http://www.thecharlottepost.com
6C
Are you
effective at
decision
making?
Preparation for
life’s milestones
determines how
well you live
Financial matters can
seem overwhelming. Some
people are overly confident
about manag
ing their
finances, while
others are per
plexed and
choose not to
make any
choices. Many
of us have
these kinds of
financial hang
Cliarlotte $0!St
Giradie
Mercer
ups that are keepu^ us fixtm
achieving true financial
security
Take a moment to think
about how prepared you are
for retirement and the
amount of preparation
you’ve done. How much
have you saved so far?
Wha:^ are you with r^pect
to savii^ for other financial
goals, such as a child’s edu
cation? Do you feel prepared
for a financial setback?
According to a surveyl, 7
out of 10 Americans are com
fortable with the amount of
preparation they’ve done.
Yet, the study found:
• One-third have not
begun to prepare or save for
retdrement-
• One-foiarth didn’t know
how much they’ve saved.
• One-fourth did not save
anything on a monthly basis
for long-term goals.
As these findh^ surest,
many Americans arebhnded
by overconfidence and tend
to overestimate their abili
ties, knowledge and skills.
Adding to the problem is
another potential financial
misbehavior or ‘hlind spot” -
decision paralysis. If you
intend to set up a retirement
account but never seem to
get aroimd to it, you proba
bly have a case of decision
paralysis.
There are many types ■ of
retirement accoimts and
funding options fiom which
to choose. As more choices
are added, it becomes harder
to sort though them and pick
the best option. Too many
choices and barriers cause
people to do nothing. And
without a deadline for mak
ing a decision, the paralj^is
can continue to the point
that a decision is never made
at all.
As the research indicates,
most people are living in a
financial fantasy and are far
too optinustic about meeting
their financial goals.
Overconfidence and decision
paralysis are conditions that
can lead to serious money
maladies, which are detri
mental to long-term finan
cial wellness. A good finan
cial professional can help
you evaluate your situation,
imderstand your potential
blind spots and idtimately
turn them into positive
behaviors.
Giradie Mercer is a financial
representative with Northwestern
Mutual Financial Network in
Charlotte. To contact Mercer,
call (704)'3652014, e-mail him
at giradiejnercer@nmfn.com.
Most people are
living in a financial
fantasy and are
far toa optimistic
about meeting
their financial
goals.
BUSINESS
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson (right) and new presidemt Fred Whitfield address questions dur
ing a press conference at Bobcats Arena Monday. Whitfield, a Greensboro native with a law degree from
N.C. Central University, has close business and professional ties to Bobcats’ minority owner Michael
Jordan. He is a former executive with Nike Inc.’s Brand Jordan and the Washington Wizards.
The Jordan effect
Bobcats president has strong business ties to minority owner
a My job is to guide
this organization
forward using the
incredible
resources we
have here in the
Carolinas. J5
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh/te@fhechariotteposf.com
Michael Jordan, turned to an old
fiiend to boost the Charlotte
Bobcats’ business operation.
Fred Whitfield was introduced
as president and chief operating
officer Tuesday. Whitfield will
oversee all business operations for
the Bobcats, Charlotte Sting and
Charlotte Bobcats Arena.
“We are excited to have Fred
Whitfidd join our organization.
Fred has a wide range of experi
ence and expertise in professicoial
basketball and care of his greatest
attributes is his ability to create
strong relationships,” Bobcats
own^ Bob Johnson said. “Fred
has demonstrated his commit
ment to the Carolinas and we
know he will bring the same pas
sion and success to Bobcats
Sports & Entertainment, to om
fans and to the Charlotte commu
nity”
A Greensboro native, Whitfield’s
executive experience includes
Brand Jordan, a division of Nike
Inc., Falk Associate Management
Enterprises, Achievements
Unlimited Basketball School,
FBR HoopTbe Celebrity Golf
Classic and the Washington
Wizards, where he worked for
Jordan in player personnel.
“This is truly a dream for me
and I’m honored that Bob
Johnson sdected me to be presi
dent of Bobcats Sports &
Entertainment, the fi’anchise that
is so near to where I grew up,”
Whitfield said.
