The Penny Record (Bridge City, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 5, 1998 Page: 10 of 24
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PagatOA August 5,1996 THE RECORD
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acher Judson Simon assists a student studying for the GED in the MALL,
h obile computer center.
Mobile GED tutoring
facility comes to Orange
Ii s called a MALL, but you
can't buy bluejeans and T-shirts
here. Rather, the Mobile
Automated Learning Lab is a
place to pick up what you need to
p.lss a General Equivalency
I'iploma (GED) test And it won't
i ist a dime
1 he MALL has been in
opeuttion m Southeast Texas tor
about tom scats Certified
icai her Judson Simon takes the
RV contained computerized
uit’oitng lab to places where
.potential students might otherwise
iild a was to .tuds for a GED
It lecenth expanded its list of
i'C:i 11'ui s i - ou I nele Oi ange s
>Ol tli I at Is 1 eat mng C cnlei on
oi di e\ \' . p . i; making GLI)
oil m ;' r.i a I s a c essible to the
its i - ' • 1 i esidents I he
vl.M I is oi hatisl each Thursday
o piosidc assistance to those
■ntcr ‘sled in earning a GED.
Simon explained that people
i lteiesied in getting help to earn a
' JED first visit the MALL for an
assessment test to determine their
educational level.
"The computer program uses
their assessment to delete the
areas they already know so they
can concentrate on what they
need." Simon said "It's self-
paced and they may spend only
weeks or it may be months
learning."
Simon provides personal help
with the tutoring effort and once
the coursework is complete,
individuals are ready to take a
GED test at Lamar University-
Orange.
Simon can't say exactly how
many people have earned their
GED with a little help from the
M ALL because "if they pass, they
don't come back and tell us about
it
It there's a section they don't
pass, they will come back and
brush up some more on that." he
said.
Entergy donated the MALL to
the Southeast Texas Regional
Planning Commission.
Myths abound around
variable annuities
Bv Georce Mortimer Investment
Representative for Edw ard Jones
When the popularity of an investment
vehicle increases dramatically, it's bound to
attract attention from the media. Along
with that attention often comes
misinformation and misconceptions.
That continues to be the case with
variable annuities, whose annual sales have
almost quintupled to more than $70 billion
in the past five years.
After the recent capital gains tax cut. (he
media began comparing the tax benefits of
variable annuities and mutual funds.
Annuities grow tax-sheltered until you
begin withdrawing your money. Then you
pay taxes on earnings and capital gains at
your regular income tax rate, which can be
as high as 39.6 percent On the other hand,
according to some reports, you pay taxes on
mutual fund gains at a top tax rate of 20
percent. Or do you?
To answer this, you first must separate a
few myths from reality.
Myth: Variable annuity investors will
fall into the top income tax bracket of 39.6
percent when they withdraw their money
Reality: Most annuity investors are not
in the 39.6 percent tax bracket. In 1997.
the top bracket applied only to taxpayers
with taxable income of more than
$271,050 But a 1996 Gallup poll found
that more than 80 percent of annuity
investors had total annual incomes of less
than $75,000.
Myth: Most financial professionals tout
growth funds, with a top tax rate of 20
percent, as the smart alternative to variable
annuities.
Reality: In fact, most people do not
invest exclusively in growth funds,
meaning not all of their gains would
receive the 20 percent tax rate. Any
comparison of tax liabilities should show
the implications of a more diverse
portfolio.
Myth: All taxes associated with growth
mutual funds are long-term capital gains
and therefore receive the 20 percent tax
rate.
Reality: On the contrary, mutual funds
often hold many securities within their
portfolio for 18 months or less, subjecting
gains on those securities to short-term tax
rates If you own a mutual fund, even if
you reinvest all dividends and gains, you
still owe ordinary taxes on all dividends,
and odds are that your year-end statement
will show short-term taxable gains.
In fact, the average growth fund has a %
turnover rale of 95 percent, meaning the *
fund manager buys and sells almost the
entire portfolio within a 12-month period
When a mutual fund manager holds a stock
less than 12 months, the shareholder pays
taxes at ordinary income tax rates. Gains
on stocks held between 12 months and 18
months are taxed up to 25 percent.
Following are several other myths about
variable annuities:
Investors withdraw all their money in
lumpsums. (They don't.)
Variable annuities are more expensive to
own than mutual funds (Not necessarily.)
Tax deferral is the only reason people
invest in variable annuities. (It isn't.)
The reality is that variable annuities and
mutual funds each can play an important -
and unique -role in an overall financial *
plan. Don' be misled by anyone trying to ^
convince you of the evils of either variable
annuities or mutual funds Instead, work
closely with your financial professional to
understand the complexities and ensure the
proper use of these investment tools. When
appropriate, growth mutual funds and
variable annuities can be invaluable ways
to take greater control over your financial
security.
Road Department tops off old road
Hello, Southeast Texas!
★ ★★★★Came across Teal
Road this morning I've been
avoiding it for about two
weeks.
The Road Dept, started
working out there about
then. Seems the usual
course of action is to tear
a road up. smooth it out.
put down new gravel, and
then pour an inch or better
of tar on the surface and
leave it for a while.
I've often thought some
of those guys grab a
thermos jug and hide in
the bushes and just watch
drivers get frustrated when
they come around a curve and
splash that oil all up the side of
their just-washed cars. It
doesn't matter how fast or slow
you drive, that tar has a mind
of its own.
You can creep across it with
the windows up and it will still
get in your eyebrows
Keep Up
With What’s
Happening In
The
Record
Getting back to Teal Road,
these guys (and gals) did a
great job
Round -n- About
It's finished!
A brand new smooth surface
is in place and in only two
weeks (tar and gravel, of
course) ★★★★★If you want
to see how far people will go
for a shot at the brass ring, you
should have been in Louisiana
the last two weeks
I have never seen people line
up and torture themselves so
much as I have lately
Tobacco Plus, Abear's,
Lucky Della, and just
about anywhere else I
went, had lines up to 100
feet long. I saw mothers
with children, senior
citizens, people of all
ages and lifestyles in
those lines. Tobacco
Plus said they had people
stay in the parking lot all
night just to save their
places in line.
Thirteen people in
Columbus, Ohio, will
split $162 million. It
would have been 14. but one
guy dropped out; he wanted to
pick his own numbers instead
of Quick-picks, like the others
did
With the cash option, those
13 still got $12.5 million, about
one Million more than if the
guy had stayed in
I could settle for
that ★★★★★ Been getting my
lunch at The Store on
Roundbunch at EM 408 in
Bridge City
That fish dinner on Friday is
almost more than I can
eat ★★★★★Pop Warner
Football lost a banner they had
placed near the cannon at
Texas Avenue and
Roundbunch. They have
.posted a reward for its return.
Call Debbie at 735-5354 or
John at 735-9622 if you have
any information ★★★★★ Be
sure and check out our Here's
My Card page, lots of g*7ocl
people are posting a card there,
and you can find some
qualified help for whatever you
need.★★★★★Well, got to*go.
Have a great week and see us
on-line at
HTTP://www. pnx.com/therec
ord or e-mail us at
therecord@pnx.com
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
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The Penny Record (Bridge City, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 5, 1998, newspaper, August 5, 1998; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1169858/m1/10/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .