HB 10-21-2021

The Hastings Banner — Thursday, October 21, 2021 — Page 5

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Short-term investments offer liquidity -

and more

Generally speaking, invest-

ing is a long-term process. You

invest in your IRA and 401(k)

to reach a long-term goal – re-

tirement. You may invest in a

529 education savings plan for

many years to reach another

long-term goal – college for

your children. But is there also a

place in your portfolio for short-

er-term investments?

In a word, yes. You have

three good reasons for owning

short-term investments: liquid-

ity, diversification and protec-

tion of longer-term investments.

Let’s look at all three:

• Liquidity – For many peo-
  ple, the COVID-19 pandemic
  brought home the need to have
  ready access to cash, and short-
  term investment vehicles are
  typically liquid. Still, some are
  more liquid than others, and
  you’ll want to know the differ-
  ences right from the start.
  Probably the most liquid
  vehicle you could have isn’t
  an investment at all, but rather
  a simple savings or checking
  account. But you likely could
  earn much more interest from
  a high-yield online savings ac-
  count without sacrificing much,
  if any, liquidity. Money market
  accounts are also highly liquid,
  but they may carry minimum
  balance requirements.

Other short-term investments

may be less liquid, but that may

not be a major concern if you

don’t need the money immedi-

ately. For example, you could

purchase a type of mutual fund

known as an ultra short-term

bond fund that invests in lon-

ger-term bonds due to mature

in less than a year, so you could

receive the benefit of the higher

interest rates typically provid-

ed by these bonds. You could

choose to partially or entirely

liquidate your bond fund at any

time, but it may take several

days for the sale to go through,

since the shares in the fund need

to be sold. You could also invest

in a three-month certificate of

deposit (CD), but if you cash it

out early, you’ll lose some of the

interest payments.

• Diversification – If your
  portfolio consists largely of
  stocks and stock-based ETFs
  and mutual funds, you could
  take a hit, at least temporarily,
  during periods of market down-
  turns, which are a normal part
  of the investment world. But a
  diversified portfolio, containing
  both long- and short-term in-
  vestments, may hold up better
  during periods of market vola-
  tility. That’s because the short-
  term vehicles we’ve looked at
  are typically going to be far less

affected by market movements,

if they’re affected at all. (Keep

in mind, though, that diversifi-

cation by itself can’t guarantee

profits or protect against all

losses.)

• Protection of longer-term
  investments – If you were to
  face an unexpected expense,
  such as the need for a major
  home or car repair, how would
  you pay for it? Without any
  liquid reserves, you might be
  forced to dip into your long-
  term investments, such as your
  401(k) and IRA. But by do-
  ing so, you could incur taxes
  and penalties – and, perhaps
  even more important, you’d
  be removing resources from
  accounts designed to help you
  achieve a comfortable retire-
  ment. With enough short-term
  investments in place, though,
  you can avoid touching these
  long-term accounts.
  As you can see, you can
  benefit significantly by adding
  some short-term investment
  vehicles to your portfolio. They
  could make a big difference in
  your ability to meet your finan-
  cial goals.
  This article was written by
  Edward Jones for use by your
  local Edward Jones Financial
  Advisor.
  Edward Jones, Member SIPC

Kevin Beck, AAMS®

Financial Advisor

400 W. State St., Suite B

Hastings, MI 49058

(269) 945-

Member SIPC

Financial FOCUS

Provided by the Barry County

offices of Edward Jones

Jim Lundin

Financial Advisor

2169 W. M-43-Hwy., Suite A

Hastings, MI 49058

(269) 818-

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Sale

Commissioners ignore planning

board – to county’s detriment

To the editor:
The Barry County Board of
Commissioners totally ignore the recom-
mendations of their planning and zoning
board and waste taxpayer money paying
for the work that planning board tries to do.
This comes about after the planning
and zoning board had two meetings, did
site visits, researched the issue and, by a
6-1 vote, came to the conclusion to deny
a rezoning request from rural residential
to mixed use for Bay Pointe’s expansion
of more “cottages” at Bay Woods.
Ignoring the issues of congested traffic,
pedestrian traffic safety and noise, county
Commissioner Bruce Campbell stated,
“The grounds of Bay Woods are immacu-
late with beautiful white fencing” before
he voted “yes” to approve expansion of
five more two-story cottages.
Campbell admitted he doesn’t know a
lot about planning and zoning, so why
then are county commissioners voting on
something for which they are not quali-
fied to make informed decisions? In 10
minutes, they discussed the issue and
voted to rezone these two parcels when it

took the planning and zoning board two

meetings and several hours of site review,

questions and answers, plus discussion at

two meetings amongst themselves, to

fully understand the detrimental impact

of the area if rezoning was allowed.

County residents should not be paying

for a total waste of taxpayer money when

the commissioners entrust the planning

and zoning board to research and recom-

mend and then overrule them in 10 min-

utes of discussion – all for the sake of

money.

Bay Corp. will make more money and

the township will get more tax revenue

money, but that ignores the safety con-

cerns and adverse impact on the immedi-

ate area.

I’ve attended many planning and zon-

ing meetings and these board members

are well-informed, do their individual

research on issues before them, and I’m

pleased with their conscientious efforts to

make Barry County better for everyone.

