replace the advice of a qualified tax advisor, attorney, accountant or financial advisor.

Collin Rigler

Managing Director – Client Advisor

ALEX BROWN

10250 Constellation Blvd. Suite 850

Los Angeles, CA90067

424-303-6403

Collin.rigler@alexbrown.com

www.riglergroup.com

Wall Street’s Best Kept Secret

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:12:35 GMT

From Issue #2

Fractional Life Settlements

Are You Leveraging this Unique Alternative Asset Class?

3W: I see that Reliant’s slogan is “Bringing Institutional Profitability to Individual Investors.” What does that mean, and who are the institutions investing in assets such as Life Settlements?

Brian: Notable examples would be, Warren Buffett, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone. Historically, only institutional investors had access to life settlements because of the large amount of capital and expertise required to do so effectively. But now, thanks to unique legislation here in California, financially qualified investors can now participate in Reliant’s Fractional Life Settlement investment model. That means the individual investor can have the profitability that the institutional investors have.

3W: This really seems like an incredible opportunity. If someone is interested what qualifications do they need to have?

Brian: Our investors need to be financially qualified California residents, per state law, and must generally have a net worth of at least $250,000, excluding their home, vehicles and furnishings. With that said, many of our clients have a net worth far above that. We are eager to help anyone who qualifies add true diversification and return potential to their portfolios, where appropriate.

3W: What led you in your career to Fractional Life Settlements as an alternative investment?

Brian: I worked for 15 years in the world of stocks, bonds, real estate, and the other “mainstream” markets. I kept seeing clients let down repeatedly by those markets. I began to appreciate the concept of alternative investments and non-correlation to the stock market and I saw how large institutions took advantage of these concepts and typically do much better than most individual investors.

3W: That’s refreshing to see an advisor so compelled to continue to advance their knowledge to learn new and better ways to help clients get good returns.

Brian: Well, when I discovered how life settlements have the potential to outperform stocks and other alternative investments, I knew I had found what I had been looking for, and that would ultimately allow me to help clients in a manner like never before.

3W: Let’s talk about fractional life settlements in a nutshell; what are they?

Brian: When an insured senior (usually 65 or older) no longer needs, wants, or can afford their life insurance policy (universal life for our purposes discussed here), they have only three real options:

Keep it and let the cost of insurance eat up the cash value until the policy lapses, potentially leaving them nothing.
Cash it in to the issuing insurance company for the surrender value.
Sell it to a third party, in what is known as a life settlement, often for three to five times what the cash- surrender value is, but for significantly less than the face value.

3W: Can a person legally sell their life insurance policy?

Brian: Yes. The Supreme court legalized it decades ago.

3W: Okay how do life settlements compare with say, stocks that have volatile risk or bonds that may not pay much in terms of yield.

Brian: Fractional life settlements are a compelling long-term proposition and can offer double-digit return potential. According to an 11-year empirical study done by the London Business School, purchasers across their sample could have expected to earn average annual returns of 12.5% from 2001 to 2011, with a low of 11% from 2005 to 2007 and as much as 18.3% in 2011. The study looked at more than 9,000 policies representing more than $24 billion in life settlement policies.

3W: Amazing. Given the uncertainty of the economy and a new administration this alternative investment that is not correlated to the stock market might be just what our readers are looking for. How do you encourage people to look at life settlements and how can they contact you to find out more about this opportunity?

Brian: A great place to start is to look at the worst performing 10% of all your long-term investments, even IRA assets, and consider swapping it out for a 10% slice of Life Shares.™ If your readers feel they could use some true diversification in their portfolio then please feel free to contact me at (760) 668-5440 or e-mail: bclark@reliantlifeshares.com and we’ll help you add Life Shares™ to your portfolio in the right proportions suited for you, as indicated for your own unique situation.

Life settlement investing involves risks.

Read and understand all pertinent documents before investing.

“Want to Create Financial Fitness for Life?”

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 17:08:19 GMT

From Issue #2

“Organize Prioritize Optimize!”

“The financial wealth industry still thinks it’s in the money management business. It’s not, it’s in the behavioral management business.”
– Bob Donaldson, Founder and CEO of Advisory Group West

Bob Donaldson is an accomplished Chartered Financial Consultant, who crafts personal, specific and clear strategies for families. His 40 years of practice led to the creation of Advisory Group West’s comprehensive educational and behavioral processes for ‘Financial Fitness for Life.’ 3W sat down with Bob at his office in Glendale to talk about his beliefs and philosophies of attaining and maintaining wealth.

3W: How do you help people with their finances?

Bob: We help organize, prioritize and then, optimize. The objective is “Financial Fitness for Life.”

First organize.

Make sure your ‘why’s’ are clear and compelling to all stakeholders. Examine how you’ve organized your culture for decision making. If failure is not an option, can you afford to keep ‘shooting from the hip’? What are your organizing principles for making financial decisions? What is it that’s important about money, to you? The result is your motivation and enthusiasm reaches levels sustainable for life. Remember we’re aiming for “Financial Fitness for Life.”

Second prioritize.

No one can manage time. We can only manage priorities. Step by step, we’ll educate you to personalize your agenda with the specifications that relate to you. Only solutions that meet your specifications can be considered as candidates for solving your issues. Once you learn to do this, you’ll never go back.

Now we can optimize.

Optimizing is mostly about containing costs. Financial fitness covers four sectors: Asset Protection, Lifetime Income, Diversified Investments, and Estate Preservation. Now we begin personal, specific and clear recommendations in each of those four sectors, in that order.

Clients now know where they’re going. All stakeholders resources are now channeled to get to where they want. Now they get to live the life they want.

3W: What are the pros and cons of someone doing their financial planning on their own versus someone who is doing it with an advisor?

Bob: With regret, I watch people jump into waters they don’t know how to swim in. It’s easy for the layman to underestimate the complexity of tasks, and they always overestimate their prowess. This is especially daunting when failure is not an option in retirement. It’s a tough enough task for advisors like me that take decades to learn how to orchestrate so many puzzle pieces. Too many folks struggle for the longest time and they’re still uncertain their efforts will get the financial security they so desperately seek.

3W: What are some of the mistakes that you find the do-it-yourself financial planners make?

Bob: As I say, the biggest mistake is underestimating the challenges. It is a very complex situation. It’s similar to having someone arrive with a whole bunch of puzzle pieces without having a picture on the box. They’re trying to put a puzzle together without knowing where it is going – much less have a process for putting the puzzle together. That’s not fun, it’s torturous.

3W: How do you help people who might already have accrued a little bit of everything: they have some annuities, they’ve bought some insurance, they and some stocks, and…

Bob: That’s the most common scenario.

Clients arrive with a huge pile of assets, like a patchwork quilt of ‘shiny’ things that sounded and felt good at the time. There’s no telling where that pile of stuff is taking them, and therefore a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. Even with a lot of assets, they don’t know where it’s taking them.

And there’s little room for error in terms of time. Trying to orchestra all those moving pieces by trying to do it yourself just looks like so many landmines to me. That’s why they arrive here.

“You can’t control what the President or Congress is doing. You can only control what you are doing. Don’t fret the wind, fret your sails.”

3W: Should we be wearing a crash helmet with President Trump in 2017?

Bob: The answer is yes. (laughs) You should always wear a crash helmet. And you should always wear a seatbelt. I’m more concerned with what you are doing, less about who is president. You can’t control what the president or congress is doing. You can only control what you are doing. Don’t fret the wind, fret your sails.

3W: How can you help an upper middle class family grow their nest egg?

Bob: By the time a person arrives here they are well on their way to wrapping up the accumulation phase of their working life. It’s making that ‘nest egg’ produce for the rest of your lives that is the greatest source of anxiety. So we want to bring personal, specific and clear processes to the next “thirty-year” vacation, if you will. That’s where the challenges lie. The accumulation phase was the easy part.

3W: To what do you attribute your success?

Bob: We care about the people we serve. It’s an earned privilege to serve. Do it well. Yet no matter what success we’ve achieved, we keep trying to improve our firm, to make sure that each client is getting very highly personalized service. And that is very gratifying to me.

It’s interesting that the financial wealth industry still thinks it’s in the money management business. It’s not. It’s in the behavioral management business. I look at it as helping people make the smarter choices. Before you give instructions to the account manager, you had better have a very good plan of what you’re trying
to get done with each different account in your overall financial life plans. That you’ve segregated the different pools of assets to the different tasks that you have from saving and reserves, to elder-care, to health-insurance, cash flow, life insurance, growth assets, etc., all the different things that you’re wanting money to serve.

3W: Do people come to you because they are unhappy with their financial advisor?

Bob: Yes, but it’s more like they are underwhelmed by their experiences with them. They intuitively wonder how come they have a lot of money, but they’re not experiencing the security they expected that money to provide them. They’re still anxious. How can that be? It has to do with not having a clear picture of where it’s taking them.

3W: Walk us through the steps of when someone first comes to visit you.

Bob: Well, the first thing I do is congratulate them for taking the time to be here, which tells me they’re serious about making smart choices. This is the time each husband and wife, or partner, gets to express what it is that’s important about money to them as an individual. And it’s often a revelation. Sometimes they’ve never heard each other speak as to what’s important about money personally.

This second stage is a joint conversation. It is a collaborative conversation where they identify, with specificity, what their goals are, how much in after-tax dollars they are determined to generate to support their lifestyle.

3W: And what’s the next step?

Bob: Then we take a look at the resources that they have in order to accomplish that. From pensions, social security, taxable accounts, home/auto insurance, pre-tax accounts, rentals, home, debts, life insurance, annuities, etc. This is bare bones basic hard data, so they start to get a whole picture of what their resources are.

3W: At this phase they may still not be confirmed as a client. So, what’s the next step?

Bob: No, that first visit is simply a ‘getting to know each other’ visit. They get to express themselves and do ninety percent of the talking. I do 90 percent listening, making certain we’re using similar vocabulary. Only in the second complimentary visit do I begin reflecting on what they’ve shared. By the last third of that meeting I’ll illustrate their estate distribution patterns on a white board. By looking at how their assets are titled and their trust is set up, we can illustrate how this trust assets and all other assets are actually shaking out in their particular case. They’re usually quite shocked. Seldom is it what they thought it would be. There are so many moving parts. Nobody’s taken the time to do that or to show them the consequences of each step in that process.

3W: Where do you draw your inspiration from? What keeps you going and helping people?

Bob: The short answer is, when you’re good at something I’ve found it reaffirms and motivates you. I am a hundred times more passionate and committed to what I’m doing than I ever was. I wasn’t expecting that. It doesn’t look like I’m going to retire in the traditional way. I don’t know what else to do. I love gardening and reading and history. I love traveling and I’ve seen the world. I love golf, although it doesn’t love me back (he laughs). But there is nowhere else I’d rather be than right here doing this work for people. I’d be doing it anyway because it so interests me.

3W: Would you say your love of your work is born of your desire to help others?

Bob: Einstein was once asked, “Why are we here?” His answer was simple and it’s always resonated with me. He said, “We’re here for each other.” And, when you do that, when you live that way, it is simply amazing. You’re the one who gets all the benefit.

3W: What do you say to people who think it’s too late to successfully retire?

Bob: If you think it’s too late to successfully retire, you need to know that you’re creating your own reality. You’re ‘jailing’ or limiting yourself. You just precluded your progress. Remember you get to define what is ‘successfully retiring.’ Self-imposed limitations consistently sabotage folks. “Too late” is defined by you. Remember, we can’t manage time, we can only manage priorities.

“Einstein was once asked,‘Why are we here?’ His answer was simple and it’s always resonated with me. He said, ‘We’re here for each other.’”

3W: What’s the greatest challenge that married or single women face when it comes to finances?

Bob: I believe that the greatest problem for women is often that their voice is de-minimized or not given air, and they are the ones that suffer the most.

When women come to our office, I often sense enormous insecurity. Oftentimes she has a hard time feeling that she has a license to even ask about this stuff. So, we go out of our way to make certain that women are well-armed, well-versed for making confident financial choices.

3W: When you work with someone on their finances, is it more of an emotional or intellectual exercise?

Bob: It’s mostly emotional. Couples often fear that they’re not going to be aligned as they go forward. Those fears are overcome by educating and by being very patient and helping them realize that everybody is in the same boat. Nobody arrives without a bag full of insecurities about money.

