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Barnard Vogler & Co. is celebrating its 45 Anniversary this year and during all of those 45 years, the firm has chosen to locate our offices in the downtown Reno area. Further, as one of the owners of our “locally-owned” firm, I have chosen to make my home in the downtown Reno neighborhood known as old southwest Reno and specifically the Newlands Manor area. 
My selection of this area more than 10 years ago was based partly on my hopes that Reno would continue to improve its downtown core area near the Truckee River. I am pleased with the progress that has been made over the years to the downtown area and recognize that there are many improvements that lie ahead as we strive to bring to fruition a vital year-round thriving downtown core area.
July 1st of each year marks the beginning of one of my favorite local events in our area. Artown is a month-long festival celebrating the arts and culture in Reno and northern Nevada. Artown’s mission is “to strengthen Reno’s arts industry, enhance our civic identity and national image, thereby creating a climate for the cultural and economic rebirth of our region.” I often find myself meeting people who have moved to Reno from other areas of the country and, if they are unfamiliar with our area, providing them with a list of “must-see” things to do. Artown is on that list and it cannot be adequately described in words…Artown must be experienced! I have had the pleasure of taking several people to their first Artown 
event and it has always been a successful outing. People become hooked and next thing you know, they are seeking out other types of events and venues. Artown is one of the many attractions of the northern Nevada area that makes me proud to call Reno my home.
If there are any people reading this blog in our area that have not experienced Artown firsthand, I say do it! I think you will be happy you did. My particular favorite events are the events that occur at Wingfield Park partly because of its proximity to my home but mostly because they are terrific entertainment. There are events nearly every weekday in the park and best of all they are free. The 2014 park events are as follows:
Monday Night-Family Series – 7/7, 14, 21 and 28 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.A complete Artown calendar is available here
Please celebrate July, the spectacular evenings and the arts at our very special and unique festival Artown.
What’s more important: experience or potential? In an accounting firm, experience can sometimes be the focus of a hiring decision. However, potential really is a smart hire. 
High performing potentials…that’s a win.
In Claudio Fernandez-Araoz’s article 21st Century Talent Spotting in the June 2014 Harvard Business Review, he points out that employers must focus on potential versus experience.
Managers must learn to assess current and prospective employees on five key indicators:
Who wouldn’t want to hire someone with these key attributes? They have the ability to form their own career path and design their future.
Our jobs as employers is to make sure they have opportunities that push them out of their comfort zone…stretch development. We should always be growing and learning at all levels of our organizations.
The CEO of Zoetis prepared for the top job. He put together a development plan. The first step was identifying a mentor, an experienced CEO from outside of his organization. The next step was to find a communication expert to work with. The audience for an IPO road show is quite different and it requires the skill to communicate your company’s strategy to the outside world. Another step he took was to develop the skills to manage a board.
Learning…changing…developing…stretching…
It all starts with potential.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) became law in the United States in 2010. The provisions of the law focus on reporting for both U.S. taxpayers and foreign financial institutions to prevent tax evasion by U.S. citizens and residents through the use of offshore accounts. U.S. individuals must report information about certain foreign financial accounts and offshore assets on their income tax return if the total value exceeds certain reporting thresholds. 
The law also requires foreign banks and other financial institutions (like investment and insurance companies) to give information to the IRS about Americans’ accounts worth more than $50,000. If the foreign bank or financial institution fails to enter into an agreement with the IRS, all relevant U.S. sourced payments will be subject to a 30% withholding tax.
From a recent article published in the Financial Advisor, it appears that this law is having an unintended consequence: foreign banks are turning American clients away, even if they are U.S. expatriates living in and being paid in that foreign country by their U.S. employers. 
In the article, one such expatriate received a notice from Deutsche Bank that her account was being closed. Many of the account-closing complaints are coming from Americans living in Switzerland, which is most likely due to Swiss banks failing to meet the reporting requirements. UBS paid a $780 million fine to the IRS for failure to disclose information on American accounts and just this May Credit Suisse was fined $1.2 billion for similar charges. With American expats numbering between 5 and 6 million, this could become a potential nightmare for those individuals with limited options to open or maintain a foreign bank account.
At the beginning of the year, the IRS released its annual list of “Dirty Dozen” tax scams. 
The list covers a variety of scams, ranging from schemes perpetrated by taxpayers themselves (such as hiding income offshore or implementing abusive tax structures) to scams that are committed against taxpayers without their knowledge (such as phishing or stealing individuals’ identities to claim their tax refunds). While the IRS noted that there is an increase of these scams during tax season, taxpayers must be vigilant throughout the year, especially when it comes to fake charity schemes.
Impersonating charitable organizations has been around for quite some time and often occurs after major natural disasters. Scam artists will pose as legitimate charities to get money or private information from taxpayers by using various methods. One approach is to contact individuals via phone or email asking for donations or personal financial information. Another way is to create websites for fake charities where individuals can “donate.” Not only do these people lose their money, but they are also making themselves vulnerable to further theft by giving up their personal financial information. Other scam artists will contact victims of natural disasters directly and claim to help them file casualty loss claims and get tax refunds.