“My job is to guide this organi
zation forward usir^ the incredi
ble resources we have here in the
Carolinas - a young and exciting
team, a new state-of-the art ar^a
in the heart of Charlotte, a talent
ed and dedicated fiont office staff, ,
the support of Bob Johnson and
the ownership group and, most
importantly, a ti'emendous com
munity that supports and appre
ciates the symbiotic relationship
the Bobcats have with the com
munity”
Whitfield most recently served
as Director of Business and I^egal
Affairs for Brand Jordan, where
he oversaw the endorsements and
' sports marketing strategy and
execution for the ehte division of
Nike. Brand Jordan’s clients
include some of the top athletes in
professional sports, including Ray
BOBCATS PRESIDENT/COO
FRED WHITFIELD
Allen, Carmelo Anthony Marvin
Harrison, Richard Hamilton,
Derek Jeter and Roy Jones, Jr.
Prom 2000-03, Whitfield was
director of player pai^onnel and
assistant legal counsel for the
Washington Wizards. While
there he was responsible for the
team’s salary cap and contractual
A 1980 graduate of Campbell
University and N.C. Central
School of Law, Whitfield was an
all-conference basketball player
and was inducted into the school’s
sports hall of fame in 1995.
Bobcats owner to make movies for black families
THE ASSOC/ATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - 'The
owner of the Charlotte
Bobcats and founder of
the Black
Entertainment
'Ifelevision network and
the founders of indepen
dent-film giant
Miramax are formir^ a
movie company to dis
tribute family comedies
centered on black char
acters.
RLJ Cos. LLC and the
Weinstein Co. said
Thmsday they will
launch Om Stories
Films to produce and
acquire the movies.
Robert L. Johnson,
founder of RLJ and
BET and owner of the
NBA’s Charlotte
Bobcats, will oversee
the film venture. 'The
movies will be distrib
uted by Dimension
Films, a unit of the
Weinstein Co., formed
last year by Harvey and
Bob Weinstein after
they departed their
original movie outfit,
Disney-owne'd
Miramax.
'The company’s DVD
releases will be distrib
uted by Genius
Products Inc., which
also handles video dis
tribution for Weinstein
Co. titles.
Johnson has lined up
$200 million in cafdtal,
including up to $175
million in financing
fi'om JP Morgan Chase.
Reached at .
conference in Idaho,
Johnson said the joint
venture will exclusively
produce comedies, with
the first movie targeted
for release in about a
year.
“The Afiican-
American commimity
and Afiican-American
movie goers have been
waiting for something
like this for a long time,”
Johnson said.
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2006
Feds protect
consumer
credit
By Eileen Alt Powell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Earlier this year, con- •
sumers who thoioght they were requesting
a fiee trial of a tooth whitener fixim an
Internet site soon found withdrawals of
$106.90 fium theh bank accoimts or simi
lar charges to their credit cards, according
to a nonprofit consumer education group.
Consumer Action, based in San
Francisco, said it appeared that people
who asked for the fi'ee samples were auto
matically enrolled in a recurring payments
program for the product, whether they
wanted it or not.
In this case, most of the victims of the
scam had federal law on their side to get
their money back, said Linda Sherry, a
spokeswoman for the group.
In fact, there are more than two dozen
consumer protection laws aimed at keep
ing people safe in financial dealings that
range fium check writing to credit and
debit card payments, setting the interest
rates on loans, investing, data privacy and
the accuracy of credit reports.
But, Sherry points out, "some of them
can be confusing, so consumers have to
make sure they’re taking the right steps”
in filing complaints and claims in a timely
manner if something goes wrong.
The laws that draw the most consumer
attention _ and helped those caught up in
the tooth whitener scam - cover credit and
debit card use:
• The Fair Credit Billing Act gives con
sumers the right to dispute charges on
their credit cards accoiuits and either
withhold payment or seek a refund for a
billing error. It also allows consmners to
dispute charges if they’re dbsatisfied with
the quality of the goods dehvered.