3W: If one of your clients were to recommend you to someone they know, what would you like them to say about you?

Bob: He cares. He really cares about understanding you and what you’re trying to do with your life’s work; the life you’re trying to live. He’s wanting to enhance your life. (Bob stops and thinks) I can’t think of anything more fulfilling than that.

Robert Donaldson is Founder and CEO of AdvisoryGroupWest. As an accomplished Chartered Financial Consultant crafting personal, specific and clear strategies for the high net worth investor, Bob’s 40 years of practice led to the creation of AdvisoryGroupWest’s comprehensive ‘Financial Fitness for Life’ services. Your personalized educational experience works to elevate your con dence that each choice you make is integrated for improved Asset Protection, Lifetime Income, Diversified Investments and Estate Preservation.

AdvisoryGroupWest
Bob@AdvisoryGroupWest.com
330 N. Brand Blvd., Ste. 910,
Glendale, CA 91203
Phone: (818) 241-9061
Fax: (818) 241-9062
www.AdvisoryGroupWest.com

California Dreamers

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:52:59 GMT

From Issue #2

In the media we often see depictions of California health culture; yet it’s a false impression that everyone in our state is obsessed with health, fitness and wellness. The reality is borne out in disturbing statistics that paint a completely different picture of our nation’s state of health. We are increasingly becoming a nation that is physically obese, yet nutritionally starving to death. And the burden that this phenomenon puts on our so-called healthcare system is staggering.

This is the world that is seen in microcosm through the eyes of Dr. Tyra Beavers, successful chiropractor and owner of Chiro-Integrative Health Center of Beverly Hills. For over 22 years Dr. Beavers has been implementing Integrative Medicine philosophy as a holistic foundation for her practice. Health Coach LaRue Palmer joins Dr. Beavers to provide a scalable program of nutrition and lifestyle modification that teaches the body and mind how to heal itself.

LaRue Palmer is a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in New York, and he is also a Certified Diabetes Educator. His career as a culinary chef for Elon Musk of Spacex and Tesla Motors fame provided him the environment to develop and perfect his acumen for nutrition and diabetes self-management education.

What sets them apart is the center’s focus on chiropractic wellness as the initial step to achieving optimal nervous system functionality, improved health, and insulin resistance, which can progress to chronic diseases, beginning with pre-diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases and more.

3W: Dr. Beavers, how do you focus health and wellness into your chiropractic treatments?

Dr. Beavers: Chiropractic is an amazing science, but there are other aspects to health that you have to take into consideration when your goal is to make a person well. That means you have to address their diet, their sleep patterns, how much physical exercise they’re getting, their flexibility, all of those things are an integral part of keeping someone well.

Of course chiropractic care is standard protocol for any type of musculoskeletal pain, headaches and other types of ailments but people don’t understand the value in getting regular chiropractic adjustments is that keeping your spine in good alignment allows your nervous system to function at its optimum level.

3W: By systems, what exactly do you mean?

Dr. Beavers: There are 11 major organ systems in the body, including endocrine, respiratory, muscular, circulatory and lymphatic for example. In the spine, each level or vertebrae is innervating a particular organ, whenever there is subluxation or misalignment in that area it can negatively affect the nerve flow going to that system.

3W: So it sounds like the spine is the protective housing if you will, for all the nerves coming down from the brain.

Dr. Beavers: Exactly. The spinal cord is the central message carrier for your nervous system. Problems with the bones that protect the spinal cord can impair nerve flow. When the nervous system is impaired, tissues and organs throughout the body may not work correctly. This “vertebral subluxation complex” is an underlying cause of many health problems.

3W: So how does having a certified health coach and diabetes educator factor into your practice?

Dr. Beavers: Well, LaRue can tell you how his program works, but basically his knowledge and guidance as a certified health coach was a piece of the puzzle missing in my practice. During the medical history portion of my exam in a number of patients, I began noticing that diabetes and obesity were becoming more and more prevalent. I didn’t have the expertise to address that issue, so I decided to hire LaRue. I knew he would be able to help my patients manage and in some cases even reverse their disease.

3W: What type of feedback are you getting from patients who take advantage of your having a health coach as part of your practice?

Dr. Beavers: Oh, it’s been excellent! People are feeling better, I’ve seen visible signs of weight loss, patients becoming more energetic, and they have a much better outlook toward their health. That positivity transfers to other aspects of their lives, which is really cool! And LaRue has told me that some patients have been able to reduce their diabetes medication by incorporating natural supplements

3W: So, LaRue, tell me about your program.

LaRue: I’ve been developing a program called Dietbetic Healing, which focuses on addressing insulin resistance and managing or reversing Type 2 diabetes. Because of its benefits of weight loss, and how it addresses other chronic diseases, Dietbetic Healing can also help provide positive health outcomes from a modified diet regimen and lifestyle changes. A play on word Dietbetic, implies that adapting a diet regimen involving whole food nutrition can enable the body to heal itself from chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes and more.

As we look forward to a team-based vision of health care, we also have to engage the patient as the optimal team member by making them an accountable partner in their health journey. Health is not the goal, but the starting point for living a thriving, active life throughout.

Dr. Beavers: I agree that patients need to be more accountable and proactive as it relates to their own health outcomes, which is why I recommend that they see me at least twice a year for example, to make sure that they maintain good spinal alignment, so that their bodies are always functioning at an optimal level. I can’t tell you how many times I see patients that wait until they’re suffering before they finally come to see me, and I have to ask them “Why wait until you’re in pain before you come in?”

3W: How does your particular expertise fit in with the medical profession?

LaRue: Most doctors are not trained in preventative measures like nutrition, or diabetes prevention or self-management. So health coaches like myself have an opportunity to partner with doctors and actually be a patient advocate who takes the time to address issues I’m trained in, that a doctor wouldn’t have the time or expertise to address.

Dr. Beavers: I work very closely with medical doctors because they know I can fill in the gaps where they don’t have expertise. In fact, the majority of my referrals come from doctors because my practice is a part of Cedars-Sinai, and they know my work so they refer many patients to me.

Chiro-Integrative Health Center
250 N. Robertson Blvd., #516
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Phone: 310-859-7696
www.tyrabeaversdc.com

Stocks Aren’t Waiting for Trump to Make the Market Great Again!

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:49:06 GMT

From Issue #2

“No matter what happens in the market, you always have an opportunity to find winners. If you have a desire to learn and you discipline yourself, you can be a good investor.”

– Amy Smith,

Investors Business Daily

Amy Smith is Investor Business Daily’s Market Commentator and is the featured speaker on the New York Trader’s Expo, Women in Business Moderator at the Reagan Ranch Center, a featured speaker, AAII (American Association of Individual Investors), Dallas Investor’s Forum Guest Lecturer, the Keynote Speaker of the Las Vegas Money Show and, is the IBD Meetup Director, which is the fastest growing financial group in the Country. She is the author of the bestselling book, How to Make Money in Stocks Success Stories. Amy has been interviewed on many radio shows with hosts Gabe Wisdom, Andrew Horowitz, TFNN Tom O’Brien, Steve Crawley’s American Scene, KNX Business Hour, AM 870 The Answer, Metro News Hotline, Larry Marino, Money Matters Boston, and WBBM Chicago.

3W: How is President Trump affecting the market and what should we be looking for?

Amy: When the Trump administration didn’t get the votes necessary to repeal Obamacare the market did slide a bit so we had a scary reaction to it. But the market turned around at the 10-week line and 50-day average. It was nice to see leaders in market looking strong. Apple, Facebook, Priceline, and Amazon reacted positively.

3W: Do you see a shift in the market concurring with political events or does the market care?

Amy: Well stocks aren’t waiting for President Trump to make the market great again (laughter). We shifted from political rhetoric; meaning stocks stayed strong after the election and earning seasons started in April. Explosive earnings can propel a market higher and offer great opportunities for investors. Just remember, the market goes up and down, so always check to see what the leading indexes are doing. Investing in an uptrend is important since 3 out of 4 stocks will follow the general trend.

3W: Are we going to see opportunities for growth in the stock market or do you see a downtrend on the horizon.

Amy: No matter what happens in the market, you always have an opportunity to find winners. Go to Investors.com and look at specific sections such as market trend, stocks on the move, research tab, how to invest and how to read charts. If you have a desire to learn and you discipline yourself, you can be a good investor.

3W: I know you teach IBD seminars across the country, can you share a success story of someone who learned from you?

Amy : Sure. People come up to me all the time and share their success. One particular story comes to mind though, we’ll call her Deborah. She came up to me and said I changed her life because she came to my seminars and joined IBD meetup groups. She read my book How to Make Money in Stocks—and she became very successful. She is now a full time investor.

3W: That must be an incredible feeling to know you help change people’s lives by showing them how they can learn simple steps to take financial control of their lives.

Amy: It is very humbling and sometimes humorous. When I was in Raleigh, a guy called me his “Shero” instead of hero (laughs), he studied IBD’s investor rules, read my book, did his homework and now has his own investment advisor group.

3W : That brings me to how you can help our readers. You’ve had a long run with your radio show How to Make Money in Stocks, where can we find your archived radio shows?

Amy: How to Make Money in Stocks has about 250 shows on iTunes.

3W: How much does psychology play a role in stock investing?

Amy: You have to have discipline. You have to follow the rules. They are simple rules but you have to follow them and not let your emotions keep you in a stock that is underperforming.

3W: What are some of your main rules to follow?

Amy: Have a defensive plan. Never take more than a 7% loss on what you paid for a stock. You also need an offensive plan. Successful stocks can run 25% or more before consolidating. When a stock hits your profit goal, you can move the trailing stop higher so you don’t give back all of your gains.

3W: What stocks are you looking at as we approach the new administration’s 100 days?

Amy: Look for winners that show accelerated earnings. Earnings season provides investors with great opportunities. Keep an eye on Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Apple.

3W: How can our readers take advantage of your personal knowledge?

Amy : I’m always reachable at Amy.Smith@investors.com . I want to encourage your readers to contact me with any questions they may have as I’m always happy to help.

Amy.Smith@investors.com
http://shop.investors.com/offer/splashresponsive.aspx?id=Trading Summit

Batten CLN8: A Disease that Attacks Our Children

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:44:54 GMT

From Issue #2

It’s important to fully understand the scope of the Sebastian Velona Foundation because it is not about collecting funds to pay for one particular child’s doctor bills.

It is about collecting funds for all children stricken with Batten CLN8 and curing this horrible disease that afflicts many more children than we think.

If Sebastian Velona can’t get treatment it means that other children afflicted by this disease may never receive treatment. And that can’t be acceptable to anyone reading this article.

To cure a disease, we donate time and money to help scientists and doctors find a cure through clinical research and trials. After that process, health insurance covers the costs of all medical testing required to properly diagnose a patient and to provide treatment for the disease.

Unfortunately, for children suffering from Batten Disease CLN8 there has been no clinical trial yet so health insurance won’t cover the cost. Patients with Batten CLN8 can have symptoms that are similar to other diseases and cause confusion for doctors during diagnosis. Unfortunately, the patients and families experience unnecessary delay of proper diagnosis and therefore necessary treatment to cure the disease or delay its progression.

When health insurance won’t cover the costs, then we as a community need to gather our resources to get this done.

This is a unique opportunity to help many children with CLN8 by donating to Sebastian’s cause because the cure found for Sebastian will be used for other children diagnosed with Batten CLN8. Sebi has a team of doctors who are working on developing gene therapy to stop the progression of batten CLN8, and the doctors have estimated the costs at $3.5 Million based on what it cost another family to develop the clinical trial for Batten Disease CLN6.

Batten CLN8 and its related forms of Batten CLN6 and CLN2 viciously attack children. It takes their eye sight, speech and body movement away leaving them suffering from horrible seizures day and night. Parents are helpless and simply watch their child wither away in pain until death.

This is why our staff at Wealth Wisdom Wellness magazine are committed to helping the Sebastian Velona Foundation. Because if we can save Sebi’s life we are saving countless other children’s lives.

The Solution

Once the trial begins, a harmless virus, containing the good CLN8 gene, will be inserted into Sebi’s spine via epidural. The virus will travel to the brain and do what viruses do – go viral replacing Sebi’s mutated gene with the good gene.

Sebi (as he is affectionately known) is just 13 and believes he can cure the world with hugs; hence the Healing Hugs Foundation.

