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Cljarlotte ^osit
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1997
8A STRICTLY BUSINESS
McDonald’s Corp. sued for racial discrimination
THE WASHINGTON POST
: TAMPA, Fla. - A former
employee filed a discrimination
: suit against McDonald’s claiming
: widespread bias against blacks
’ by the fast food giant.
Yolanda Y. Anthony, who
worked in the corporation’s
: Clearwater accounting center.
Reduce
taxes on
investments
OMAR DILLARD
maintains discrimination is a
pattern, affecting pay, benefits,
hiring, work assignments and
promotions.
She is seeking class action sta
tus on behalf of blacks employees
throughout the country.
“We know that there are a large
number of black employees who
were treated veiy badly by the
company,” said Scott Charlton,
Anthony’s attorney, after he filed
suit.
Anthony, 42, said she ultimate
ly was fired because of her race.
A call to a McDonald’s
spokesman at the company’s
headquarters in Oak Brook, HI.
was not returned.
Charlton said he has evidence
that the discrimination at the
Clearwater accoimting center is
happening at other McDonald’s
accoimting centers, which handle
the books for company-owned
restaurants.
Charlton said he plans to inves
tigate whether restaurant
employees were victims of similar
bias.
In her suit, Anthony alleges the
fast-food company:
• Pays white workers more
than black workers for the same
work,
• Excludes black workers from
bonus programs,
• Hires whites into manage
ment positions while blacks with
the same experience are put in
Your financial professional has
probably talked to you about your
“real rate of return.” It’s what you
get to keep after paying taxes on
your investment income.
Most people typically overlook
taxes when comparing invest
ment returns. They also don't
think about capital gains taxes -
the tax you owe if you make a
profit on an investment. The best
way to avoid capital gains tax is
not to sell.
But with mutual funds, taxes
take on a different twist. Mutual
funds generally do not pay
income taxes. Instead, profits and
income generated within the
fund are passed on to sharehold
ers, who must pay taxes on them.
Even if you select to have divi
dends and capital gains reinvest
ed, you stiU owe taxes on them for
the year in which they occur.
You’re paying taxes now on bene
fits you may not receive for years.
One way to reduce taxes on
mutual fund capital gains is to
buy funds with a relatively low
portfolio turnover. Turnover
refers to the selling of invest
ments within a fund. Each time a
mutual fund sells an investment
and realizes a gain, a taxable
event occurs. High turnover typi
cally occurs more frequently in
aggressive growth funds than in
more conservative fimds that buy
and hold securities for longer
periods. You can find a fund’s
turnover rate in its prospectus.
That takes care of taxes on cap
ital gains within a mutual fund,
but wbat about taxes on your
mutual fund dividends? Another
way some funds are attempting
to increase net after-tax retirni to
shareholders is through tax strat
egy funds. For example, one such
fund invests 40 percent to 50 per
cent of its assets in tax-exempt
bonds.
While investing part of a mutu-
, -al fund portfolio in tax-free secu-
; rities can increase returns to
; shareholders, it takes a knowl-
; edgeable investor to appreciate
; its value. In performance com-
' parisons, tax strategy funds are
. often grouped with funds that
: allocate 60 percent to stocks and
i 40 percent to, taxable bonds,
i Because stocks and taxable
: bonds generally provide higher
rates of return (before taxes) than
; tax-exempt bonds, the perfor
mance figures of tax strategy
■ funds pale by comparison. But
- when taxes are in, the tax strate-
. gy funds move up considerably in
performance rankings.
This is another example of the
; importance of clearly identifying
' your objective before investing. If
' taxes are of no consequence to
you, go for total return. Look for
; funds that offer the highest
i incomq and gains within your
risk requirements. On the other
hand, if you’d like to minimize
■ taxes, ask your financial profes-
. sional about tax strategy funds.
OMAR DILLARD is an invest
ment counselor at Edward Jones
investments in Charlotte.
A new beginning
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Errol Harper, owner of Queen City Lincoln Mercury (center) helps son Zachary Harper cut the ribbon to the grand opening of the
automobile dealership on South Boulevard. Harper bought the dealership from Sam Johnson, owner of Sam Johnson Lincoln
Lincoln Mercury and dealerships in Mississippi, Virginia and Fayetteville, N.C. Also on hand for the ceremony were general manag
er Clayton Perry (left) and Harper’s daughter Rena
Black expo showcases businesses and arts
By Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
An expo billed as a showcase of
Afncan American business, cul
ture and history makes its way to
Charlotte this weekend.
The Afncan American Cultural
Expo win make its only south
eastern stop Saturday and
Sunday at the Charlotte
Convention
Center. The
two-year-old
expo will trans
form 15,000
square feet of
floor space into
a gallery of
black-owned
businesses and
their products.
There will also
be motivational
speeches by Charlotte native and
golf legend Charlie Sifford, come
dian-activist Dick Gregory and
economic strategist Claud
Anderson.
“Our mission is to provide an
event that accentuates the posi
tive attributes of the African
American experience and our
many contributions to society,”
said expo founder Everett Staten.
“Our intention is to promote cul
tural pride, unity and economic
self-reliance by showcasing past
and present Afncan American
achievement and ingenuity.”
Anderson will speak Saturday
at 5 p.m. on “PowerNomics,” an
economic empowerment strategy
for Afncan Americans. On
Sunday at 4:30 p.m., Gregory will
offer his uncensored ideas about
the state of the union. Sifford, the
first black to win a professional
golf championship, will discuss
and autograph his new book “Just
Let Me Play,” a chronicle of his 28
yeeus on tour.
