THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 26, 2003
President Ron Seger opened the meeting with 127 members present. Membership is 525 with 6 on the waiting list.
Announcements: Ken DeGroot welcomed new member John Powell. Dick DePatie welcomed back Ed Congleton. President Seger confirmed that there would be a new mailing of the October newsletter. He announced that the Board of Directors meeting has been moved to 10/10 at 8:30 am. He also told us in no uncertain terms to start cooperating with the YMCA personnel with the parking situation.
Activities: Bowling will bowl, even if only with 2. 4Fs luncheon is today at the New Canaan Country Club. Racquetball is flourishing with 4 today, and had 5 on Wednesday. Bridge and tennis continue as usual. The tennis party is scheduled on Oct. 8 at Lapham Center. Chess is also at Lapham on Thursday afternoons. Trailblazers next hike will be Oct. 15 at Macedonia State Park. Golf swings away 9/29 at Ridgefield, and the final outing will be Oct. 8 at the country Club of New Canaan. Bring money, lots of it, because they don't accept American Express.
Couth: October 14 is Hairspray and Gallaghers, 11/11 is CIA which is oversold but that may change with the new 7:15 departure time, and 12/10 is the Goodspeed Opera House musical production of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
Resident Humorist: John Berg told how Ole sent his wife Lena to the hardware store to get a screw for a hinge he was fixing, and how the screw almost got replaced with a $100 silver teapot.
Speaker: Vice President, Pete Stair, introduced fellow member Dr. Norman Toy, adjunct professor at the Columbia University Business School. Dr. Toy's subject was derivatives and private banking. Derivatives came on the financial scene with option trading in 1973 and with interest rate swaps in 1981. Option trading consists of the use of puts and calls, which can protect the investor with safety on the down side and gives some flexibility for profit on the up side. Large corporations mainly use these to protect concentrated wealth positions. Today, however, individual clients with substantial assets are also using derivatives in their wealth management. Listed options from the various stock exchanges are fairly liquid between 3 and 9 months. Now there are over the counter options which can be obtained from banks that can go out up to 5 years. Another important part of this whole concept is fixed rate financing which most banks really do not want to do. If you want this kind of financing, the bank will pretend to not know what you are talking about, but if you call the right "swap desk" phone number, you just might get some satisfaction. All of this wealth management for individuals take exactly what the title implies, wealth. To join this elite society, approximately 5 million dollars is a good starting point. Swaps can be done for much less, perhaps only $150-200,000. Now doesn't that make you want to run to the nearest phone to get on the bandwagon?