News Minute: OPS special meeting, Heineman in China, Police shootings

Published Monday, July 30, 2012 at 9:26 am / Updated at 10:01 am

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We're introducing a new video feature to Omaha.com.

News Minute will include the day's top developing stories, updates on previous news, a look at upcoming events and daily forecast.

Online Editor Josh Frigerio hosts the series, which runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. News Minute is produced by Andrew Mattson.

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Copyright ?2012 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald. To purchase rights to republish this article, please contact The World-Herald Store.

Source: http://www.omaha.com/article/20120730/NEWS/120739992

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How to Reach Your Financial Planning Goals

Accumulating wealth is a long-term process, one that can allow you to do the things that you want in life and provide a nest egg for your retirement. In recent years wealth accumulation has taken a hit as the economy works through a huge market correction. The worst appears behind us, giving savvy Americans the opportunity to save money and accumulate wealth ahead of the next market surge.

To achieve your financial planning goals, you need to set objectives for where you want to be a certain number of years out. You?ll need to review your current assets, the resources you have to accumulate wealth, determine your future financial needs and develop a plan to reach your goals. Most busy people use the services of a certified financial planner to help them manage their portfolios. If you hire one, then you can expect him or her to assist you with the following:

Image Credit:?Depositphotos.com

1. Debt Management

Before you being a wealth accumulation regimen, your financial planner will review your debt. Not all debt is the same and your adviser will assign your debt to one of two categories: good debt and bad debt.

Good debt represents an asset, such as your home. A mortgage can provide a tax deduction and your home?s value is likely to increase over time. Your adviser may encourage you to refinance, especially if you haven?t done so in several years. Your lower cost represents money that has been freed up to pay down debt or to invest.

Bad debt represents personal loans, credit cards and car loans. Your financial planner may advise you to pay off or reduce some debt before you begin to invest.

2. Cash on Hand

Your financial planner will advise you to set aside some money for emergencies. The amount you?ll be setting aside will depend largely on your personal needs.

Michelle Lerner, writing for?Bankrate.com, notes that the old recommendation of having three to six months of money to cover expenses no longer applies. With Americans losing jobs and staying out of work longer, you may be advised to have at least nine months or a full year of savings on hand before you begin to invest. That money should be placed in an emergency account and only touched when you are facing a true emergency.

3. Investment Portfolio

You?ll know your financial planner?s worth when he or she begins to shape your personal investment portfolio. Your adviser would determine a sensible asset allocation for you and base that on your personality as well as your tolerance for risk. As with any investment, the riskier it is, the more likely you will lose money. If you?re risk adverse, your financial planner will recommend more secured investments.

Expect that your financial adviser will recommend a mix of bonds, stocks, mutual funds and other investment vehicles. He or she will help you weigh your investments with perhaps 40 percent in bonds, 25 percent in stocks, 25 percent in mutual funds and the remaining 10 percent in other investments. The percentages will be weighed based on your risk tolerance and desire for growth.

4. Real Estate

We mentioned in the first step good debt and for most Americans their home qualifies. An adviser will discuss options with you including refinancing your home, paying off your mortgage or even taking out equity and investing it elsewhere.

Beyond your first home, you may have a personal desire to own real estate. That desire may be based on wanting a vacation home or perhaps a retirement home. Your adviser will go over your options and help you craft a strategy for getting that home. This might involve investing in bonds and stocks for several years and then selling same to buy your home.

5. Life Insurance

Every investor needs to have life insurance especially those with young children or a dependent spouse. Your adviser will discuss two types of life insurance: whole life and term.

According to SmartMoney, whole life insurance combines a term policy with an investment component. You?ll build a cash value that can be borrowed against. Whole life is available in traditional, universal and variable arrangements.

With term insurance, you?ll take out a policy ranging in length from one to 30 years. This option is typically favored by individuals with children, to provide a nest egg to them in the event of their death. Typically, you?ll be encouraged to obtain a policy equal to 10 times the amount of your annually salary. Therefore, if you make $500,000 annually, then you?ll need a $5 million term life insurance policy.

6. Retirement Planning

Every financial planner will discuss with you your retirement options. The investments you make now will have a huge impact on how you will live once you stop working.

By the time you?re ready to quit working, your financial portfolio will likely be far more conservative with mostly low-risk investments remaining. Your adviser will discuss with you the amount of money you need to live on in your retirement years to maintain your lifestyle. Whereas you might have made $100,000 annually in your peak years, you may find that having access to $60,000 per year is sufficient to maintain your lifestyle. By then, your homes should be paid off and your expenses related to work removed.

Your adviser will help determine how many years you need to have funds available for your retirement. For example, if you retire at 65 and can expect to live an additional 25 years, then your investments must be sufficient to cover your anticipated lifespan with some margin for error built in. The $60,000 will also need to be adjusted for inflation and will likely need to yield far greater results toward the end of your life.