He has a strong committed group of parents who love and support him and are on a mission to raise money to fund testing and cure Batten CLN8. Chris Velona and Teri Fox are Sebastian’s birth parents and they have been tirelessly working to find a cure for their precious Sebi. Teri has since remarried to Michael E. Fox, another brave man who entered their lives lovingly and willingly caring for Sebi. Together with Sebi’s brother Gage, and new baby sister Skylar, they are a unique loving family.

What makes them truly unique is that they are committed to finding a cure for this disease even though they know that Sebi may not be able to receive treatment due to the length of time for clinical trials and the aggressive nature of Batten CLN8.

If that does come to pass, Sebi’s legacy will live on, and the funds you donate to enable the clinical trials will undoubtedly help a family you know in the future.

Teri and Michael established the Sebastian Velona Foundation as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit project of The Giving Back Fund to find a cure for Batten Disease CLN8.

They will not stop until a cure is found for all children suffering from Batten Disease CLN8.

Donate now online at:
www.CureBattenCLN8.org
Time is Running Out. Thank you.

How To Increase Your Child’s Employability at Graduation: Classes Alone Are Not Enough

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:41:03 GMT

From Issue #1

This is the time of year when college campuses around the country are welcoming their newly admitted students – all the happy high school seniors who got their acceptance letters and will soon be freshmen. They flock to campuses with their parents in tow, meet academic advisers, counselors, a few professors, and then tour the dorms and cafeteria with a more critical eye while thinking about roommates, fall class schedules, and extracurricular activities.

Back in the day, that would have been more than enough. But these days parents and their seniors have one more very important box to check – experiential learning. For most institutions, that means some form of an internship, co-op, or service learning. For nearly all, it’s becoming an increasingly important – and increasingly lengthy – part of the undergraduate student experience.

This came about as parents began scrutinizing the gap between theory and practice. It’s all well and good to be a philosophy major, but what will the student do upon graduation? The enormous expense of college has put some heft into the question. The belated realization, often in mid-senior year, that the student has no skills for the workplace besides flipping burgers, came as a stark realization for many. Thus campuses came under increasing pressure from students to connect their education to the real world.

There are a number of models, the most well-known of which is the internship – usually performed less than 40 hours a week and taken alongside classes. But in some universities that model has been overtaken by something more substantial. At Northeastern University in Boston, the co-op program alternates a semester of academic study with a semester of full time employment in a position related to the student’s major. Students do their first co-op in the second semester of sophomore year, and complete up to 3 co-ops in the course of a five year program. The co-ops tend to get more complex as the student advances. Parents may wince at a paying for five years for an undergraduate degree, but the results are impressive: 89% of Northeastern grads walk right into a fulltime job in their major.

Campuses have scrambled to restructure and set up experiential learning offices – connecting students with employers is a big commitment. Most offices have several staff who counsel students through the process, conduct employer outreach, resolve problems, and constantly expand the program.

Increasingly, experiential learning can be a global option – a “work abroad” alternative to the more traditional study abroad program. Universities across the U.S. have conquered barriers such as work permits, visas, and cultural gaps to give students a global co-op experience across a surprisingly broad range of countries. Some global co-ops offer a semester of intense language study followed by a semester of work experience, an approach more likely to result in practical application of the language.

Service learning – the idea of working in a volunteer capacity outside the classroom – can also develop a student’s future prowess in the workplace. Universities with a religious affiliation have been in the vanguard of these efforts and pride themselves on connecting students to communities. Such experiences can take place in neighborhoods alongside campus – or in distant states or foreign countries. The skills learned by giving service where there is true need can be as impressive for future employers as those acquired in a traditional workplace.

Research in higher education shows a correlation between students who pursue experiential learning and their employability upon graduation. This kind of learning can be especially important for students who major in the liberal arts where connections between study and work are less evident than for those who are finance or accounting majors.

Colleges abound with fabulous success stories: Internships at the statehouse, the mayor’s office, with members of Congress – and even the United Nations. But even those that don’t grab the top spot of the university webpage can be extraordinarily valuable, giving students insight and direction as they plan for what happens the day AFTER they graduate.

So, go ahead and celebrate your student’s acceptance, and have that joyful trip to the college that is offering a free bumper sticker for the back of your car. But make sure you leave time to stop by the co-op or internship office. Ask probing questions about co-op abroad, extended internships and placement records. Increasingly, this is how colleges will be judged.

Mary Thompson-Jones, Ed. D., is a professor of the practice and faculty director of the master’s program in Global Studies and International Relations at Northeastern University in Boston

People Forget what Normal Vision was Like

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:39:18 GMT

Issue #2

A Conversation with Dr. Craig Helm

Santa Clarita is a community of parents who love being with one another at their children’s activities. I remember seeing a dad in the stands who couldn’t see his son on the field until a lady lent her glasses to him. He said, “I can actually see my son’s face. I can’t believe I’ve been missing this for so many years.” He asked for the best eye doctor in town and the consensus of the baseball moms was to go see Dr. Helm.

3W: That’s a true story Dr. Helm. So why do you think people wait so long to get glasses?

Dr. Helm: Well that is a story I hear over and over again. It’s because our peripheral vision and clarity can diminish so slowly over time that we become accustomed to it and forget what normal vision was like. That’s why I always tell people to come see us the moment you suspect you may have a problem. In the vast majority of cases we can do something specific to help your condition.

“In the vast majority of cases, we can do something specific to help your condition.”

3W: What happens to our eyes as we age?

Dr. Helm: Your eyes go through different phases as you age. The first phase is called presbyopia which people typically go through in their 40s. If they have good distance vision they’ll find they lose their ability to focus and need reading glasses because the crystal-line lens begins to lose elasticity so you lose your ability to focus.

The second phase is cataract development which virtually occurs with everyone to a different extent in your mid to late 60s, but it can occur at any age.

“Our peripheral vision and clarity diminishes so slowly over time that we become accustomed to it and forget what normal vision was like.”

3W: Does age play a role in being a candidate for Lasik surgery?

Dr. Helm: Lasik is a great solution for a vast majority of our patients. But for the older patients it may not be our best option because we know that Lasik is associated with dry eye conditions. So Lasik might make some seniors’ dry eye condition worse.

3W: Does everyone develop cataracts at some point.

Dr. Helm: Yes, but the good news is we have a permanent solution. When we perform cataract surgery we implant a prescription acrylic lens in your eye. We basically put the prescription of your glasses in your eyes. The benefit is that there is no dry eye, and the results last your life time.

3W: What do you tell people who are afraid to see the eye doctor?

Dr. Helm: I would say, come see us soon because you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. And there is no procedure we do in our office that is painful for the patient thanks to our amazing anesthetic eye drops and our IV sedation.

3W: How do people know if their doctor is staying current with the latest technology and procedures?

Dr. Helm: We are up to speed with the latest procedures and technology. But to your point, I strongly encourage people to go online and do research and come to me with questions. My approach is to communicate and be honest with my patients. I have to gain their trust. My goal is patient satisfaction.

3W: I’ve heard that even other corneal specialists refer their patients who need corneal surgery to you?

Dr. Helm: I trained as a corneal specialist and have every intent of maintaining and improving my skills. The other doctors know that so they send their patients to me.

3W: But the patients are the ones who benefit from your dedication.

Dr. Helm: Yes. The latest techniques are not easy to master but once you do master them, they are masterful
for the patient. The recovery times are extraordinarily short and the results are astounding. By way of example; we had a lady who was actually blind in one eye. We did a corneal transplant for her and it was the first time she could see in 15 years. She had tears of joy in her eyes when she left our office, in fact we all did. What we do for people is so rewarding not just for our patients but for our entire staff.

This is a labor of love for me. Patients depend on their doctors to perfect their skills through practice and repetition and I fully intend to help my patients by staying on top of my game.

Helm Vision Group
27420 Tourney Road, Suite 100
Valencia, CA 91355
Phone: 661-259-3937
www.HelmVisionGroup.com

Welcome to The Santa Clarita Family Wealth Summit Issue!

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:34:03 GMT

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Progressive Insulation & Windows

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:38:31 GMT

From Issue #1:

“At the end of each day I go home pretty satisfied that we’re a company of integrity and that we will always do the right thing!”

– Steve Anderson, Owner Progressive Insulation & Windows

When the catastrophic Porter Ranch Gas leak occurred, The Southern California Gas Company called Steve Anderson, owner of Progressive Insulation & Windows, to weatherize 2,400 homes. They knew Progressive understood how to insulate homes creating the Thermal Envelope making an energy-efficient, healthy home.

We sat down with Steve and learned a wealth of information that every homeowner should know about energy efficiency in their home and discovered a very unique story of a hard-working American family.

In The Beginning

3W: Steve, over the past 40 years you’ve installed windows and insulation in over 100,000 homes and commercial buildings throughout Southern California. Over 80% of your business comes from repeat and referral customers, and you have a customer satisfaction rating of 99%. That’s really impressive. As a business owner can you share your wisdom on creating and keeping this high level of performance?

Steve: Well, the wisdom comes from my father. He started in the insulation business in 1953, the year I was born. Little did my two brothers and I know that we would eventually work together in that same industry. It was a fabulous experience until they unfortunately passed away in 2005 and 2008. My brothers, Mike and Gary were the best big brothers in the world. It was great working together while sharing the same commitment to excellence and integrity that our father handed down to us.

3W: What was it like working for your dad?

Steve: Dad did his homework early and knew that the “Best Insulation” is “Properly Installed Insulation.” At the time, insulation installers were paid “piece-work.” My father paid his installers by the hour to ensure the insulation was installed properly. That stuck with me and we’ve kept that tradition for decades with all of the products we carry today.

3W: What did you learn about running a business from your father and why do you continue your family business?

Steve: I learned, like the rest of our employees, about satisfaction and pride of doing a good job. It was my father who coined the phrase, “Most insulators sell insulation, we insulate homes.” It feels good to serve your customer with integrity, honesty and mutual respect. I feel compelled to carry on my father’s tradition of running a business with integrity in all that we do.

“We want to help your family make a good buying decision.”
–Steve Anderson

3W: We got the chance to talk with one of your customers. They were absolutely thrilled with the honesty of the sales consultant and your crew’s performance of their window replacement and insulation installment and getting the rebate dollars. They told us they’re saving hundreds of dollars on their utility bills now.

Steve: That’s great to hear from satisfied customers. An energy-efficient home is also a healthy home and that’s why we do it. We want to make your family home an energy-efficient healthy home and help you take advantage of the rebate program to help you offset the cost.

Third Generation

3W: You’ve recently hired your son, Alexander, a business graduate from Pepperdine University. So, you’re in your third generation in the family business.

Steve: Yes, Alexander has been an integral part of our new process since he came on board. He is organizing operations for us. It feels good to be part of a third generation family business that has been helping families.

3W: That is a great story. So now let’s hear from the third generation. Alexander, what is it like working with your father?

Alexander: It’s good, I like it. I’ve been puttering around this place since I was 13; doing filing, odd jobs, etc. While I was in high school I helped us get involved in the Energy Upgrade California Program. Then I went to Pepperdine, graduated, and now I’m here again involved in all aspects of our company.

Steve: Alexander is a key player in organizing operations within our company and he played a major role implementing procedures allowing us to effectively service those 2,400 homes in Porter Ranch.

The Thermal Envelope

3W: Steve, what is this Thermal Envelope in our homes?

Steve: The Thermal Envelope is comprised of your ceilings walls, floors, windows and doors around your home that need to be properly installed and insulated for keeping warm air in during the winter and cool air in during the summer.

3W: So, how should a home circulate air keeping the family warm or cool and staying healthy.

Steve: Your home has to mechanically exchange the air through the HVAC system rather than from pulling it from the attic or dirty outside air and wasting energy. The doors and windows and insulation in your walls, and ceilings are a major component. Like with a car you look at the miles per gallon, today we look at the efficiency of the home.

3W: Are windows a factor in the Thermal Envelope either replacing them or modifying the home for larger windows.

Steve: Yes. We only use the finest materials so our customers will always get the best windows for their money, but its more than just the quality of the windows, it’s the craftsmanship of how you install the windows as well. We need to make sure we maintain the integrity of the Thermal Envelope. When we recommend certain windows and install them, we constantly focus on satisfying the customer’s needs while keeping their home energy efficient and healthy.

