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6A – Daily News – Wednesday, December 29, 2010 Commerce business Red Bluff in December. The monthly network- ing opportunity is nor- mally held the last Thurs- day of each month at 7:50 a.m. The next Good Morning, Red Bluff is Jan. 27 at Sheila’s Acupuncture, 485 Ante- lope Blvd. Suites I and J. The business may be reached at 528- 2688. & Other dates in 2011 include: Feb. 24 — Interim Homestyle Services, 2120 Main St., 528-8807. March 31 — Sacred Heart School, 2255 Monroe St., 527- 6727. April 28 — State Theatre, 333 Oak St., 527-4118. May 26 — Kramer Chiroprac- tic, 1615 Main St., 527-0220. June 30 — Green Barn, 5 Now that 2011 is almost here, you may want to make some New Year’s resolutions. Planning to volun- teer? Go to the gym more often? Learn a new language? All worthy ambi- tions, of course, but this year, why not add some financial resolutions as well? Which resolutions should you make? Here are a few ideas to con- sider: • Boost your retire- ment accounts. No mat- ter how old you’ll be in 2011, one thing is cer- tain — you’re a year closer to retirement than you were in 2010. And that’s why you’ll want to increase your contri- butions to your retire- ment accounts. If your salary is going up in 2011, boost the amount you defer for your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 403(b) plan (if you work for a school or other tax-exempt orga- nization) or a 457(b) plan (if you work for a state or local govern- ment). With tax-deductible contributions, tax- deferred growth of earn- ings and several invest- ment options, these types of plans are tremendous ways to save for retirement. And try to “max out” your traditional or Roth IRA, too. • Look for opportuni- ties. With the uncertain- ties in the economy and the volatility of the financial markets, many people decide to head to the investment “side- lines” for a while. Yet, this environment may actually be a good one for investors with patience, discipline and the ability to look beyond yesterday's headlines. For one thing, many quality securities are now good values. Also, we’re still see- ing low inflation and low interest rates — fac- tors that may lead to greater economic demand and improved strength in the financial markets. • Don’t over-react to market swings. Over the past few years, we’ve seen plenty of sudden, sharp swings in the financial markets, and you’re likely going to see more of them in 2011. Don’t over-react to either the “ups” or the “downs” of the market. Over-reacting leads to short-term thinking — and successful investors are the ones who can maintain a long-term perspective. • Rebalance when necessary. At least once a year, review and rebalance your portfolio, as necessary, to make sure it still reflects your goals, risk tolerance and family situa- tion, all of which can change over time. • Reduce your debts. While the sluggish economy of the past couple of years has obviously been a cause of concern for everyone, we have seen one “silver lining” in that many people, concerned about over-spending, have shed some of their debt load. The less money you have to spend on your debts, the more you’ll have available to invest for your future, so do what you can to cut down on what you owe. • Maintain adequate enterprise Good Morning, Red Bluff forges ahead in 2011 There is no Good Morning, Chestnut Ave., 527-3161. For more information about Good Morning, Red Bluff or other Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce activities, visit redbluffchamber.com, visit the office at 100 Main St. or call 527-6220. ——— The We Mean Business column is prepared and submitted by the Red Bluff- Tehama County Chamber of Commerce. Ring in some New Year’s financial resolutions cash levels. As an investor, you’ve got at least two good reasons for maintaining enough cash in your portfolio. First, having adequate cash available means you’ll be ready to act quickly to take advantage of good invest- ment opportu- nities. Tyler Smail And sec- ond, by having a cash cush- ion, you won’t be forced to liquidate long- term invest- ments to pay for short-term needs such as a major car repair, a new furnace, a big doctor’s bill, and so on. By following these suggestions, you can position yourself to make progress toward your long-term goals in 2011 — and in all the New Years that follow. Tyler Smail is a a financial advisor for Edward Jones, his office is located at 733 Washington St. in Red Bluff. He can be reached at 529-3627 or tyler.smail@edwardjon es.com. Christmas cheer, happy New Year • We hope that you had wonderful Christmas and we wish you the best in the New Year. Chamber members, you will be receiving the monthly newsletter via email this week unless you have requested a printed copy or if we do not have your email address. If you have never received any email communication from the Corning Chamber that means you are not on our list, so we request that you send an email to corningchamber@sbcglobal.net. You may include additional addresses in your office who may want to receive the newsletter. We hope you appreciate the fact that we are saving money that would ordinarily go towards the paper, printing and cost of mailing the printed copies. We will have a few printed copies for those who don’t have email at the office or call and we will mail it to you. • Business Spotlight – BrightStar Healthcare, 4 A Williamsburg Lane, Chico, is the