dsmWealth February 20, 2020

Where do you want to go? Katherine Forst, John Pugh and J.R. Boesen at Exec 1 Aviation can get you there in high style.

Wheels Up! The Anywhere-Anytime Realm of Charter Flight

BY STEVE DINNEN

John Grubb’s trips to his second home in Arizona start not with a drive to the Des Moines airport but to Ankeny. There are no TSA lines at Ankeny Regional Airport, no queuing up in an icy-cold (or brutally hot) jet bridge and then finding somewhere in an overhead bin to stash your gear.

Grubb, accompanied by his wife, Kay, instead climbs aboard one of five Beechjet 400s operated by Exec 1 Aviation. In 2 hours, 40 minutes they’ll touch down at Scottsdale Airport, thus concluding another successful charter for Exec 1’s fleet of jets (and one turbo-prop aircraft).

"It’s expensive, but worth it," says Grubb, citing the lack of crowds, ease of use, immediate availability and attention to detail by Exec 1. The charter company also makes sure to have his favorite snacks on board.

J.R. Boesen, president of Exec 1, says that as Des Moines has grown, so has the need for jet leasing. Exec 1 serves businesses that lack aircraft, as well as firms with their own planes that might occasionally need some extra capacity. The company can customize a leasing program for steady clients or offer charters on demand.

Exec 1 is both an operator and a broker, so if a customer needs a large-capacity aircraft (the Beechcraft carry eight), Exec 1 can tap into a national network that will secure the right plane. The company also owns a six-passenger propeller-driven plane, which has a shorter range than the jets but can land and take off on shorter runways.

This special service does not, as Grubb noted, come cheap. But Exec 1 looks at its planes as delivering productivity. Take, for example, a morning trip to Little Rock, Arkansas, for a team from one Des Moines company. Commercial airfares for that trip would have totaled $4,781, but then the company would spend more than $2,000 more on hotels and meals for an overnight stay. The Exec 1 flight cost $9,451. After lunch in Arkansas, the entire staff jetted back to Des Moines, ready for another full day of work.

While most jet travel is for business, there is an occasional desire to get away for leisure, and Exec 1 has planes standing by. On one such trip, to the Turks and Caicos, John Grubb said the hassle of customs clearance was greatly eased as Exec 1 opted to use services at a a smaller airport that could get that job done in a fraction of the time it would take using commercial service through Miami.

Mortgage Threshold Rises for 'Jumbo Loans'

BY STEVE DINNEN

Good news, homebuyers: You can now buy a bigger house and still avoid a jumbo loan. It’s not that a jumbo loan is a huge burden, but qualifying for it may take some extra jumping through hoops.

For 2020, the Federal Housing Finance Agency raised the maximum conforming loan limit on a single-family property to $510,400 (previously capped at $484,350). Mortgages for less than that are conforming loans, meaning they follow guidelines set out by government agencies Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Anything above that $510,400 mark is a jumbo loan. It will carry a different interest rate than a conventional loan, as well as different qualifiers.

Here’s how one Des Moines area mortgage banker explained a jumbo:

The typical minimum credit score is 700 (higher than for a conventional loan). Typical reserve requirements are six months of the monthly principal-interest-taxes-insurance payment. That’s not required with standard loans.

For any jumbo loan that is more than $750,000, the borrower should keep in mind if their lender needs title insurance to protect the loan; they have to provide a survey of the property or a real property inspection report, which can increase closing costs on a purchase or a refinancing.

For New Investors: A Quick Step to Financial Independence

BY A.J. HORCH for CNBC

There is a lot you can get done in a half-hour. Binge your favorite sitcom, take a nap or finish a chapter of a book. You can also take the first step to financial independence in under 30 minutes.

Do you know your net worth? You don’t have to be a millionaire to figure it out. It’s a simple equation and a valuable tool that says a lot about your financial health.

Your net worth is essentially the sum of all your assets, minus your liabilities. Your assets could include cash, cars, houses, retirement accounts, investment properties and other valuables, like art and jewelry. Your liabilities are long-term debt, mortgages, student loans, credit card balances, and other personal loans. Figure out the difference between what you own and what you owe. That’s your net worth. >> READ MORE

7 Tips To Hit 7 Figures in 2020

BY JENNIFER SPENCER for Entrepreneur

Making seven figures in 2020 and beyond this decade is not impossible. There are rapidly growing industries and technological advances, and plenty of individuals and businesses will experience growth and financial gain. Remember these habits and strategies to help you attain financial freedom.

1. You must have multiple streams of income. This is one of the oldest lessons in the book. The more streams of income you create, the more likely your chances of earning seven figures. Sure, one income stream can potentially reach the million-dollar mark, but it can be a bit risky to put all your eggs in one financial basket.

Aside from earned income, where you’re exchanging time for money, you must invest in other streams to free up time while also reaching financial freedom. Passive income is the main way to do so, which you can generate by creating digital products, as one example. Residual income from affiliate marketing or rental-property income can also get you closer to your seven-figure goal.

To successfully manage different income streams, one must learn the skill of delegating. >> READ MORE

The Truth About 'Greedy' Seniors and Generational 'War'

BY MARK MILLER, Reuters

Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson summarized the argument well: Seniors fighting Social Security benefit cuts were nothing more than "greedy geezers" stealing from young people "who are going to get gutted." The Wyoming Republican’s memorable phrase from 2012 is a good example of the colorful language of so-called intergenerational warfare―pitting generations against one another with zero-sum-game economic arguments.

That kind of rhetoric might be useful for some politicians, but it is economic nonsense. Families do not live in economic silos, separated from one another, and some recent evidence shows that a large segment of the senior population is anything but greedy. In fact, they are struggling to meet basic living expenses, and the economic pain also affects younger family members.

Consider the results of a recent survey by AARP. It found that one-third of midlife adults with at least one living parent (32%) are providing financial support to them, usually for living expenses such as groceries and medical costs. More than half of midlife adults (54%) provided $1,000 or more to their parents in the last year; within that group, 34% provided help ranging as high as $5,000, and 13% provided help as high as $10,000.
>> READ MORE