Here’s a recap of a situation we had with one of our clients about the online security of his account.

He called our office regarding a strange toll-free phone number (888-999-4512) that had popped up when he had attempted to access his account online with *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). With all the potential for fraud these days, Amy made a conference call with him to Schwab to confirm the phone number.

What we discovered was that Schwab had flagged his account after several attempted logins he had made from other than his home computer and had blocked the account access until hearing back from him.

(Our client and his wife had been traveling and had been out of the state for the past month. He had tried to access his Schwab account online several times from several different locations.)

The Tech Support Team recommends that whenever you may be traveling for an extended period of time, it’s a good idea to call Schwab to let them know.  They will generate an additional PIN or other password that will open when you login from outside your normal area; that special PIN is good for two weeks. With this extra login, it keeps your account secure, and Schwab is able to verify that it is the client who has logged in – and not an intruder.

To particularly safeguard your account(s) while you are traveling, call Schwab’s ID Theft Line (877-862-6352).

Calls to the ID Theft Line are also indicated if you have been a victim of ID theft, such as when…

• Someone has tried to open an account in your name.
• Someone has filed a bogus tax return in your name.
• Your Social Security card has been stolen.
• You have inadvertently given your personal information to a fraudster or phisher.

These services are part of SchwabSafe^® which is a collection of security measures designed to keep your personal and financial information safe online.

Furthermore, we implement the following policy regarding distribution requests: When we receive an email request for a distribution from a client account, we make a phone call to the client to verify his/her identity and confirm the arrangements for the distribution.

[Disclosure:  *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Check out the two ways for you to look at your *Charles Schwab account through our website.

First, when you click “View Account” at the bottom of our home page, it takes you to a page where you can “Click Here to View Your Charles Schwab Account.”  Then you can proceed with your login credentials for Schwab.

Second, you can view your Schwab account balance through “my$View,” which is on our website menu.

my$View is a complimentary service available through Dickinson Investment Advisors for our clients.  In short, my$View is your own personal online financial home page to help you view your entire financial life in one secure place.

Please call Amy or Tom or Julie at 712-256-4856 or send us an email at tom@dickinsoninvestments.com if you would like assistance in being able to view your account(s) with us.

* Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”) as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.

Here are several guidelines about protecting your assets in your accounts at *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”):

1.  Check out the SchwabSafe^® material (available at the bottom of the web page) when you log in to your account(s) at Schwaballiance.com.

2.  An email from Schwab will never ask you for your personal financial information. If you suspect an email is fraudulent, please contact us immediately by calling 712-256-4856.

3.  When logging in to your Schwab account or any other financial site, be sure you see the https://www…  This insures you are accessing a secure website.

4.  A secure login ID and password should not contain any part of your Social Security number, birth date, or other private information.

5.  Your Schwaballiance.com password should be a random combination of 6-8 numbers and letters, with at least one number included between the first and last character. It should not be a significant sequence like your Social Security number or birth date.

6.  Change your password often – at least once every six months.

7.  When you leave Schwaballiance.com, log out; don’t just X out of the page. (If you do not log out, another person with access to your computer could view your account information using the memory function in the browser.)

8.  Protect your computer by keeping your operating system and browser up to date, installing and updating anti-virus and anti-spyware software on your computer, and using a firewall.

9.  For special measures to take before you travel for an extended period of time, read the SchwabSafe^® Traveling Tips material.

10.  You can request a special security token free of charge to access your Schwab account online. Call Schwab at 1-800-515-2157.

11.  If you think you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, contact us immediately by calling 712-256-4856 or Schwab at 1-800-515-2157.

[Disclosure: *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Here’s a recap of a situation we had with one of our clients about the online security of his account.

He called our office regarding a strange toll-free phone number (888-999-4512) that had popped up when he had attempted to access his account online with *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). With all the potential for fraud these days, Amy made a conference call with him to Schwab to confirm the phone number.

What we discovered was that Schwab had flagged his account after several attempted logins he had made from other than his home computer and had blocked the account access until hearing back from him.

(Our client and his wife had been traveling and had been out of the state for the past month. He had tried to access his Schwab account online several times from several different locations.)

