Balance Magazine - August 2009

"Trying to pin down a continually moving target might sound overwhelming, but at First Midwest Bank, we've become experts at holding a steady foundation during times of turbulence."

Janet M. Viano
Executive Vice President, Director of Retail Sales & Service  

Like most people, I get my fair share of e-mail forwards full of funny pictures or insightful quotes. Over time, these forwards seem to recycle, re-emerging every six months or popping up around a holiday. For instance, around Mother’s Day this year, I received a forward full of quotes I’ve seen before. But this year, one quote in particular made me stop and think.

“Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby . . . somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother, ‘normal’ is history.” It struck me because of its similarity to today’s economic landscape. America seems to be holding its breath, waiting for the recession and its unstable markets to pass so we can all get back to being normal.

But if there’s one thing we can take away from not just the current economy, but market fluctuation over the past 50 years, it’s that there’s no such thing as “normal.”

In our cover story, Positioning Your Retirement Portfolio , Jeffrey Kleintop, CFA, Senior Vice President and Chief Market Strategist for San Diego-based LPL Financial, puts it well: Post-recession, the fundamentals of retirement planning will be the same. Everything else, however, will be different. Trying to pin down a continually moving target might sound overwhelming, but at First Midwest Bank, we’ve become experts at holding a steady foundation during times of turbulence.

We'll help you get your family's expenses back on track with our Balancing Your Budget  article, and share some valuable real estate options that could be useful if moving has become a must in the Smart Selling story. You'll also satisfy your desire for charitable giving when money has become tight with the options shared in the Giving Back segment.
 

As always, we’re here to help you find your financial focus, plan your future and achieve your goals, no matter how you define “normal.”

Sincerely,

Janet M. Viano
Executive Vice President, Director of Retail Sales & Service