25 Fascinating Facts About Debt

I know you have heard it before but the best investment you can make is not in the stock market but paying off your debt. Here are some interesting facts about debt, especially credit card debt, from BankRate.com:

 

• Some 1.6 million U.S. households -- one of every 73 -- filed for bankruptcy in 2003.
• There are roughly 1.2 billion credit cards in use in the United States.
• The original Diners Club card was issued in 1950 to let businessmen charge meals. It was pasteboard with a list of the 27 restaurants that accepted it printed on the back. The first plastic card came out in 1955. Today, there are about 20,000 different cards available in the U.S.
• Studies show the average consumer is exposed to more than 3,000 marketing messages every day. In the last decade, it's been estimated, solicitations jumped from 1.52 billion annually to 4.29 billion.
• Today roughly 24 percent of personal expenditures in this country are made with credit and debit cards.
• Average per household debt in the U.S., not counting mortgage debt, is about $14,500 -- especially noteworthy because before the 1930s, most middle and working class people had no major debts. Banks would not lend to them; they rented their homes and if they did own a house, it was paid for as it was being built.
• A typical credit card purchase ends up costing 112 percent more than if cash were used.
• A $1,000 charge on an average credit card will take almost 22 years to pay, and will cost more than $2,300 in interest ($3,300 total) -- if only 2-percent minimum payments are made.
• Some 40 percent of American families annually spend more than they earn.
• About 60 percent of active credit card accounts are not paid off monthly.
• Average credit card debt among all American households is $8,400.
• Average card debt among people who have at least one card is $9,205 -- triple what it was in 1990.
• Average personal wealth of a 50-year-old American, including home equity: less than $40,000.
• A typical American family today pays about $1,200 annually in credit card interest.
• The average interest rate on credit cards is 18.9 percent.
• Last year the credit card industry took in $43 billion in card fees.
• Nine of 10 Americans claim credit card debt has never been a source of worry.
• But 47 percent would refuse to tell a friend how much they owe.
• Twenty-three percent of Americans admit to maxing out a credit card.
• Eleven percent of Americans admit card debts went to collection.
• Thirteen percent of Americans have been 30 days late paying credit card bills in the past year.
• The average graduate student has six credit cards and one in seven owes more than $15,000.
• People using credit cards in fast food restaurants spend up to 50 percent more than when they pay cash.
• The personal savings rate in the United States has dropped from 8 percent in the 1980s to just under 2 percent since 2000.
• Medical debts sink the ship in one of every 20 bankruptcies. Typical health care debt: $25,000. Typical victim: a senior on a fixed income. Typical scenario: pricey prescriptions bought on high-interest credit cards.

 

I know it is off the topic of investing and retirement, but I am curious. How do you think we got to this point? Pre-WWII we didn't have any debt. Now we are swimming in credit card bills. What do you think? You can post your comments below.

 

SOURCE:

 

1. Paul Bannister. "25 Fascinating Facts About Debt" BankRate.com;  29 March 2005.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

 

Think About It ...

Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune.

-- Italian Proverb

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Investing and Dieting (Part II)

In a previous post, I suggested that investing and dieting have much in common. Since I wrote that post, I have thought of several more similarities between the two activities. I think in both, we tend to focus on the wrong thing. As both investors and dieters, we focus on "the number" rather than the desired outcome.

 

As dieters, we focus on our weight. We get on the scale each morning to see if the number has changed. In investing too, we focus on the numbers. We check our stock prices each day to see if they have gone up or down. We measure our account balances each month and each year. We calculate our annualized return numbers. In fact, as investors, we are kind of obsessed with "the numbers".

 

I think we should think about outcomes instead of numbers. As a dieter, a far healthier approach is to focus on looking better in those tight jeans. Better yet, focus on knowing you will live longer and get to see your grandchildren grow up.

 

Same with investing. The desired outcome isn't a number, it's getting to live a comfortable retirement, whatever that means for you. It is knowing that you will have sufficient income to meet your needs no matter what. Maybe it is having enough surplus to play golf every day, travel around the world, or put a needy kid through college.

 

Kathy Sierra writes an excellent blog called Creating Passionate Users. She often talks about adult learning theory in her posts and I get a lot of wonderful ideas from her for my workshops. In a recent post, she wrote about what motivates us to learn. In it she wrote, "Give a compelling, personally motivating reason/benefit for the thing you're teaching, before you teach it!"

