European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 6, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes Money matters 1 wednesday Jal Huary 8,1993 by Susan Antilla the new York times if you stuff them unread into your file drawer you a better keep Reading. If you re one of those investors who just throws them out give up All Hope and go Back to the crossword Puzzle. ,. Brokerage account statements Are important to your financial health ignore  your peril. Get smart about what they say a and How to use them to Ytit advantage a and you can stay a step ahead of prob lems commanding a bigger slice of your brokers attention in the meantime. For starters the pros advise begin setting up a system to track the two most important things How you re doing and what its costing. The answer to the first question of course is in part a function of the answer to the second. Starting this month keep a running tally of commissions you be paid of stocks Bonds and Mutual funds. If commissions Are not noted on your confirmation slips multiply the number of shares you bought times the Price per share. Subtract that number from the amount of the Check you wrote and you be done the advanced mathematics to reveal the commission. This two step procedure involves math that you mas1 tired in second Grade. Brokers could easily divulge these numbers but choose not to. And it Isnit because they re daunted by the complicated calculations. A having determined your cumulative costs each month you should compare the current value of your portfolio with its value Jan. 1. Some brokerage firms like Paine Webber and Shear Soti will give you the year to Date Dollar figures from which you can calculate your percent gains or losses. Both firms also list Stock Purchase prices on statements making it easier for investors to know immediately whether they re ahead or behind on individual securities. If your statement does not include those numbers though scribble your Jan. I portfolio Valite in the notebook that tracks commission costs. Brokers probably Idun a to deserve a month of grilling unless you re a frequent trader. Long term investors might do Best to study the  numbers closely at midyear and again at years end. After calculating your percent gain after transaction costs you should compare your portfolio to certain easy to get benchmarks said Craig Hoogstra director of financial services at the american association of retired persons. A Stock and Bond portfolio might be compared to the Lipper balanced fund average. A portfolio of Large stocks can be compared to the Standard amp poor a 500 average. And Mutual funds a the easiest to evaluate a can simply be compared to the average performance in their  the Lack of useful performance information on Many brokerage Staten ends has inspired a cottage Industry that charges investors for work that brokerage houses ought to do for nothing. Thomas w. Benson of Naples fla., for example charges investors $350 to evaluate their statements. Several computer software whizzes and securities lawyers said they Plait to offer account analysis services to investors for $250 and higher. 1. A a next thing you know  be Selling insurance pol a against Small investors portfolios. Then you can pay the broker for the Trade pay the analyst to Tell you if the Trade was honest and pay an insurer in Case the broker was dishonest. If All that sounds ridiculously expensive you could simply take the time out to learn what s happening to your hard ear Nefi Money on your own. _ Here is another tip beware of changes in new a easy to read statements that make it easier for brokers to put you at risk. Sever a firms have abandoned a traditional statement Section that listed a journal entries during the month. If securities Are moved from the Cash portion of your account to the margin portion it would be noted As a journal entry in old fashioned statements but would not be prominently noted in easy to read statements. Brokers looking to drum up More commissions by borrowing against securities in a margin account have Cost investors big Bucks with unauthorized margin trades warned j. Michael Bishop a lawyer at Page amp Bacek in  if a broker wanted to do an unauthorized Trade this is the Way to do it a Bishop  Kyrgyzstan Hopes to lure investors tourists by David Carpenter the associated press new York to hear its . Ambassador Tell it Kyrgyzstan is a Paradise in the making. Its teeming with minerals boasts a stable democratic government and has rugged Beauty to lure tourists and outdoors men. There a just one problem most westerners done to know what or where it is much less How to pronounce it. So before Dou malady Atabekova and his colleagues can help sell foreign investors on Kyrgyzstan pronounced Kerr Gucz Stah they have to educate them about the former soviet Republic in Central Asia. A everybody knows Only a of what crisis what hell is going on in the former soviet Union a the ambassador said. A a it a important for them to know details practical  Kyrgyzstan roughly the size of Britain is wedged Between the worlds former and current communist Powers sitting on China s Northwestern Border and the former soviet unions Southern asian Frontier. It is one of the most ethnically mixed Central asian republics a about half of its 4.1 million people Are sunni