Don’t Trust Me, I’m Your Trustee….Print Me a Jet…..What’s Really Up with WhatsApp?…..What to Do and When to Not Do It….Econ Recon: The Plow Horse and the Vortex….Rough Air Ahead?

   “If you would hit the mark,

you must aim a little above it;

    Every arrow that flies

feels the attraction of earth.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 Don’t Trust Me…I’m Your Trustee!!

Most business people have created trusts to avoid probate, minimize taxes and provide for continuity in the management of their affairs. One of the most important aspects of trust creation is the choice of the trustee to safeguard the property in the trust…but  have you considered who will manage the trustee who proves untrustworthy, when you obviously cannot?

A few minutes with this recent article from Forbes will introduce you to the concept of a trust protector; someone who is there to manage the errant trustee when the time comes that you cannot. Do you have one? Required reading, in my opinion.

Print Me A Jet

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) once remarked that technological advancements were vastly overestimated in the short run…. and vastly underestimated in the long run. It may well be that that a technology that’s been in its infancy for several decades is finally coming into its own and may well remake the manufacturing sectors and perhaps others.

This article from the Motley Fool website offers a primer on 3-D printing which offers the prospect of customized everything. (Maybe not a whole jet, but certainly some vital parts). Check out this one page article that summarizes how 3D Printing is Changing the World of Manufacturing. Get familiar with the next big thing.  It will change our businesses….and our world.

What’s Really Up with WhatsApp?

$19 Billion for a Text Messaging Service. This is what Facebook just paid for WhatsApp, ( a little perspective: the WSJ pointed out the company only has 55 employees. With 26,000 employees, agribusiness giant Conagra has a market cap of only  $12.7 Billion ) Technology watcher Robert X. Cringely predicted earlier this year that Facebook might do something like this. Find out why Facebook may be acting more from desperation than strength in this half page blog entry.   

What To Do and When to Not Do It

Sometimes when you do something is as important as what you do and how you do it. If timing is everything perhaps this one page article may help you to know what to do and when not to do it.

Econ Recon:  The Horse and the Vortex….Rough Air Ahead?

The Horse and the Vortex:  Economist Brian Wesbury has for some time likened our slowly recovering economy to a “Plow Horse”.  This week he offers an analysis of how the brutal weather of recent months has impacted the economy in his blog entry  “The Plow Horse Meets the Polar Vortex.”

Rough Air Ahead? Vistage Staff Economist and ITR Economics President Alan Beaulieu sees Troubles on the Job Horizon and reflects on the recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the proposed minimum wage increase.  (After reading Alan’s comments on the report, click here to read the complete report.) Another example of inevitable unintended consequences of any action or inaction.