NEW YORK, NY — June 20, 2018 — Country Bank was bestowed with the highest honor by the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital’s board of trustees at the 23rd Annual Burke Award Dinner. The award was presented on Thursday, June 7th at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase, New York. The Burke Award Dinner recognizes individuals or groups who have made significant …
Scarsdale Community Celebrates Country Bank’s 30 Year Anniversary
Neighbors in Murphy Family’s Hometown Honor Milestone with Ribbon Cutting Rededication Ceremony SCARSDALE, NY — June 23, 2018 — Local business leaders and community members gathered at Country Bank’s Scarsdale branch on June 14th for a Ribbon Cutting Rededication Ceremony and to honor the Murphy family who has led the bank for 30 years. Country Bank has grown into a …
Current Commentary: What Playing Gotcha Can Getcha BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
Banks, credit card companies and other financial services firms made an art of snaring customers in loopholes and walloping them with fine print. Now they’re learning that playing “gotcha” can getcha in the end. The credit card companies, with their love of misleading semantics, ought to have been the first to applaud the linguistic dodge by which President Obama sidestepped …
Current Commentary: Calling For Common Sense On Cell Phone Taxes BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
We have more than 20 employees here at Palisades Hudson, each of whom has a telephone on his or her desk and a life outside the office. If someone makes a personal phone call to check on the kids or to find out what to bring home for dinner, I don’t care. Neither does the Internal Revenue Service. Even though …
Current Commentary: Call It The ‘Universal Slush Fund’ BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
The Universal Service Fund is a $7 billion federal program in search of a purpose. Politicians and lawmakers don’t know exactly what they want to do with the money they collect from millions of American telephone bills every year, but they know one thing: They don’t want to stop collecting it. So they are bound and determined to find something to do …
Current Commentary: SEC Lets Shareholders Act Like Owners – To A Point BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
A new rule that gives public company shareholders the power to nominate their own directors is not going to turn boardrooms into union halls, nor is it going to revolutionize corporate governance. A best-case scenario is that making directors more accountable to shareholders will finally put a brake on senior-executive compensation, which has spiraled out of control for two decades. …
Current commentary: A Prosecutor Crosses The Line BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
The justice system is supposed to protect crime victims. Occasionally, however, prosecutors’ power leads them astray. Kenneth Kratz, the district attorney for Calumet County, Wisconsin, sent repeated texts to a young woman whose boyfriend he was prosecuting for allegedly trying to choke her to death. The texts included propositions and inappropriate comments such as “Have u ever been spoiled by someone? I …
Current Commentary: Human Flags at the Top of the World BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
The town of Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada, has temperatures below freezing nearly all year. Its Inuit name, Aujuittuq, means “place that never thaws.” But, for around 150 people, Grise Fiord is home.
Current Commentary: Keeping College Debt Under Control BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
In good times, and especially in bad, college graduates tend to earn more money than their less-educated peers, and they have less trouble getting and keeping jobs. But does this mean that any college, at any price, is a sound financial investment? No, it does not.
Current Commentary: The ‘Southwest Effect’ Expands Its Reach BY Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®
Yesterday’s announcement that Southwest Airlines plans to acquire AirTran is welcome news for travelers, but it probably made Delta executives choke on their Monday morning coffee. Just last week, Delta lost its place as the largest domestic air carrier when shareholders of United and Continental agreed to merge those companies under the United banner. Not that Delta has been on top for …