3W: A lot of families have music rooms or home theatres; the kids are practicing piano, dads like to binge watch their favorite movies full volume. How do we insulate these rooms with doors, or glass doors and insulate the walls so the rest of the family doesn’t go crazy?

Steve: Sound travels in two ways; waves and vibration. It’s like water. If I can build a room like a submarine, then it’s going to be quiet. For blocking sound from windows, we can use triple-pane windows or offset glazing, which are two different thicknesses, causing sound waves to move through the different densities and disperse, making it quieter. What we’ve learned from windows we can apply to insulating the walls in a similar way by installing different thicknesses and densities of insulation within the walls.

3W: When homeowners call you what is your first priority with them?

Steve: We tell them that we need to earn the right to be trusted and be their consultant and help them make a good buying decision. Then we follow through with our promise. The goal of our sales consultants is to understand the customer’s needs. Then we clearly define the scope of the work. There are many pieces and processes involved: windows, doors and insulation, so our internal departments must communicate with each other and the homeowner.

Rebate Programs

3W: What are the rebate programs?

Steve: I sat on the Public Utility Commission (CPUC) and local utility companies that developed the rebate program we have today. That became Energy Upgrade California. The CPUC announced in 2007 that by 2020 all new homes must be Energy Neutral by using advanced insulation systems and solar energy which bring us back to the Thermal Envelope. For the existing housing stock, they designed the Energy Upgrade California Program.

3W: And that is the program everyone is taking advantage of. What is the largest amount of rebates you’ve seen in this program for the homeowners?

Steve: We’ve designed solutions earning rebates up to and over $11,000.

“A Guarantee is only as good as the company behind it.”
–Alexander Anderson

3W: That is a huge rebate. Will making our homes energy efficient help with resale value?

Steve: It will increase your resale value of your home – I’ve seen up to 9%. When you think about resell value of your home today vs. in 2020, if you did not take advantage of these energy-efficiency programs, but your neighbor did, your house may sit on the market while his house may sell right away and for top dollar because his home is less expensive to operate.

Rebate Program Is Going Away soon!

3W: Going into 2017 what do homeowners need to know about these energy- efficient programs?

Steve: They might lose their opportunity. The rebate program will be phased out by design – because it’s only funded until the year 2020. But they are running out of money to fund this program so homeowners need to take advantage of this now.

3W: Do you mean that if we don’t take advantage of these rebate programs now we will lose the opportunity and have to pay for it anyway out of our own pocket?

Steve: Yes, because when the rebate incentives go away the market will still demand energy-efficient homes so eventually everyone will have to get on board and make their homes energy efficient.

3W: So, why not just do it now because the utility companies will help you pay for it now, rather than pay for it out of your own pocket years from now.

Alexander: I do recommend making your home energy efficient now because it makes your home healthy, saves on your utility bills, the utility companies help pay for it and adds to your resale value.

3W: Does Progressive Insulation & Windows offer a guarantee for all their services including those involved in the Energy Upgrade California program.

Alexander: Our guarantee is that all of our services are backed by a One-call Warranty. If you have a problem with a product or with some aspect of our work, we’ll make it right the first time you call. A guarantee is only as good as the company behind it so, with almost 40 years behind us, ours is a guarantee you can trust!

3W: After talking with you that is easy to believe. Steve, what is a great day on the job? Where do you draw your inspiration from to lead your company with integrity?

Steve: Well, I draw inspiration from the Lord and the teachings of the Bible where we get our values and our ethics. It’s all in the Good Book. A great day comes in many forms, but I love mentoring people, working with them side by side, sharing my beliefs at the appropriate time and when they come back to me years later and tell me they remember what I told them, that’s a great day!

At the end of each day I go home pretty satisfied that we’re a company of integrity and that we will always do the right thing!

Our Guarantee

All of our services are backed by a One-call Warranty. If you have a problem with a product or with some aspect of our work, we’ll make it right the first time you call. A guarantee is only as good as the company behind it so, with almost 40 years behind us, ours is a

guarantee you can trust!

Progressive Insulation & Windows
9750 Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Chatsworth, CA 91311
Toll-free: (800) 500-6200
Email: sales@proiw.com

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:29:51 GMT

From Issue #1:

Collin Rigler, Wealth Manager with a Competitive Advantage

Collin Rigler , Senior Vice President at RBC Wealth Management is an extremely successful and confident wealth manager. And he has good reason to be. Collin majored in applied economics, helped take companies public, consults with colleagues that work in the Federal Reserve and has an impressive list of CEO and executive clients in a wide range of industries. But that’s not all.

We spent some time with Collin and talked about how he might help families in Valencia.

3W: Collin let’s talk about Valencia specifically the Westridge, Stevenson Ranch Woodlands and surrounding areas.

Collin: I’m familiar with those areas. There are many hard-working families, intelligent successful folks, nice homes and good schools too.

3W: What are common mistakes that the intelligent investor should look out for?

Collin: Not selling! In my opinion, holding onto last year’s losers is a very costly mistake. More people have lost money because they fall in love with a sector or a stock that has become like their pet which they never want to sell. Not selling losers and redirecting that money into something more productive is a mistake that everybody makes.

3W: What do you do differently for your clients?

3W: Financial Advisors tend to put folks in mutual funds; kind of set it and forget it. Is that a good idea?

Collin: If you just want to own mutual funds, there are many very good and competent managers. 99% of mutual funds are what we call “long only”, where they’re picking what they think are the best stocks in their sector or industry group. But what that 99% of mutual fund managers won’t do is get you out in times of trouble. So clearly just owning mutual funds is not really a total “investment strategy.”

3W: Then what should we have in our portfolio?

3W: So you’re on top of your client’s portfolios on a daily basis, what indicators and methods do you use?

3W: What else do you research for market indicators?

In addition, there’s a system where we screen for current and annual earnings per share, new products, services or new management in the company; we look at some type of catalyst or trigger that we think is going to make the stock go up, and we also want to make sure it’s a leader in the industry.

3W: In layman’s terms?

3W: Is it possible for a novice to just copy what the institutional investors are buying?

Collin: The market is very volatile, so you need to know what you’re doing, which is why we have strict risk controls on the downside of our portfolios.

3W: Tell me about William O’Neil, founder of William O’Neil + Co. and Investor’s Business Daily.

Collin: William O’Neil took certain criteria and statistics and figured out which stocks were the best out-performers every year, and what characteristics they had in common. From that he developed a system that became so successful he made enough money to buy his own seat on the NYSE. Hedge funds and money managers use his consulting services to evaluate their portfolios. He tells them what they’re doing right or wrong from an individual stock basis all the way to which industry groups they own. Managers pay a lot of money to gain access to his knowledge.

3W: What advice would you give to those who love learning and investing on their own versus giving you a chunk of their earned income to invest?

Collin: I would say that investing on your own is very difficult, and you need a very good understanding of economics, finance and human psychology. Once you acquire that basic knowledge and understanding you really must have experience. Doing things repeatedly with the right skill set is the only way you can attain that status, especially as it relates to the stock market. You need to invest a lot of time, effort, hard knocks, loses and realize it’s a very long learning process.

3W: Should investors still follow the Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) of reducing risk by diversification, or is that theory even relevant anymore, and why?

Collin: MPT may work if you’re IBM Pension Fund or State Pension Fund of California, because you can take these numbers, you can diversify, and you’re going to own that portfolio over several market cycles. You’re going to need to give your pensioners a payout over time – 20, 30, 40 years from now.

For an individual investor, I’ve found the time frame is usually 3 to 5 years, no matter how wealthy you are. Things change, you may buy a new house, or an airplane or business, get divorced, send kids to college, so your timeframe is much shorter. Therefore, you cannot afford to have these large drawdowns like we saw in 2001 and 2008 and still hope to retire, pay your kid’s way through college and maintain your lifestyle. You need something different than MPT that is not only going to diversify you, but is going to give you the opportunity to buy quality companies at lower prices and get you out of portions of the market when it starts to go south.

3W: What’s your advice on how to avoid the pitfalls of what could potentially become a very volatile stock market in the next few years?

Collin : If we do get into a real ugly market like we did in 2001 or 2008, we have some very strategic options. Most traditional portfolios are counting on the fact that diversification will save you, but we all know that in times of a financial crisis the direction of most of these asset classes is down. When our technical and psychological indicators get to extremes, we have the ability to be in cash. We also have a portion of the portfolio that is constructed to outperform in down markets. And, contrary to what people think, we are going to be a long-term owner of blue chip companies even in down markets. We want to hold those stocks, collect the dividends and reinvest them at lower prices. That is how you get long-term outperformance over market cycles.

3W: Let’s talk about the Federal Reserve. Does the Fed have any shelf life left?

Collin: I studied economics in college, many of my classmates now work at the fed or have worked closely with the Federal Reserve for years. I believe I have a very good idea what they are attempting to do and what their exit strategies may be after QE. The market has clearly been driven by Fed policy recently and that is why index investing has become so prevalent. As the economy grows and rates rise there will be winners and losers in the financial markets, movements will be based more on fundamentals and economic growth than cheap money. Fed policy will always be important to the markets but I think monetary policy will take a backseat to fiscal policy and good old fashioned fundamentals going forward. A proactive investment approach is going to be more appropriate than just sitting in an index in that environment. Going forward, no one knows exactly what is going to happen with Fed policy, even Janet Yellen. I think what they’re going to do is called yield curve management. I think eventually if this economy starts overheating they’re going to start selling the bond portfolio, which will raise long term rates and stop inflation in its tracks; but it will keep the yield curve steep so we still have growth.

3W: If our readers are interested in what you might do for their portfolio how should they contact you?

Collin: I’m a family man just like them. Please have them call me at 310-647-8041 or they can email me. I love to talk about the markets with people who are interested. If you already have an advisor I’m happy to take a look and give you a second opinion. You may have started investing years ago and all you have been doing is rebalancing every year. That might not be the best portfolio for you. That is why we rebalance to the current market indicators and your unique situation. Also, they can simply call or email us and we can provide them with a weekly market recap and/or timely investment ideas.

Collin Rigler

Managing Director – Client Advisor

ALEX BROWN

10250 Constellation Blvd. Suite 850

Los Angeles, CA90067

424-303-6403

Collin.rigler@alexbrown.com

www.riglergroup.com

The Chef from Outer Space

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:13:36 GMT

From Issue #1

LaRue Palmer, former SpaceX Chef describes his journey of feeding 4,000 employees a day, and how that led him to becoming a nutritional expert and diabetes educator.

3W: LaRue – let’s get right down to it. SpaceX? Are you kidding me? That has got to be the coolest place to work, let alone being a chef for Elon Musk and his 4,000 employees!

LaRue: It was indeed. As a career chef it was quite an honor to be selected to embark upon a once-in-a-lifetime journey to open a new restaurant in a most unique setting. Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SpaceX as well as Tesla Motors and SolarCity, decided to build a state-of-the-art restaurant filling an enormous empty space right in the middle of his rocket plant in Hawthorne, California.

3W: Wow, so how did you manage to land an opportunity to become a chef to the stars, so to speak?

LaRue: A friend of mine told me about the opportunity. Let’s just say it wasn’t a difficult decision to become part of the opening team of a corporate café that fed 4,000+ employees at SpaceX working for a man whose mission it was to colonize Mars.

3W: Okay, it’s not like you’re calling the kids down for dinner, you’re calling 4,000+ employees, managing their palatal expectations all day, every day – how did you do it?

LaRue: The belief was that having a corporate feeder would reduce employee downtime off campus getting meals, while at the same time providing healthier food options for employees than fast food, thus improving productivity and employee health outcomes.

3W: Corporate Feeder?! Yikes! Somehow that sounds like an episode out of Twilight Zone. “To Serve Man.”
It’s a cookbook! So how did you go about creating a menu for that many people?

LaRue: The sous chefs would painstakingly collaborate on menus for a number of outlets one to two weeks in advance. But the biggest challenge was to come up with a way to feed 4,000 hungry employees who were used to dining off of food trucks and fast food restaurants within a 30-minute break time in some cases. When the restaurant, dubbed “The Launch Pad” was ready for opening day, we decided to just open the doors and let them come. It was a madhouse for the first couple of months because all employees ate for free.

3W: So give me an idea of what kinds of foods they ate?

