Sex offender arrested for coaching youth baseball team
Posted: June 7, 2012 at 12:18 pm
by ANN SHERIDAN / NewsChannel 36 Staff
WCNC.com
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Updated today at 5:33 AM
GRANITE FALLS, N.C. The baseball fields at the Granite Falls Recreation Department are busy with teams and tournaments, but parents on Wednesday said they'll watch their children there a little closer.
Dirk Walker Monseur, an assistant coach of a baseball team of kids between the ages of six and eight, is charged with violating the North Carolina Sex Offender's Registry.
"Stunned, I'm very stunned," said Jermaine James, whose son has played in the league for four years.
Caldwell County detectives arrested Monseur after receiving an anonymous tip.
"It does worry me to learn someone could be working so closely to my son knowing they're a child sex offender," said little league mother Amber Zaremba. She has lived in Granite Falls for most of her life. She said the league is considered a good one, with caring and loving coaches. "It's really shocking to hear."
Monseur, 34, is not accused of harming any children in Granite Falls. He was arrested and convicted in Florida in 2002 for committing a lewd and lascivious act against a child under the age of sixteen. He spent more than three years in prison for that conviction.
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Sex offender arrested for coaching youth baseball team
June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health Tuesday July 5th 2011 using broken camera 003 – Video
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Health & Fitness Calendar for June 6, 2012
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CLINIC
Free Medical Clinic. 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.
Free Medical Clinic. 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.
Free Medical Clinic. 6 to 8 p.m. The Bridge Ministries, 1002 E. 29th St., Bryan.
Brazos County Health Department immunization clinics. 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 9 to 10:30 a.m. (19 and older) and 2 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to noon Fridays. 201 N. Texas Ave., Bryan. $5 per child, $30 per adult. http://www.brazoshealth.org, 361-4440.
MOVE
Seniors Golf Tournament. 7:30 a.m. Travis B. Bryan Golf Course, 206 W. Villa Maria Road, Bryan. $5 entry.
Brazos Valley Laughter Yoga Circle, 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. Unity Church, 4016 Stillmeadow Drive. Combination of laughter exercises, deep breathing and relaxation. Good for seniors, but open to everyone. No mats required. $5 suggested donation. laughwithangelika@yahoo.com or 693-0402.
Freedom Yoga StyleGentle Series. 7 p.m. Brazos Healing Center. Pre-registration required. BrazosHealingCenter.com or 402-3595.
Senior Ladies Tennis. 8 a.m. Gordons Tennis at Aerofit, 4455 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan. 846-8925.
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Health & Fitness Calendar for June 6, 2012
Health & Fitness Calendar for May 30
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CLINIC Thursday Free Medical Clinic. 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.
Saturday Free Vein Screening. Brazos Vein Institute, 2605 Osler Boulevard, Bryan. Identify the cause of leg problems originating from vein disease. Appointments are required: 776-WALK.
Tuesday Free Medical Clinic. 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.
Free Medical Clinic. 6 to 8 p.m. The Bridge Ministries, 1002 E. 29th St., Bryan.
Ongoing Brazos County Health Department immunization clinics. 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 9 to 10:30 a.m. (19 and older) and 2 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to noon Fridays. 201 N. Texas Ave., Bryan. $5 per child, $30 per adult. http://www.brazoshealth.org, 361-4440.
MOVE Wednesday Seniors Golf Tournament. 7:30 a.m. Travis B. Bryan Golf Course, 206 W. Villa Maria Road, Bryan. $5 entry.
Thursday Freedom Yoga StyleGentle Series. 7 p.m. Brazos Healing Center. Pre-registration required. BrazosHealingCenter.com or 402-3595.
Friday Senior Ladies Tennis. 8 a.m. Gordons Tennis at Aerofit, 4455 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan. 846-8925.
Line Dancing for Senior Adults. 10 to 11 a.m. Southwood Community Center. For senior adults. mrodgers@cstx.gov or 764-6371.