Business Spotlight of the Week. The home base is in Corning. Donna Zimmerman from Corning owned and operated Leisure Acres Assisted Living and was a member for two years, but has recently joined the Chamber as BrightStar Healthcare. BrightStar offers three forms of assistance. First level: non-medical in-home care for all ages that includes assisting in bathing, dressing, housekeeping and transportation. Second Level: Skilled Home Health that includes injections, wound care and IV infusions. Third Level: Supplemental staffing pro- vided for facilities, i.e. nursing homes, assisted living, hos- pitals, doctors offices. “We employ caregivers on up to Registered Nurses to provide care in a variety of settings,” Zimmerman said. “All employees are bonded and insured; background and drug screening checks are completed before hire and as needed after hire. Check us out at www.brightstarcare.com.” Donna is married with five children and one grand- child. Donna said that her future plans include expanding into Tehama County in 2011, becoming Joint Commission accredited for both the licensed Home Health agency and the non-medical side of BrightStar, July 2011. Expanding into Shasta County in late 2011 or 2012 is also in the plans. • TCEAC Meeting – 7:30 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 6, at the Tehama County Job Training Center, the topic for the first meeting of the New Year is Preventing Workplace Vio- lence. Andy Houghtby, Police Sergeant from California State University, Chico Police Department will be the pre- senter. In this session they will discuss: Personal safety measures: awareness, protection options, and courses of action to consider. "Hardening" the workplace to make it a difficult target. Signs of who might need intervention to prevent violence, and Available resources before and after a violent event. Speaker, Andy Houghtby has been in law enforcement for 14 years. He teaches in-service training and Rape/Aggression Defense (RAD) fir women at CSU Chico. For non-members the cost is $20 and for members it is free. Contact Kathy Garcia at 529-7000, or email kgar- cia@ncen.org. ——— This column is prepared and submitted by the Corning Chamber of Commerce. NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed barely changed Tuesday amid light trading ahead of the New Year’s holiday. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average finished slightly higher, though stocks had dipped earlier on disappointing consumer confidence and home prices reports. The Dow edged up after Dow finishes up, Nasdaq down amid thin trading Wall Street The Standard and Treasury prices fell in the wake of a weak bond auc- tion in the afternoon. Fewer than expected buyers emerged for the govern- ment’s auction of $35 bil- lion five-year bonds. The yield on the 10-year Trea- sury note rose to 3.49 per- cent from 3.34 percent late Monday. The Dow closed the day higher by 20.51 points, or 0.2 percent, to 11,575.54. It was the highest close for the index since August 28, 2008. Poor’s 500 index was up 0.97, or less than 0.1 per- cent, to 1,258.51. The tech- nology-focused Nasdaq composite index lost 4.39, or 0.2 percent, to 2,662.88. Earlier in the day, the Conference Board announced that consumer confidence in the economy slid to a level of 52.5 in December, down from 54.3 in November, as Ameri- cans continued to fret about the high rate of unemploy- ment. The market was expecting a slightly higher reading because of signs of improved consumer spend- ing in the Christmas holi- day season this year. “The spending patterns this Christmas looks better, but unemployment contin- ues to be a big question,” said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research ana- lyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. Another factor weigh- ing on the minds of traders is fear that the housing market will continue to fall. Standard & Poor’s/Case- Shiller said Tuesday that home prices fell 1.3 per- cent in October from a month earlier. Home prices slid across the country, including the biggest cities. Prices were down 2.9 percent in Atlanta, 2 percent in Chica- go, and 1.9 percent in San Francisco. Energy and materials companies were posting gains as the price of crude oil gained. Chevron Corp. led Dow gainers, rising 1.2 percent to finish at $91.19. American Express Co. had the largest fall, losing 0.6 percent to $42.79. In corporate news, Gen- eral Motors Co. gained 2.1 percent to close at $35.32 after a handful of analysts from investment banks that underwrote the automak- ★★ ★ er’s IPO initiated coverage with favorable ratings. Home builder Beazer Homes USA Inc. fell 4.5 percent to $5.37 on the dis- appointing home prices report. The dollar slid to a 7- week low versus the Japan- ese yen Tuesday in thin post-Christmas trading, but rose against the euro and pound. Consolidated volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 2.2 billion shares, about half the usual volume on Wall Street. Trading is expected to be light for most of the week as many investors have already closed their books for the year. Falling shares narrowly outpaced rising ones on the New York Stock Exchange. AMERICAN SELF-STORAGE 64 Mulberry Ave., Red Bluff • 527-1755 • Fully Fenced • Onsite Manager • Well Lit Property website: www.americanselfstorage.biz • RV & Vehicle parking now available $ 20 MOVES YOU IN Some restrictions apply CALL NOW FOR RATES! offer expires 12/31/10