Nevin's Data "Points"

By any measure, last week’s convictions of former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were a win for justice. Not because they perpetrated a fraud on the investing public, and not because that fraud cost a lot of people their life savings and their jobs – though all appear to be factual conclusions. Not because they cashed in their stock options while encouraging others to buy stock (doesn’t ANYONE know how stock options work in the real world?), and certainly not because they (perhaps more accurately, their appointees) timed a recordkeeping conversion at a particularly “sensitive” period in the demise of that stock’s value. I’ve read a lot about the goings on there – via press coverage, a couple of books, and more than a little time spent with court documents related to their retirement plan lawsuits – and while I’m sure that the jury empanelled found the requisite amount of evidence to convict them on the charges presented, I’m not sure they shouldn’t be held guilty on anoth...

Last week, PBS’ Frontline ran a program titled “Can You Afford To Retire?” For those of us in this business, the title was almost painfully rhetorical. After all, how compelling would a documentary about people actually living the kind of retirement depicted in those 401(k) education brochures be? Still, it’s one thing to make casual references to the tenuous financial future awaiting tomorrow’s retirees, and another thing to actually see the reality. Without question, it was an eye-opener, along the lines of that PBS special that brought together hardened criminals and young toughs several decades ago (back when I was young), “Scared Straight.” On the other hand, the Frontline piece suffered from a certain myopia. It spent an inordinate amount of time on the plight of workers at United Airlines, for one thing. As tragic as that situation has been for many workers there, IMHO, they have long enjoyed benefits and pay that many would envy. One of the workers featured – who, grant...

About a week ago, I was feeling pretty good. Spring had (finally) decided to arrive in the Northeast, my eldest daughter had (finally) decided on a college (and that college – her top choice - had awarded her a VERY generous academic scholarship), and the markets had been performing so well I was actually looking forward to the arrival of my 401(k) statement. I had driven home from work with the windows down, the sunroof open, and the car stereo playing at volumes destined to make me prematurely deaf. At the height of this euphoric emotional peak, I pulled into my “favorite” gas station (the one that is nearly always at least a nickel/gallon cheaper than the ones in my neighborhood), and proceeded to fill the tank. If you’ve filled your gas tank in the past six weeks, you know where this is going. Let’s just say you no longer have to be driving a Hummer to be looking at a $50 fill-up. Now, I’ve heard (and accepted) most of the rationalizations around the relatively irrational (IMHO)...

I don’t drink as much cola now as I did in my youth – I’ve never been able to tolerate the aftertaste of the diet sodas (yes, even the new and “improved” versions), and the older I get, the less excited I am about the caloric content of the “regular” sodas. Still, I’ll “treat” myself most family pizza nights to a “coke” – and if I’m dining out, I’m as likely to order a cola as anything else. However, when I was growing up, colas were always readily available at home – and I gladly took advantage. I never really developed a strong preference for one cola over another – and once I was the one stocking the pantry, I would generally go with whatever was on sale. Still, when asked in a restaurant whether I would prefer Pepsi or Coke (yes, I can remember a time when you could still get both in the same place), I’d always order Coke – but asked if I minded Pepsi, the answer, inevitably, was no. While I know there are others who feel differently (including the folks who have worked so zeal...