Brennan Dolan has joined Harbor’s team as a Wealth Management Intern. Brennan is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, along with a minor in Economics. He plans to graduate in May. Please join us in welcoming Brennan!
Thanks to those of you that were able to join us for our 2nd annual wreath making event at Sturtz and Copeland this year. It was so fun to see all the different styles and creativity.
We each started with a basic wreath and then began selecting our embellishments from a wide variety of holiday decor. There was so much to choose from — bows, ribbons, sparkles, lights, flowers, birds, beads, ornaments, and more. The Sturtz and Copeland staff were on hand to assist in putting it all together.
What a fun, fun evening! Looking forward to next year.
For the 10th year, Harbor Financial Group, Inc. was included in AdvisorOne’s “2012 Top Wealth Manager Rankings”. 
This list captures the largest and most successful independent wealth management firms in the nation.
Harbor hosted a wine and cheese party in September 2012 to show our appreciation for our clients. The evening was a wonderful success. Thanks to all of you who attended! With the holiday season upon us, we are posting our list of the wines and cheeses in case you are looking for suggestions on what to serve at your holiday party.
When deciding on cheeses to serve, look for a variety of textures and flavors. Depending on the number of people at your party, serving between 3-5 cheeses will provide a good selection without overwhelming your guests’ taste buds. When we built our cheese list, we set out to include at least one hard cheese, a soft cheese and a blue cheese. We also varied our selection to include cheeses made of cow, goat and sheep milk. Below is the list of cheeses that we selected:
Serving tips: Slice the hard cheeses before your guests arrive to make it easier to nibble on some cheese while juggling a glass of wine. Provide individual utensils so that your guests have a way to spread the soft cheeses. Label your cheeses so your guests know which ones they are enjoying. You may use porcelain cheese markers available at kitchen stores, or you may decide to let the holidays inspire you and design your own! Serve cheeses with an assortment of bread, crackers, charcuterie, fruit, salted and/or candied nuts and chutneys.
Cheese.com and iGourmet.com are great resources if you want to learn more about cheese. Your local cheesemonger can also be helpful in providing suggestions based on your personal tastes.
If you’re looking for some of the great wines that we served, below is our list:
Happy Holidays!
There is a fair amount of interest in the Social Security provision called ‘file and suspend’. This strategy is particularly helpful if one spouse has earned significantly more than the other over their working lives. Our example is a dual earning couple where both wage earners are 63 years old and neither has filed for Social Security. The higher wage earners full retirement age is 66 and she would qualify for a $2,200 monthly benefit. At age 70 she would receive $2,904 per month. Her spouse qualifies for $900 per month at his age 66 and $1,188 on his own at age 70. Here is how the ‘file and suspend’ works. At age 66 the higher wage earner files for Social Security and then suspends her benefit via a suspension of her application. Her spouse applies for a spousal benefit based on her earnings and benefit. He will receive 50% of her benefit or $1,100 per month. He collects the higher spousal benefit for the next four years. When both earners turn 70 the higher wage earner collects her $2,904 benefit. Should she pre-decease her spouse he can collect her benefit for the remainder of his life. This plan should be reviewed and discussed with a Social Security expert but can be helpful in increasing overall family benefit.
I wanted to deviate from our usual blog posts and highlight one of our favorite activities here in CO – hiking fourteeners (14,000 foot plus mountains). As those living in Colorado know, these peaks draw significant traffic from those looking for an athletic accomplishment and adventure in the mountains.
Routes up 14ers can take hours to several days depending on logistics and difficultly, so it is advised to do your homework and use one of the many reliable guidebooks or online sources. Due to fast moving thunderstorms in the high country, hikers recommend leaving before dawn to be able to summit and begin the return trip before noon. Be prepared and know your ability!!
One fourteener I was able to check off the list this summer was Mt. of the Holy Cross in the Sawatch Range just outside of Minturn. One interesting feature of this hike is the approach over Half Moon pass. As you come over the top of the pass you are greeted with a beautiful view of the summit (see picture). False summits are often the norm when hiking mountains so to be able to see the top from mid way through the hike is an encouraging sight. My trip worked out perfectly as I set out on a bluebird Colorado day and had no weather issues or injury.
Climbing 14ers is a very popular activity in Colorado and full parking lots at 5:30am can be the norm on busy summer weekends. Crowds tend to thin out as overnight temps drop into the teens and snow starts coming down in the fall. Ask an adventure seeker and there’s a good chance the winter season is his/her favorite. Little crowds, potential for great powder skiing and access to different seasonal routes offer a whole new set of opportunity. Hopefully winter ‘12/13 produces snowfall closer to long term averages and I’ll do another 14er post next spring!!
Photo by Catherine Bogle
For the 3rd consecutive year since inception Harbor Financial Group, Inc. was recognized as a NABCAP Premier Advisor, published in the September 7, 2012 Denver Business Journal. This exclusive group of Colorado firms met an objective standard of excellence, focusing on a wide range of criteria including experience, planning and investment philosophy, credentials and customer service.
This August I had the pleasure of spending time in a historic fishing camp in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming just outside Sheridan. This is a beautiful, remote spot with several lakes, plenty of fish and as you can see by the picture, moose, this one a friendly adolescent. I have caught and released rainbow and cutthroat trout in the larger lake, called Dome. The Bradford Brinton Memorial Museum in Big Horn is worth a visit as well. They have a wonderful collection of Western art including works by Frederick Remington and Charles Russell.
Harbor Financial Group’s most recent newsletter is now available.
Please contact us with any topics you would like to see in future issues.
Walter Isaacson has written a wonderful, captivating book about Steve Jobs the inventor, entrepreneur and man. I am as impressed with Isaacson as I am Jobs, having compiled the information based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs over two years along with interviews with over a hundred people who knew Jobs. I thought he captured the interesting, frustrating, genius that was Steve Jobs, the man who changed our world. At 600 pages the book requires perseverance which is rewarded with the history of the roll out of Toy Story, including the struggles with Woody’s personality, interesting insights into Bill Gate’s personality among other fascinating details from our shared history as Americans in an age of rapid technological advancement .
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and want to read Isaacson’s biography Einstein: His Life and Universe next.
