"10 Things you Should Know About Long Term Investing"

Hello Everyone,
Now that we are in the winter months, if the Hopkinton schools are cancelled on the day of our meeting then we do not meet; however, if there is a delay, then we do meet. Even if the schools are not closed, if the weather is bad, it is best to stay home then risk an accident.

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by speakers Brian Hawley and Tom Bodine. The facilitator for this week will be Laura Startzenbach. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Important Note: We are going to start the meeting on time at 10:00 AM. In the second hour, Brian and Tom will talk about "10 Things you Should Know About Long Term Investing."

10 Things you Should Know About Long Term Investing

Whether they do it themselves or have someone do it for them most people have some level of retirement savings to invest. For many people there is a marked difference between what the textbooks would say and what they actually do. In this presentation Brian and Tom will highlight 10 interesting facts about investing that may cause you to question your current approach.

Brian Hawley, CFA, FSA

Brian is a principal in Sterling Financial Partners. He began his career as an actuary. He became involved in investing, getting his CFA designation in 1986. His presentation is designed to help investors by providing them with basic information available in investing textbooks.

Thomas Bodine, CLU, ChFC

Thomas Bodine is an advisor at 3D Asset Management. Tom has 30 years experience in sales and senior management positions in the securities and insurance industries.

Tom has held senior executive positions with Paul Revere, Allmerica Financial, and Conseco Insurance Group His roles included responsibility for sales channel performance and product line financial performance.

Tom earned a BA in economics from Dartmouth College, as well as Chartered Financial Consultant and Chartered Life Underwriter designations from the American College. He has served as president of The Society of Financial Service Professionals in Central Massachusetts and the Dartmouth Alumni Club of Central MA.

Recap of HNG Meeting of January 17, 2014:

Our 114th meeting of HNG had 37 people, this is 16 more than the previous meeting; 6 signed the New Member list. Gil Krispien was our facilitator. There were 6 introduction speeches.

Three landings:
Eileen Coughlin Disch Part-time project manager at a software company started January 7, 2014; full-time in fall
Henry Taillacq Rexel Holdings in Mansfield
MaryLou Fish Three-month contract at National Grid as a HR Analyst started January 21, 2014

We had speakers Ed Yee and Elinor Kerr who talked about "Everything you Wanted to Know About Contracting but Were Afraid to Ask."
The topics included:

- What is a W2 employee? What is a 1099 Contractor? And what is the difference?
- What are the Benefits and Draw-Backs of each?
- What are the pros and cons from the Hiring Company’s perspective?
- What various permutations for contracting exist -- Direct; through a contracting house, as a W2; or Independent Contractor?
- How does working to a 'contract' or statement of work compare to being a statuary employee?
- What should new contractors expect in the hiring process? [Signing a contract, Negotiation of rates, Payments, Personal liability, Expectations, etc.]
- What should contractors do to prepare for starting work? [Record keeping, Equipment, Setting-Up the business, Health insurance, Liability insurance, Invoicing, etc.]
- What is expected of you on the job as a contractor?
- What to do when the contract is about to end?

Taxes:
- How to prepare your 1040 and 1099 Schedule C tax filing?
- How to make Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments including Self Employment Tax (SE)?
- What are appropriate Expenses and Deductions - commuting, home office, insurance, professional fees, dues, equipment (depreciation or 179), other expenses (handout some
Schedule C forms)?
- What are the IRS/State red flags (likely causes of audits)?
- Comparison of pay rate as a 1099 vs. annual salary.
- Resources for those considering 1099 work - IRS website, ' Contracting for Dummies', Tax Pub 17, other.

Schedule for HNG Meetings:

February 7, 2014 Brian Hawley & Tom Bodine "Ten Things you Should Know About Long Term Investing"

General Information

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following agenda items:
* Welcome
* Landings (with doughnuts)
* Announcements
* New member introductions
* Needs and Leads
* Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
* Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
* Name
* Skills and Value Statement
* Where have you been?
* Where are you going?
* Your title
* Your target companies
* Geography of search
* Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Regards,
Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators:
Grace Carcich grace814@gmail.com
Ed Haddad ehaddadjr@verizon.net
Gil Krispien g.krispien@verizon.net
William Lam wmlam508@yahoo.com
Salpi Sarafian ssarafian@rcn.com
Laura Startzenbach laura.startzenbach@gmail.com