The Tech Support Team recommends that whenever you may be traveling for an extended period of time, it’s a good idea to call Schwab to let them know.  They will generate an additional PIN or other password that will open when you login from outside your normal area; that special PIN is good for two weeks. With this extra login, it keeps your account secure, and Schwab is able to verify that it is the client who has logged in – and not an intruder.

To particularly safeguard your account(s) while you are traveling, call Schwab’s ID Theft Line (877-862-6352).

Calls to the ID Theft Line are also indicated if you have been a victim of ID theft, such as when…

• Someone has tried to open an account in your name.
• Someone has filed a bogus tax return in your name.
• Your Social Security card has been stolen.
• You have inadvertently given your personal information to a fraudster or phisher.

These services are part of SchwabSafe^® which is a collection of security measures designed to keep your personal and financial information safe online.

Furthermore, we implement the following policy regarding distribution requests: When we receive an email request for a distribution from a client account, we make a phone call to the client to verify his/her identity and confirm the arrangements for the distribution.

[Disclosure:  *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Check out the two ways for you to look at your *Charles Schwab account through our website.

First, when you click “View Account” at the bottom of our home page, it takes you to a page where you can “Click Here to View Your Charles Schwab Account.”  Then you can proceed with your login credentials for Schwab.

Second, you can view your Schwab account balance through “my$View,” which is on our website menu.

my$View is a complimentary service available through Dickinson Investment Advisors for our clients.  In short, my$View is your own personal online financial home page to help you view your entire financial life in one secure place.

Please call Amy or Tom or Julie at 712-256-4856 or send us an email at tom@dickinsoninvestments.com if you would like assistance in being able to view your account(s) with us.

* Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”) as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.

Research has shown that older Americans who volunteer frequently live longer and report less disability.

According to data from the Corporation for National and Community Service, 18.7 million older adults – more than a quarter of those 55 and older – contributed on average more than three billion hours of service in their communities per year between 2008 and 2010.

Older volunteers meet a wide range of community needs – helping seniors live independently in their homes, tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth, providing financial education and job training to veterans and their families, and helping communities recover from disasters.

Research points to several implications for policymakers, government agencies, health officials, and nonprofit and community organizations that utilize older volunteers.

?  Given the positive health benefits associated with volunteering, efforts should be made to engage populations that could benefit the most from volunteering or are underrepresented among current volunteers, including low-income individuals and people with disabilities. Programs such as Senior Corps that offer small stipends or reimbursements for transportation or other costs associated with volunteering make it possible for large numbers of older volunteers to serve their community.

?  Volunteering can provide a sense of purpose, and future outreach should include older adults undergoing transitions such as unemployment, retirement, or the loss of a spouse.

?  For those living in rural areas, volunteering can provide an important way to stay connected and active. Programs for older Americans should include volunteer opportunities in rural areas and consider ways to lower the barriers to volunteering, such as stipends that can reimburse the cost of transportation.

?  As the leading edge of the Baby Boomer generation approaches retirement age, nonprofits and community organizations need to be ready to recruit and retain boomer volunteers. Adoption of key practices, such as matching volunteers with appropriate and challenging assignments, providing professional development opportunities for volunteers, and treating volunteers as valued partners, can help build organizational capacity to recruit and retain boomer volunteers.

?  While marketing and recruitment efforts directed to older volunteers should reference the potential health benefits of volunteering, researchers should consider designing health interventions based on volunteering.

?  National days of service, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and the September 11^th National Day of Service and Remembrance, can be an effective way to introduce new volunteers in service activities that can turn into a long-term commitment.

[Reprinted by permission on 4/7/2015 from an article by the Corporation for National & Community Service, “The Health Benefits of Volunteering for Older Americans.”]

If you receive a letter from the IRS regarding the recent IRS data breach, we urge you to contact your advisory firm right away.

With the IRS now saying that thieves actually breached 334,000 taxpayer accounts – not 100,000 as the agency stated in May – you may have concerns about your financial information being compromised.

The Internal Revenue Service announced the new figure Monday, saying that it’s unclear whether information was actually stolen from each person, but everyone whose account was hacked will receive a letter from the IRS in the coming days.

In accord with the IRS statement, we urge all affected taxpayers to take advantage of its offer to provide free credit protection and identity-protection PINs, since next year’s tax returns also could be targeted by these cyber-criminals.

