Harry and Pam Bookey at the Des Moines Art Center's campaign kickoff event last Friday. The couple is donating $1 million to the museum's fundraising drive. Photographer: Eric Salmon.
Bookeys Provide Lead Gift for Art Center Campaign
BY STEVE DINNEN
A newly wedded Pamela Bass Bookey had just arrived in Des Moines in 1977 when Melva Bucksbaum, longtime president of the Des Moines Art Center board, recruited her to get involved in the arts. How about volunteering at an arts fair that was being held on the Art Center grounds, Melva asked. Pam dove right in and watched the arts fair blossom into the Des Moines Arts Festival, as well as the Art Center—and the entire local arts scene—grow and thrive. So it's not surprising that when the museum recently launched a capital campaign to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Pam and her husband, Harry Bookey, signed on with a lead gift of $1 million. The Bookeys say it was an easy way to support something that has been an important part of their lives and that provides inspiration to the people of Des Moines. “This is a core for us,” Bass Bookey said of their longtime financial support of the arts and of the Art Center. “If you don’t have the arts, what do you have? Without the arts in every shape and form, there’s no society.” The capital campaign for the museum amounts to $11 million, said Art Center Director Jeff Fleming. Much of it was raised before the public announcement, and all of it already has been earmarked. Fleming said the bulk of the money, $7 million, will be spent on acquisitions that include a glass cylinder from Roni Horn and a quilt from Helen McCloud. Another $3 million will be spent on needed infrastructure improvements, such as a cooling tower, lighting and accessibility. “It’s 75 years old,” Fleming said of the 1948 Eliel Saarinen Building, the oldest of the museum's three buildings. “There are things that are needed.” (The I.M. Pei Building was constructed in 1968 and the Richard Meier Building in 1985.) The Art Center will spend $1 million on programming. Bass Bookey, who is an Art Center trustee (she’s involved with the physical structure of the campus and is always on the lookout for cracks in ceilings and chips in stairwells) is perhaps proudest of the organization's community outreach efforts that place it well above the level of a static museum. There are more than 40 programs that the Art Center sponsors, including taking art classes to veterans and to stroke victims, among many others. “The Art Center serves a huge [community]—it’s everywhere,” she said. “And it’s in so many different spaces.” Today more than ever, the Bookeys said, it’s urgent to support these kinds of missions. Find out more about the campaign here.
I Bonds Worth Considering in Current Financial Climate
BY STEVE DINNEN
I used to think I was a lone voice when it came to touting savings bonds. Now I have AAII Journal on my side. The cover story in the current issue of this investing idea guidebook from the American Association of Individual Investors contends I Bonds have an appeal for relatively small amounts of money ($10,000 for individuals in a year). This is especially so in this rising interest rate environment, as the current composite rate of interest credited to an I Bond is 9.62%. The inflation rate component on I Bonds is reset every May and November, so that 9.62% is not forever. Still, it’s a whopper, and until the Fed tames inflation those rates will remain elevated. I Bonds mature in 30 years and can be redeemed after 12 months. Cashing out before five years incurs a penalty of the last three months of interest. An account can be opened by anyone with a Social Security number or taxpayer identification number. It excludes tax-deferred retirement accounts. They can be gifted to your children or grandchildren and might make sense as college savings vehicles. They’re tax-free at the state level. Your broker can’t sell you and I Bond—they’re available only online through an account with the U.S. Treasury, at Treasurydirect.gov.
Tips to Stay on Track to Meet Your Financial Goals
BY LORIE KONISH FOR CNBC.COM You may not want to check your 401(k) statement for a while. If you do, you may see a drop in your balance, as a recent market rout has sent the S&P 500 Index into bear market territory as of Monday. A bear market happens when equity markets are down 20% or more.
Your statement may also include new illustrations that show just how much monthly income your current savings will give you in retirement. Taken together, that may prompt some savers to panic. But instead of making any rash moves, experts say it would be wiser to instead stop and consider taking some more deliberate, strategic steps. READ MORE.
Stagflation Fears Are at Highest Level Since Great Recession
BY WILL DANIEL FOR FORTUNE.COM
Before 2022, most Americans under the age of 60 or so probably hadn’t heard of stagflation. The economic phrase that defined the 1970s—a particularly toxic economic combination of low growth and high inflation—wasn’t even a key risk in the minds of most economists on Wall Street until recently.
Over the past decade, many forecasters were actually more concerned that the global economy would experience persistent deflation rather than inflation. But that all changed this year. Rising consumer prices and falling economic growth expectations have become a thorn in the side of central banks worldwide.
That’s left Wall Street face-to-face with a new economic reality. A June survey fromBank of AmericaResearch found that 83% of fund managers expect below-trend growth and above-trend inflation—stagflation, in other words—as the most likely outcome for the global economy over the next 12 months. READ MORE.