 

It works for teachers. It also works when you apply it to yourself. We know we are more successful when we visualize outcomes. We also know the more vivid and detailed the visualization, the more likely we are to make it reality. A polo farm in Aiken is far more motivating for me than X% per year. I know exactly what that farm will look like down to the smallest detail because I think about it and visualize every day - sometimes many times a day.

 

By focusing on outcomes rather than numbers, we change our focus to the long term. It gives us a benchmark. I can say, "Will this decision get me closer to my farm in Aiken?" If the answer is, "No!" or, "I'm not sure" then I am less likely to do it. Focusing on outcomes cuts down on impulsive decisions made out of fear or greed.

 

By focusing on outcomes we go from micro-managing to macro-managing. We are no longer trying to invest for money's own sake but rather to achieve a beneficial outcome. We are visualizing an end result in our head that we are far more likely to make real. Give it a try.

 

ACTION ITEM: When you are able to stop focusing on numbers and the short run and begin focusing on outcomes and the long run, you will achieve far better results. What are you investing for? Write it down and be as specific and detailed a you can. Then keep that picture in mind as you evaluate your investment plan. Focus on that outcome rather than the numbers.

 

Want to share? Tell us what you are investing for. What is your desired outcome? Paint us a picture. You can post it in the comments below.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Happy Egg Day Everyone!

Heh! Thanks to Eileen Hughes for sending the funny bunnies!

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

 

Stupid Press Tricks

Sheesh! It occurs to me that if you are going to write about business, investing and the stock market, you might want to know something about them. Is there no fact checker at the Mercury News?

 

In what seems to be a round-up of news related to Silicon Valley companies, writer Jon Ann Steinmetz writes:

 

Ka-ching! Got your Pixar stock yet? If not, this might be a good time to snap it up, because the shares are about to split 2-for-1.

 

Holders as of April 4 will get an extra share for each one owned and split-adjusted trading will begin April 19, Pixar said in a news release. The split will increase the number of authorized shares to 200 million.

 

Chief Executive Officer Steven Jobs, 50, has boosted Pixar's share price more than fourfold since first selling shares to the public in 1995 for $22 each. Pixar's six films have grossed more $3.2 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Last year's "The Incredibles'' brought in $630 million worldwide.

 

Her first paragraph pretty clearly implies that she believes there is some financial gain to be had as a result of the split.

 

For the record Jon Ann, a stock split is a non-event for shareholders and gives no reason to snap up shares as you suggest. Companies generally split their stock to increase the number of shares outstanding or to make the stock price more affordable. But the shareholders experience no financial gain or loss as a result of the split.

 

Let's suppose that you own 100 shares of Pixar (Ticker: PIXR) at the current price of $92. Your position in Pixar is worth $9200. When the stock splits, the company will issue you an additional share for every share that you already own. So instead of owning 100 shares, you will now own 200 shares. The market will adjust by pricing the shares at the time of the split at half of the old shares. So now your 200 shares are valued at $46 per share. The value of the position is unchanged even though you now own 200 shares.

 

Back in the "go-go years" of the late 1990's, stocks prices would rise dramatically as a result of stock splits, but that rise was the result of the prevailing madness of the day, not because of any fundamental change in the value of the stock.

 

Sorry, but it is appalling that a business writer for a newspaper as respected as the Mercury News doesn't know this.

 

I am curious? How much stock do you put in what you read in the financial press? To what extent does what you hear or read influence your investment decisions? Do you regard the writers as experts? Post your thoughts below.

 

Thanks to my husband Jim for pointing out the article for me. If you want the full text of the article, it does require free registration.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Investing Is Like Dieting

Investing is a lot like dieting. Yesterday I blogged about Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway in which he basically said it should have been very easy for investors to make money over the last 35 years and yet most have had results "ranging from mediocre to disastrous". It should also be easy for me to lose this extra five pounds I have been carrying around lately, but it's not.

 

Dieters and investors seem to have a lot in common. The concepts behind being successful at both are very straightforward. In both cases, it is the execution that is hard. Why? Because both require discipline. Both require us to control our emotions. Here is what I know about dieting that I also find to be true about investing.

