Save Ottumwa Post October 26, 2022

The Art of Rebalancing

Striving for balance is a principle that applies to investing just as it does to other areas of life. When one area gets out of propor tion, it can disrupt your financial goals. There are, however, practical strategies to keep your portfolio in balance and your long-term goals on track. In this article, we discuss the basic tenets of not just why you should consider re balancing your portfo lio, but when and how to do so.

Why rebalance your portfolio?

The chief purpose of rebalancing is to ensure your portfolio remains allocated ac cording to your longterm financial goals. Over the last two years, the stock mar ket has experienced

periods of volatility.

Inflation, supply chain problems, global con flicts and other factors continue to affect stock values. More downside volatility is expected in contrast to the prepandemic stock market boom. Under these uncertain conditions, it’s especially important to review your portfolio and rebalance your as sets as appropriate.

Here are some tips to help you achieve a bal anced portfolio:

Assess the big pic ture. Ideally your port folio is some combina tion of the four asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash, and in some cas es alternatives). Too much of your portfolio in stocks may expose you to too much risk.

Treasury bonds and other reliable municipal and corporate bonds can help insulate your portfolio during times of volatility. Alternatives are nontraditional in vestments that include everything from pre cious metals, real es tate, cryptocurrencies, and carbon credits.

Many alternative in vestments are consid ered highly speculative and come with greater risk, so they typically will make up a small portion of your portfo lio. It’s smart to have a certain amount of cash on hand for emergen

cies. However, there’s no reason to keep ex cess amounts of cash in low-interest-bearing accounts if you can get better results in higher yielding investments.

Your financial advisor can help you determine the ideal distribution of assets across these groups.

Diversify to insulate your portfolio. Diver sification is a strategy of owning a variety of investments within as set classes. The goal is to spread your risk across stocks or bonds in different sectors, industries, and even geographical regions.

Buy and sell strate gically. Your financial advisor can help you evaluate stock returns and weed out losers. You may also be ad vised to reduce your position in a high-per forming investment if your portfolio is over weighted. Selling high er-performing invest ments that are not in tax-deferred accounts such as your IRA may result in capital gains taxes. If you sell an as set at a loss, you may be able to use the loss to offset your capital gains to reduce your tax obligation. This is called tax-loss harvest ing.

Revisit your portfolio periodically. Let your

financial advisor know about life events that may alter your risk pro file. Marriage, divorce, job advancement, and retirement—these and other life changes can affect your investment goals. At a minimum, schedule an annual review with your finan cial advisor to discuss rebalancing needs.

Consider profession al advice. Resist the temptation to manage your portfolio on your own, without the advice of financial profession als. A trusted financial advisor with fiduciary responsibility can help you select suitable in vestments to meet your investing goals. They can access tools and apply market insights to help you improve your position. Consult your tax professional regarding the tax con sequences of your investment activity.

Duane J Lusson, CFP, ChFC, CLU, MSFS, is a Private Wealth Advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. in Ot tumwa, Iowa. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strate gies and has been in practice for 30 years. To contact him, call 641-684-4200 or stop by his office at 527 W. Second in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. and its affiliates do not offer tax or legal advice. Consumers should consult with their tax advisor or attorney regarding their specific situation.

Investment advisory products and services are made avail able through Ameriprise Finan cial Services, LLC, a registered investment adviser.

Investment products are not insured by the FDIC, NCUA or any federal agency, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve invest ment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

© 2022 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved. File # 4969238

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

Support a true Iowan that has lived and experienced the needs and successes of our

As a lifelong Iowan, I’ve been through it all; floods, droughts, high prices, and low prices. Greiner Family Farms has been in my family for 164 years. I am an Iowa Farmer through and through and serving my community has always been and continues to be my way of life.

Learning from the Past:

• Wausau Homes Construction Crew

• American Welding and Tank 27 years, UAW 2310 President

• School Board President

• Volunteer Firefighter

Southern Iowa Electric Board

• Township Trustee

• Farm Bureau Member

• Avid Gun Collector

• These experiences have given me many insights into our community needs and the understanding to advocate for us all.

