WHERE NOT TO SIT when it comes to your business RETIREMENT PLANS. Are you unsure what to do about your company's retirement plan because you own a small business? Now Bank of America is offering Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP's) for small business owners. Offer your employees diverse investment choices that only larger companies could get in the past. Your employees will benefit from tax savings and minimal costs. In fact, employees can direct their own investments, and best of all, there is no IRS reporting and only minor paperwork. Simply call 1-800-388-BANK, ext. 8294 or visit your local branch. Because once retirement rolls around, the only thing working mBA Investment Services, Inc. should be your money. A BankAmerica Company Mutual funds, other securities and annuities are NOT insured by the FDIC, and are NOT deposits or other NOT obligations of, or guaranteed by, Bank of America or any of its affiliates. An investment in mutual funds, other FDIC securities and annuities is subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested. INSURED Mutual funds and other securities are offered by BA Investment Services, In c. (BAIS), a registered broker-dealer member NYSE and SIPC. BAIS is a wholly -owned subsidiwy of Bank of America NT&SA. Annuities are offered through Bank of America Nevada, a licensed insurance agency. ©I995 BA Investment Services, Inc. ~BUSINESS ABIG ~OURNAL BUSINESS IMAGE ••• . for a Small Business Price When you lease a full service office from The Renaissance Executive Suites, you save big on PUBLISHER unecessary space, staffing & equipment. Lyle E. Brennan We provide professional receptionist services, complete facilities , and a conference room. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER - EDITOR Individual offices, or multi-office suites available on short or long-term leases. Connie Brennan ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER- NORTHERN NEVADA Eklof & Associates Call today and begin your Big Business Image.· ASSOCIATE EDITOR - ART DIRECTOR Barbara L Moore Renaissance Executive Suites • 702-798-4088 SALES MANAGER justin Halliday SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE 2255-A Renaissance Dr. Chuck Dandy Las Vegas, NV 89119 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Kristen jaeger CIRCUIATIONIDISTRlBUTION jean Kopp CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Frankie Sue Del Papa 1 Kathleen Foley 1 David Hofstede joe Mullich I R. Keith Schwer 1 Lisa Weiss-McQuerry CORPOR4.TE OFFICE 2127 Paradise Road • Las Vegas, NV 89104 (702) 735-7003 NORTHERN NEVADA SALES REPRESENTATIVE Eklof & Associates 401 Coun St., n · Reno, NV 89501 • (702) 323-8013 The Nevada Business Journal is listed in Standard Rates & Data. #20A-Business-Metro. State & Regional. NBJ has applied for membership in BPA International. Advenisers should contact Justin Halliday at (702) 735-7003 in southern Nevada. or Eklof & Associates at (702) 323-8013 in nonhem Nevada, or write to: The Nevada Business Journal. 2127 Paradise Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89104. Demographic information available upon request. Month-to-month circulation may vary. The Nevada Business Journal corporate offices are located at 2127 Paradise Rd., Las Vegas, Nevada 89104. NBJ is published monthly, bulk postage paid. Subscrip­ tion rate is $36.00 per year. Special order single-copy price is $3.50. All contents 1995 copyright, and reproduction of material appearing in NBJ is prohibited unless so au­ thorized by the publisher of NBJ. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please send previous ad­ dress or mailing label & new address. Allow six weeks. EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS: Address all submis­ sions to the attention of Connie Brennan. Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. NBJ assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. DISCLAIMER: Editorial views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. Up to the minute Stock Reports Local News National News World News Weather Business Sports Traffic 24 hours a day Nl News Radio \/\/HERE NE\NS COMES FIRST LAS VEGAS • NEVADA july 1995 IC 0 NTENT S Volume 10- No. 6 Features 6 INVESTMENT STRATEGIES FOR 1995 by David Hofstede Tips from the experts on riding the investment roller coaster of the '90s. 11 FINE ART AS AN INVESTMENT by Kathleen Foley Few have the ability to recognize a masterpiece before it is one. Instead, successful art collectors share this simple advice: "Buy art you love." 13 THE CORPORATE TRAVEL AGENCY by Usa Weiss-McQuerry Specializing in serving business travelers, corporate travel agencies plan page II business trips right down to the last detail ... at no extra cost. Departments 17 PROFILES IN SUCCESS The Money Store: SBA loan specialists. 18 SPEAKING FOR NEVADA by Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa Targeting scams ... and safeguarding your business against liability lawsuits. 19 IN BUSINESS by Frankie Sue Del Papa How business owners can protect against computer crime. 