Steve Schneck Quartet – Dedicated to You

Posted on February 15, 2012
Filed Under Clients make News

Steve Schneck and his wife Julie Brown live in Chicago, Illinois with their two kids. Attorney by day, trumpet player by night, Steve recently released his second CD, titled “Dedicated To You”.

The Steve Schneck Quartet (trumpet/flugelhorn, guitar, bass and drums) features jazz standards and tunes from the bebop and swing eras, with an emphasis on musical interaction and creativity. 

When asked why they wanted to work with Blue Summit Wealth Management to help plan for their kids’ college and their own eventual retirement, they both agreed that it was our focus on responsible investments that made the difference. 

You can find recent posts from the group on their Facebook page under “Steve Schneck Music”. In addition, you can listen to samplings of Steve’s CD and purchase a copy by going to CD Baby here. Included on that site you’ll find the Album Notes:

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Update on Clean Energy Investing

Posted on January 17, 2012
Filed Under Alternative Energy, Green Investing, Market Update, Socially Responsible Investing

Many of our clients own some stock in clean energy companies and so, given the significant negative performance of this sector over the last couple of years, we’ve had numerous conversations about where these companies are headed and whether or not they still make good investment sense.

To give a visual example, one mutual fund that has focused on investments in this sector is the Calvert Global Alternative Energy fund (CGAEX, prospectus here). Over the last year, this fund is beating the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Index by almost 20% this year, but even still has fallen quite a bit:

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Shareholder Activism in San Diego

Posted on November 29, 2011
Filed Under Event Invite, Shareholder Activism, Socially Responsible Investing

How Local Leaders Can Increase Their Impact…

On December 13th, Blue Summit hosted an event for local environmental and social advocate leaders to explore how they can use shareholder activism as a tool to further their mission.

Our presenter was Andrew Behar, CEO of the San Francisco-based non profit group As You Sow, who’ve been promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy since 1997.

Mr. Behar presented to a group of non-profit leaders about his work, highlighting As You Sow’s current shareholder campaign, asking companies to disclose the risks of hydraulic fracturing, also called “fracking”. In addition, we explored how we could utilize the power of shareholder engagement as a way to influence companies, locally or globally, in a way that would contribute to the mission of each participants’ organization.

After some discussion about what issues might be worth addressing, and considering some common points of interest, we ended by identifying what other groups or individuals might be helpful to include in the conversation. Our objective is to host another similar educational event toward the end of next quarter, with the intention of forming a coalition of local investors who can represent one or more issues of importance at the shareholder level.  

About Shareholder Engagement…
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Holiday Cocktail Party

Posted on November 14, 2011
Filed Under Event Invite

Click HERE to RSVP

No Fracking Way

Posted on November 8, 2011
Filed Under Alternative Energy, Climate Change, Green Investing, Shareholder Activism, Socially Responsible Investing

As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in his The New York Times column yesterday, Here Comes the Sun, fracking involves significant costs to the environment that are not currently being regulated. Exploring how environmentally conscious shareholders can influence this reality, Blue Summit Wealth Management President, Judy Seid attended No Fracking Way, a fundraiser for the non-profit shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow.

Since 1992, As You Sow has used shareholder advocacy and the financial markets to catalyze positive change within publicly held companies. The event was held at a loft overlooking Venice Beach, CA where attendees were joined by Josh Fox, the director and producer of the movie Gasland via Skype projected onto the wall. Now that was sooo Hollywood! 

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In Support of the Occupy Movement

Posted on October 25, 2011
Filed Under Human Rights, Political Economy, Shareholder Activism, Socially Responsible Investing

The occupy movement quickly went from local action to a global howl of protest. A month after its launch, more than 900 cities around the world hosted protests affiliated to the Occupy cause.

In light of this public outcry, our community of Responsible Investors declares its support. We echo the sentiments of Zevin Asset Management, as they stated in a public message the week before last:

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Identity Theft Tips: “Catch me if you can”

Posted on September 23, 2011
Filed Under Credit Cards, Financial Planning, Identity Theft

Frank Abagnale’s life of crime was depicted in a best selling book and the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can. Since his imprisonment, Mr. Abagnale (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 film)  has worked for the FBI for 36 years as a specialist in fraud prevention.

As the opening speaker at this year’s FPA conference held in San Diego, he told his own riveting story of forgery, identity theft, and embezzlement. Mr. Abagnale expressed his feelings of disgrace and dishonor for his prior actions and commented that his work with the FBI gives him the opportunity to pay back his debt to society for his egregious actions and years of criminal activity.

Today, Mr. Abagnale suggests that fraud is easier to perpetrate than ever before. The Federal Trade Commission reports that nearly 15 million Americans have been victims of identity theft, costing consumers $5 billion and banks and businesses $56 billion every year.  On average, it costs a victim $1,173 and 175 man-hours to get their credit report straightened out. Mr. Abagnale believes that because punishment for fraud and recovery of stolen funds are so rare, prevention is the only viable course of action.

Here are Mr. Abagnale’s top tips for prevention of identity theft: Read more

Special Blue Summit Report – Market Reacts to Debt Deal & Treasury Downgrade

Posted on August 10, 2011
Filed Under Market Update, Political Economy

AFTER THE DOWNGRADE

Unimpressed with U.S. deficit reduction plans, S&P delivers on its warning.

Unprecedented and unsettling. Standard & Poor’s issued a historic downgrade of U.S. debt on August 5, sensibly waiting until the market week had concluded to send a shock wave toward global investors. It reduced America’s long-term debt rating – which had been AAA since 1941 – to AA+.1 

S&P felt Congress did too little too late. The credit rating agency had threatened to lower the boom if Congress passed any deficit reduction plan smaller than $4 trillion in scope. The Budget Control Act of 2011 “falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics,” an S&P statement noted. It also retained its “negative” credit outlook on the U.S.2

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Blue Summit is “FIVE STAR”

Posted on August 1, 2011
Filed Under Award Winning Firm, Financial Planning

We would like to thank you!

Thanks to individuals like you, we were featured this year in San Diego Magazine as a FIVE-STAR Wealth Manager!

This past Fall, respondents to an extensive third-party survey given to more than 68,600 local residents, named us as one of only four percent of the 11,000 wealth managers in the region.  You can read more detailed information on the survey process below.

So, if you were one of those respondents last year, we want you to know that we greatly appreciate your positive vote of confidence and trust in our services!

In the case that you are asked to complete a survey this year, we would be honored to once again be named a FIVE-STAR Wealth Manager in 2012.

We look forward to many more years of serving you and your family’s financial needs.

Notes on the survey process:

Should You Be Worried About Deficit?

Posted on July 20, 2011
Filed Under Market Update, Political Economy

According to Financial Planning, on Friday TNS released a new study that revealed that 87% of Americans with $500,000 or more in investable assets feel that the size of the US government’s deficit is a major concern for them.

TNS’ Investor Confidence Index, declined in June to 102, an 11-point drop, its lowest level in a year.  This is due to increased pessimism about the stock market and the direction of the economy.

“These findings reveal significant stress and discomfort among investors who control the overwhelming majority of the personal wealth in the U.S.,” said Joe Hagan, SVP at TNS, in a press release. “We expect investor confidence to decline further if a decision concerning the debt ceiling isn’t made ahead of the August 2nd deadline.  On the other hand, a satisfactory resolution could raise investor confidence and spur a rise in the financial markets.”

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