Living in the Present:

• Davis County Supervisor 12 years

• Great Prairie AEA Board

• Regional Housing Trust Fund

• Workforce Development Advisory Board

Davis County Public Safety Commission

Senior Center Board

• Hospital Foundation Board

• Fox River Watershed Board

• SIEDA Board

• E911 Advisory Board

• -Governor's Volunteer Award

• Race Car Enthusiast

• These groups have given me a well rounded look at what we face as a community and the reinforcements we need.

Looking to the Future:

I will advocate for all farmers, fighting against major packing plants that have stifled our animal industry over the last decade. I support bio-fuels that will lower the cost of feed for farmers and consumers and will advocate for all gas stations to upgrade to 30% or more ethanol to help control gas prices. Supporting and financing our community schools, local AEA agency, and community colleges are of highest importance, as well as, standing against the proposed school voucher system.

Paid for by Matt Greiner for State Senate: 13808 Pearl Ave., Bloomfield, IA 52537

Warrant Wednesday

Wapello County has over 500 active warrants. War rant Wednesday’s are designed to help law enforce ment locate wanted persons, with the public’s help. Do NOT attempt to apprehend these individuals. Instead, call the Ottumwa Police Department at (641) 683-0661 or Wapello County Sheriff’s Depart ment at (641) 684-4350 if you have any information on their whereabouts. Your tips can be made anony

Toothpaste

What some call a necessity, others consider a luxury. Growing up in a big family, we often couldn’t afford some luxuries my friends considered neces sary.

Simple things, home remedies, often worked as well, or better, than their more expensive manufactured alter natives. But unfortu nately, large market

Name: Edward Steven

10/17/2000

Warrant Issued: 10/13/2022

Warrant Details:

Name: Hayden

Details:

Name:

Name:

ing firms create an image of necessity for products such as toothpaste.

When I was a kid, times were differ ent. We didn’t have toothpaste. Instead, we had little Tupper ware containers shaped like shot glasses. They were about twice the size and had a lid with the famous Tupper ware Seal. These handy little contain ers came in very cool colors; yellow, blue, green, pink, orange, and white for the person with a limited desire for flair.

We kept the Tupper ware container in the bathroom medi cine cabinet filled with baking soda. You would open the container; sprinkle a little soda into the palm of your hand, then press the bris tles of your wetted toothbrush into the soda. You were now prepared to begin the daily dental cleansing process.

We brushed our teeth in the morn ing and again before going to bed. I didn’t seem to have any more or fewer cavi ties than my friends, who enjoyed the lux ury of “cavity-fighting – tooth whitening” toothpaste. If you wanted a whitening agent, you added a few drops of hydro

gen peroxide to the soda.

On occasion, when K-Mart offered a blue light special, Dad would come home with Pepso dent: a complete care toothpaste. But, of course, with tooth paste came respon sibility and rules.

In the TV commer cials, they would run a thick bead of paste from one end of the bristles to the other. The actor always put a wavy, sweeping hump in the toothpaste, leav ing a curly tip - like a soft serve ice cream cone. Dad always said, “They do that to sell more tooth paste!” He insisted, “Just a dot; the size of a pea, that’s all you need. The rest is just wasteful.” But there were more rules than just the amount used.

“Don’t let the tip of the tube touch your toothbrush bristles,” Dad would say. That was equally gross to double dipping in the chip dip. There was a right and wrong way to dispense the product. You had to put pressure on the tube so that when you had your drop of toothpaste, there would be a slight vacuum action within the tube. Almost like

inhaling, the tooth paste would recede slightly back inside the tube, leaving a nice clean tip for the next person – not a gunky mess. “If you can’t replace the cap, don’t use the toothpaste,” Dad would warn.

Finally, we were required to squeeze from the flat end of the tube. As the toothpaste de creased in quan tity, the tube would stay nice and neat, maintaining its sleek shape. Rolling up the foil tube as need ed would also keep a nice-looking tube of toothpaste. Never, under any circum stances, was it ac ceptable to squeeze the middle of the tube. Never! Squeezing the middle disturbed the natural shape and distribution of the product. It re sulted in an untidy, unattractive tube of toothpaste. Lt also caused the wasted product to be trapped inside, which would lead to an investigation by Dad. ,

The violator, who dared to squeeze from the middle, would be sought out, caught, and pun ished. Then, losing all rights to the fami ly tube of toothpaste, the convicted child would be banished from the toothpaste and sent back to us ing baking soda.”

