1998 Ad

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Dec, 1998 by Kristin Davis, Robert Frick

Wait Till Next Year

EARLY IN 1998 the U.S. Postal Service issued stamps commemorating the 1929 stock-market crash and Babe Ruth's record-setting home-run seasons in the 1920s. The Mark McGwire outswatted the Babe, and the market plummeted. Let's hope the postal service doesn't issue a stamp commemorating Pearl Harbor.

Lady, We've Heard It Before

On a trip to China with President Clinton, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky took note of rock-bottom prices on Beanie Babies sold by street vendors--and bought 43 for her daughters back home. Trouble is, the snuggly souvenirs violated U.S. Customs regulations, which at the time limited Beanie imports to one per traveler. Barshefsky's plea to the Wall Street Journal: "I'm a mother."

Where Are They Now?

Two former personal-finance advisers went to their reward in 1998. Sonny Bloch was a one-time radio talkshow host who failed to reveal that he was being paid to promote the investments he hawked on the air. He eventually served 21 months in prison for tax evasion and perjury, but died before completing his full sentence.

Charles Givens, a consummate salesman of books, tapes and seminars who promised wealth but delivered questionable advice, was sued to the brink of poverty by investors, creditors and the IRS. To the end, though, he managed to preserve the symbols of wealth he had flaunted: a lakeside mansion and a white Rolls-Royce.

Visa, Las Vegas

First USA has added a Las Vegas Visa Platinum card to its menu of "affinity" products. In addition to receiving a 1% rebate on purchases, cardholders can earn reward certificates of up to $25 each, redeemable at 17 Las Vegas hotels and casinos, if they use the card in each of the first five months they have it.

At least when you lose your shirt, you can get a rebate on a new one.

Big Spenders: Winners ...

* Pepsico CEO Roger Enrico forfeited his $900,000 salary this year and asked the company's board of directors to use the money to award scholarships to the children of "front line" employees earning less than $60,000 a year.

* Mutual fund manager Shelby Davis and his wife, Gale, earmarked $40 million for high school scholarships for international education. In a nationwide competition, 50 "Davis Scholars" will be selected from among high school students each year to spend two years studying abroad.

* Donald Othmer was a professor at Polytechnic University, in Brooklyn, and his wife, Mildred, was a teacher and volunteer. So how did they amass an estate worth three-fourths of a billion dollars? By investing $50,000 with family friend Warren Buffett in the early 1960s. They left most of their wealth to charity, including $200 million to Polytech and more than $100 million each to the Long Island College Hospital, the University of Nebraska and the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

... and Losers (Sort Of)

* The niece of Donald and Mildred Othmer, who was bequeathed less than $2 million and is contesting her relatives' will.

* The late Robert Allan Miller of Bethlehem, Pa., who left $5000 in his will to the local police department: and stipulated that it be used as reward money for officers who write the most tickets for double-parking. The mayor overruled the bequest.