 

First, fad diets don't work. Neither do fad investments. Investors are notorious for the investment of the moment. When growth stocks are hot, they pile in growth stocks. When housing is all the rage, they pile in homebuilders and REITs. When the market is going down, they pile in bonds and money market funds. When a mutual fund has outperformed over a period of years, that is when everyone buys.

 

I just read yesterday someone who said, and I am sorry I can't remember where I read it so I can't attribute the quote, (maybe someone can help me), something to the effect that investing is most unusual in that it is the only place people are enthusiastic about buying when prices are rising and likely to sell when prices have been drifting or declining. Elsewhere in our lives we would typically do the opposite.

 

According to the Dalbar study, stock investors have gotten roughly 2.5% per year on average over the last nineteen years while the market has gone up 12.5%. It is this mindless pursuit of performance based on what is hot, this drift from thing to thing, chasing the fad investment of the day, that accounts for much of the performance gap between the market return and investors' real return.

 

We all know that trying to lose weight quickly results in an endless cycle of "yo-yo dieting". Chasing performance over the short run results in "yo-yo investing". The only way to be successful is disciplined investing over long periods.

 

So the key to performance is to chart a logical course based on sound principles and rational decisions and then follow it over a very long period of time. In other words, the way to successfully lose weight is to make a lifestyle change, not some fad diet. The way to be successful as an investor is to do the investment equivalent of eating right and exercise. It's not quick, but quick is not the key to long term success, only long term failure.

 

A second similarity I have found is that neither one is fun and we want instant results from both. That is why we chase the fads. Dieting and investing both require discipline and hard work. Sorry folks! Many of the things we must do in life aren't fun and we can't have instant gratification all the time.

 

I think too many people have made investing a hobby. They confuse investing with entertainment. Don't get me wrong. It is okay if you enjoy taking care of your money but it should never be confused with entertainment.

 

If you invest for the thrill and the excitement, you are doing it wrong. If you want an adrenaline rush, take a $1000 and go to Las Vegas. As Warren Buffett said in his letter, excitement and expenses are your enemies. The most effective investments are boring precisely because they work over long periods of time. Trying to get rich quick is exciting. Getting rich slowly is no fun. But no one said it would be fun. Get over it.

 

Finally, I find that education is key in both dieting and investing. Both endeavors are surrounded by an immense amount of hype. Everyone is trying to sell you this and that. People who don't understand the fundamentals will be whipsawed around by every sales pitch. People who understand the science behind what they are trying to achieve will be able to differentiate between sound ideas and sales hype.

 

So to be successful, I believe investors must do three things: 1) Acquire a basic understanding of finance and economics as it applies specifically to investing; 2) Select an investment methodology based on sound principles of investing which make sense over the long run and steel themselves against the temptation of short term results; and 3) find the discipline necessary to work your plan over time.

 

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on what makes investors successful - or not. You can post them below.

 

UPDATE: Eric Troseth was nice enough to remind me where I read the quote referenced above. It was a blurb by Bill Mann, Senior Editor at The Motley Fool on the cover of Ed Easterling's new book, Unexpected Returns.

 

Mann says, “The stock market is one of the few places on earth where people become more excited to buy when things are expensive, and more anxious to sell when things are cheap. Ed Easterling has penned a masterful accounting about why this is so wealth-destructive, presented without preconceived notion or bias.”

 

Stay tuned for an interview with Ed Easterling very soon.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Warren Buffett on Stock Picking and Market Timing

When I talk about all of the data which says it is impossible for anyone to accurately time the market or consistently pick stocks that will beat the market over long periods of time, one of the first defenses offered up is often Warren Buffett.

 

And yet, Warren Buffett himself has always said the same thing. In fact, one of my signature stories in my educational programs about stock picking being a matter of luck, not skill, comes from Warren Buffett himself.

 

Buffett has once again made his views clear on this point in the Berkshire Hathaway 2004 Annual Report to Shareholders:

 

Over the 35 years, American business has delivered terrific results. It should therefore have been easy for investors to earn juicy returns: All they had to do was piggyback Corporate America in a diversified, low-expense way. An index fund that they never touched would have done the job.

