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THE NEW MEXICAN Tuesday, January 7, 2014
In brief
LOCAL BUSINESS
Stalter: Start by writing out your goals
Courtyard by Marriott presents first same-sex wedding expo The Courtyard by Marriott Santa Fe is presenting its first LGBT Wedding Expo from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday at the hotel, 3347 Cerrillos Road. The event will host 30 vendors offering resources in all areas of wedding expertise to assist attendees in planning every aspect of their special day. From the flowers, photography, decor and cuisine, the Courtyard by Marriott Santa Fe wedding experts have brought together outstanding professionals in the community, all in one venue. In addition to the variety of vendors and live entertainment, a fashion show with the latest in bridal and formal wear will be held in the atrium from 3 to 4 p.m. Door prizes will be given away throughout the afternoon. There also will be tours available of the newly renovated property. With 7,500 square feet of meeting space, the Courtyard by Marriott Santa Fe can accommodate any special event, large or small. Guests who RSVP by phone or email in advance may receive two free tickets to the event. The day of the event, tickets will be $5 at the door. All proceeds from these sales will be donated to the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance. For more information, please contact Dominic Silva or Janelle Espinosa at 424-2453.
Public input sought on future of old district courthouse site Santa Fe County is asking residents to provide input on the old First Judicial Courthouse, located on Catron Street, by attending a town hall meeting. The public input meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the County Commission Chambers, 102 Grant Ave. The old courthouse building was vacated in 2013 after Santa Fe County completed the new Judge Steve Herrera Judicial Complex, located on Montezuma Avenue. The town hall will feature a short presentation outlining the various potential usage options, followed by an opportunity for the public to comment and provide input. The county has developed a feasibility analysis of various options for the use of the old First Judicial Courthouse property. One option is to develop the site with a one-stop county administrative building for constituents to conduct county business. Another option involves creating a one-stop county campus outside of the downtown area and selling the old courthouse site. All options being considered include ample parking for the public. Residents also can provide input by filling out a short five-question survey online. To access the survey, visit www. santafecountynm.gov and click on the link “Santa Fe County Citizen Survey — Old First Judicial Courthouse” located under “Hot Topics.”
High Country Gardens rolls out spring plant varieties, gardens For spring, High Country Gardens continues its tradition of introducing new plant varieties and new preplanned gardens that feature “plants for the Western garden and beyond.” “During the past 20 years, High Country Gardens has built a reputation and a strong national following for its unique and proprietary plant introductions,” said David Salman, chief horticulturist. “The plants we offer are easy-to-grow, beautiful and adaptable to a wide range of climates, cold hardiness and low-water conditions. High Country Gardens plants celebrate the concept that landscape and garden plants should reflect the natural beauty and growing conditions of each local climate.” The new plants and gardens for 2014 range from the “Habitat Hero” Birdwatcher Pre-Planned Garden (which was honored with a 2014 Green Thumb Award) to a new English lavender variety called “Munstead Violet” that boasts the darkest violet flowers of any lavender. All of the new plants and preplanned gardens for 2014 — and hundreds of perennial favorites — are available at www. HighCountryGardens.com.
Calendar
Convention center schedule Upcoming bookings at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center and expected attendance: Jan. 20 — New Mexico Association of Counties conference, 900 Jan. 25 — Contemporary Hispanic Market judging, 100 Jan. 26 — American Astronautical Society meeting, 1,000 Feb. 1 — Souper Bowl, 1,000 Feb. 3-9 — Keystone Symposia conference, 425 Feb. 11 — New Mexico Livestock Conference, 400 Feb. 13 — Cancer Foundation for New Mexico Sweetheart Auction, 1,000
December bankruptcy filings Chapter 7 u 13-13878 JG — Ernesto Mendez and Criceida L. De Mendez, Santa Fe. Liabilities $256,589.12; assets $192,942.91. u 13-13884 TG — Merit Bennett and Dori Bennett, Santa Fe. Liabilities and assets not available. u 13-13899 JG — Julian M. Duran and Yvonne Y. Duran, Santa Fe. Liabilities $70,667; assets $51,950. u 13-13906 JG — Dean M. Richardson and Ellen TK Richardson, Santa Fe. Liabilities $424,534.89; assets $611,032.23. u 13-13911 JG — Michael Estevan Montoya, Santa Fe. Assets and liabilities not available. u 13-13926 JG — Jeffrey P. Riley, Santa Fe. Liabilities $21,155.59; assets $30,905.30. u 13-13965 TG — Michael M. Finley and Theresa M. Finley, Santa Fe. Liabilities and assets not available. u 13-13969 JG — Sofia B. Sanchez, Santa Fe. Liabilities $125,040.18; assets $22,017.81. u 13-13971 TG — Leslie Ames, Santa Fe. Liabilities $38,153; assets $24,231.74. u 13-14010 JG — Brett Herbert Stults, Santa Fe. Liabilities $72,314; assets $20,725. u 13-14014 JG — Gabriella Roth, Santa Fe. Liabilities $375,872.80; assets $240,725. u 13-14021 TG — James L. Hetler, Santa Fe. Liabilities $119,538; assets $62,269. u 13-14075 TG — Andrew Valdez, Santa Fe. Liabilities $272,277; assets $45,125. u 13-14081 TG — Kelly L. Crespin, Santa Fe. Liabilities $473,504.45; assets $411,793.76. u 13-14112 TG — Samantha Ann Danehy, Santa Fe. Liabilities and assets not available. The New Mexican