Considerations

Your financial planner can help you in other areas of your life too. Estate planning is important, to ensure that your loved ones are provided for or a favorite charity is remembered and that your estate tax burden is reduced. Your adviser can help you develop a plan of wealth transfer before your death, one where certain assets are entrusted to your heirs. Finally, your financial planner will periodically rebalance your portfolio, adjusting it to reflect current market conditions and to synch with your risk tolerance.

Check out our previous articles!

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Source: http://fidodesign.net/how-to-reach-your-financial-planning-goals/

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Panetta says Syria's Assad hastening own demise

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of helicopter gunships to counter a civil uprising will prove to be "a nail in Assad's coffin," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday at the outset of a five-day Mideast tour.

While giving no indication that the Obama administration is contemplating military intervention, Panetta said it is increasingly clear that the Syrian crisis is deepening and that Assad is hastening his own demise.

"If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people ... I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad's coffin," Panetta told reporters traveling with him from Washington. "His regime is coming to an end."

Panetta said he would use his meetings in Tunisia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan to reinforce an international consensus that Assad must step down and allow a peaceful transition to a democratic form of government.

He said he also will continue consultations on efforts to ensure that Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.

Panetta will be in Israel just days after U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who has cast the Obama administration as too soft on Iran and insufficiently supportive of the Jewish state.

In a speech in Jerusalem Sunday, Romney said the United States has "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. He steered clear of overt criticism of President Barack Obama, even though he said the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran "has only become worse" in the past five years.

Panetta declined to respond. "I'm just not going to get into that game of commenting on what candidates do," he said.

Panetta said he believes Israeli leaders still support an international campaign of economic, political and diplomatic pressure on Iran to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"My view is that they have not made any decisions with regards to" attacking Iran, he said.

While in Israel, Panetta planned to visit an air defense battery that uses technology developed in part with U.S. support to shoot down short-range rockets. Israel has suffered thousands of rocket attacks from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip in recent years.

The air defense system, called Iron Dome, has been an important success and serves to deter attacks from Iranian proxies, Panetta said.

He called Iron Dome an example of expanded U.S.-Israeli cooperation.

"We have achieved a level of defense cooperation that is unprecedented in our history," Panetta said. "And my goal is to deepen that relationship even further."

This is Panetta's first visit to Tunis as defense secretary. The country was the launching pad for the wave of revolt that swept through the Arab world in 2011. It had been one of the most repressive governments in the region, while maintaining friendly relations with Washington.

Tunisia's uprising began in December 2010 when a fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in the town of Sidi Bouzid to protest his lack of economic opportunity and the disrespect of the police.

Tunisia's new government is led by the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, which had been banned under the previous government.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/panetta-says-syrias-assad-hastening-own-demise-202120341.html

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Boeing hopes for year of the Max at air show

In this June 14, 2012 photo, Beverly Wyse, Boeing Commercial Airplanes' 737 vice president and general manager, talks to reporters in Renton, Wash., as she stands in front of a projected image of the new 737 MAX airplane during a briefing ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow. A spokesperson for Boeing said the company will be showcasing a full range of innovative new products, systems and services at The Farnborough International Airshow 2012. The show will take place in Farnborough, U.K., starting on July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this June 14, 2012 photo, Beverly Wyse, Boeing Commercial Airplanes' 737 vice president and general manager, talks to reporters in Renton, Wash., as she stands in front of a projected image of the new 737 MAX airplane during a briefing ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow. A spokesperson for Boeing said the company will be showcasing a full range of innovative new products, systems and services at The Farnborough International Airshow 2012. The show will take place in Farnborough, U.K., starting on July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? A big air show is all about bragging rights. It's where airplane makers announce large jet orders, dazzle customers with aerial displays and show off their latest technology.

But a debt crisis in Europe could make the industry more subdued when it gathers at the Farnborough International Airshow near London this week. It's a huge event in the aerospace world, attracting 1,400 exhibitors and aerospace heavyweights such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier and ATR.

Air travel tracks economic growth, and there isn't much of that right now in Europe, one of the world's largest aircraft markets. Europe's crisis could crimp aircraft sales for Airbus and Boeing, the world's two largest airplane manufacturers. Longer term, there is still plenty of demand from growing airlines in China, India and the rest of the developing world.

Barclays analyst Joseph Campbell expects total orders to fall this year, but not because of the economy. He thinks they'll fall because Boeing and Airbus have a combined backlog of 8,312 planes, and they make roughly 1,000 a year.

Their backlogs are so big, "and the first available slots so far away, that there's not much left to sell" other than Boeing's 737 Max, he says.

For Chicago-based Boeing, this year's show offers a chance for its revamped 737, called the 737 Max, to close a gap with a rival jet. The Max has a more fuel-efficient engine than its predecessor and will compete with Airbus' A320neo, another top-selling plane in the same size range that is getting a new engine. Higher fuel prices mean airlines are willing to pay for more fuel efficiency.

Airbus got a jump on Boeing, offering the neo much earlier. It's already got 1,325 orders from 25 customers. Boeing has orders for 451 Maxes and commitments for more of the planes, which have a list price between $78 million and $102 million.

"This is a year that they need to play catch-up," says Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst for the Teal Group.

