Asset ClAss PerformAnCe Q1 2012:

U.S. Fixed Income 0.30%(Barclay Capital Aggregate Bond Index)

International Fixed Income 1.19%(JP Morgan GBI ex-US (Hedged) Index)

U.S. Equities, Large 12.59%(S&P 500 Index)

U.S. Equities, Small 12.44%(Russell 2000 Index)

International Equities, Large 9.97%(MSCI EAFE Index)

International Equities, Small 11.54%(S&P/Citigroup EPAC Ext. Mkt. Index)

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) 10.49%(NAREIT Equity Index)

Commodities/Natural Resources 0.89%(DJ UBS Commodities Index)

Quick Planning Question:

Have you set uP online access to your accounts at scHwab and/or Fidelity?

Quarterly Newsletter

Volume 6, Number 2

April 2012

Albi At A GlAnceby: Albi KAcAni

I am very thankful for the opportunity to be a summer associate with Fox, Joss & Yankee. FJY is committed to helping future financial planners gain experience in all areas of financial planning, which explains why their internship program is one of the best in the country.

My family and I moved to the United States, from Albania when I was 15 years old. My parents did not have a college fund for their children so at a very young age I had to learn the value of budget-ing and planning for the future. I have held a job since I was 16 years old because I loved the feeling of independence that it gave me. My desire to work with people and help them achieve their goals in life is what first attracted me to financial planning.

I attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX where I earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting

while working full time. Upon graduation, I began working towards my Master of Science Degree in Personal Financial Plan-ning at Texas Tech. This year I have had the opportunity to volunteer for VITA, providing free income tax preparation assistance to low-income, elderly, disabled, and limited English speaking people. I am a member of the Personal Financial Planning Association at Texas Tech and a member of the Financial Planning Association of Dallas. I believe that my education, the experience I will gain this summer, and my involvement in financial planning associations will help me succeed as a financial planner in the future.

I am looking forward to joining Fox, Joss & Yankee for the summer of 2012. I consider myself very fortunate to have landed such a position. I will be able to learn more about the financial planning industry by working side-by-side with some of the best practitio-ners in the business.

QuArter in reviewby: Jon P. yAnKee, MbA, cFP® Hear the Markets Roar

Who could possibly have guessed? After all the discussion in the press about the long economic slowdown, last year’s downgrade of American sovereign debt, talk of double-dip recessions and looming crises in Europe and China, the U.S. investment markets turned around and, in the first three months of this year, posted the best first-quarter returns in 14 years. Global markets followed suit, albeit more modestly, and investors received double-digit returns from real estate as well.

Large cap stocks in the U.S. provided positive returns in the first quarter, with the widely-publicized S&P 500 index gaining 12.59%. Small cap

stocks posted a 12.44% gain. Look-ing abroad, the MSCI EAFE Index, which tracks global stock markets in the developed nations, rose 9.97% for the first quarter of 2012, and interna-tional small company stocks increased 11.54% for the quarter. Commercial real estate also posted gains just above 10%.

There is little change in the interest rate scene over the past quarter; investors are still getting record-low yields from Treasuries. The yield on 12-month Treasury bonds is 0.17%, rising to 0.33% for two year maturities, and 0.5% for three-year issues. At the 10-year maturity level, rates started the quarter at 1.87% and rose to 2.21% by the end of March. Investors have been willing to buy U.S. government debt as a safer alternative to Eurozone bonds; Continued Pg. 4

toP 10 estAte PlAnninG MistAKes - PArt 2By: Burton Mitchell and Jill Henderson This article was first published as a two-part series by the Elite Advisor Forum, a publication of CEG Worldwide and SourceMedia, and is reprinted with permission. When we review estate plans, there are some common mistakes we come across. You may think some of these are obvious, but we have seen them enough to assure you that they are not. Please review the January 2012 newsletter for Part 1 of the top 10 Estate Planning Mistakes.

5. Too many seats at the table. A fairly common approach to dividing assets among different groups of beneficiaries is to give the separate groups a percentage. This creates a number of problems by giving that beneficiary a seat at the table, so to speak. A beneficiary that is entitled to a percent-age of the estate will be concerned with any and all issues that effect the value of the estate, such as valuation issues and costs of administration, because each of these will impact the amount ultimately received by that beneficiary. On the other hand, a beneficiary that receives a specific dollar amount need not be concerned with issues, since it does not change his or her distribution. Where possible, encourage clients to stay away from percentages or formulas that can back fire. Instead, select a dollar amount that they are comfortable with and review it periodically.