LaRue: We served the highest quality of high-end cuts of beef, chicken, seafood and even exotic meats like elk, wild boar and gator, starches, grains and vegetables. The Launch Pad quickly became the nucleus of our food service department which eventually expanded to multiple restaurants and satellite outlets.

3W: I see, so this led to your own SpaceX-ploration into becoming an expert in nutrition?

LaRue: Yes. I was given an opportunity to become an expert juicer, creating healthy vegetable and fruit juice offerings daily, choosing from an unlimited selection of ingredients that would rival any juice stand in America. I created a number of highly nutrient-dense recipes and managed an enormous island of a salad bar, creating a plethora of plant-based options that became the centerpiece of every meal service. This is where I could really stretch my creativity in plant-based nutrition as I learned the benefits of such a diet and lifestyle. It was like having my very own food lab.

I realized that becoming the go-to person for all things nutrition meant that I would have to bolster my knowledge with some formal training, so I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and became certified as an integrative health coach. As an integrative health coach I take a non-traditional approach to health and wellness by addressing the cause and the symptom of disease through whole food nutrition. My job is to assume the role of an accountability partner and help my clients keep the commitments they make with themselves to take better care of themselves so that they maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid chronic diseases.

3W: And what is the significance of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition?

LaRue: The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) created a ripple effect that has become a global shift to better health which seeks a balance in all areas of life, and is pushing established norms with its holistic approach to health and wellness. I’ve since rounded out my education with a certification as a diabetes educator. My curriculum at IIN taught me how to merge my skill set into a business model that is unique but effective in treating chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. In many ways the sum of what we have today is not health care but “disease care.” Hippocrates once said: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” My program, called Dietbetic Healing, focuses on Type 2 diabetes which has reached epidemic levels in our country, so this Hippocratic quote is my mantra because lifestyle change and diet modification through whole food nutrition is the basis.

3W: So you saw a connection between food and disease and created a solution-based program to help people get away from poor food choices which lead to obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases?

LaRue: That’s right. We consult with businesses seeking to learn more about the benefits wellness can bring to their employees, and in the process they come to realize that corporate wellness programs increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction and in some cases can even help lower medical insurance premiums through their insurance carrier.

3W: How can people reach out to you and benefit from what you have to offer?

LaRue: My partner, Dr. Tyra Beavers has been in practice for over 20 years with a thriving business, and what we’ve done is incorporate my Dietbetic Healing program within the chiropractic practice, which treats Type 2 diabetes by first providing chiropractic health to enhance the body’s response to whole food nutrition, then we focus on meaningful lifestyle change through coaching. Now our patients have a well-rounded, carefully conceived holistic wellness program that also includes yoga, Pilates and massage therapy. I also do coaching through Skype or over the phone with clients literally across the globe. My clients spend less time on medication or in the hospital, and more time leading vital, active lives, no matter what age they are.

Chiro-Integrative Health Center of Beverly Hills is located at 250 N. Robertson Blvd., Suite 516, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 (310) 859-7696, Ext. 2# or log onto www.tyrabeaversdc.com .

We offer a no-obligation, free consultation and examination on the first visit.

3W: LaRue, it was great of you to spend time with us here at Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness today. I bet our readers will reach out to you. After all, if one of the world’s leading geniuses chose you to help feed his people, I think we’d all be blessed to get on board with your program – lose weight, get stronger, healthier and happier. Heck, maybe even gain some IQ points too.

As Gentle As a Butterfly

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:08:10 GMT

From Issue #1

SUE FRIES: A STUDY IN WISDOM & JOIE DE VIVRE
By LaRue Palmer

Sue Fries is an award-winning author, public speaker, and syndicated talk radio host. She’s also a successful business owner, competitive dancer, and still finds time to be a mom.

When you discover your home is plagued with rats, termites, bugs, and other insects the first thing you think of is the safety of your family. You want to rid your home of these pests but you want your loved ones to be safe so you’d do well to find a company that in addition to offering all the traditional extermination products offers non-chemical and low toxicity treatments as well. That company is ECOLA Termite and Pest Control Services and owned by Sue Fries. “We individualize our treatments to what the home-owner feels comfortable with. If they are okay with the strongest chemicals we’ll use those, if they want an effective treatment that uses non-chemical or low toxicity then we’ll use that.

Before we discuss how ECOLA is one of the most effective pest control companies in southern California let’s get to know this incredible woman, Sue Fries.

Truth be known, Sue Fries, a working mom in a man’s world of termite and pest control and is a force to be reckoned with. Although her son and daughter are fully grown (son Tyson works with his mom), they manage to maintain a very close relationship where Fries rarely misses a teaching opportunity. All the more reason why she was selected to represent the wisdom perspective of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness.

“My employees are my ministry and are very important to me because they are the ones taking care of our customers.”

A proponent of sound training and a nurturer by nature, Sue is known for caring. Her employees must meet her high standards and maintain a positive attitude for customer service. There have been instances where she found the ideal person for a specific job but they couldn’t pass the required test. Case in point, one of her employees failed his first qualification test, but she pushed him and he studied hard and passed! “He’s now my service manager and a very nice young man. He loves his mom, and his mom loves me. I will go to the grave caring too much. I’m fine with that,” said Fries.

Impacting the Industry

A strong business and marketing acumen has served Fries well, as she’s gone from answering phones and doing data entry when she first started the business with her former husband Scott years ago, to now running a multi-million-dollar company on her own. She is also a Director of Pest Control Operators of California.

Sue tells us, “Some issues have come up so I asked them to make me a Director again because I’ve gotta have a voice. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care about them. I make my living serving wonderful families and as a mother family’s health and safety is very important me.” To that issue, Fries spent 20 years in the pest control company industry learning the specific needs and concerns of the homemakers, the wives, and mothers of the household. They were the gatekeepers who protected the home from pest invasions; they were cautious about chemicals in pesticides being used where the family might be adversely affected. Being a mother, Fries intrinsically understood these concerns, and came to pioneer a different perspective that would serve the needs of the woman of the house. She used this insight to her advantage and established a connection that would dictate her marketing strategy and revolutionize the industry. Today, the industry has come to realize the importance of environment-friendly pest control and that the woman of the house in many cases is the face of their customer base. It was Sue Fries and ECOLA who first saw the light. The Termite Lady gets it!

ECOLA’s territory spans a large swath of California covering all of Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Santa Maria, and San Diego. “We are always hiring.” She announces. She is keen on hiring veterans whenever she can because she wants to show her appreciation for their service and because they tend to be more disciplined than most people.

Sue is well known as the Termite Lady of ECOLA Termite and Pest Control Services, proponent of environmentally friendly methods of termite and pest extermination. Her company’s slogan, “Powerful Termite and Pest Control as Gentle as a Butterfly” rings true, because whether in a commercial or residential setting, the humans don’t have to check into a hotel until the bugs are gone and the toxic chemicals dissipate.

Rather, the ECOLA team are experts in the use of non-chemical and low-toxicity Alternative Termite Treatments such as ECOLA heat, electro-gun, microwave, borates (salt treatments), EcoSmart products or precision injection. For over 30 years ECOLA inspectors have been individualizing treatment solutions that minimize chemical use and the hassle of solving your termite problem.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care about them.”

They don’t just rid your home of termites they eradicate all pests, bugs, bees, rats and rodents. Rats and mice can enter through tiny openings in your home or business. That’s why ECOLA doesn’t believe just killing them with traps is an appropriate solution to keep rodents outdoors where they belong. Instead, they utilize the best non-chemical method of rat and mice control – rodent exclusions. Rodent exclusion is designed to identify and correct potential entry points into your home or multi-tenant complex.

ECOLA Services is proud to offer EcoSmart products as an alternative to traditional spray chemicals. Now common pests like ants, cockroaches, bed bugs, and crickets, can be treated without the use of harsh chemicals. With no known pest resistance to EcoSmart’s botanical active ingredients, EcoSmart provides for a quick knockdown and control of insect pests.

A Ministry of Service

A devout Christian, Fries views her company as a ministry. She started with 30 employees when she first bought the company and now employs 85, and most of that original group of 30 are still with the company. She earned her street credibility by donning a pair of coveralls and crawling into the attics of homes doing exactly what the technicians did so that she could know her business inside out. Fries is the epitome of a servant leader, one who would never ask her staff to do anything that she herself was not willing to do. When asked what her spiritual gifts were, she replied simply, “I’m a servant at heart, and we’re called to serve one another.”

Sue is humble, and plays down the fact that she packs more into one day than most do in a week. In addition to running ECOLA, Sue is an internationally renowned competitive dancer, author, and public speaker, has a TV show on LA36.org , and is a syndicated radio talk show host heard on these stations:

KUHL (Santa Maria) 1440am on Sundays at 10am
KPRZ (San Diego) 1210am Saturdays at 4pm
KDAR (Ventura) 98.3fm Saturdays at 5pm
KKLA (Los Angeles) 99.5fm Saturdays at 6pm

You can find more information at www.suefries.com .

Words of Wisdom

As our time came to a close, we felt compelled to ask Sue if she would share a few words of wisdom. Again, Sue showed humility offering some personal and painful lessons she learned.

“My advice to working moms – be present. I had to learn that the hard way. I was at Magic Mountain standing in line with my kids, and my cell phone was glued to my ear because I was putting out fires at work while pretending to be on an outing with my kids. My daughter Tiana took my phone away from me because she felt I was ignoring our family. She said, ‘Mom, you said you wanted to be with us, but you’re not; you’re here but you’ve been on the phone the whole time!’ That was a big life changing moment for me. I realized I had to be present when I’m with my kids. So, from that point on I just turn my phone off when I’m with my kids.”

Her voice softened as she shared a more personal story, “I’ve had some painful life lessons. Some events were my own choices and there were consequences for my choices. For instance, I had an abortion. I’m not happy about it; not proud of it at all. But I’m forgiven, and I have God’s grace. And I’ve used that life lesson to help other women.” Sue was on the Board of Directors for the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Simi Valley where she volunteered. Which brings us to Sue’s plans for 2017. Jeremiah 29:11 is Fries’ scripture passage for 2017: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The future looks bright for Sue Fries and ECOLA. In the next few years she looks forward to owning a ranch shelter for abused women and children, and continuing her radio and TV show ministries. Sue’s mission is the pursuit of passion, purpose, and connection to encourage and inspire people to understand and fulfill what God created them to do. And of course, keeping family’s homes healthy and safe from pests.

Yes, the Termite Lady Gets It!

800-332-BUGS
Ecola Termite & Pest Control
Los Angeles and Corporate Office
15314 Devonshire Street
Mission Hills, CA 91345
(818) 920-7301

“The Doctor Will See You Now!”

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:59:03 GMT

From Issue #1

If you live in Santa Clarita and have an urgent need for an eye doctor, you won’t have to travel on the 405 freeway to the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA because right here in Valencia the Helm Vision Group has one of best eye doctors in the country.

“America is not great because it is diverse, America is diverse because it is great. If you work hard, you will better your situation, and you will succeed in some measure. Regardless of your race or gender, if you want to achieve the American dream what you need is opportunity. Opportunity is the American dream.”

In fact, Dr. Craig Helm completed his residency at the prestigious Jules Stein Eye Institute as a Heed fellow training directly under world renowned physician Dr. Bartly Mondino, Chairman of the Jules Stein Eye Institute.

Dr. Helm states, “At Helm Vision Group we have patients who travel from Virginia, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona; basically all over the country because we have all the latest technology, and best eye surgeons right here in our offices in Valencia. Whether patients need basic eye care to the most advanced laser or cataract surgery or even corneal transplants, I can successfully treat them right here in my medical office.

He shares an interesting story, “When I was practicing in Virginia, one of my patients happened to be a billionaire; he started the Weather Channel. I found him to be a very humble man as we discussed surgery and treatment for a solution to his condition. His daughter was understandably protective and approached me saying, ‘Dr. Helm my father can fly a private jet to anywhere in the world. Where should he go for his eye problem?’ And I said ‘well, he can go to UCLA where I trained with Dr. Bartly Mondino the Chairman of the Jules Stein Eye Institute and one of the top expert surgeons in the world on this condition, or your father can stay right here and I can do what Dr. Mondino trained me to do.’ So, he stayed and got the treatment from me and he did just fine.”