There are several things people can do to protect themselves against these types of scams.
If it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Don’t let scam artists take advantage of your acts of kindness!
Saving money and getting your finances on track is not always an easy thing to accomplish. One of the most helpful things to do to accomplish these goals is to create a budget. There are many different reasons why someone would want to create a budget including retiring early, paying off debt, stop living paycheck to paycheck, etc. 
Once you have decided to create a budget, a good place to start is by going over your spending during the past few months. By doing this it will help you assess how you are spending your money, and identify what areas of spending could be cut or reduced.
Separate your expenses into categories representing essential living expenses and discretionary expenses. The essential expenses include such items as rent, utilities, car payments, gas, insurance, and all other items that are necessary living expenses. The discretionary expenses include all other expenses that are not necessarily needed. To determine a limit for your discretionary expenses, take your monthly income, subtract all of your essential expenses, and the amount remaining is what would be available for the discretionary expenses.
To make your budget more effective allocate a portion of your income to savings. 
As a guideline, a good amount to save is between 10-20 percent of your monthly income. This will help for any future expenses, whether foreseen or unforeseen. It is important to set aside funds in case of an emergency. For example, you should have three to six months of living expenses set aside in an emergency fund.
Some things to consider that you may find helpful when you are trying to save money include cooking at home instead of eating out at restaurants, making coffee at home instead of the daily $5 latte, not waiting until your gas tank is running on empty so you have a choice at what gas station to stop at instead of the closest one to you, reducing the time you keep the air conditioner/heat on in your house, etc. There are many ways to cut your spending, even a small amount of savings here and there can add up.
It is important to create a budget that is both doable and realistic. If you are someone that has a discretionary expense that you are not willing to give up then make sure to factor it into your budget. If you don’t factor these expenses in your budget it will be impossible to stick to it, and will lead to overspending.
It’s a little scary to contemplate that Social Security trust funds are projected to be exhausted in the not-too-distant future. But that is the subject recently studied in a 2013 report from the Congressional Research Services (CRS).
If the trust funds cannot pay current expenses out of current income or accumulated assets, they are considered to be exhausted or insolvent, and that means the Social Security trusts funds cannot pay full current benefits on time. 
The report projects that without change, the trust funds will be insolvent by 2033. And that same year the program is projected to have enough income to pay only about 77% of scheduled benefits. The law provides that any individual who meets the eligibility requirement is entitled to benefits, which means the government is legally obligated to pay benefits to such individuals. If the government fails to pay the benefits provided by law, beneficiaries could take legal action. Insolvency does not relieve the government of its obligation to provide benefits.
The CRS study puts forth various scenarios that might take place in the future regarding Social Security benefit payments. If Congress has the will to act sooner rather than later, the less draconian the required changes necessary to maintain full benefit payments will be. 
The affect of earlier changes would be spread over a large number of workers and beneficiaries over a longer period of time. And prompt action would also allow Congress to more gradually phase in the necessary changes, rather than waiting until 2033 and abruptly cutting benefits and/or raising taxes. Early action would also make it easier for workers to plan for their retirements.
If Congress waits until 2033 the trust funds’ annual deficit could be eliminated with a cut in benefits of about 23%, rising to 27% by 2087. If Congress acts today, the necessary changes would be about half as large as those needed if Congress waits until the trust funds become insolvent.
Scary, yes. But we should hope for the changes to be made sooner than later.
Are you 65 or older, have Medicare, and other insurance coverage such as a group health plan from an employer? 
Who is the “primary payer” responsible for paying your medical bills first?
When there’s more than one payer, “coordination of benefits” rules decide who pays first. The “primary payer” pays what it owes on your bills first, and then your provider send the rest to the “secondary payer” to pay. There may be a “third payer” in some cases.
Who the “primary payer” is depends on a number of things including the number of employees in the company that is providing the group health care coverage. Generally, your group health plan pay first if you’re 65 or older, covered by a group health plan through a current employer and the employer has 20 or more employees. Your health care provider should bill Medicare if the group health plan did not pay all of your bill. Medicare generally will pay first if your employer has less than 20 employees.
Medicare becomes your “primary payer” after you retire at 65 or older.
There are various situations and type(s) of coverage that determines who the “primary payer” will be. Situations and coverage include disability, COBRA coverage, medical expenses from an accident, workers’ compensation coverage or Veterans’ coverage.
Medicare has a 32 page booklet entitled “Medicare and Other Health Benefits: Your Guide to who Pays First” that’s available at www.medicare.gov/publications or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to get the most current information. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.
On Tuesday the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc v. Aereo, Inc. This case pits an Internet startup against the behemoths of the broadcasting world. At the heart of the case is basically whether or not Aereo can continue to be in business.