The older kids who had jobs found a way around Dad’s rules; they bought their own toothpaste. Still, Dad would preach his rules to them, “You’re just wasting your money when you waste toothpaste.”

If we ran out of toothpaste and Kmart didn’t have a special, Dad would say, “There’s noth ing wrong with using baking soda.”

“But Dad, all my friends have tooth paste,” I argued.

“If all your friends jumped off the bridge, would you jump off, too,” He asked. But then, he reassured me, “There’s nothing wrong with using baking soda.” Dad felt his position on dental hygiene products was proven correct when the “New and Improved Crest – Now with Baking Soda and Peroxide” was intro duced. Maybe Dad knew more than we gave him credit.

I thought about Dad and his rules on toothpaste while standing at the sink this morning. Dad always used to say, “You’ll follow my rules if you’re living under my roof. You can make your own rules when you get your own house.” I was in my house now.

I picked up my tooth brush and laughed

as I squeezed the middle of the tube. I spread a thick bead of paste from one end of the bristles to the other. Natu rally, I included the little wavy, sweeping hump in the middle, leaving a curly tipjust like in the com mercials.

As I began brush ing my teeth, it oc curred to me I had used way too much toothpaste. I spit the excess into the sink, thinking, “What an expensive waste!” I went to the bedroom to get dressed. Be fore I left the house, I returned to the bathroom.

Applying pres sure between my thumb and the tip of my index finger, I smoothed the tube from the bottom up. I made several passes pushing the paste toward the top, returning the natural shape to the damaged center where I’d squeezed it. Then, I smoothed out all the wrinkles I could. “There. That looks better,” I said.

After all, I did not want to be the viola tor who caused the launch of an inves tigation. Such an investigation could lead to my convic tion. I could lose all rights to the family tube of toothpaste; I would return to using baking soda, and I don’t even own any of those little Tupper ware containers

(Just the Other Day cont’d from pg 4)

Midwest Weather

One constant about the weather in the Midwest is that it is not consistent. Last week, we had temperatures in the low teens. Over the weekend, the tem peratures were in the high eighties.

A person can see the effects of the temperature swings on the wildlife. With cooler temperatures, deer were moving at all times of the day and night. When it got warm again, a person had to kick the deer out of their bedding spots in or der to find any.

Yesterday, my wife and I were running around the timber changing out memory cards on the cameras. We only saw two deer. They were bedded down near the trails we were riding and did not care enough to run very far. With their warm winter coats, they preferred to rest quietly in the shade. Normally on the route we took, we would have seen a dozen or more springing lightly through the timber. I am sure the deer were in the usual places; they just

chose not to move.

From the time stamp on the camer as, we could tell the deer were still roam ing around, they just switch to being active in the wee hours of the morning when it is cooler. I was surprised when I checked the extra camera we had set up on a trail that goes through the wil low trees. It is a new Ranger trail roughly made on an existing deer path. I know deer like to bed down during the day in the lush grass in the willow thicket.

The counter showed 606 pictures had been taken in a week. I thought that was incred ible. Every deer and turkey in the area must have used this new path, sev eral times each day. This, un fortunately, was not the case.

There had been a strong wind blowing for a couple of days. The collection of pictures in cluded one pic ture of me walk ing up to change the memory card, one picture of a doe using the new trail,

and 604 pictures of the grass and wil lows blowing in the breeze. We decided to move that camera farther into the wil low thicket where the wind could not move things as easily.

I have been watching two chick en of the woods mushrooms as they slowly grew. It has been so dry; they have been slow ma turing. Last week end, I cut off a small part of the larger one to take home and fry up in but ter. It was delicious.

With the unusually warm weather of the last few days, I was thinking the rest of them should be ready to harvest. We drove to the old oak tree where they grew just off the Ranger trail. Much to my disappointment, the deer had beat me to them. One was totally gone and the other was mostly eaten and the re mains shredded. Ap parently, deer know a good thing too.

Coming out of the timber as we headed toward the

house, the setting sun lit up what re mains of the color ful fall foliage. The lake was blue and clear as four trum peter swans glided in to spend the night with the two swans that have been stay ing here. Though it has been unusually warm for a few days, the swans know the weather will change. They are moving south to our place to avoid the cold weather up north that will be moving in before we know it.