6. Giving one child control over another. A typical response from clients about the question of who should be trustee is often followed with “can my responsible child be the trustee?” This is appealing, because it keeps the burden off other family members or friends and it avoids the trustee fee that would be paid to a financial institution. While we have no doubt that there are many situations where the child is perfectly capable of handling the job of trustee, we advise against giving one child control to the exclusion of another child. Our experience is that it can be a costly mistake that causes disputes that could have been avoided.Even in the best family situations, the child that is left out of the decision making process will most likely not be pleased. There are important deci-sions that need to be made in the trust administration process, such as whether to sell certain assets, valuation issues and when to make distribu-tions. Giving one child control over these economic decisions to the exclusion of another creates an unpleasant dynamic even when everyone has good intentions. It is generally a better practice to name a financial institution, if practical, given the size of the estate, or a trusted and responsible family member or friend (other than a beneficiary), or even naming all children as co-trustees, rather than giving one child control over another.

7. Ignoring the personal effects. The personal effects can be the most difficult asset to divide and distribute. Beneficiaries can have strong person-al feelings about what items of the personal effects they want and they can disagree about the value of certain items. It is important to have a system in place in the estate plan to resolve these disputes. There may also be special circumstances resulting from the structure of the estate plan that require consideration. For example, if a residence is left in trust for use by a beneficiary such as a second spouse, with the residence to ultimately pass to children, then the contents of that residence should be specifically addressed. Otherwise, you may have an unpleasant situation where the beneficiary of the residence has the contents immediately removed by the beneficiaries of the personal effects. If there are any items with a large value, they should be addressed specifically.

8. Not following through on title to assets. A fully funded living trust is the desired goal in any estate plan. An hour of time now can save thou-sands of dollars later. In California, if the client signed a Will and a general assignment of assets to a living trust, we often can petition the Court for confirmation that an asset is owned by the living trust, but this process takes months and is not guaranteed. The professional advisors should help the clients with completing this process. It is tedious to the clients and they may not understand the significance or the ultimate cost for failing to follow-through, so this is an area where the assistance of professional advisors is critical.

9. Letting the client avoid the Advance Health Care Directive. The process of thinking about and completing an Advance Health Care Directive can be unpleasant. The client has to consider health issues and topics such as life support and organ and tissue donation. The health care power is a critical part of everyone’s estate plan. When the health care power is needed it is invaluable. If the client resists completing the health care power or wants to think it over, encourage them to complete one now and change it whenever they want. It is generally better to have something in place, rather than nothing.

10. Not doing an estate plan at all. If your client is going to live forever and will never be disabled, then skip the estate plan. For everyone else, make sure your estate plan is in order to protect your family.

An estate plan is essential to the long-term well-being of your family and heirs. Because your family’s needs change and the legal and regulatory envi-ronment continues to evolve, your estate plan should be reviewed and amended periodically.

Burton A. Mitchell is the chairman of the Taxation, Trusts & Estates Department at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP and a prominent tax and estate planning attorney in Los Angeles.

Contact Burton at 310.201.3562 or BAM@jmbm.com

GiFts And GivinG, PArt 2by: dAniel d. Joss, MbA, cFP®, rlP®

Last year, Gifts and Giving, Part 1, outlined various ways of gifting to family members. Please review that as you consider transferring wealth to other generations. Gifts to family members are never deductible for tax purposes. This article will focus on tax deductible gifts to qualified charitable organizations. I will define gift and charitable contributions, tell you how you can gift, explain how we facilitate gift transactions, and discuss the tax implications of gifting.

American Heritage Dictionary defines a gift as something that is be-stowed voluntarily and without compensation. This article focuses more specifically on the transfer of property, money or assets from one person to another while receiving nothing (or less than fair market value) in return.

As you might expect, the IRS does not make it easy to find a definition of a charitable contribution as there are so many factors involved. It does, however, make the 24 page IRS Pub 526 available to address any questions you may have about them. Investopedia.com defines a charitable contribution as a gift made by an individual or an organiza-tion to a nonprofit organization, charity, or private foundation. Charitable donations are commonly in the form of cash, but can also take the form of real estate, motor vehicles, appreciated securities, clothing, and other assets or services. There are various and complicated deduction rules for your charitable contributions that come into play if your contribu-tions exceed 20% of your AGI.

We help many of our clients with their contributions by discussing their charitable intentions, planning for their annual giving, and, as part of the estate planning process, making their final bequests.

On a periodic basis, we can work charitable gifting intentions into the long-term financial planning process to see the implications of those gifts. Identifying the long term implications of gifting and planning for near term implementation of gifting is important. If needed, we make cash or appreciated securities available for the annual gifting process during our periodic rebalancing efforts. Planning for gifting as part of an overall investment strategy will reduce transaction fees and maximize tax benefits.

Cash, as they say, “is as good as money.” Giving cash is the easiest form of gifting. There are no transaction fees and you can control the transaction by writing checks when you are ready to give. For cash gifts we can either move money to a checking account or use a custodian’s check form to make the gift payable directly to the charitable organi-zation. We prefer to send the cash to your bank account so you can control the timing.

