The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 13

The Daily Pantagraph, Sept. 30, 1980 B-5 Investors' Guide Oil stock split won't hike dividends Sylvia Porter Low-income families can get energy aid IP Escort This front-wheel-drive Ford Escort for 1981 goes on sale at dealerships Oct. 3. The Escort features a new overhead cam, four-cylinder engine and a standard four-speed manual transaxle with overdrive. Billion dollars Carter deciding price of steel aid material that can be installed and stipulates that the products used meet federal standards.

In addition to caulking, installation of storm windows and insulation, the program provides for: Furnace efficiency modifications; clock thermostats; vapor barriers; skirting; water flow controllers. But excluded is aid for furnace replacement, pipe insulation and general housing rehabilitation. Early filing urged Most of the labor for the weatherization work has been supplied by the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA). Where CETA labor is not available, DOE funds now can be used to hire private contractors. If you meet the government definition of a low-income household, you are eligible to participate in this assistance effort.

Under the accepted definition, you are a low-income family if your combined income falls below 125 percent of the Office of Management and Budget income poverty guidelines or if your household receives certain federal, state and local cash assistance. There are an estimated 14-16 million eligible households, estimates the DOE with the program slated to save 14 percent of the energy expenditures by households who receive aid. Immediately contact your local weatherization agency or your state weatherization program office or the DOE regional office. You will receive an application and a representative from your local agency even may be sent to help you with the form while an estimator will evaluate the condition of your residence to determine what work should be done. A priority system has been set up based on a local rating system with the priorities rated on need and whether the applicant is handicapped or elderly.

File your application now. Because of the rating system and the essential paperwork, timing is extremely important to you. By Bill Doyle Q. In the early part of 1979, 1 inherited 30 shares of stock in a big oil company. When the estate was settled, I received a 30-share certificate.

And I started receiving dividend checks in the amount of $22.50 every three months. A few months ago, I received another 30-share certificate, as the result of a two-for-one split. So, I now have 60 shares. Recently, I received a dividend check in the amount of $33. Shouldn't the dividend be paid on all 60 of my shares? Shouldn't my dividend check now be $45 twice as much as before? A.

That company is paying dividends on its outstanding shares all the shares owned by you and other stockholders. The company has increased its dividend payments. But it hasn't doled its dividends as it would have to have done for your dividend checks to be twice as large as before. A stock split despite what many people think does not automatically increase dividends. A dividend increase is a separate action quite apart from a stock split.

Before the split, that company paid dividends of $3 a year on each of its shares. Like most companies, it. pays dividends quarterly every three monts. That made the quarterly dividend 75 cents per share. On your 30 shares, that worked out to $22.50.

At the time of the split, the annual dividend rate on the increased number of shares was set at $2.20 55 cents quarterly. You now own 60 shares. Your first quarterly dividend check was for $33 60 times 55 cents. You will receive a $33 dividend every three months, until the company changes its dividend again. With common stock such as you own, the dividend can be raised, lowered or omitted depending on a company's profits.

I'm not trying to scare you. The chances of the dividend rate on that stock being cut are slim to the point of being almost nonexistent. Q. We bought our home 10 years ago for $25,000 and plan to sell it for about $75,000 a $50,000 profit, fa order to avoid paying capital gains tax on that profit must we within the 18 months following the sale buy a house that costs more than the $50,000 profit or a house that costs more than the $75,000 sale price? A. Let's start off by assuming you're talking about your principal residence the place where you normally live not a vacation home or such.

If you were 55 or older, you could use the once-in-a-lifetime $100,000 exclusion and pay no capital gains tax. Under age 55, you can postpone the capital gains tax on the profit from the sale of your old home, if you buy and occupy your new principal residence within 18 months before or 18 months after the sale of your old home or if you begin construction of your new home within the same time span-. This may seem to be reasonably simple. But the rules get tricky. This column always urges anyone planning to sell a home or any other real estate to get assistance from a good accountant.