Anyone who is particularly nervous about having their identity stolen should do a credit freeze, as long as they won’t be applying for a mortgage, car loan, or other credit anytime soon, according to the IRS statement.

Be advised that with a credit freeze, each time someone needs to make a large purchase or get a loan, they have to contact the three major credit agencies (i.e. Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and ask for a “thaw” for a certain period of time.

Furthermore, check out our website blog from August 17 with guidelines for protecting the assets in your accounts at *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

[Disclosure: *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Here are several guidelines about protecting the assets in your accounts at *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”):

1.  Check out the SchwabSafe^® material (available at the bottom of the web page) when you log in to your account(s) at Schwaballiance.com.

2.  An email from Schwab will never ask you for your personal financial information. If you suspect an email is fraudulent, please contact us immediately by calling 712-256-4856.

3.  When logging in to your Schwab account or any other financial site, be sure you see the https://www…  This insures you are accessing a secure website.

4.  A secure login ID and password should not contain any part of your Social Security number, birth date, or other private information.

5.  Your Schwaballiance.com password should be a random combination of 6-8 numbers and letters, with at least one number included between the first and last character. It should not be a significant sequence like your Social Security number or birth date.

6.  Change your password often – at least once every six months.

7.  When you leave Schwaballiance.com, log out; don’t just X out of the page. (If you do not log out, another person with access to your computer could view your account information using the memory function in the browser.)

8.  Protect your computer by keeping your operating system and browser up to date, installing and updating anti-virus and anti-spyware software on your computer, and using a firewall.

9.  For special measures to take before you travel for an extended period of time, read the SchwabSafe^® Traveling Tips material.

10.  You can request a special security token free of charge to access your Schwab account online. Call Schwab at 1-800-515-2157.

11.  If you think you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, contact us immediately by calling 712-256-4856 or Schwab at 1-800-515-2157.

[Disclosure: *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Medicare’s drug plan costs are projected to rise an average of 8 percent next year; we can show you how to save money with your plan.

Our next client event will be held on October 13, and will feature George Gillespie as our special speaker.  George is a counselor with the SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program) Office in Council Bluffs.

Medicare’s annual open enrollment season is an ideal time for you to shop around for new Medicare coverage — even if you have been happy with your current plan — to see if it is still appropriate for your needs. However, no insurance is being offered or sold at this client event. Dickinson Investment Advisors is not in the insurance business, and we are not recommending one policy over another. We offer seminars like these for informational purposes so as to help you make your own wise choices.

Here is the agenda for this presentation:

• Overview of Original Medicare (Parts A & B)
• Overview of Medicare Advantage (which includes Part D)
• The Annual Coordinated Election Period
• Changes in the laws related to Medicare for 2016
• Strategies for shopping for the best drug plan
• Q&A session

You can attend either the 2:00 pm session or the 7:00 pm session on Tuesday, October 13.  The event will be held in our Training Room at 533 S. Main St. in downtown Council Bluffs.

Our client events are provided for your education as well as for you to invite guests to come along with you.

Please RSVP to our office by calling 712-256-4856.

[Source:  “Unwelcome News About Medicare’s Rising Drug Plan Costs” by Mark Miller from Reuters, WealthManagement.com, 10/8/2015.]

Live your life; don’t just view it through a screen.

Someone has said, “No time for cameras; we’ll use our eyes instead…”

1. Click on the “About Us“ tab of our website to learn more about our firm.
2. Compile your vital personal documents and information about your financial accounts.
3. Jot down any questions you may have related to your retirement planning, your tax issues, and/or how we take care of our clients.
4. Call us to schedule a discovery meeting with Ron or Tom.
5. After you have decided whether we are a good fit for you, come in for a forms signing meeting with Tom.  New client forms include the Asset Management Agreement as well as the appropriate account application(s) at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Tom or Ron will also walk you through a risk assessment questionnaire.
6. Sign a transfer form for you to authorize transferring assets into your new Schwab account(s).
7. Once your assets have transferred over, come in for an investment meeting with Ron or Tom.  They can make recommendations for your asset allocation, based on the portfolio model suited to your goals, income needs, and time horizon.
8. Amy and Julie look forward to getting to know you and providing service for you as well.  As a team, we want to assist you in turning your retirement dreams into reality through proven, time-tested investment solutions.