Saturday Traditional American Folk Dance. 7 to 10 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church, 305 Wellborn Rd. Live music: Jalapeno Honey. Caller: Joe Barziza. http://bcscontra.org.
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Health & Fitness Calendar for May 30
Shawn Johnson Retirement Exclusive Interview – Video
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AEGON Retirement Readiness Survey Finds Global Outlook for Future Retirement Bleak Without Immediate Action
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THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
The first AEGON Retirement Readiness Survey of 9000 respondents provides key findings:
Despite the fundamentally positive aspects of living longer, longevity increases have brought greater costs and potential reductions in retirement systems, including government and private pensions. The global economic crisis of recent years and ongoing economic uncertainty and austerity measures have put even greater pressure on these retirement systems and shifted more of the responsibility to individuals to save for their own retirement.
An international survey initiated by AEGON, one of the world's leading providers of retirement security, indicates that there is widespread pessimism about the future state of retirement. Seventy-one percent of respondents still working believe that future generations will be worse-off in retirement than current retirees - reversing the long-established notion that each generation helps pave the way for subsequent generations to enjoy a higher standard of living.
More than two-thirds of the 9000 people surveyed in eight European countries and the United States accept that they bear principal responsibility for their retirement security. However, only 15% are confident that they are on course to achieve the retirement income they need. This is also reflected in the AEGON Retirement Readiness Index that has been developed to measure how prepared people feel about their own retirement in the various countries represented in the report.
Most respondents support increased taxes, reduced benefits (or both) to ensure the viability of government sponsored pension systems. At the same time, nearly half of the respondents do not support raising the age of retirement, even as people are living longer, healthier lives. However, a clear majority of respondents expect to continue working in some form past traditional retirement age.
AEGON CEO Alex Wynaendts said: "People in general are enjoying longer, healthier lives, and yet their readiness for a longer retirement is considerably less than that of previous generations of retirees. A concerted effort is needed to reconsider traditional retirement models and provide greater flexibility for phased retirement. If current pension systems are not adapted to the new realities of longer life spans and declining government and employer funding, the burdens placed on society will be a source of even greater economic and societal turmoil in the future. The good news is that people in general accept their responsibility in creating the conditions that will provide for a secure and satisfying retirement."
The AEGON survey also showed that the traditional "retirement cliff" is disappearing, referring to people going straight from working life into full retirement. Consequently, phased retirement is set to become the norm as more people expect to continue some kind of work activity past traditional retirement age. Fifty-four percent of the current generation of retirees went straight from work into full retirement, but only 30% of the current working generation expects a similar path. The findings further indicate that "silver entrepreneurs" could become more common as many in this current generation plan to combine activities such as starting their own businesses with leisure pursuits in their advanced years.
Alex Wynaendts: "Advances in longevity and health, combined with a modern approach to retirement, can make this life stage a period of productivity and personal fulfillment. It is in the interests of public policy makers, employers and the financial services industry - working together - to provide the incentives and opportunity for people to achieve the level of financial security that will be required for a longer period than at any time in history."
The AEGON survey, developed in collaboration with the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies - a non-profit, private foundation in the United States dedicated to conducting research and educating the public on retirement security trends - and Cicero Consulting, a leading public policy and communications consulting firm providing independent market research to the financial services sector, was conducted with the aim of understanding prevailing attitudes about retirement in the future and to determine the levels of financial readiness that currently exist among today's working generation.
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AEGON Retirement Readiness Survey Finds Global Outlook for Future Retirement Bleak Without Immediate Action
In-Retirement Distributions: There's More Than One Way to Get It Done
Posted: at 12:17 pm
I recently asked Morningstar.com readers whether their retirement-plan withdrawals were fixed or variable. A lively thread on our Discuss forum boards ensued, with retirees and pre-retirees sharing lots of sensible advice.
As I read through the comments, however, I realized that there's still a lot of confusion about this topic, and I inadvertently stoked it with the terms I referenced in my question. For starters, whether a payout is fixed and variable is really in the eye of the beholder: Taking out a fixed percentage of a portfolio per year results in varying amounts of dollars coming in the door, while taking out fixed dollar amounts will mean that a retiree's withdrawals will vary on a percentage-of-portfolio basis.
