| Public pensions a new gold standard
When Dover Police Chief William Fenneman retired recently, he was earning a $114,000 yearly salary, but he was able to take about $125,000 a year in retirement pay. The New Hampshire retirement system calculates retirement benefits based on the three highest-paid years in an employee's service. Because of that formula, Fenneman, who now heads the Juvenile Justice Division of the Department of Health and Human Services, was allowed to include unused sick and vacation days in his final year's salary to inflate what he received in benefits when he retired. Other long-time state commissioners are allowed to collect both their retirement and their salary when they turn 60 under a provision approved by the Legislature several years ago. The argument at the time was the change was needed to retain long-time state officials, including commissioners Richard Flynn of Safety and Steven Taylor of Agriculture and Secretary of State William Gardner.
New ways to look at old wisdom
There used to be a TV commercial from an investment company whose motto was, "It's not what you make, it's what you keep." Its message about maximizing after-tax returns still holds true, but the best way to achieve that goal has changed over the years. Here are a few examples of situations where traditional advice may no longer make sense: Old wisdom: Put as much money as the IRS allows into your company's 401k plan. You will save immediate taxes on the amount of your contribution, the money will grow tax deferred, and when you withdraw it after retirement, you will be in a lower tax bracket. Considerations: Although no one can predict the future, there is a very real possibility that your tax bracket may actually be higher in retirement than it is now.
US SEC receives proposals for allocating trading symbols
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has received two proposed plans from separate groups of stock exchanges for allocating trading symbols.
Historically, symbols have been assigned under an informal understanding among the listing markets. It has been the practice of the New York Stock Exchange to list companies using one-, two- and three-character symbols. Other exchanges, including the American Stock Exchange and regional exchanges, have also listed companies using three-character symbols. Nasdaq has always listed companies using four- and five-character symbols.
In response to dissatisfaction expressed by several markets regarding the informal allocation system, SEC staff asked the exchanges to work together to develop a national market system plan for the process of reserving, selecting, and allocating securities symbols.
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