Archive for January, 2012

What’s New on Starmont.com – Winter 2012 Update

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

There never seems to be a dull moment even in the “dead of winter” as we freshen up Starmont.com to keep you up to date on what is going on.  Lots has been happening keeping us busy preparing for year end and starting off a new year.  At the same time we sent out timely communications to our Clients, a priority, and contributed our thoughts to media and through our blogging.  Here’s what’s new… 

Harvey Rowen opens his kimono  and shares his personal and professional sides in an interview with Servcorp.  Servcorp is the company from whom we rent our San Francisco office. 

We’ve been busy Bloggers!  Vivian Groman’s blog 5 Tips To Become a Better Investor was picked up by not only Starmont.com, but WomenAdvisorForum.com and Forbes.com.  Make sure to follow Vivian on Forbes.com here: http://blogs.forbes.com/people/viviangroman/. 

Harvey’s blog was also featured on Forbes.com 5 Questions to Ask Before Picking a Mutual Fund in 2012.  It seems 5 was a popular number this month. 

Harvey was quoted in a recent MarketWatch.com article Where To Put Your Money If The Bond Bull Stumbles where he shares his perspective on bond investing.

As always we strive to keep our Clients informed on the market and Starmont’s investment actions.  You can read two emails we recently sent to our Clients, When will investments go up? and Tax Loss Harvesting & Asset Allocations.

Hope you stay warm and healthy through the rest of this season.  Do not hesitate to reach out if we can be of any service to you or yours.

The Starmont Team

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5 Questions To Ask Before Picking A Mutual Fund In 2012

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

As Featured on Forbes.com

by Harvey Rowen

When Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) like myself choose investments for clients we have a fiduciary responsibility to find the most appropriate investments. We want to avoid taking too much risk while also looking for returns above the benchmark.

We take that responsibility very seriously. We look for mutual funds, for example, that we believe will provide good returns without taking unwarranted risk, funds we think will be stable for the long run and will put the investor first.

Over time, we have developed an effective technique for selecting what we consider to be best-of-breed mutual fund managers and investment companies. As an investor, you can use this same approach when researching where to invest your 401k, IRA, college savings fund or other investment.

Get the answers to these questions before you invest in a new fund.

1.  Have returns been generally consistent through both up and down markets? (more…)

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Harvey Rowen Interviewed for Servcorp Spotlight Newsletter

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Last month Starmont’s Harvey Rowen was interviewed by Servcorp and highlighted in their monthly newsletter!  Servcorp is the company Starmont leases their San Francisco office from at 555 California Street.  This office has made it much easier for our Clients to meet with us and through Servcorp Starmont has access to offices in Irvine, CA and New York allowing for convenient places for us to meet with Clients on both coasts.

Here is the interview…Harvey shares his personal history as well as his perspective on the advice business – Read on and Enjoy!

Client Spotlight
This month, our feature client is Harvey Rowen. He is the CEO andFounder of Starmont Asset Management. One of the things I most admire about Mr. Rowen is his dedication to his clients. Being an Asset Management company, the economy has been rough on his industry, but he constantly strives to keep all his clients financially secure and happy. Mr. Rowen is currently a full-time Executive Suite client at our 555 California Street center, and working with him has not only been an exciting experience, but he is also someone I can look up to. I asked him some questions so we could get to know him a little better:

Tell me a little bit about yourself. 

Born, Chicago, Ill.  (more…)

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Client Communications: Tax Loss Harvesting & Asset Allocations

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
January 3, 2012

To Our Valued Clients and Friends, 

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be a year of peace, happiness, prosperity, and a lot less stress!Starmont spent the last week of December reviewing taxable accounts, and seeking to “harvest losses” by selling positions in those accounts that had losses, so as to offset taxable gains in those accounts. In some cases we were able to eliminate all taxable gains; in most cases we were able to eliminate some but not all of the taxable gains, and in some cases we had no losses in the taxable account to harvest. The end of December is the one time of the year that those of us at Starmont wish we had more losses in our Clients’ taxable accounts.You will be receiving confirmations from Charles Schwab, or e-mail notices from Schwab letting you know that confirmations are available to you on-line, reflecting the sales. We will be e-mailing to Starmont Clients, and to your CPAs, the final Gain/Loss report for all taxable accounts prior to the January 15th due date for final estimated income tax payments for 2011.The sales left large amounts of cash in taxable accounts. (more…)

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5 Things Investors Should Know for 2012

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Vivian Groman regularly blogs for Forbes.com and the WomenAdvisorsForum.com, this month’s post follow…

A lot of people become reflective at the beginning of a year, mulling over the highs and lows of the year that just ended. We decided, instead, to take a look ahead and give you some ideas that will help you be better investors in this new year. 

  1. Be News Agnostic — Avoid being swayed by the news of the day, whether it’s good or bad. Focus on trends versus headlines. Expose yourself to thoughtful interpretation of what’s going on by following analysts, journalists and bloggers you trust.
  2. Cash is Not Necessarily King — You may sleep better at night if you are invested in cash and thus avoiding the ups and downs of the market. However,  cash has a price since it isn’t returning enough to cover even our current low inflation rate—so you are actually losing money when you are overly invested in cash. 
  3. Prudence is Queen — A diversified portfolio, modified for current economic, political and global circumstances, is the best approach. Make sure you are not over-invested in your company’s stock and that you have a good mix of various types of investments, including cash.
  4. Time for Generosity — If your assets exceed $5 million as an individual or $10 million as a couple, you can reduce estate taxes in the future by making some strategic gifts to heirs now.  The $5 million per person estate/gift tax exemption is going away by the end of 2012.
  5. Give Plans Another Go-Around — Many experts are projecting lower returns on investments in the coming years.  So this is a good time to get a financial plan—or refresh your last one—and assess whether you are still on track to meet your retirement goals.

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