In this fast and furious market downturn to start out the year, it’s normal to feel unsettled and scared. It is often hard to remain disciplined and keep emotions in check when markets turn ugly.
Acknowledge your fear but don’t act on it.
Although no one can predict what the market will do here in the short term, we are working to help you develop and stick with your financial plan.
Don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call. We’ll walk with you through these difficult market conditions.

Ron Dickinson and Dave Piatkowski will be providing analysis and commentary regarding the markets at our “Forecast 2016” client event for our clients and their guests.

This event will be held on Thursday, January 28, at our office which is located at 533 S. Main St. in Council Bluffs. Ron will be speaking at 2:00 pm and again at 7:00 pm. You may attend either session.

The following topics will be discussed:

• An analysis of events impacting the markets today
• A review of the advancers and decliners among asset classes this past year
• The big stories about the markets as we begin this new year
• An explanation about our investment process and about the tools we use to manage your money.

We will also introduce you to our new client portal for you to view your accounts.
As with all of our client events, we encourage you to invite a friend who could benefit from this informative presentation. For those who bring along someone to be introduced to DIA, we have a special gift for you.

RSVP to our office at 712-256-4856 to reserve your seat.

Hi folks. This is Tom Sperling from the team here at Dickinson Investments. I wanted to take just a few moments to share with you about our Advisory Council. We met just recently, and Ron led us in a discussion whereby we asked five of our clients to come together for a couple of hours and give us some direct feedback about how we’re doing as a firm.

We reviewed where we were at last year with several key initiatives: bringing Dave onboard our team as a wealth adviser, rolling out two new service models to provide services for you, and also our technology push – upgrading the technology that we use to manage your accounts.

Then we asked for feedback from them specifically about our website, our video communications, and our client portal. We also asked for some feedback about some ideas about client events.

Probably the most important aspect of our meeting was to ask them how we can most effectively communicate the five areas whereby we bring value to our clients. Those areas include financial planning, asset allocation, and investment selection. We do systematic rebalancing of our clients’ accounts.

A key differentiator for us has to do with how we provide tax management which can save considerable money and resources for our clients in managing their taxes most effectively.

We do a lot more than just manage investments here because we’re thinking in terms of the needs and goals of our clients, so we ask for feedback that way from our clients and we really appreciate the input they provide to us. They spurred us on to do some really great brainstorming. We want to continue to roll out ideas from our meeting in weeks to come, and we’ll share with you more about that. But we really appreciate the input and feedback from our Advisory Council.

Research has shown that older Americans who volunteer frequently live longer and report less disability.

According to data from the Corporation for National and Community Service, 18.7 million older adults – more than a quarter of those 55 and older – contributed on average more than three billion hours of service in their communities per year between 2008 and 2010.

Older volunteers meet a wide range of community needs – helping seniors live independently in their homes, tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth, providing financial education and job training to veterans and their families, and helping communities recover from disasters.

Research points to several implications for policymakers, government agencies, health officials, and nonprofit and community organizations that utilize older volunteers.

?  Given the positive health benefits associated with volunteering, efforts should be made to engage populations that could benefit the most from volunteering or are underrepresented among current volunteers, including low-income individuals and people with disabilities. Programs such as Senior Corps that offer small stipends or reimbursements for transportation or other costs associated with volunteering make it possible for large numbers of older volunteers to serve their community.

?  Volunteering can provide a sense of purpose, and future outreach should include older adults undergoing transitions such as unemployment, retirement, or the loss of a spouse.

?  For those living in rural areas, volunteering can provide an important way to stay connected and active. Programs for older Americans should include volunteer opportunities in rural areas and consider ways to lower the barriers to volunteering, such as stipends that can reimburse the cost of transportation.

?  As the leading edge of the Baby Boomer generation approaches retirement age, nonprofits and community organizations need to be ready to recruit and retain boomer volunteers. Adoption of key practices, such as matching volunteers with appropriate and challenging assignments, providing professional development opportunities for volunteers, and treating volunteers as valued partners, can help build organizational capacity to recruit and retain boomer volunteers.

?  While marketing and recruitment efforts directed to older volunteers should reference the potential health benefits of volunteering, researchers should consider designing health interventions based on volunteering.