Muslina kyrgyz a third Are russian and More than 12 percent uzbek. Its main products include Cotton steel and Coal. But it also has an abundance of Oil Gold Silver tin Antimony Mercury and rare Earth minerals just waiting to be developed. Arid that Road to development leads through Manhattan and the Empire state building. That a the Headquarters for Small privately held Windsor production corp., whose chairman Arnold a Saltz Man was hired by Kyrgyzstan in october to do All its negotiating for contracts to develop its resources. Saltzman 76, has served in a variety of . Economic and diplomatic posts. He was offered the negotiating Job based on his contacts and experience in the former soviet Union and will be paid commissions. Saltzman said he has had discussions with major companies about investing in Kyrgyzstan but declined to provide details preferring instead to talk up his clients Selling Points. A with All their natural resources taken together they Kyrgyzstan a citizens Are the richest per Square mile of any country anyplace a he said in a interview. A Ana its the Best country by far of at in terms of stability. A a they re a bulwark against islamic fundamentalism and their president was elected in a democratic election and has absolutely no  president Askar Alayev a former physicist has fostered ties with neighbouring China and other countries and has instituted some islamic customs. Compared with violent unrest in neighbouring Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan is a peaceful Al Belt poor country. Quot but an expert on the Region thinks Saltzman May be overstating Kyrgyzstan a attractiveness. Robert Ebel of the Center for strategic and International studies in Washington recently visited the kyrgyz capital of Bishkek and said the country Slack of infrastructure As Well As its remoteness May be too daunting for West pm investors. A i done to see a lot of potential because of the difficulties in getting resources out a said Ebel a senior associate for the nonprofit think tank. A they do have rare minerals hydropower for natural Gas production and some Oil potential. But if you made a discovery it would have to be rather substantial to justify developing it. There a to infrastructure so you d virtually have 300 Miles 300 pm Kazakhstan Uzbekistan a Tajikistan 2 China a Cari Fox to Start from scratch a Kyrgyzstan does boast of having one of the worlds largest Gold Fields in its mountainous. Southeast. A Canadian company a came co corp. Of Saskatoon Saskatchewan a signed a contract dec. 4 to Start developing the Kuttor Gold field.. Health care spending forecast to Rise 12% in 93 Washington up the nations health care Bill is expected to total $939.9 billion in 1993, a 12.1 percent jump from 1992, a consumer group says. Using Commerce department data Public citizen head in research group said the United states spent $838.5 billion on health care in 1992. That total compares with the $817 billion that had been projected. Because of the weak . Economy and the Small projected increase in Gross Domestic product from 1991 to 1992, the percent of the Gap that went for health expenses was a record in 1992, surpassing 14 percent. That Means one out of seven dollars in the Economy was spent for health care although an estimated 35.4 million americans had no health insurance in 1991, the group said. In 1993, spending for Hospital care will increase 12.4 percent a to $363.4 billion and expenditures for doctors services will amount to an estimated $175 billion an 11.5 percent increase Over 1992, Public citizen said. Spending for nursing Homes and Home care will approach $92.5 billion a 15.6 percent increase the group said. In addition health expenses Are expected the continue to increase for five years rising by 12 percent to 15 percent a year unless significant changes Are made in the health care  estate matter Denver apr if you own prop. Erty whether its real estate stocks or Bonds its easy to Overlook who a entitled to claim it. But the title can Mae a difference in estate planning and tax liability ,. A a there is sole ownership of course. But there Are at least three other forms of joint ownership said Paul Lochray an estate planning expert at the College for financial planning in Denver. The state in which the owners live matters As Well. There is tenancy in common joint tenancy with right of survivor ship and in nine states an option called Community property he said. While joint ownership can apply to Many relationships the most common example is married couples. Under tenancy in common when one spouse or owner Dies the property passes to beneficiaries named in the will. If the tenant Dies without a will state Law die tales who gets the property. Under joint tenancy with right c survivor ship however the grieving spouse automatically gets the property. The third option is Community prop erty. In Arizona California cd to Lou Siana Nevada new Mexico Texa Washington state and Wisconsin res dents can have holdings As communal property and enjoy a tax Benefit from the arrangement. A heir spouse Dies Bot the deceased a half and the survivor s a Are a stepped up to the current Mark value Lochray said. In common Law property states on the deceased spouses share of the pro erty rises to the Market value at the Tim of death Lochray said