Moreover, even though "safe withdrawal rate" has become a nearly ubiquitous term in retirement-planning circles, the "withdrawal" part of the phrase is something of a misnomer. As such, it tends to stir up unnecessary acrimony or, at the very least, confusion. Some income-oriented investors assume, not unreasonably, that "withdrawal" means that retirees steadily invade their capital until it's all gone, ignoring income-producing securities altogether. But the "withdrawal" in "safe withdrawal rate" generally assumes that retirees can be free-ranging in terms of where they go for cash, such asdrawing income for living expenses from bonds or dividends, rebalancing proceeds, required minimum distributions, tax-loss sales, and yes, the outright selling of securities. In a similar vein, the term "income" also fans the flames of confusion (and stirs investing passions). Are we talking about actual interest and dividend income, or income for living expenses from wherever we can scare it up? The term "distribution" is more encompassing than "withdrawal" or "income," but you don't see it used as much.
Given all of the question marks flying around about the topic of--ahem--retirement distributions, as well as the importance of arriving at a sensible and sustainable strategy, I thought it would be useful to provide an overview on some of the key approaches: how they work as well as their pros and cons.
Income OnlyThe granddaddy of all retirement strategies, the income-only approach means that the retiree subsists on whatever dividend and interest income distributions his or her holdings kick off. Someone earning 5% in dividend and interest income on a $1 million portfolio can spend $50,000 that year.
Pros: It's no wonder so many retirees anchor on this strategy. In addition to being easy-to-understand, there are few more comforting notions than knowing that your portfolio can create all the income you need. Because you're not touching your principal, you can pass it to your heirs or use it for periodic splurges.
Cons: The obvious drawback with income-centric approaches, as yields have slunk lower during the past few decades, is that it has gotten tough to generate a livable income stream from an income-only portfolio without an awful lot of wealth or without taking substantial risk. Because yields on safe securities like cash and high-quality bonds have dropped so low, many income-hungry retirees have found themselves venturing into increasingly arcane and volatile asset types in order to generate the income they need. Moreover, those using the income-only approach may give short shrift to their own quality of life in retirement while passing on outsized sums to their heirs; that may or may not have been their plan.
Percentage of Starting Balance With Annual Inflation AdjustmentThis is the strategy that underpins the so-called 4% rule for retirement distributions. The 4% rule doesn't mean the retiree withdraws 4% of her portfolio's value throughout her retirement years. Rather, under this method, retirees calculate 4% of their starting balance when embarking upon retirement, and use that as their distribution amount in year 1. (Again, that distribution can come from any combination of dividend and interest income, rebalancing and tax-loss sale proceeds, and portfolio withdrawals.) The retiree then inflation-adjusts that dollar amount annually throughout her retirement, as discussed in this article (http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=388066).
Pros: The big benefit of this approach is that the retiree's real payout remains fixed throughout his or her life, allowing for an even-keeled and predictable standard of living--something most retirees want. And assuming the starting withdrawal amount is reasonable given the retiree's time horizon and the investment portfolio's asset allocation, the retiree will have a good chance of not outliving his or her nest egg, according to a fairly broad body of investment research.
Cons: The big disadvantage of distribution approaches that use a fixed real dollar payout is that they're not sensitive to market performance. In very strong and sustained up markets, for example, sticking with the predetermined withdrawal amount might lead the retiree to live more modestly than necessary. Perhaps more worrisome is what can happen if a retiree doesn't adjust his or her withdrawal rate in a prolonged down market: What started out as a 4% rate of withdrawal can readily morph into a much higher percentage in an unforgiving market. Although a fixed real dollar payout is appealing on many levels, real-life income needs might be lumpy: higher in some years, lower in others.
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In-Retirement Distributions: There's More Than One Way to Get It Done
High Performance Edge Track Walk – Video
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