?  National days of service, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and the September 11^th National Day of Service and Remembrance, can be an effective way to introduce new volunteers in service activities that can turn into a long-term commitment.

[Reprinted by permission on 4/7/2015 from an article by the Corporation for National & Community Service, “The Health Benefits of Volunteering for Older Americans.”]

If you receive a letter from the IRS regarding the recent IRS data breach, we urge you to contact your advisory firm right away.

With the IRS now saying that thieves actually breached 334,000 taxpayer accounts – not 100,000 as the agency stated in May – you may have concerns about your financial information being compromised.

The Internal Revenue Service announced the new figure Monday, saying that it’s unclear whether information was actually stolen from each person, but everyone whose account was hacked will receive a letter from the IRS in the coming days.

In accord with the IRS statement, we urge all affected taxpayers to take advantage of its offer to provide free credit protection and identity-protection PINs, since next year’s tax returns also could be targeted by these cyber-criminals.

Anyone who is particularly nervous about having their identity stolen should do a credit freeze, as long as they won’t be applying for a mortgage, car loan, or other credit anytime soon, according to the IRS statement.

Be advised that with a credit freeze, each time someone needs to make a large purchase or get a loan, they have to contact the three major credit agencies (i.e. Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and ask for a “thaw” for a certain period of time.

Furthermore, check out our website blog from August 17 with guidelines for protecting the assets in your accounts at *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

[Disclosure: *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Here are several guidelines about protecting the assets in your accounts at *Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”):

1.  Check out the SchwabSafe^® material (available at the bottom of the web page) when you log in to your account(s) at Schwaballiance.com.

2.  An email from Schwab will never ask you for your personal financial information. If you suspect an email is fraudulent, please contact us immediately by calling 712-256-4856.

3.  When logging in to your Schwab account or any other financial site, be sure you see the https://www…  This insures you are accessing a secure website.

4.  A secure login ID and password should not contain any part of your Social Security number, birth date, or other private information.

5.  Your Schwaballiance.com password should be a random combination of 6-8 numbers and letters, with at least one number included between the first and last character. It should not be a significant sequence like your Social Security number or birth date.

6.  Change your password often – at least once every six months.

7.  When you leave Schwaballiance.com, log out; don’t just X out of the page. (If you do not log out, another person with access to your computer could view your account information using the memory function in the browser.)

8.  Protect your computer by keeping your operating system and browser up to date, installing and updating anti-virus and anti-spyware software on your computer, and using a firewall.

9.  For special measures to take before you travel for an extended period of time, read the SchwabSafe^® Traveling Tips material.

10.  You can request a special security token free of charge to access your Schwab account online. Call Schwab at 1-800-515-2157.

11.  If you think you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, contact us immediately by calling 712-256-4856 or Schwab at 1-800-515-2157.

[Disclosure: *Dickinson Investment Advisors has selected Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as primary custodian for our clients’ accounts.]

Live your life; don’t just view it through a screen.

Someone has said, “No time for cameras; we’ll use our eyes instead…”

1. Click on the “About Us“ tab of our website to learn more about our firm.
2. Compile your vital personal documents and information about your financial accounts.
3. Jot down any questions you may have related to your retirement planning, your tax issues, and/or how we take care of our clients.
4. Call us to schedule a discovery meeting with Ron or Tom.
5. After you have decided whether we are a good fit for you, come in for a forms signing meeting with Tom.  New client forms include the Asset Management Agreement as well as the appropriate account application(s) at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”). Tom or Ron will also walk you through a risk assessment questionnaire.
6. Sign a transfer form for you to authorize transferring assets into your new Schwab account(s).
7. Once your assets have transferred over, come in for an investment meeting with Ron or Tom.  They can make recommendations for your asset allocation, based on the portfolio model suited to your goals, income needs, and time horizon.
8. Amy and Julie look forward to getting to know you and providing service for you as well.  As a team, we want to assist you in turning your retirement dreams into reality through proven, time-tested investment solutions.

In this fast and furious market downturn to start out the year, it’s normal to feel unsettled and scared. It is often hard to remain disciplined and keep emotions in check when markets turn ugly.
Acknowledge your fear but don’t act on it.
Although no one can predict what the market will do here in the short term, we are working to help you develop and stick with your financial plan.
Don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call. We’ll walk with you through these difficult market conditions.