 

Instead many investors have had experiences ranging from mediocre to disastrous. There have been three primary causes: first, high costs, usually because investors traded excessively or spent far too much on investment management; second, portfolio decisions based on tips and fads rather than on thoughtful, quantified evaluation of businesses; and third, a start-and-stop approach to the market marked by untimely entries (after an advance has been long underway and exits (after periods of stagnation or decline). Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful.

 

This from what many hold up as one of the greatest stock pickers of all time! Warren Buffett is not a great stock picker. He is a great businessman. There is a difference. And he knows that and says it constantly.

 

Berkshire Hathaway buys companies, often that are in trouble or have locked up shareholder value. He sits on their boards. He operates them. He releases that value from the inside. You cannot do that.

 

So to say, "Warren Buffett has done it!" is irrelevant. Warren Buffett hasn't done it. He will tell you he hasn't done it, not like you are trying to. Neither can you.

 

What do you think? Do you believe someone can pick stocks that will outperform the market consistently over long periods of time? And if you don't, then why do you still own individual stocks and actively managed mutual funds? Post your comments below.

 

My thanks to Bert Rabbe for sending me the link. If anyone else finds good material they think might be of interest to others, pass it on. If I agree, I'll blog it.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

John Mauldin on Merrill Lynch Retirement Survey

One of my favorite authors and newsletter writers is John Mauldin. John is just up the road in Arlington and I had him on the show this summer when his book, Bulls Eye Investing, first came out to talk about absolute return and why he thought we were in the beginning of a secular bear market.

 

I always find John's newsletters to be thoughtful, educational, thought proving and right on target. This week was no exception. John's topic this week was the new Merrill Lynch study on retirement. I strongly encourage you to read the whole thing. You can find it in his archives if you aren't already a subscriber. But here are some excerpts:

 

The survey broke the respondents into two groups. Those who were very or fairly well prepared for retirement and those who are somewhat or not prepared. Those who are more financially well-off were twice as likely to be looking forward to retirement, 70% more likely to be optimistic about the future and three times as likely to describe themselves as successful. Coincidentally, they expected to live longer, and were happier.

 

Those with less money were twice as likely to be stressed out; 50% more likely to worry about health care; much more worried about losing their sex drive and three times more worried about whether or not they would have enough money.

 

Evidently, money can buy some relative amount of happiness, at least among the broad population.

 

The findings related to retirement savings corroborate many of the other studies I have blogged of late as well as the recent guests on my radio show - Lori Lucas from Hewitt and Craig Copeland of the Employee Benefits Research Institute:

 

Those were pretty much the general conclusions. I've found some of the actual survey questions and responses to be very interesting. 42% of baby boomers do not know how much money they will need to be able to live comfortably in retirement. 60% had less then $100,000 of total savings other than their home, and 46% had less than 50,000. Of course 7% were not sure how much they had saved and 12% decline to answer, so it would be a reasonable assumption to think that 70% had less than $100,000.

 

26% felt they would need between $25,000 and $50,000 annual income to be comfortable in retirement, and another 27% would need as much as 75,000. (23% were not sure what they would need -- so much for financial planning.).

 

Let's look at that last group. To generate $75,000 of income, with a reasonable degree of safety and adding enough to principal to be able to take care of the effects of inflation, you need a portfolio worth about $1.5 million, give or take $100,000. Only 2% of the respondents said they had as much as one million.

 

Only 3% had more than $500,000 with another 5% having more than $250,000. Less than 10% of the boomer generation had more than $250,000, yet 70% said they would need more than $25,000 annual income to live comfortably.

 

Even subtracting for Social Security and other pensions, there are going to be a lot of baby boomers who are going to be disappointed about their retirement if they have to live off their savings. To our credit, we seem to recognize that. Thus, less than 20% of us expect to be able to enter retirement without working for pay again.

 

 

Again, the full text of this week's newsletter is available on John's web site. If you don't already subscribe to John Mauldin's "Outside the Box" E-Letter, you should. You can subscribe at http://www.2000wave.com.

 

BTW John, you would make an awesome blogger. We don't have enough bloggers out there writing thoughtful and reasoned stuff about investing. In fact, we really don't have any - present company excepted of course. You would be awesome. You should think about it.

 

So what about you? How do you stack up to the Merrill numbers. Would you put yourself in the prepared or unprepared category? And here is the question I am curious about given the details of ML's survey: How many of you plan to continue working once you "retire"? You can post your comments below. I'd love to hear from you.