Let’s start at the beginning. Aereo is an Internet based company offering over-the-air broadcast television streaming to you on a multitude of devices. Simply, you pay Aereo a monthly fee to use one of their tiny antennas (about the size of a dime) and their DVR service. Each individual antenna receives over-the-air broadcasts and you schedule which programs to record and watch later. You can also stream the over-the-air broadcasts live. Basically, Aereo allows you to watch already free television at your convenience.
The major broadcasters (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) don’t like what Aereo is doing. They feel Aereo’s business model violates US copyright law, specifically that they are retransmitting content without paying license fees. This is what the Supreme Court will have to decide. 
During oral arguments on Tuesday, the justices weren’t necessarily in Aereo’s corner, but they did express some worry that making a decision in favor of the broadcasters would have unintended consequences on current and future technology. The cloud computing and storage industry is particularly worried that a ruling in favor of the broadcasters could bring new legal liability on their businesses.
From what I’ve read, I’m in favor of Aereo. Their argument seems quite simple to me and I feel they are within the law. The broadcasters are not taking issue with an individual’s right to put up an antenna at their home and record over-the-air broadcasts with a DVR. They are taking issue with Aereo’s service doing this for individuals. Aereo claims, and lower courts have accepted, that each tiny antenna is operating independently and each person logged into the service and watching or recording is making use of a unique, independent antenna. I don’t see what the difference is between me setting up an antenna or Aereo setting up one for me and then streaming what is being received by the antenna. I guess we’ll find out in due time whether or not we’ll see Aereo come to the west coast or if they will simply disappear into the airwaves they are trying to harness.
I can’t believe how much homes in Reno are going for nowadays! Lately I have been helping a friend look for a home and it appears now close to $300,000 must be spent to afford a starter home (even though the experts say the average price is closer to $250,000, I find this hard to believe). 
In my recent home viewing experience $300,000 affords a regular 1,900 square foot home, with a small yard and neighbors overlooking this yard. In running the numbers, a purchase price of $300,000 for this starter home equates to a monthly payment of $1,520, which would include putting 20% down or $60,000 at a very low interest rate. I find it hard to believe people who can only afford starter homes can afford this large of a down payment. With a more realistic 5% down, the monthly mortgage payment would be $1,920. According to the industry experts, 30% of gross income is the maximum amount that should be spent on mortgage. At 20%, this would imply a gross income of a minimum of $61,000, and with 5% down an income of $77,000 per year. This is by far in excess of the average household income in Reno of approximately $50,000.
I’m not implying that there is a bubble forming as happened last decade and home prices are going to crash. I just worry that home prices might have increased a bit too much with the 25% gain from just a year ago and closer to 50% from the bottom. I’m waiting for the days when these historically low interest rates go back to levels of those of last decade, which were still historically low. With a rate increase of 1.5% to 5.5% this hypothetical mortgage payment goes from $1,920 to $2,168 which would allow less people to afford the home, if it ever gets sold again. So all I’m saying to my friend is be careful.
When I last made noise on the BVCo. blog I was discussing my search for a cheaper cell phone bill. Well, I finally made a decision. I joined up with Republic Wireless and brought my phone bill down to $25 a month. 
This is $55 savings from the $80 a month bill I was previously paying. With these monthly savings I will recoup the cost of the new phone in about four months.
Let’s back up a second and I’ll give a refresher (or an introduction if you haven’t glanced at my last blog) as to what Republic Wireless is and what they offer. Republic Wireless is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) using the Sprint network. What makes Republic Wireless unique is its use of WiFi calling and standard cell network calling. So, when I’m connected to a WiFi network all my calls and texts are received and delivered over WiFi. It’s a neat concept and is nice when you’re in areas where you have a WiFi connection and no cell coverage or if your cell coverage is just bad.
The real question is, though, how has my experience been with Republic Wireless? It’s been good. The phone (a Moto X) is fantastic, calls and texts over WiFi work great, and the monthly price is completely awesome. I was worried about my out of town coverage, but after traveling to some more rural areas of Nevada I feel pretty good about network coverage. I was actually roaming on the Verizon network, but I was still connected to a network and able to make calls. Ultimately, I just used WiFi networks whenever I was able to and had no problems staying connected.
There are some not so good parts to my experience so far, which was to be expected. The Sprint network has never been my favorite and after being on it for the last month and a half I am no bigger a fan. 
There are areas in Reno where cell coverage is just horrible. Also, Sprint’s 3G data speeds are ridiculously slow and, unfortunately, Sprint doesn’t have any 4G LTE coverage in the Reno area. One quirk of the Republic Wireless network is it is not able to receive or send short code text messages. These are the shortened numbers you see ads for that say send a text to this number to receive info or coupons. I actually rarely use them, but occasionally I will need to use short codes for online banking verification purposes. There are generally other ways to perform verifications, so not having short code access isn’t a huge deal.
All things considered, my first experiences with Republic Wireless have been overall positive. The phone works, the cell network works (mostly), and I pay much less for service. 
If you’re looking for a change in your monthly cell phone price, take a peek at Republic Wireless. I think you may find something you like.