Dr. Helm is a cornea subspecialist by training. He performs partial-thickness corneal transplants, sometimes called “endothelial keratoplasty” or “sutureless” transplants, a highly skilled procedure that has revolutionized his practice. While Dr. Helm believes it is important to stay ahead of the curve as it relates to the latest technologies, realizing that things are going to progress and then adapting to them when there’s clearly something better is extremely challenging and takes vigilance.

Dr. Helm received a gymnastic scholarship to UCLA earning a B.S. degree in biochemistry then went on to Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where he was an academic scholar and member of Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Later, Dr. Helm completed his residency at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA and also a fellowship as a Heed fellow. He then went on to serve his country in the United States Air Force at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia.

After leaving the Air Force in 1996, Dr. Helm began his private practice in Virginia, specializing in cataract surgery, corneal transplantation and laser vision correction. He built a successful practice there utilizing his unique talents and compassion for healing people from every walk of life. Today Dr. Helm runs a state-of-the-art facility in Valencia, where he continues to provide world-class treatment, excellent patient care, and cutting-edge technology while continuing to stay at the forefront of medicine.

According to Dr. Helm, “Laser vision correction, cataract surgery and corneal transplants are literally life changing for those who get it.” Dr. Helm elaborates, “Corneal surgery has gone through a revolution in the last 8 years, unless you’re careful, you will think you’re cutting edge, but you’re not anymore. He states, “If you’re still practicing the way you were 10 years ago, you can look around and realize you’re out of date and you’re not offering the best care for your patients.

“Doctors are like athletes in that we have a passion to practice and constantly train to learn new skills to stay on top of our game. By way of example: years ago I was so excited about a new technique that I flew up to Oregon to learn from Dr. Mark Terry one of the world’s leading experts in corneal transplantation. He was doing this procedure and other procedures that I’d been reading about and when I saw his results I was blown away. I thought ‘This is unbelievable; I have to do this!’ This is way better than what I’ve been reading. To say that it was eye-opening was an understatement (pun intended!). Learning to do these procedures totally changed my corneal practice.”

Because Dr. Helm continues to stay on top of his field of expertise he is often called upon to improve results from prior surgeries. Here below is an example of how Dr. Helm fixes problems that others have encountered from surgery.

Seeing is Believing

Dr. Helm has a warm laugh that sets his patients at ease. It’s been said that most people would rather be deaf than blind, which speaks to the serious nature of this profession, but as Dr. Helm says, “We’re trying to solve problems here, and they could range from itchy eyes to blindness, and certainly it’s most dramatic when you take someone from blindness to sight.” The ability for Dr. Helm to be cheerful while his patients put their sight in his hands shows his level of confidence, and their trust in him.

“I’ve done surgery on my mom, I’ve done surgery on my dad, and I’ve done surgery on my brother. And people have asked me, ‘How can you perform surgery on your own family members?’ I simply say to them that every surgery I do, and every person I treat is like family.”

Sensing such passion and confidence in Dr. Helm, I asked him if he had a bit of cowboy in him. Without hesitation, he replied “Oh, of course! Absolutely. To be a good surgeon you have to be very, very self-confident. You have to believe that whenever you operate on somebody that you’re going to do a great job; you’re going to do the best job and there’s nobody that can do a better job than you.”

“We take pride in our work because we know Helm Vision Group is a top medical facility comparable to any in the world. When I interview someone for a job, their skills have to be the best in their field, but I always ask them to tell me what the most important thing is in their life. Their response tells me who they are as a person.

BEFORE: Corneal Edema (swollen cornea) due to a damaged cornea from complications of surgery at another medical facility.

AFTER: Dr. Helm cleared this patients vision as clearly seen in this after photo.

It quickly becomes a very deep interview because I want to know what they’re all about under the surface.
“America is not great because it is diverse, America is diverse because it is great. If you work hard, you will better your situation, and you will succeed in some measure. Regardless of your race or gender, if you want to achieve the American dream what you need is opportunity. Opportunity is the American dream.

“My staff enjoys what we do so we naturally attract people through our innate desire to help and love all people regardless of their background. We have a very diverse community here in Santa Clarita from all over the world; places like Egypt, Syria, India, Pakistan, South and Central America, Asia, Japan, and Korea. And everybody is treated like they’re part of our family.”

As we came near the end of our time together, Dr. Helm spoke in a subdued tone, “I’ve done surgery on my mom, I’ve done surgery on my dad, and I’ve done surgery on my brother. And people have asked me, ‘How can you perform surgery on your own family members?’ I simply say to them that every surgery I do, and every person I treat is like family.”

“I’ve had many experiences where we were able to restore a patient’s sight dramatically.” Dr. Helm continues, “We recently had an active but elderly attorney who had only one good seeing eye which was failing due to hereditary disease causing swelling of his cornea. He was not able to drive and was struggling to read and work. He underwent our new technique of corneal transplantation (DEMK) and was seeing 20/20 within two weeks of surgery.”

He continues, “On another occasion we had a woman who was developing cataracts. She was so fearful of surgery that she let herself go blind. For 15 years she was unable to recognize faces. When she came to my office something clicked and she felt enough trust to allow me to perform her surgery. On her ride home after surgery, her daughter reported that she was speechless because of her recovered vision. For the first time in 15 years she was able to see faces and recognize her children and grandchildren.”

When asked how he finds inspiration to keep personally motivated in life and with his medical practice, Dr. Helm said, “I feel that I am on this earth for a purpose and that I have found my calling. I am energized by helping people maintain and recover their sight. Most people consider sight be their most precious sense. Helping someone to regain their vision is highly rewarding. I am by nature a perfectionist. Eye surgery and taking care of difficult eye conditions is all about attention to detail. Also, I have always been of the mind that everyone can teach you something. It makes life interesting to meet so many kinds of people. When you are helping them with respect to something they really cherish, they share more of themselves with you. It keeps life exciting!”

Dr. Helm received a gymnastic scholarship to UCLA earning a B.S. degree in biochemistry then went on to Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where he was an academic scholar and member of Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Later, Dr. Helm completed his residency at the prestigious Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA as a Heed Fellow, then went on to serve his country in the United States Air Force at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia.

Helm Vision Group Valencia
27420 Tourney Road
Suite 100
Valencia, CA 91355
Phone: 661-259-3937
www.HelmVisionGroup.com

Gaming Your Teen’s College Applications

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:47:32 GMT

From Issue #1

Unconventional Advice from an Unconventional Mom

s college search season becomes ever-longer and the quest for the right fit for your student ramps up, you have
no doubt absorbed all the conventional wisdom. There’s nothing wrong with that, but not every teen fits a preconceived application form and sometimes following the pack is not the only route to a great school. Here’s a bit of unconventional wisdom from a college professor and mother of three.

Uncommon Apps: Beware of over-reliance on the Common Application. Yes, hundreds of colleges use it, but an increasing number are asking for additional statements and sidebars. It’s important not to gloss over those. A statement carefully crafted for the 8-12 colleges on your student’s list can only cover so much ground. These additional questions, while annoying, are a great opportunity to customize the application, and to align the student with a particular college. Admissions committees read these questions closely, which makes sense, since they are unique to their school.
Reframe and Repackage: Become an expert question reader. Make sure your student understands it. Regard each question as an opportunity to provide a different slant or to accentuate something that didn’t make an earlier cut. The word length limits on most applications are severe. All the more reason to make each sentence count. Never repeat a fact, and edit down wordy sentences to squeeze in more narrative and personality.
Focus forward: Students often think of applications as expanded resumes – a record of what they have already accomplished. If your student seems short on accomplishments, one technique is to describe where he or she wants to be in five years. How does the student’s preparation connect with the college’s offerings and the student’s ultimate goal? This can be extraordinarily effective if there is a solid foundation on which to build. A student who took band every year, has applied to the music department and one day hopes to become a music teacher can draw a clear line between past, present, and future. Go further, and encourage your student to name particular professors or courses he or she would like to take. Mention any special program – and most colleges have dozens — that’s a clear link to a career goal. Colleges increasingly expect applications to spend time on their websites.
Go deep. It’s a truism, but worth reiterating: far better to focus on fewer activities, show a deeper level of proficiency and just a few impressive accomplishments. A figure skater who made it to the nationals and has been at the rink 4 days a week for 8 years is more impressive than someone who changed sports each year and has few competencies to show for it.
Stop, Collaborate and Listen! While it’s true that an application should showcase the student as an individual, today’s employers are keenly interested in teams, and word has trickled down to colleges and universities. Does your child excel as a team player? Has he or she had experience on academic or science teams? It is worth spending considerable time honing an answer and giving an example. Provide context by explaining how the team was set up and it’s various roles, but sacrifice space, if necessary, to state in very specific terms what valuable lessons were learned through collaboration.
Make the Connections for the Reader: Believe it or not, your student’s accomplishments might not be instantly apparent to the cranky admissions officer who’s on his 34th app of the day. Consider using a “closer phrase” that provides context for each activity as frequently as possible. Don’t write “I played piano at an old folks’ home,” and just leave it there. Add a sentence that will paint a picture, pull heartstrings, and make the task meaningful. “When I stuck with this every Sunday afternoon and began to develop a rapport with the regulars, I gained insight and connections to a community I would not otherwise have known.” Extrapolate from the specific to the general. Don’t write: “Competed for three years on the soccer team and served as co-captain,” without adding: “The hours of daily practice not only taught me playing skills, but gave me far more valuable time management skills which will be directly applicable to college.”

While none of these tips and tricks is a slam dunk, taken as a whole they are useful as a means of encouraging a fresh look at the tired old college applications. Anything your student can do to look innovative and fresh is sure to catch a tired admissions officer’s eye somewhere.

Mary Thompson-Jones is a professor at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies and faculty director of the master’s program in Global Studies and International Relations. Her book, To the Secretary: Leaked Embassy Cable and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect, was published in July, 2016 by W.W. Norton.

Leading By Example

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:37:17 GMT

From Issue #1

How a Young Man Taught Himself & His Entire Family the Rules of Success to Create Lasting Family Wealth

Imagine a hardworking family man. He and his loving supportive wife were able to buy their first home in their 20s and within a decade retire in their 30s because of his financial prowess. Their children are successful young adults. They are literally living the dream. One day while vacationing in Rome and admiring the Coliseum his wife notices a strange look on her husband’s face. He turns to his wife and tells her he just had an epiphany.

He tells her, “Do you realize we are in an amazingly wonderful place and we don’t have any family and friends with us because they can’t afford to be here? We need to go back and expand our company to teach and help others to grow and protect their wealth so they can afford to take wonderful vacations and live the life the way they want to,” Just like that, Arif Halaby began the next 15 years of his career transforming people’s lives by educating them and helping them create wealth and retirement income in their lives.

Arif Halaby has been helping and protecting people his entire life. He learned from his parents who led by example. His father filled their 1,100-square foot home with family and friends from Lebanon – so many in fact that Arif went from living in his bedroom, to the living room and eventually the garage. Arif helped his family acclimate their relatives and friends teaching them English and introducing them to his friends at school.

It was a natural progression for Arif to join Los Angeles Police Department where he protected and served for 11 years. During that time his passion for investing propelled him to save over $150,000, marry the love of his life, and at 28 he became professionally licensed and started his financial practice, now specializing in retirement income strategies and annuities.

We sat down for a few minutes with Arif to learn what wisdom he could share with us.

3W: Arif you married very young, started a family, retired at 33 and decided to start a new venture helping others become wealthy. How did you jump start your success so quickly in life?

Arif: I owe it to my mother and father. They took in so much family from Lebanon and made sure they took proper care of them to help them get on their feet. Growing up in that environment I realized I wanted to help people build wealth to make sure they never had to sleep on the floor and go hungry.

3W: So, you started your own school?

Arif: We founded The Money School and began teaching classes to anyone who would listen. We started scholarship funds at high schools and gave away tens of thousands of dollars to students who held down a job while at school and showed a desire to be an entrepreneur.

3W: And then Robert Kiyosaki heard about your scholarship fund?

Arif: Yes. I had read and implemented many of the strategies in Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad and tripled my income within 9 months. I wanted to teach people how to do what I did which was become wealthy and protect and grow your income.

Robert asked me to be the spokesperson for the Rich Dad Poor Dad series of CDs, DVDs and instructional courses.

3W: Tthe king of the self-made millionaires hired you to be his spokesperson?