Employers step
in to help with
commuting
By Madlen Read
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - For 20 years, Martha
Fitts drove 16 miles to and fixim work
every day, guzzling, in total, about 6,000
gallons of gasoline. At today’s prices,
that’s worth nearly $18,000.
This year, Rtts’ employer hiked its
monthly ti’ahsportation subsidy firom $30
to $70, and the mother of two realized she
could get to work virtually for free if she
took the bus. On June 1, she started leav
ing her Nissan Maxima at home, and
estimates she’U save about $250 to $300 a
month by not paying for gas or parking.
Her commute time has lengthened fiom
40 minutes to about 55 minutes.
“I’ve been kind of fed up with the pure
volume of gas I’ve been purchasing. I
thou^t I’d try for a month to see what it
was hke to ride the btis - and I liked it.”
said Fitts, who works inhuman resources
at the Regence Group, a Blue Cross Blue
Shield provider based in Poirtland, Ore.
Since hiking its subsidy, Regence Group’s
employee participation in the program
has shot up fix»m about 1,000 to 1,300.
With gas prices still more than $3 a gal
lon in some parts of the country, nearly 40
percent of commuters are tumii^ to
mass transit or carpoohrig, according to a
survey fixim the federally funded Best
Worl^laces for Commuters.
KEVIN MONROE TAKES OVER JOHNSON PUBLISHING CONTENT
Former Knight-Ridder executive to join Ebony magazine
O® OKI
By Demetrius Patterson
THE CHICAGO DEFENDER
CHICAGO - Nearly one
year after her father’s death,
Johnson Publishing
Company CEO Linda
Johnson Rice continues to
put her imprint on the
world’s largest black pub-
hshing company as evi
denced by the hiring of its
first editorial director, for
mer Knight Ridder executive
Bryan Momoe.
Johnson Race announced'
the hiring of Monroe as vice
president/editorial director
of the company’s flagship
publications, Ebony and Jet.
He officially begins his new
position Aug. 1.
As editorial director,
Monroe will be responsible
for helping unite both Ebony
and Jet to work in a more
cohesive and unified man
ner. He said he will also
work closely with Johnson
Publishing’s Web site design
ers to help give the pubhca-
tions a stronger presence,
more content and a better
look on the Internet.
"Like many in the Afiican-
American community I have
read Ebony and Jet all of my
Hfe, and to work there in
some capacity has alwaj/s
been a dream job to have,”
said Monroe, who is also
president of the National
Association of Black
Journalists.
Not only has Monroe, 40,
landed his dream job, but he
also will bring a fresh
approach to the largest sell
ing magazines geared
toward the Afiican-
American community
Ebony boasts a monthly cir
culation of 1.4 million, and
for Jet, more than 950,000
weekly
Monroe has approximately
19 years in the newspaper
industry 16 of those years as
a photographer, reporter,
editor and eventually assis
tant vice president of news
for Knight Ridder, Inc. For
many years, Knight Ridder
was the second largest news
paper company in the U:S.
until ceasing to exist in June
after being boi^ht out by the
Sacramento, Calif, -based
McClatchy Co.
Under Monroe’s leader
ship, he and the staff of the
newspaper in Biloxi, Miss.,
were awarded the 2006
Pulitzer Prize Gold Metal for
Public Service for keeping
the newspaper runnir^ dur
ing Hurricane Katrina and
its aftermath.
He also has been recog
nized by Presstime maga
zine as one of the top 20
American journalists under
40 j/ears old, and was named
by MediaWeek magazine as
one of the nation’s "Media
Elite.”
Monroe, who has no previ-
otis magazine experience,
believes the transformation
fiom one medium to the n^
wOl work out fine.
"The raw materials we
both work with; words, type,
pictures and the way we are
suppose to use those raw
materials to tell stories is
something we all have in
common,” Monroe said.
After being introduced to
Johnson Rice by Ebony co
managing editor Lynn
Norment to discuss how he
might be able to strengthen
already historic publications
in the African-American
community, Monroe and
Johnson Rice found them
selves with similar visions
for the future of Ebony/Jet.
"This newly created posi
tion will be integral to
Johnson Publishing
Company as Ebony and Jet
move toward an exciting
future,” Rice said in a state
ment.