dsmWealth June 17, 2021

The Bookeys Drum Up Support for Variety of Nonprofits

BY STEVE DINNEN

The Isiserettes Drill and Drum Corps is a Des Moines institution. Yes, they’re all about teaching young people about the music—drumming, mostly—and dancing that they love to showcase at parades and an occasional presidential inauguration. But their reach into the community goes deeper, since their true mission is to build character through developing academic and social skills.

However, the Isiserettes never had a home base. Practice days for the 68-strong corps members happened in various school gyms or outdoors on unused soccer fields. Did they need a home? Well, that subject came up during a 2018 meeting between Cory Williams, who runs the Isiserettes (and is the son of Pam Williams, one of its co-founders), and Des Moines businessman and philanthropist Harry Bookey.

“He was elated” by the Isiserettes, Williams says. “He said, ‘I’m in. I’m all in.’”

In short order, Harry and his wife, Pamela Bass Bookey, came up with the entire down payment for a building at 2124 Grand Ave. that the Isiserettes had been eyeing as a headquarters. (It had an open space large enough to accommodate practices.)

In addition to funding, the Bookeys also have given time and talent to the Isiserettes. They launched a letter-writing effort to encourage other philanthropists and companies to join in what has become the first-ever capital campaign, still ongoing, for the group. Initial results were impressive, with Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield kicking in $100,000 to the cause.

Williams says the downtown Des Moines offices for BH Cos. Inc., where Harry is president, more or less turned into a campaign headquarters for the Isiserettes when it launched the campaign. Employees assisted with crafting letters and mailings. (BH Cos. is one of the nation’s largest owners and managers of apartments.)

The Bookeys, Williams says, are “great persons to have on your side.”

Over the years they have been benefactors small and large—often large—to Des Moines Community Playhouse, Des Moines Metro Opera, Drake University and the Harkin Institute on Drake’s campus, among others. In the latest available tax return filed on their charitable foundation, the list of beneficiaries runs 20 pages, from hundreds of dollars each to tens of thousands. It’s an eclectic list that includes human rights organizations, education, arts, sciences and religious groups.

How did their philanthropy become so varied?
Read the rest of the article in the current issue of dsm magazine here.

Artists, Festivals Back in Action After Pandemic Hiatus

BY STEVE DINNEN

Fine art is back—in person—and Texas-Indiana painter John Domont believes people are in a good mood about it.

“The turnouts are picking up. People are jovial and in a buying mood,” said Domont, who just finished showing his paintings and prints at several art shows in Texas and is headed to Des Moines June 26-27 to exhibit at Iowa ArtFest Midwest, at Hy-Vee Hall at the Iowa Events Center. That will be the indoor arts showcase for the weekend, while the outdoor space will be occupied a few blocks south, at downtown’s Western Gateway Park, for the three-day run of the award-winning and juried Des Moines Arts Festival. Both shows were on hiatus last year due to the pandemic.

Domont has painted many landscapes inspired by his native Indiana that may look familiar to near-neighbor Iowans. He likes to express the possibilities of life—and the individual—with his work, and feels the public got “hit pretty hard” by COVID and is looking for some joy. He has adjusted his pricing to reflect that, bringing to Des Moines an equal number of works on paper and canvas. Either way, the city is in for a treat with all of the artists and craftspeople eager to be back in action.

Inside Rich and Famous Billionaires' Divorces

BY CHASE PETERSON-WITHORN FOR FORBES.COM

News that Bill and Melinda Gates are divorcing after 27 years may have shocked the world, but probably came as less of a surprise to fellow members of the Forbes 400. They know all too well that money—even yachtloads of it—can’t buy happiness.

“You’re still dealing with the same human emotions, the same human problems,” says Michael Mosberg, a partner at Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, a New York-based family law firm used by the ultra-rich. “Having wealth does not insulate you from that.”

In fact, America’s richest billionaires get divorced at similar rates to the average citizen, Forbes found after examining the relationships of the 50 richest people in the United States. These billionaires (each worth at least $13.2 billion) have said “I do” a collective 72 times—35 of which ended in divorce, putting their rate at 49%—in-line with the 40% to 50% rate among the general population. So how do the moneyed elite handle matrimony?

Some collect spouses like Basquiats and vintage Ferraris, while others have never bothered tying the knot at all. Many settled down after they got rich, while others married for love, years before they amassed their fortunes. And none ever really had to worry about the part of the vow that asks them to stay together “for poorer.” READ MORE.

Many New Investors Don't Have Enough Diversification

BY MALLIKA MITRA FOR YAHOO.COM

If you’re new to investing, you’ve probably heard of diversification—but building a truly diversified portfolio takes a lot of work.

Millions of investors jumped into the stock market during the pandemic, as meme stocks and cryptocurrency dominated Wall Street’s news cycle and FOMO took over. But if you opened an account on a trading platform like Robinhood just to buy an Apple stock here and a Starbucks stock there, chances are you’re not setting yourself up for success.

“Sometimes people buy stocks because they heard about them from friends or they’re bored and it turns into sort of like a hobby,” says Amy Arnott, a portfolio strategist at Morningstar. But when you own just a few stocks, you run the risk that one disaster could blow up your whole portfolio, she adds.

Evidence suggests many investors may be falling into that trap. The average Robinhood user only owned two different companies’ stocks or exchange-traded funds, according to a 2019 analysis of Robinhood account date. (Robinhood has since ceased publishing account data and declined to comment for this story.) Meanwhile Invstr, a commission-free brokerage that also offers financial education, says its investors on average have just four stocks in their accounts.

Avoid those mistakes. Here’s what you need to know about building a truly diversified stock portfolio. READ MORE.