Airbus aims to begin delivering the A320neo in 2015. Boeing's 737 MAX will go into production in 2015 and start hauling passengers in in 2017.

Boeing heads to the event with a new chief of commercial aircraft, Ray Conner. Until late June, Conner ran Boeing's sales efforts, so he'll be right at home in Farnborough pitching the Max to potential customers.

Toulouse, France-based Airbus, meanwhile, announced last week that it would build its first airplane factory in the United States. The plant will produce the A320 in Mobile, Ala., starting in 2015, aiming to better compete against Boeing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-08-US-Farnborough-Air-Show/id-acd702fe78c54921b7145dd61933480b

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PFT: Adrian Peterson jailed for resisting arrest

AP

[Editor's note:? The eight-page, single-spaced letter from Commissioner Roger Goodell affirming the suspensions of the four players accused of involvement in the Saints' bounty program raises several intriguing points, arguments, and circumstances.? We're breaking them up into separate posts, because after all a cow can't milk itself.]

Accused of not being an impartial arbitrator in the Saints bounty case, Commissioner Roger Goodell has responded by explaining that he merely has implemented the procedures for which the players collectively bargaining.

The lawsuits challenging Goodell?s final ruling as to the suspensions of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, Saints defensive end Will Smith, Packers defensive end Anthony Hargrove, and Browns linebacker Scott Fujita focus on the claim that Goodell wasn?t capable of being a fair and impartial judge, because he had his mind made up before the June 18 appeal hearing ? as evidenced by his public comments defending the discipline he imposed.

?[T]hat is precisely what the Union agreed to,? Goodell writes in the July 3 letter upholding the suspensions.? ?It did so following extensive discussion and negotiation.? The Players Association and the League agreed not to interject a third-party into the review process, but instead to leave in place the longstanding practice of review by the Commissioner of ?[a]ll disputes involving? Commissioner action regarding conduct detrimental? to the game.

Goodell also explains that ?prior announcement of the basis for discipline cannot render the Commissioner incapable of hearing an appeal due to the appearance of bias or any other reason.?

?In short,? Goodell explains, ?I was no less capable of hearing these appeals in an unbiased manner than I have been of hearing, under this CBA and its predecessor, numerous other appeals involving conduct detrimental.? Nor, given the review process to which the parties agreed in the CBA, was there any basis for asserting an appearance of bias.?

While a federal judge eventually may agree that Goodell was impartial, there definitely is a good-faith basis for making the assertion that he wasn?t.? The league?s justifiable objective of ?maintaining the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football? requires among other things a public relations strategy that pulls the public?s strings in a way that causes them to have confidence in the game of professional football.

So in cases where the Commissioner serves as the face of the effort to ensure public confidence in response to the league?s pre-appeal belief that the players were involved in a bounty program, it necessarily becomes harder to the Commissioner to serve as a truly impartial arbitrator.? If he changes his mind, the prior statements regarding his unequivocal belief that the players are guilty would have to be massaged and rectified and explained.

And if Goodell can?t pull that off without coming off as a flip-flopping politician or the ultimate leader of an investigation that turned out to be deeply flawed, public confidence in the game of professional football could be significantly shaken.

The procedure to which the parties agreed in the CBA gives Goodell a way to juggle situations in which his P.R. and/or investigative duties possibly have cemented his position as to player guilt.? Under Article 46, Section 2(a) of the CBA, the Commissioner appoints ?one or more designees? to serve as hearing officers.? And so, in a case like this one, he could have (and the NFLPA will argue that he should have) handed the baton to someone who had no role in the investigation or in the effort to ensure that the league could disclose its belief that the Saints maintained a pay-for-performance/bounty system without shaking public confidence in the game.

The fact that Goodell was personally involved in the investigation (Mike Ornstein told PFT last month that he personally met with Goodell as part of the probe) potentially strengthens the argument that Goodell should have appointed someone who was more likely to come to the appeal process untainted by, for example, the mountain of evidence that was never introduced at the June 18 hearing by the league.? As the NFLPA will surely contend, how can anyone forget everything they learned during the investigation and focus only on the presentation from former prosecutor Mary Jo White as the sole record of evidence on which the appeals would be decided?

And so, while the NFLPA has agreed to a procedure that allows the Commissioner to resolve appeals involving cases of conduct detrimental to the game, federal law entitles all players to a truly impartial arbitrator ? not an arbitrator who, consciously or not, feels compelled to defend the statements he has made and/or the investigation over which he has presided.

Put simply, the NFL wants an in-house appeal process that allows the league to treat as the top priority ?maintaining the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football.?? The Federal Arbitration Act contemplates a process that provides fairness to those who have something tangible to lose as a result of an eventual arbitration ruling.? Even if the NFLPA agreed to the current process, a process that fundamentally is unfair to and/or biased against one side should not survive judicial scrutiny.

In the end, that?s the issue the court system faces.? The NFLPA will claim that Goodell wasn?t impartial, Goodell will claim that he was, and a federal judge will have to break the tie.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/07/police-claim-adrian-peterson-pushed-off-duty-officer/related/

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