Appreciated stock is the best gift for tax purposes. Because you give away appreciated securities, you also give away the potential capital gains tax. Because the charitable organization isn’t liable for capital gains taxes, those taxes are avoided altogether. In essence, you are partner-ing with the government to give to the charity of your choice. The government wants us to be charitable and therefore, provides an incen-tive to give appreciated securities. When we gift appreciated securities, you must sign the custodian’s transfer form using information provided by the charitable organization. Securities are then electronically sent from your account to the organization’s account. We follow up with the charity to ensure donations are properly annotated and recognition, if asked for, is given to the donor/giver in whatever way you request.

As with any good intention, problems can arise. Sometimes funds get temporarily lost or misdirected. Sometimes, brokerage accounts are changed and it can take time to correct the issue. So, if you have the intention of gifting to a charitable organization with funds from your portfolio, please allow us and your custodian ample time to complete the requested transactions. Each custodian has their own rules about timelines and gifts. Do not delay gifting until the fourth quarter of the year. Think of this from your charity’s point of view: sooner is always better.

As of April 2012, Qualified Charitable Contributions (contributions made from your IRA in lieu of your Required Minimum Distribution (RMDs)) that were possible in previous tax years are not allowed. Of course, Con-gress can always change the rules. The government may decide not to make this incentive available or limit the deductibility of charitable con-tributions. We and your tax preparer will keep you informed of changes with regards to your charitable contributions.

Please consult with your tax preparer regarding specific rules and tax im-plications of your planned gifting. IRS Pub 526 has a wealth of informa-tion regarding charitable contributions, if you want to do a little research on your own.

As I always say, “give early, give often.” Your charitable contributions are greatly appreciated, especially during times of economic trouble.

www.fjyfinancial.com

fJY Advisors& stAffMarjorie l. Fox

sr. FinAnciAl Advisor

daniel d. josssr. FinAnciAl Advisor

jon P. yankeesr. FinAnciAl Advisor

laurie a. belewsr. FinAnciAl Advisor

tess l. downingFinAnciAl Advisor

lisa j. craFFordoFFice MAnAGer

sally M. yankeeAdMinistrAtive AssistAnt

Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to directly or indirectly in this newsletter, will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), or be suitable for your portfolio. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this newsletter serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Fox, Joss & Yankee, LLC. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/ she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available for review upon request.Historical performance results for investment indices and/or categories have been provided for general comparison purposes only, and generally do not reflect the deduction of transaction and/or custodial charges, the deduction of an investment management fee, nor the impact of taxes, the incurrence of which would have the effect of decreasing historical performance results. It should not be assumed that your account holdings correspond directly to any comparative indices.

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AbiGAil At A GlAnceby: AbiGAil reisenFeld While attending the Schwab IMPACT conference in 2011, I learned of the summer associate position offered at Fox, Joss, & Yankee. The firm offers an incredibly sought-after opportunity for professional and educational devel-opment and I look forward to working with them this summer.

Growing up in a military family has allowed me to experience many different places throughout my life. However, we settled in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1998 and have lived there since. I am the third of five children, the second to attend Virginia Tech, and I plan to graduate in December 2012 with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree. At Virginia Tech, I am a student in the CFP® Certifica-tion Education track in the undergraduate Finance Program. I participate in the student chapter of the Financial Planning Association and volunteer with Junior Achievement to teach financial skills to high school students in the local community. Being involved in these activities has provided exposure to professional advice and rewarding hands-on experience.

Coming from a large family and working through school has given me a great perspective on the opportunities and difficulties that finances can bring to any situation. My work at a wealth man-agement firm last summer enabled me to see the positive effect advisors can have in their clients’ lives. I am excited to be working with FJY this summer and to have the opportunity to learn from their team and clients.

Quarter in review: cont however, a recent article published by Reuters notes that the tentative resolution of the Greek debt crisis might send investors back across the Atlantic. If that does happen, the result is likely to be higher Treasury bond rates, and losses for existing holders of Treasury securities.

It goes without saying that the strong stock returns were a pleasant surprise, and might be an indication that investors believe the economy is turning the corner at last. Since early March 2009, the S&P 500 index of stocks has more than doubled in value, from 683 to over 1,400 (1,408 at market close at the end of the quarter), making all the peaks and valleys and twists and turns seem like background noise. Since a swoon last summer, the index is up nearly 30 percent.

The important lesson for investors is that returns can not be predicted in advance, and that has proven es-pecially true of these lengthy – albeit choppy – market updrafts that have restored much of the wealth that was lost in the Great Recession. Of course, after a roaring first quarter, the lesson should also be viewed in reverse. We do not know what the markets will give us for the rest of the year, and there will almost certain-ly be some more downswings as the roller coaster moves from here to December. But those downswings will mean that stocks are (at least temporarily) being sold at a discount to current prices. Even that can be good news to investors who are putting money into the markets to meet their financial goals.