Nevin's Data "Points"

As a parent (or even a mentor), sooner or later, you’ll wind up sharing tales of the way things “used to be.” Whether it’s a tale of the proverbial five-mile walk to school in the snow (“uphill, both ways”), the challenges of adjusting a tinfoil-laden TV antenna to obtain a decent black-and-white picture on one of four channels, or the days of laboring to get a quarterly valuation completed by six weeks AFTER the valuation cycle, the story-telling traditions of humankind are part of what makes us – well, human. By sharing a sense of where we have been, we all gain a better sense of the importance of where we are – and an appreciation (hopefully) for the progress that we’ve made. Now, according to a recent survey, it seems that we may well be on our way to a day when participant direction of their investment accounts seems as quaint a notion as a quarterly transfer. The aptly, if somewhat inelegantly, titled “ 401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances, and Loan Activity in 2007 ...

There was a time when Christmas shopping for my nieces and nephews was a relatively straightforward process. Simply put, we’d spend a day or two at the mall, looking for things that we thought would be genuinely fun (in my case) in a generic sort of way—some flavor of electronic car, legos, dolls, etc. Of course, as our family has grown ever more extended—and my nieces and nephews older—it became very nearly impossible to keep up with their various and sundry interests—and to a point where the only practical solution was a gift card (even then, pains must be taken to make sure it’s from a store at which they shop). Nonetheless, and in the spirit of the holiday season, here are some “presents” that I hope participants find on their retirement plan menus during the next year: (1) A workplace retirement plan. It’s easy to overlook this one, particularly for those of us who work with these programs on an ongoing basis. The sad fact is that roughly half of working Americans still don’t...

My eldest has been carrying a heavier than “recommended” class load this semester, and that – combined with her choice of classes – has meant that she’s been trying to get ready for finals and writing several critical papers all at the same time. Now, she’s a gifted student, and more committed to her studies than most (or so she has convinced her father and mother) – but the pressure was certainly mounting. Just when she thought it couldn’t possibly all get done on time, she asked for – and got – an extension on one of the papers. Not that she did so with enthusiasm. She is very conscientious about her work and deadlines, and on more than one occasion has pulled the infamous “all-nighter” to meet deadlines. This time, however, she was smart enough to acknowledge the need and make the request. And while the extension was modest, it seems likely to give her enough mental “room” to devote the requisite level of attention to the array of competing priorities that the end of a college ...

As my wife and I drove to pick up our eldest for the Thanksgiving break, I saw something I never thought I would see again: $1.95/gallon gasoline (even more incredible, that was while I was still in the borders of Connecticut, which imposes some of the highest gasoline taxes in the nation). Indeed, what with the election, the introductions of the new Administration’s team, the bailout/rescue of the week, and the continued jitters of the world markets, the reality that gasoline costs about half what it did in July has gone almost unreported. Still, I heard a report last week that suggests the net impact of that drop in price has put about $500 billion back in American pockets—now THAT’S a “stimulus package” we can believe in! Still, what I find interesting about that dramatic turnaround in oil prices is that it happened so rapidly that the explanations of why it ran up so quickly are still ringing in my ears. I remember all too well the pundits laying the price hikes off on the growth...