Other expo highlights include
several pavilions, including best
selling black authors such as
Virginia DeBeny and Donna
Grant (“Tiyin’ Tb Sleep In The
Bed You Made”), Gyasi Foluke
(“The Real Holocaust”) and
Herbert Harris (“The Twelve
Universal Laws of Success.”)
There will also be a sports chal
lenge pavilion, black inventions
museum and a photo exhibit of
Staten
the Henrietta Marie slave ship. A
Caribbean vacation will also be
given away.
The expo should also benefit
from up to 40,000 football fans
coming to Charlotte for the
Carolinas Football Classic
between N.C.
A&T State
University and
S.C. State
University. To
attract them to
the Convention
Center, expo
organizers will
discount the $7
admission for
adults with
tickets to the
classic.
“We are additionally pleased
that the expo wUl be held the
same weekend as the annual
Carolinas Football Classic,”
Staten said. “The two events wUl
make this one of the most exciting
weekends in Carolinas histoiy
and we encourage everyone to
come out and enjoy both.”
Admission for children between
6 and 12 years old is $3, with kids
under 6 admitted free. Expo
hours Saturday are 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday.
Gregory
Conservative Wachovia buys Ameribank
By Paul Nowell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wachovia Corp., trying to shake
off its image as a bank too stodgy
to launch a takeover, announced
Tuesday that it is buying
Ameribank Bancshares Inc., a
$280 million bank based in
Hollywood, Fla.
The acquisition is the fourth the
Vfinston-Salem, N.C.-based bank
has aimounced since June.
Wachovia’s sudden shopping
binge comes after six years with
out a mqjor acquisition.
Valued at $71 million, the buy
out pales in comparison to some
recent bank deals - particularly
ones made by North Carolina’s
two banking giants, Charlotte-
based NationsBank and First
Union.
Both of those banks have made
recent moves into the lucrative
Florida banking market, leaving
little else for their rivals to even
consider to buy.
“There’s nothing big left, only
community banks,” said
Marguerite Sons, who follows
Wachovia for Interstate/Johnson
Lane in Atlanta.
Ameribank Bancshares Inc. is
the parent of American Bank and
operates seven branches that spe
cialize in serving individuals and
small businesses.
“This is not a deal that fills in
some gaps because there are too
many of them to fill,” Sons said.
Size is becoming increasingly
important as banks struggle to
compete for financial customers
with huge nonbank companies
like AT&T and General Motors
and other giant multistate banks.
In what was the largest bank
merger in U.S. history,
NationsBank announced in
August it would take over
Jacksonville, Fla.,-based Barnett
Banks in a $14.6 billion deal that
will create the nation’s third-
largest bank. That deal was sur
passed Tuesday when First Union
and CoreStates Financial Corp.
smnounced they have agreed to a
$16.1 billion merger. The merger
would create a financial giant
with $204 billion in assets and
2,600 branches serving 16 million
people in 12 states fiom Florida to
Connecticut.
entry-level jobs,
• Denies blacks promotions and
is quicker to fire blacks.
If U.S. District Judge Henry Lee
Adams Jr. grants class action sta
tus, the suit could incorporate
hundreds, or even thousands of
black McDonald’s workers nation
wide.
Money
Management
A matter
of trusts
By Amanda Danchi
SPECIAL TO THE POST
If the word “trust” brings to
mind an opulent lifestyle and
exorbitant wealth, think again.
Although establishing a trust can
cost anywhere from $500 to
$2,000, more and more parents
are viewing trusts as valuable
tools for protecting and distribut
ing assets to their children,
reports the North Carolina
Association of CPAs. When your
will leaves property outright to
your beneficiaries, you have no
control over how that property is
used. TVusts, on the other hand,
provide a means for ensuring
that children receive the benefits
of your estate in accordance with
your wishes.
How does a trust work?
A trust is simply a legal written
document that allows you to
transfer your property and to dic
tate how and when the funds will
be used and distributed to your
beneficiaries. You decide what
property wiU be included in the
trust and who will manage and
spend the trust’s assets. The
trustee, the one responsible for
managing the trust fund - may
be yourself (until the time of your
death), the guardian you choose
to care for your children, a differ
ent individual, or even an institu
tion such as a bank.
One of the simplest types of
trust is the 2503c Minors Trust.
You can contribute as much as
you want to this type of trust, but
contributions over $10,(X)0 will
trigger the gift tax. One way to
stay within the annual gift tax
limit is to put $10,000 worth of a
growth stock into the trust. When
the trust terminates, your child
will get the current value of the
stock, which presumably is more
than you paid. Keep in mind that
assets put in a minor’s trust must
be saved for the minor’s benefit.
One drawback to a minor’s trust
is that the child must have the
option to withdraw the trust’s
assets when he or she is 21.
If you’re not confident that, at
age 21, yolir child will have the
maturity to handle the trust’s
assets, there are other options
available to you. Trust agree
ments are not boilerplate docu
ments - they come in aU shapes
and sizes and can be custom tai
lored to meet your unique objec
tives. The type of trust you
choose depends on what you
want to accomplish.
How are trusts distributed?
With a trust, you can select the
ages at which your children will
ultimately get the trust’s assets,
as well as whether they will get
them all at once, in instaUments
over several years, or even over
several decades. You might
decide to give your son one-third
of his inheritance at age 25 when
he is beginning a career, another
third at age 30 when he is mar
ried and looking to buy a house,
and the final third at age 45 to
help pay for his children’s college
education. Another more flexible
option is to give the trustee the
authority to pay out the trust’s
assets based on the beneficiaries’
ability to handle money.
See TRUSTS on page 9A