Continued from Page C-1 which contains thought-provoking exercises to help people hone their intentions for a successful 2014. Hyatt was recently asked about the current propensity to downplay New Year’s resolutions. He responded that January offers a unique opportunity to ride a wave of optimism, to hit the reset button. Sure, you have 365 opportunities to make a fresh start, but in the month of January — particularly in the first couple of weeks — many of us feel a surge of optimism about new beginnings. That’s not always easy to find in late February or mid-November. Most of us who set intentions in January have at least one financial goal we’d like to achieve. It helps immensely if that goal is quantified. In other words, “I want to make more money” is too squishy. It’s one that will probably be relegated to failure by March. Better: “I want to increase my income by $10,000 this year” or, “I intend to max out my IRA contributions this year.” In real terms, that means contributing $5,500 if you are under 50, and an additional $1,000 if you have crossed the half-century mark. See the difference? Those goals are
measurable. You can devise an action plan. They can be chunked down into monthly amounts. We live in era in which it’s not only popular to dismiss New Year’s resolutions or goals, but also to be negative about our own future financial prospects. Much of the media thrives on sensationalistic and frightening content, designed to keep people coming back. Anybody remember the big debacle of late 2012, which was supposed to send the U.S. economy and markets into a tailspin? It was the fiscal cliff. Then, in 2013, came the debt-ceiling debate, which the handwringers told us would have the same effects. And let’s not forget the incessant nattering about the rampant hyperinflation that was sure to result from the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing. Hmmm, none of those doomsday scenarios turned out to be sure bets, did they? So what’s the takeaway? Make 2014 the year to take control of your financial future. You don’t need a list of tips to get started, and you don’t need anybody’s lofty-sounding economic forecast (which has little, if anything, to do with your situation).
Start by writing out your goals. You know what to do: Save more than you spend; salt away money for the future. If you’ve already done a good job on those, revisit your tax strategies and estate plans. Those are the basics, and it doesn’t help to get bogged down in the details. That’s a form of procrastination and can impede you from just getting started. And that’s the bottom line. I want to encourage you to pursue your financial goals this year. I know it’s not easy, and there are pitfalls along the way. Even if you feel discouraged by the lackluster economy over the past few years, ride January’s wave and commit yourself to a fresh start. I’ll continue the theme of financial goals in future columns. Pursuit of goals doesn’t end after you set an intention in January. And the goal of having income to live the life you want is what financial planning is all about. So for now, my best advice is: Just start. Kate Stalter is a columnist for TheStreet. com, Morningstar and Forbes. She is also a financial adviser with New Mexico-based Portfolio LLC. Contact her at kate@portfoliollc.com or 884-3445. Her column will publish monthly in The New Mexican.
Final: Shop tentatively set to close Jan. 14 Continued from Page C-1 “The only opinion that matters is what she sees in the mirror,” said Trujillo, who once embroidered the logo for the Texas Longhorns on the veil of a bride who was a particularly ardent fan of the football team. Trujillo said a bridal shop is different from other types of retail businesses because people don’t just come in, buy something and leave. “Sometimes it takes six months to a year” to dress a wedding party, Trujillo said. “Sometimes we’re more counselors than we are salespeople.” Once, Trujillo said, she had a bride break down crying in the dressing room because she had changed her mind about getting married. Another time, she dressed a bride who was only married for eight hours before having the wedding annulled. She’s even dressed the same woman for multiple weddings with different grooms and dressed brides who were marrying the men one of her other brides used to be married to
Christine Trujillo has a wedding gown fitting session with Desirey Guranich of Pecos. Trujillo said the bride is the one person she aims to please when styling a wedding party. ‘The only opinion that matters is what she sees in the mirror,’ she said. CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN
— that’s one reason she doesn’t post photos of her past brides in the shop anymore. Trujillo said one bride came in seeking a dress for her third wedding and said, “Christine, it didn’t work out again!” “I said, ‘It’s OK, we love repeat offenders,’ ” Trujillo joked.