21 TAX TIPS Investing in your child's name. 23 PEOPLE ON THE MOVE Frankie Sue Del Papa page IB 24 NEVADA BRIEFS: BajA becomes state's largest mortgage lender • Money magazine names US. Bank best in Nevada • SBA study ranks Sierra Bank as most "small business friendly" • Lender consortium provides financing for affordable rental units • BajA reports more than $I50 million in I994 community lending • Cellular One of Las Vegas becomes AT&T Wireless Services • AmBank honored again by VERIBANC • Sierra Health Services announces acquisition 28 COFFEE BREAK by joe Mullich Some people get so sick of work, they just call in sick. 30 BUSINESS INDICATORS by R. Keith Schwer Dan Cheever Although the national economy may be in for a few bumps and bruises on its page 23 way to a soft landing, it still appears to be on course. BY DAVID HoFSTEDE ACHIEVI G A DIVERSIFIED, ill Martin, president of Pio­ people to get out of mutual funds and neer Citizen's Bank, offers back into COs and Treasuries. Now the this wrap-up of recent events rates may soften a little, and who knows BALANCED INVESTMENT PORT- in the investment markets: what might happen next." B "During the mini-cycle we Welcome to the roller coaster ride saw over the past eight months, people known as investing in the 1990s, in which FOLIO I AN UNCERTAIN AND moved their money out of banks, Trea­ banks and brokers lay out their buffet of sury bills and COs, because the rates were investment options for customers whose too low. They went into mutual funds, choices are often dictated by uncertainty FLUCTUATI G MARKET CAN BE expecting nice big yields, and it didn't and impatience. happen because the market was very flat. The advice of the experts? Don't panic. DAUNTING. HERE ARE SOME They grew disenchanted with funds, so "We've gone through tremendous the federal government, in an effort to swings in a very short time, and that s head off inflation, raised interest rates; something we're going to have to gel TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS. all of a sudden there was incentive for used to," Martin said. "If your objective 6 Nevada Business journal • July 1995 is retirement in 15 or 20 years, then you People who reacted to them incorrectly return - even though it is uninsured by must Jearn to rise and fall with these didn't make money a year later." the FDIC- we'd rather he or she did so swings, and not worry about it. If you Dollar cost-averaging works equally here than with a broker across the street." have any other investment objective, stay well in the stock market, according to To stockbrokers, expertise makes the short and stay diversified." David Seidner of Seidner Securities, difference, and they're willing to prove Frank Aguilar, regional vice-president "When the market goes down, that same it. Kevin Palmer and David Seidner were for Bank of America-Nevada, stresses monthly amount of money buys more introduced to a hypothetical investor with there isn't any one investment formula shares, so you're diversifying both where $25,000, and asked to recommend a few which is right for everyone. "We might and when you invest. It takes the risk out choice stocks. One year from now, we' ll advise our customers to get into a mass of timing the market." As for the specu­ check the results. allocation plan, with some fixed-income lation that the market is fantastically over­ The editors of the Nevada Business . products and some growth-oriented prod­ priced by most classic measurements, Journal stress, however, that the views ' ucts, as well. We might also recommend Seidner doesn't buy it. "The old yard­ and comments presented in this article tax-deferred or tax-free investments - it sticks don't work anymore. There's never do not represent recommendations of this depends upon the individual's goals, a bad time for a good investment." magazine. In addition, all financial con­ abilities and tax bracket. As investors become more skittish, the sultants urge investors to seek personal­ "Mutual funds are not as popular now competition for their investment dollar ized advj ce from qualified professionals as they were in 1992," continued Aguilar, has escalated. Bank of America offers a before making commitments. "but they still have a place in everyone's full range of investment products, includ­ portfolio. We've seen our customers pull­ ing the stock market, through an in-house ing back, and now leaning toward Trea­ discount broker service. "We cannot give suries, corporate bonds and other, more advice, but we can make a customer's DAVID SEIDNER conservative, fixed-income investments, stock transaction through brokers in our Seidner Securities which now comprise 80 percent of our branches, or· through an 800-number," sales," he said. Aguilar said. "I wouldn't go into more than fi ve dif­ Another popular option, according to "The playing field between banks and ferent items with that $25,000, because Aguilar, is dollar cost-averaging, in which brokers for the investment dollar is not the market's going to be choppy," Seidner a percentage of funds is systematically as level as it needs to be," observed Dan believes.