 

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that John will be speaking Wednesday night here in Dallas to the local chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors. They meet at the Crown Plaza on Midway Road in Addison at 6:30. The public is welcome. You can get more information from the AAII web site .

 

I'll be there. If anyone wants to meet for dinner beforehand, give me a call.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Hewitt Study Reveals Biggest Barrier to Retirement Saving May Be Lack of Motivation

From the Hewitt press release:

 

While most people know they can and should save more for retirement, a new study by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources services firm, reveals that many are still not doing so, even after they are provided with guidance and information to help them.

 

The study, conducted by Hewitt in conjunction with researchers from Harvard University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, examined the saving and investing habits of more than 600 employees at a FORTUNE® 500 company classified as “low savers” -- those who do not contribute enough to their 401(k) plan to receive the full company match, or those who do not contribute to their 401(k) plan at all.

 

According to the study, close to three-quarters (72 percent) of low-saving employees said they didn’t know how much they need to save for retirement, but believed they should be saving at least two-to-three times as much than they currently were. Most acknowledged they could put more money toward retirement, with almost 70 percent saying they could afford to save $10 to $50 more per week -- or $500 to $2,600 more per year. Despite this, the majority of employees who participate in their 401(k) plan but are not contributing enough to obtain the full company match -- 77 percent -- said they planned to maintain their current contribution level over the near term, and a third of those not contributing at all (34 percent) said they still did not plan to participate.

 

“Virtually every company offering a 401(k) plan has employees who aren’t taking full advantage of their 401(k) plan and aren’t contributing enough to get the full company match -- which means they are essentially leaving free money on the table,” said Lori Lucas, director of participant research at Hewitt. “This is the first study of its kind to examine the mind-set of these employees, uncover the real and perceived barriers that may prevent them from saving, and determine what, if anything, can be done to motivate them with information to take action and improve their retirement picture.”

 

Listen to my interview with Lori Lucas, Director of Participant Research for Hewitt:

 

 

What do you think? Do you know how much money you will need in retirement? Are you saving enough? If not, why not? What do you think about the idea of automating certain functions of your 401(k) like enrollment, rebalancing and increasing your level of contribution over time? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Post your comments below.

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.

Are You Over-Concentrated In Your Company's Stock?

A study released by Greenwich Associates finds that 23% of the assets in 401(k) plans are shares of the company the plan participant works for. That is far too much exposure to the company that also controls your paycheck.

 

Pension plans, traditionally, held less than 2% in the employer's stock. What is the difference? According to the study's author, pension plans are run by professionals who understand the risks of being too concentrated in the stock of your employer.

 

When individual investors are making decisions for themselves they succumb to familiarity bias, which causes us to believe things we are familiar with have higher value and less risk than things we are unfamiliar with.

 

Familiarity bias is compounded by inertia, also known as procrastination. Many companies pay out some or all of the company match in company stock. By definition, this is going to create too much exposure. People have the best of intentions but just never get around to selling the stock - for the same reason plan participants do a poor job of rebalancing each year.

 

What about you? What percentage of your portfolio is in the stock of current or previous employers? Post your comments below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

TAKE ACTION: Check the percentage in your portfolio. If company stock exceeds 10% of the total, sell those shares and put the money in a low cost index fund. If you are approaching 59 1/2, educate yourself on the special tax rules related to "NUAs" or net unrealized appreciation on company stock. For more on that, listen to my interview with CPA and author Ed Slott in the archives of kimsnider.com.

 

SOURCE:

 

1. Lawrence C. Strauss. "Fund of Information: A Regulator Reflects?" Barron's 14 March 2005, F2, F3. http://online.barrons.com

 

Kim Snider, Kim Snider Financial Communications, Chronim Investments and/or Snider Advisors make no representation that the information and opinions expressed are accurate, complete or current. The opinions expressed should not be construed as financial, legal, tax, or other advice and are provided for informational purposes only. Call 866-952-0100 to request the Snider Investment Method™ Owner's Manual, which includes a description of the Snider Investment Method, investment objectives, risks, suitability and other information. Please read and consider carefully before investing. All investments are subject to risk including possible loss of principal.