On a lighter note, Trujillo recently had the privilege (she does consider what she does an honor) to dress a woman for her 23rd anniversary in the same year that she dressed the woman’s daughter for her wedding. Trujillo clearly cares about the women she’s helped outfit
for their most important occasions over the years — she calls them “my brides” — but she’s surprisingly unsentimental about marriage itself. “I always say, ‘Marriage is a good institution if you want to be institutionalized,’ ” she said last week, adding that she tells brides it’s more important to be together than it is to be married — and God doesn’t care if you get married in the church or in your backyard. Christine’s Bridal and Formal Wear is tentatively set to close Jan. 14, though it may remain open through the end of the month as Trujillo attempts to liquidate years of designer wedding gowns, formal dresses and tuxedos. She said most things in the shop will be marked down 30 percent to 70 percent in the last few weeks. The shop is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@ sfnewmexican.com.
Value: Measure longevity of product, service Continued from Page C-1 sun to the snow in winter. The value proposition is even easier for the business owner to generate if many people in the service area have the same need and other providers can’t be found at an affordable rate. What matters are the consumer’s perceptions of the tangible and intangible — the emotional or social — values of a product or service. It’s the reason why products that offer essentially identical functions or features can charge such different prices; some satisfy a consumer’s deeper needs, whether for status or confidence or ease of use, than others do.
Will it fly? After defining the problem a product or service will solve, the entrepreneur should identify what, if anything, about the offering is qualitatively different — even exceptional — and not just faster or cheaper than other products or services in the market. The creator of the pet rock sold simple gray stones, complete with a pet carrier and instruction manual, using the pitch that they were maintenance-free companions, unlike dogs or cats. The fad lasted less than a year, but it made its creator a millionaire — all because he had a value proposition for his novelty product. Entrepreneurs who want to be in busi-
ness longer than a year selling truly useful products or services must honestly appraise whether they’re offering a fundamental upgrade or innovation. If they are, the next test is a clear-eyed assessment of the market’s willingness to switch from what’s currently solving the problem to giving the new product a try. Once the value proposition for a product or service is articulated and evaluated objectively by its creator — and ideally vetted by an even more objective third party — that proposition should be central to product branding and marketing. To learn more, go to www.Finance NewMexico.org.
Rikoon: Dismantle health insurance system Continued from Page C-1 tively see most people most of the time. No medical malpractice insurance would be necessary because lawsuits against health care professionals, at least everyone who acts in good faith, would not be allowed except in cases of fraud, malfeasance or other criminal acts. No corporate lobbying should be allowed, as those costs are passed along in higher premiums to patients who have to pay increasing portions of their bills anyway. There would be no mandatory insurance for anyone since the money needed for health care would already be in their pockets or in a no-cost clinic. The progressive nature of our tax system would result in wealthier people paying more for the health system than others … too bad. The insurance companies would be taken out of the equation except in cases where people privately choose to prepay against their potential future illnesses — in a way, it would work like life insurance. At the other end of the spectrum, people with serious diseases or life-threatening injuries obviously need some kind of (catastrophic) care without regard to their financial status. This would be provided by the allocation of some of the general tax-collected revenue for health care to go
to similarly organized clinics for chronic or emergency service. Only the basic form of well-established practices would be offered, like dialysis, with as much of the recovery transferred back to the individual as medically possible. It is partially the bells and whistles of the latest in modern technology and the fear of lawsuits that drive the cost of medical care costs sky high for everyone. Elective surgery would be just that; people would be on their own. Chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia, all of which require ongoing care, would be provided at a base level to prevent huge sums of money being thrown down the tubes by the public through the current system. Individuals would have to figure out and pay for any above-baseline services. Our health care system is set up to delay death for as long as possible, even when doing so is incredibly cruel and wasteful. Some religious traditions call for this approach, while many ancient and honored ones do not. There is an appalling lack of information about alternative approaches and a paucity of assistance from trained counselors (hospice being a notable exception) available to most patients. Doctors and hospitals therefore end up applying stupendously intense or “heroic” efforts to prolong life by a few hours, days or
months, often with little positive effect on the quality of the patient’s life. End-of-life care consumes almost half of total annual spending on health care in the United States. Both preventative care and chronic/ emergency care can be funded with a small portion of the funds spent today if they were taken out of the current system and put in the hands of entrepreneurs. Why do we continue to subsidize the current broken system? With the dismantling of the health insurance system, the choice for a large majority of medical treatment could happen on a competitive basis. Doctors, nurses and medical technicians would be freed of bureaucratic meddling and allowed to deliver the great care and caring that motivated them to go into the field in the first place. The economic drag of a system based on fear of doing something wrong, as opposed to entrepreneurial efforts to do things right, would filter down into a primarily local industry. This would be good for our health and great for our local economy. Rob Rikoon is the founder and chief investment officer at The Rikoon Group, a Santa Fe-based registered investment advisory firm. He can be reached at Rob.rikoon@ rikoongroup.com.