MEDIA REVIEWS - June 24-30, 2010

I find myself wondering what the staff meeting must have sounded like where it was concluded that the FPA adds value to your life and practice by polling Journal readers and asking questions like: "Are you confident in the investments you are recommending to your clients?" or: "Are you reevaluating your asset allocation mix?" But I may have been a bit cranky when I picked up this issue of the Journal of Financial Planning, because once again the cover art reflects a cartoonish understanding of the financial planning world. FPA members deserve so much better than they're getting from their professional publication...

But the magazine still has its useful moments, thanks to the generosity of a handful of practitioners. In this issue, Jon Guyton has contributed an excellent column proposing a withdrawal policy statement for retiree clients, and there's a pretty good evaluation of a complex little corner of the rules governing Social Security payments.

The Economist, meanwhile, gives us a bit of an insider's look at the resignation of the Japanese prime minister, the new coalition government in Britain, venture capital in Europe, the new labor issues in China, and whether it's a good thing (or not) that unemployment benefits have not been extended here in the U.S.