Arif: We were one of three families featured, and had a lot of fun doing it.

3W: What is the mission of your company now?

Arif: Our company’s mission is to help families protect their principal savings while achieving reasonable interest rates, and to use simple terms that our clients can understand.

3W: Okay let’s assume our readers have made their money; they’re good at that, how do you advise them when they come to see you?

Arif: I’ll review and analyze their finances and help them protect what they’ve worked so hard to earn. I help them to discover the purpose of their money; meaning, what they want to have happen in their life now and through their retirement years and beyond.

3W: You’re referring to specific plans and goals the family has?

Arif: Yes, discovering the purpose of the family’s money involves discovering their goals. It could be to put their kids through college while still protecting their nest egg, retire at 65, travel the country, buy a vacation home, set up a new business, or a legacy for their grandchildren. Each family has different needs and we help direct those needs to a solid financial solution.

3W: So what is the difference between having good retirement funding and life insurance policies?

Arif: In many cases, you want to leave your retirement accounts to your spouse and your charities. You want to leave life insurance policies to your children because if you leave your children your retirement account they can be taxed up to 90% of it through probate, income tax, state tax, and lawyer fees etc.

3W: Let’s say a baby boomer couple has a good retirement portfolio mix, and 401ks but no life insurance or annuities. They are concerned they’ll outlive their money. What would be a good basic life insurance and annuity set up for them. What opportunities are they missing?

Arif: They could be missing the opportunity to defer taxes on their gains. The annuities we offer have tax-favored growth potential as well as a number of different distribution choices, which can help diversify your income taxes in retirement. And life insurance is free of income tax under current law, which makes it a gift rather than a liability to your heirs.

3W: Are you ever approached to give a second opinion of a family’s portfolio if they already have a team of investment advisors?

Arif: Absolutely, in fact I encourage clients to have a team of financial experts. I play an integral part offering alternative products and services that others on their team do not while offering valuable perspective for balancing risk and providing stable retirement income.

3W: What do you usually find when you analyze an upscale family portfolio?

Arif: Even if people are generating good income and have a very good balanced portfolio, they may not be protected from risk in a stock market decline. I like the illustration of showing my clients that if you have a million dollars in stocks and the market goes up 50% you’ve now got $1.5 Million but if the market declines by 50% now you only have $500,000. Which scenario would be more life changing for you?

3W: Ouch. Obviously losing half a million.

Arif: Right. A Fixed Index Annuity might be a good idea for them because if the market declines it won’t affect their principal nor the interest that is credited to the value. Once the interest is credited, it becomes a protected part of the principal balance and can be used later in life to generate income for you. This chart (on next page) shows the real benefits of one indexed annuity with annual reset design outperforming the stock market over the last 18 years.

“I like showing my clients that if you have a million dollars in stocks and the market goes up 50% you’ve now got $1.5 Million. But if the market declines by 50% now you only have $500,000. Which scenario would be more life changing for you?”

3W: That is eye opening. Clearly annuities beat the S&P 500.

Arif: Well, they’re not designed to, but this example really shows their strength. Take a look at the chart above and ask yourself, “Where would I rather have my money?” We think that most people would say, “I want my money in the GREEN line, at least for a portion of their wealth!”

3W: Absolutely. Annuities guarantee your principal is protected and you can still earn interest.

Arif: Not all annuities. Fixed index annuities are protected from market volatility. They offer principal protection and growth potential for your money. Total Financial Solutions writes their annuities and insurances only with A rated companies.

3W: Can you pass on annuities to your children?

Arif: Yes, at least with the ones we offer. When you pass away, your beneficiary receives whatever money is in the annuity. Even if you started taking income from it, your family would receive the remaining balance. Your beneficiary may choose to receive your contract’s values in a lump sum or in a series of payments over time.
The death benefit may be a reason some individuals purchase annuities even though they have no immediate plans to receive their contract values. They simply want to know the money is available (may be subject to a surrender charge) should they need it – and that it can be passed on to their beneficiaries if they don’t use it.

3W: So you’re more in control of your retirement years and what you leave as a legacy to your children.

Arif: Correct, because a fixed index annuity puts you in control of your future income, based on the annuity you choose and how much money you put into it. After your contract has had an opportunity to earn interest over its deferral period, you can begin taking penalty-free withdrawals as needed, or starting a steady stream of income that will last your lifetime, like a personal pension. It really just depends on what makes sense for you at that moment in your life.

3W: Arif obviously couples should have you take a look at their financials. What do you want to say to our readers?

Arif: I would say let’s sit down and make sure you’re positioned to win. Let’s go over your finances together, and let me give you an unbiased second opinion. I love helping families live well and retire well. It has been my mission since I was a boy learning from my parents. Helping families is so rewarding. Give us a call, we’re here to help you integrate your financial life.

Top 5 Rules for Your Family’s Financial Success

by Arif M. Halaby, CEP

Adapt and change your financial life as conditions change. The types of accounts that may have worked 20-30 years ago may not help you achieve your future objectives.
Maximize your earning potential by always staying fresh and ‘up-to-date’ with your skills.
Retirement should be a time to do what you want, regardless of how much you are paid.
Talk about money in ways that emphasize opportunity and not limits.
All money and accounts have a job to do. For example, don’t use money you have set aside for retirement to pay for your child’s college education.

Total Financial Solutions, Inc.
A member of The Personal Financial & Insurance Group, LLC

California Business License #0E11839
“Integrating your financial life…”™
24322 Main Street, Newhall, CA 91321
888-99-RETIR

info@tfswealth.com

“Treating people the way you want to be treated.”

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:26:07 GMT

From Issue #1

Mary Winners of About Senior Solutions

We plan in advance for weddings, but rarely for our death. In fact, we plan most everything in our daily lives from the time we get out of bed and sometimes the night before.

We have many tools to help us organize our lives but not one of them is about planning for the slow, inevitable decline of our physical health and our mental clarity.

Yet most of us will indeed experience a slow decline in the last years of our lives and it can be very expensive. Dementia care or 24/7 home care or in-home nursing can cost $9,000 per month or more. For many people it’s unbearable to think of or to plan for. Besides we have things to do today; pick up the kids, groceries on the way home, make dinner, homework, laundry night – who has time to plan for our later years? Mary Winners of About Senior Solutions does. She’s here to help us.

3W: Mary, why did you get into senior care and how long have you been a gerontologist?

Mary: My dad got sick and I saw how the whole system works; rather how it doesn’t, how it fails the children of aging parents, and in protecting patient rights. What we don’t know will not only hurt our parents but us as well. About Senior Solutions has been in the business of helping people for 20 years and we’ve seen all kinds of tragedies play out when the family does not have a plan for caring for a senior.

3W: So the tragedy your family went through within the system changed your life. You got a degree in Gerontology and from there what did you do?

Mary: Yes, experiencing what my family went through inspired me to help other families so they’d never have to go through what our family did. I help families on a daily basis go through some of the most challenging and sensitive issues of their lives. Our company is their guide to make sure they have the right plan in place, the right attorney and even make sure the attorney does their job properly. I make sure the health care providers and home care places are doing what they’re supposed to be doing per the contract.

3W: What happens if people try to go it alone?

Mary: I would say that they are walking straight into a crisis. The healthcare system can step all over you if you don’t have a plan. And worse, you may end up spending $6,000 to $12,000 a month or more for several months. The average decline for a person can last from 12 to 22 months so you can be devastated emotionally, angered by the system, feel helpless, and be in huge debt when it’s over. And if you have another aging parent get ready to repeat the process.

3W: That’s everything times two – it seems insurmountable.

Mary: Well, if you don’t have a plan it most likely will be.

3W: So what does a good plan look like?

Mary: I’m so glad you asked because I have an easy acronym for people to remember: G.I.F.T.

G: Gather your information. Think of who you want on your side; your children, attorney, which senior center you prefer, and whether your senior will be staying at home or with one of your siblings or relatives.

I: Inform everyone. All the key players on your team need to be informed of your plan including your doctor, attorney, CPA, financial planner, specialists, family and friends.

F: Follow through. Meaning sign all your documents! If you forget to sign even one document, it may be void without your signature.

T: Tell every decision maker on your team where these documents are! If your documents can’t be found, then you might be in a most unfortunate situation.

3W: What are some uncomfortable situations families get themselves into?

Mary: Siblings sometimes disagree on how best to take care of mom or dad, sometimes the aging loved one doesn’t want to cooperate, sometimes one of the boomer siblings takes on most of the responsibility and that often becomes unbearable. If their loved one is already in home care sometimes they might be neglected; not taken outside for a walk, just cooped up in their room for days, and sometimes they develop bedsores so large that we have to move them out of that facility. We may even have to enter conservatorship to make sure the attorneys do their job. The list is endless and the sad thing is that this can all be prevented if you have a solid plan in place.

3W: You are the Ultimate Problem Solver. How do you remain so calm and upbeat when you’re talking about these awful situations families go through?

Mary: (laughter) Because I know how the story ends. I always end up always helping these families. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and I’ve seen pretty much everything. We can help the family find their silver lining. If we’re on your team, we can lead you to that place where everyone will be confident that we’ve come to the best solution and we can all breathe comfortably.

3W: That makes sense. I guess when you’re an expert and have done this for so many years your experience and confidence is your source of strength.

Mary: Exactly

3W: What are you and your company focused on for 2017?

Mary: We all need to be prepared for healthcare costs to rise. Homecare will be more expensive because they will be bundling services. The system is going to get tighter and you may not be able to get the services you want or get out of a service that you are unhappy with. So again, it’s time to make those plans now, not when your loved one suddenly starts their decline.

3W: It seems obvious that we should all have this plan in place but most of us don’t.

Mary: If you’re already in crisis mode and get us involved we take care of everything so you get your life back. If you don’t plan for your aging senior’s decline and eventual death you will literally be faced with an incredible crisis.

3W: If you don’t plan for successfully navigating this inevitable event, you’re actually planning to fail.

Mary: Great way to put it.

3W: So what do I get if I actually plan ahead and have you prepare all our processes for us?

Mary: We meet with you and your family and discuss the best solution for your loved one. Then you can breathe easy because I’m making sure your G.I.F.T. is in place and we make sure your whole team is informed so when the inevitable happens we activate the plan; and everything goes much smoother so you can relax.

3W: Is it challenging to get people to understand that they need to prepare for the inevitable?

Mary: Yes. It’s why we work with so many estate planning attorneys and financial planners. You have to understand that this will be a very stressful and emotional time of your life, so if you have me on your side all that stress is gone, the boulder is off your shoulder, and we are organized. We know what to do and we execute it. You’ll be confident that you’re loved one is going to have their last remaining days exactly as they want, and that is a blessing for the entire family!

3W: Make the plan and work the plan; got it. What keeps you motivated to keep going?

Mary: Helping families. There is always a silver lining. The Boomer Sandwich Generation and their aging parents don’t have to be alone in this process. We are here for them, and we know how to fight for them. All seniors deserve support and to be safe and secure and enjoy life to the end. Imagine having a plan in place where the whole team comes together to support you and your loved ones.

3W: Mary I know that you come highly recommended by many estate planning attorneys and financial planners and families you’ve helped. I’m so glad you took the time today to share your knowledge with our readers. Thank you.

Mary: Of course, my pleasure.

About Senior Solutions
525 South Myrtle Avenue, Suite 208
Monrovia, CA 91016
626-359-0108
888-736-5864
info@aboutseniorsolutions.com

Building Lasting Family Wealth

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:21:12 GMT

From Issue #1

Imagine a loving family in the typical everyday struggle of earning money, keeping the family happy and healthy and raising loving children into adulthood. They grow considerable wealth and enjoy the benefits of the assets they’ve acquired. They talk about retirement and leaving a legacy for their children but like 70% of most people in their 50s and beyond, they procrastinate. Finally, the husband decides to book an appointment with an estate planning attorney. Unfortunately, just days before the appointment the husband passes.

“My inspiration comes from helping to keep family relationships strong, while at the same time, creating long lasting legacies through successful transition of family wealth to generations down the line. 70% of wealth transitions fail and I don’t want my clients to be part of that 70%.”– Vanessa

With no estate plan in place, the state of California took hold of the family assets. The wife ended up losing their family home and the children received very little of what their father intended for them. The family was heartbroken. True story. Couldn’t happen to you? Unfortunately, this situation is more common than you think.