Linda Ribble,

Orangeville Township

Administer

punishment to all

who deserve it

To the editor:

It appears that the Barry County Board of

Commissioners is planning on using the budget pro-

cess to punish county officials who upset some folks

in the process of doing their jobs.

If it is determined to be legal, I’d like to suggest

that they consider using that technique on our sher-

iff, since his actions continue to upset people.

The sheriff’s newest investigation of whether the

county’s health officer should take an oath of office

is another example of how his actions continue to

stir up controversy and create division in our com-

munity.

This investigation also is hypocritical since, by

using the Freedom of Information Act process, it was

discovered that some of the sheriff’s own deputies in

the Marine Division had tickets they had issued inval-

idated because they had not taken an oath.

Then, after the officers took the oath, the sheriff

asked that those tickets be reinstated.

So, hopefully, the board administers its newfound

punishment fairly among all county officers.

Larry Osborne,

Delton

How it feels to reach out – and to connect

To the editor:
I’ve submitted several articles to your
newspaper over the last few months, and
thank you for publishing them.
I suspect that many of your staff are like
me, laboring over the exact wording on what
we consider to be an important – or at least
worthwhile – bit of information we hope to
share with the public.
After the paper comes out, we (I at least)
sit back and wait for some type of response or
reaction to our valuable information. And, in
my case, more often than not, there is noth-
ing! Nothing to indicate that it was read, let
alone that it stirred some action.
Well, I want to share that the recent article
I submitted concerning a suicide awareness

hike, like my past submissions, resulted in

nothing but silence – until Friday, Oct. 8.

It was at that point that I received an email

from a person I did not know, asking for more

information, and showing an interest in tak-

ing part!

After a bit of back and forth, I’m please to

say that this person joined us on Saturday’s

hike and shared her own story – and I’m not

ashamed to admit it brought tears to my eyes,

largely because it was clear that these actions

were having a healing affect for her, but also

for those who were involved in the discussion.

Afterward, I was reminded of the tale that

we have probably all heard before: A man

walking along the beach at low tide is picking

up starfish and tossing them out into the

water – away from the seagulls who were

pecking at them. A boy asks – there are thou-

sands – aren’t you wasting your time? The

man simply picks up one, tosses it and

replies, “I made a difference for this one!”

Well, I took the time to write the article,

and Randall Roberts made the effort and took

the time to drive from Ohio to make a

14-hour hike to raise awareness concerning

the epidemic of suicides in this country.

We did have good response from some of

our Chapter members who were aware of it,

but it sure was nice to get a “recruit” from the

article you published!

Eric Longman,

Hickory Corners

Ayers named Kiwanian

of the Year by local club

Korin Ayers was named Kiwanian of the
Year at the Kiwanis Club of Hastings Annual
Dinner Tuesday in the Gury Parish Hall at
Emmanuel Episcopal Church.
Ayers was nominated by several fellow
Kiwanians for her contributions to the club’s
efforts on behalf of children in the Hastings
community and around the world, but espe-
cially for leading the fundraising drive for the
Southeastern Elementary School playground.
Southeastern Principal Dana Stein has iden-
tified the need for more and better playground
equipment as being essential for the students to

get the kind of brain break, stress relief, exer-

cise, and fun that recess can provide.

Ayers led the club in the past year in rais-

ing $44,152 from a number of grants and

donations, in partnership with the school’s

parent-teacher organization and Principal

Stein, notably including the Barry Community

Foundation, the Youth Advisory Council, the

Douglas A. and Margaret E. DeCamp

Foundation, Gun Lake Casino, Barb

Pietrangelo Prudential Financial Advisor,

Hastings Area Schools, and the contributions

of Kiwanis Club members and others through

the 100 by $100 campaign. The total quali-

fied for a 100 percent matching grant from

Game Time through Sinclair Recreation.

Past President Rich Franklin, who recently

passed the gavel to President Peggy

Hemerling, said Ayers exemplifies the club’s

objectives and Kiwanis’ motto of “Serving

the children of the world.”

“Kiwanis even has a hashtag to remind us

that #KidsNeedKiwanis,” Franklin said in a

press release. “Korin Ayers is a great blessing

to our club and to the children of Southeastern

Elementary and the Hastings area.”

Music or mayhem?

To the editor:
Any goal should include purpose and
action, as well as unity of thought.
However, to carry through and achieve that
goal, we must agree on the course of action to
get it done.

It also is very important for everyone to

have their own opinion and point of view, as

our differences do add value and insight to

the situation at hand.

It’s like a symphony orchestra with many

different instruments. Separately, they all

have their own unique sound.

But, played together, they produce music that

no individual instrument could ever do alone.

Supervisor Jim Brown,

Hastings Charter Township

Korin Ayers (right) is named Kiwanian of the Year by the Kiwanis Club of Hastings. She is joined here by current club president
Peggy Hemerling. (Photo provided)

Dylan James Baker, Joliet, IL and Madison Blake Hester, Shorewood, IL

Ryan Moloney Elms, Arlington, VA and Monica Lee-Sergi Watt, Arlington, VA

Mallory Kaye Durham, Woodland and Brendan Dean Stahl, Woodland

Clinton Earl Carothers, Grand Rapids and Amanda Robin Brown, Hastings

Terresa Michelle Osborn, Mesa, AZ and Robert William Eaker, Mesa, AZ

Winter Marie McCandlish, Delton and Trisitian Cameron-Dylan Patterson, Delton

Marriage Licenses