06/05/2006

From Woodstock to Worldstock

Hello:

Boomers have led the charge of change since the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Rock Music/Personal Computers/Fax Machines/Internet/Wireless Laptops/Mobile Phones/Blackberries -- you name it, and it has been modified to a faster beat by the generation born between 1946 and 1964.

The latest change is the globalization of stock markets. A seemingly innocuous set of mergers (NASDAQ/LSE, NYSE/Archipelago/Euronext) are reshaping the financial landscape like houses made of ticky-tack -- fast and shaky. The NYSE/Euronext will be one of the world's most liquid marketplace, with average daily trading volume of approximately $90 billion. Headquarters are expected to be in New York and in Paris, with derivatives trading headquartered in London. Why send money to other economies via banks, when institutions can quickly bid up the shares local companies and create (or reduce) capital in the click of a mouse?

Already, we are seeing increases in market volatility due to the swiftness of electronic trading vs. traditional specialist post trading. Who will regulate these behemoths? At this rate, can we soon expect to see a merger between an exchange and an online poker site?

That is why we continue to recommend professionally designed and monitored asset allocation, diversification, and a long term view on investing. As with all the other changes we have seen over the past decades, a properly structured portfolio will help to weather these changes as well.

Are your donors going to outlive your money, or is their money going to outlive them? If this question keeps them awake at night, perhaps they should consider having a financial plan prepared. For more information, contact us and/or visit our website at www.trisummit.com.

Terri G. Millson, CIMA, CIMC President

Ray Dicius, CSA, GEPC LPL Branch Manager