Let’s meet the law firm who helped this family put their financial house in order and get back some peace of mind. Vanessa and Ed Terzian of Terzian Law Partners.

3W: Vanessa why don’t 70% of people have an estate plan, will or health directive in place?

Vanessa: We procrastinate by nature. We only do things when we have to and people don’t like to talk about death and dying, its right up there with going to the dentist.

3W: Is it painful for the family to discuss this with you?

Vanessa: Not at all. In fact, when our first meeting is over I often get big group hugs from the family. They tell me this was so much easier than they thought and they’re so relieved they finally have a plan and know what each family member’s involvement will be when the time comes.

Ed: Vanessa is being modest, so I want to add something about her. Of course, I am a bit bias as her husband and partner, but she has a gift. She knows how to bring families together and make them comfortable in the process. She is professional and incredibly knowledgeable as an attorney, but at the same time, people relate to her. Her time as a trust officer at Wells Fargo, working with portfolio managers and beneficiaries really helped her understand the family dynamic and how important it is to have everyone on the same page.

Vanessa: I do think that when we joined our practices, our estate planning process became a more complete start to finish approach. Ed’s background in trust and probate litigation helps us prepare more complete estate plans for our clients. Ones that avoid the usual pitfalls. We try to anticipate problems before they arise and come up with solutions now, rather than later. And, if litigation does arise, then Ed is here to help.

3W: What does that mean to the families; start to finish estate planning?

Vanessa: Our goal is to provide an estate planning service from start to finish by providing an environment for families to openly communicate so they’re on the same page. It’s not about just drawing up a document because who you name as a successor trustee as administrator of the estate is just as important as the document.

3W: So the successor trustee may not be qualified?

Vanessa: Well, for example, sometimes parents name the oldest sibling as the successor trustee and administrator of the estate. While that may have been a good idea at the time, family dynamics change. Siblings move away and sometimes the younger siblings turn out to be more responsible. So if a parent becomes incapacitated they want to make sure they have named the right person to be their successor or trustee, because being a trustee is not a fun job.

3W: There is a lot more for the family to consider than just having an excellent estate planning attorney.

Ed: Yes. It comes down to who your attorney is as a counselor. Estate planning attorneys and litigators have to be empathetic counselors – someone who is both an excellent attorney and an understanding person.

Vanessa: We are so different from other estate planning law firms because many other firms simply draw up documents. We don’t charge by billable hours because we want the entire family to come in and be relaxed and go over every possible detail.

Ed: That start to finish estate planning process is really driven by our goal to transition wealth while preventing family disputes, and ultimately, litigation. It’s the disputes that can destroy family legacies.

3W: Very impressive. Walk me through an initial meeting with you.

Vanessa: The first meeting is all about the family. We learn about the family by listening to them. We want to know the family’s goals and objectives. The next phase is the design phase where I take all the family goals as expressed during our meeting and put that into the document.

Then I put together a Diagram, a picture of the entire estate plan and trust so the family can see exactly how it works. This diagram is extremely helpful for the family.

The last phase is the funding of the trust. We want all the insurances and assets to be properly located so it won’t trigger probate, and that their assets are administered pursuant to the trust.

3W: What are some mistakes you see in an estate plan or during litigation?

Vanessa: Gifts that are given out right instead of being placed in a trust. Gifts should be in a trust because a trust is protected from divorce, bankruptcy, creditor claims; it’s an asset protection for the next generation. By way of example: if a client gifts $250,000 to each grandchild for their college education it should be placed in a trust specified for that intent. Otherwise if it’s a gift or inheritance the child can do anything they want with it once they turn 18.

3W: Are there any differences between the needs of a middle upper income and an ultra-high net worth family?

Ed: Our goal with every family is ultimately the same; to create lasting legacies through successful transition of wealth and avoidance of family disputes. But we do find that the more you have, the more there is at stake.

Vanessa: Typically, the high net worth clients already have a team in place but it’s amazing how often we find cracks in the plans., because their team usually doesn’t talk to each other!

3W: Who is on their team?

Ed: They’ll have a CPA, an attorney, maybe they already have an estate plan, they’ll have a financial planner or a wealth manager who has them in stocks, annuities, life insurances and real estate investments.

Vanessa: That’s why we do team meetings and family meetings. We like to do them at least once a year to stay current.

Ed: Exactly. Our strength is team building. This goes back to Vanessa’s goal of open communication. Not only do we want to talk with all the family members but it’s essential to talk with the whole financial team. We analyze all of their relevant documents such as tax returns and financials, so that the entire team is on the same page.

Vanessa: If they are not on the same page it’s entirely possible that when their client passes all of their assets might be in a taxable estate. But if we need to go into litigation we’re confident that because of our start to finish approach to estate planning that we are more effective than most law firms.

3W: What are some examples of these situations?

Ed: Well, we represented two brothers whose father remarried toward the end of his life. He ended up rewriting his entire estate plan and cut out his kids and grandkids, leaving everything to his new wife. The kids didn’t feel his intent was honored. They were really hurt because they were very close with their father. So we brought an action to enforce his prior trust and ended up getting a great result at mediation which left both our clients and their stepmother very happy. Maybe more important than the great monetary result, we were able to salvage the family relationship and bring back peace and harmony.

3W: That’s an incredible success story.

Ed: People want to forgive. They just need to see that the other party understands their perspective and where they are coming from. Once that happens, once there is a mutual understanding, people forgive and the case can successfully settle.

Vanessa: That’s so true. We had a case where our client’s original attorney was doing everything right as far as the administration of the trust, but the family was not speaking to each other because their attorney did not establish an open forum of communication. So the family asked for our help and we resolved that case because we know how to bring people together and reach the right outcome for all parties.

3W: Your job sounds very challenging. Where do you find inspiration to continue your practice?

Ed: My inspiration comes from taking cases I believe in. When someone has been wronged, that doesn’t sit right with me. My family went through a dispute that ended up hurting relationships. This really left an impression on me and I knew that I wanted to help other families avoid what I personally witnessed. I really don’t like seeing people being taken advantage of. I’ve spent years in real estate, business and estate litigation. Simply put, it brings me joy to resolve injustices for my clients while at the same time helping salvage family relationships. That’s my inspiration.

“People want to forgive. They just need to see that the other person sees their point of view, and really understands where they are coming from. Once that happens then the case can settle.” —Ed

Vanessa: My inspiration comes from helping keep family relationships strong, while at the same time, creating long lasting legacies through the successful transition of family wealth to generations down the line. 70% of wealth transitions fail and I don’t want my clients to be part of that 70%.

3W: You have offices in Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, San Marino, and San Fernando Valley, and your main office is in La Canada Flintridge, what do you want to say to our readers?

Vanessa: I’d say don’t be part of the 70% who have trouble successfully transitioning their wealth. I too often see people working hard to raise their children and to build strong family relationships, only to lose it all because they didn’t properly plan for the future. Give yourself the peace of mind that you have done everything in your power to ensure that your legacy will be protected, both financially and emotionally. The only way is through proactive planning centered around a comprehensive approach.

Terzian Law Partners
727 Foothill Blvd.
La Canada, Flintridge, CA 91011
818-864-6174

Trust & Wills, Trust Administration Probate Trust Litigation Advanced Tax Planning Complex Trust Formation Special Needs/Disability Planning Children Protection Planning

vanessa@vterzianlaw.com
edward@vterzianlaw.com
www.Vterzianlaw.com

Welcome to The Premier Issue of Wealth I Wisdom I Wellness!

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 22:29:45 GMT

From Issue 1

Most of us want to protect our wealth and health by making wise choices and good buying decisions. But that can be challenging as a consumer if we’re not given the opportunity to understand a business beyond its advertisements.

We created Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness to serve as a platform for business owners to connect with our readers by sharing the story of their business. They shared how hard they work to provide excellent service and products and expressed personal, meaningful, and relevant insight on wealth, wisdom and wellness for our readers.

In so doing, these business owners created something unique and extraordinary; an opportunity for consumers to get to know them beyond price points and advertisements.

On the cover of our premiere issue, we are proud to showcase Sue, Craig and Collin. We found them to be truly inspiring professionals dedicated to perfecting their business and bringing satisfaction to their customers. We hope you enjoy reading their stories and their thoughts on wealth wisdom and wellness. As you get to know them we hope you’ll keep them in mind the next time you are looking to make a good buying decision.

Happy Reading,

President and CEO
CT3Media, Inc.

CT3Media, Inc.
25350 Magic Mountain Parkway #300,
Valencia, CA 91355
818-636-2964

info@ct3media.com Comments and Advertising Inquiries

Chet Thompson Publisher
LaRue Palmer Staff Writer
Ben Lizardi Art Director
Katherine Cordon Business Development
Lusine Tarakchyan Executive Assistant

wealth

Newhall Ranch: Tip of the Iceberg of Major SCV Developments

From Issue #4

A Wider View of the Santa Clarita Valley Housing Crunch

Where will all the new SCV residents find mortgage-paying jobs as the population keeps growing faster than local housing and availability of those high-quality jobs?

Housing by the Numbers

High-Quality Jobs, Traffic Corridors

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Sepi Fatahi: Valencia Dentist Lives a Childhood Dream

From Issue #4

Chasing a Sky Blue Dream

Back on the Dentistry Track

You CAN Go Home Again

The Tree That Keeps on Giving

Aging with Power: Myles McNamara, Comfort Keepers In-Home Care Help Seniors Stay Home

From Issue #4

Community Involvement, International Reach

Senior Advocacy, Engagement Builds Trust

Vetting the Comfort Keepers

Interactive Caregiving, Management

A Universal Approach to Interactive Caregiving

All in the Family: Nola Aronson, Advanced Audiology Help the Peeples Hear Better

From Issue #4

Two Peeples’ Experiences with Advanced Audiology’s Free Hearing Checkup and 45-Day Hearing Device Test-Drive

Inside the Inner Sanctum

The Results

Our Family Affair

Time is Running Out for SCV Teen with Deadly Genetic Disorder

From Issue #4

Update on Sebastian Velona Foundation’s Race to Cure Batten Disease CLN8

Life Coach Marguerite Berg: For Each Person in Life, it’s ‘My Shoes, My Journey’

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Life Coaching is Not Psychotherapy

Inspired by Hard-Working Parents

How to Combat Alzheimer’s Disease Without Drugs

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Healthy Diet, Lifestyle Can Delay or Diminish Dementia

Better Health Without Drugs

Douglas Furniture: An Evergreen Family Business Grown in the SCV

Issue #4

Co-Owner Doug Green Looks Back on Four Decades, Ahead to the Next Generation

Aviator CPA Gives Overview of New Tax Law’s First Year

It's All About Finding The Balance

Beyond FANG: IBD’s Amy Smith Spotlights Four High-Performing Stocks

Issue #4

What do Netflix, SolarEdge, Etsy and Shake Shack Have in Common?

Dr. Craig J. Helm Takes a Closer Look at Summer Eye Injuries

Issue #4

Publisher’s Note: Welcome to the Latest Edition of Wealth | Wisdom | Wellness

Issue #4

Newhall Ranch: SCV Boon or Boondoggle?

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Part 1: The Housing Crunch

Newhall Ranch – The Promise

New, Existing and Semi-Affordable Homes

The Need for Quality Jobs

SOUND ADVICE: Hear Better, Live Better with Nola Aronson

From Issue #3

From Special Ed Teacher to Audiologist

‘Hearing Loss Separates People’

‘Only Your Audiologist Knows for Sure!’

‘Giving Back’ is No Cliché‘

Changing Lives for 30 Years

Fred Wachtel Helps Families

From Issue #3

Health of Family Wealth

Diversification the Key

Access to Wells Fargo Advisors’ Vast Resources

Wealth Health is a Family Affair

A ‘Fairly Boring (Family) Guy’

Health Coach Brings Hipness to His Healing Practice

From Issue #3

Hippocratic quotes inspire mission to extend healthspan

Saenger Associates: First Call for Retained Executive Search

From Issue #3

IBD’s Amy Smith is Bullish on Short- and Long-Term Trends

From Issue #3

Jeff Brandolino on Building a Brand

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From Real Estate Sales to Flipping Investment Properties

From Issue #4

Personal Passions:
Family, Flying and Federer

Audiologist Dr. Patrice Rifkind Understands How Hearing Care is Health Care