Q. My wife and I have 1,604 and a fraction shares of a mutual fund and feel we should cash it in and put the money in our local savings and loan. We plan to retire next year. Would the cashing in of this fund be advisable? A. My advice would be to wait until after you retire and then redeem your shares of that fund.

If you're like most people, your income will drop after retirement and you'll be in a lower income tax bracket. Unless the value of that fund's shares drops and it's unlikely that will happen you should realize a profit when you redeem. That profit will be subject to capital gains tax. After retirement, that tax bite will be lower. The particular mutual fund you own does not pay high dividends.

For retire-mentpurposes, you should be able to get higher income from 30-month savings certificates at your savings and loan association. Doyle welcomes written questions, but he will be able to provide answers only through the column. ALTHOUGH THE OVERALL outlook for energy costs this winter is not as grim as it appeared a few months ago, the expenses of heating homes in most parts of the U.S. still will take a ruthless bite out of the budgets of millions of Americans in income groups across the board. But in the low income level, there is some reassuring news.

At this level, huge numbers of families may be eligible for financial assistance under the Department of Energy's Weather-ization Assistance Program for Low-Income Persons. The DOE program, administered in conjunction with local agencies, provides for the installation of insulation, storm windows and doors and other energy efficiency improvements to reduce heat loss and to conserve energy in low-income homes. This applies especially to the elderly and to the handicapped. In addition, the DOE provides funds that can be spent for some repairs and in certain cases, even labor. Procedures for determining the most cost-effective measures to be applied to a given home also have been set up under the federally-funded program.

These procedures establish a method for determining weatherization deficiencies in a home and outline the steps to be taken to correct those deficiencies. The maximum allowable expenditure is generally $1,000. But in some areas under special conditions, the DOE regional office may be able to authorize a higher allowance per dwelling unit. States in key roles Even multi-family dwellings can now be weatherized if two-thirds of the dwelling units in the building are eligible. This is vitally important news for low-income families who previously were limited to allowances for single family dwellings only.

If, for instance, there are 18 units in a building, and 12 meet the eligibility requirements, $12,000 can be obtained for the weatherization program on the building. There even can be modest allowances for conservation measures as interim approaches to weatherization. These are available to cover such items as tubes of caulking, waterflow restrictors and plastic sheeting for temporary storm windows. The states play a key role in the managing and monitoring of the DOE program. They apply for, receive and administer the grant funds.

They can allocate the funds among local governments, especially among community action agencies. They also determine the rnot cost-effective weatherization measures, then rank them by types of dwelling units. The program restricts the type of economic advisers and Commerce Secretary Philip M. Klutznick, who feel the federal government is not equipped to tell the industry where and when to make its investments. There is little argument that the steel industry needs help.

A high-level committee of industry, labor and government officials co-chaired by Klutznick has agreed that the major U.S. steelmakers will need to invest $4 billion to $5 billion a year for the next five years to catch up with leading steel makers in Japan and Western Europe, who benefit from more modem plants and from valuable government subsidies. Over the horizon is the prospect of increasingly tough competition from steel producers in Mexico and other developing countries. But the American steel industry, particularly some of the big steel companies that make the entire range of products from basic steel to specialized products, lacks the cash and credit to make the critically needed investments. How much the Carter administration will offer the U.S.

steel industry won't be known until the president discloses his plan. Carter is said to be impatient to go public with the steel plan, which could provide fresh ammunition for his presidential campaign. Accelerated The steel industry would be a major beneficiary of the business tax cuts proposed by Carter in his industrial revitalization plan; the cuts would total $33 billion between 1981 and 1983. In addition, Costle, on EPA's behalf, has proposed that steel companies be given up to three years more to meet clean air and clean water deadlines in order to ease the economic burden on the industry. But Costle has insisted that he would ask Congress for legislation authorizing extended pollution control deadlines only if the delay results in accelerated capital investment in the steel industry.

Social Security Q. I have a disabled son who may qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. Will my income and assets affect bis eligibility? A. A parent's income and assets are considered in determining a disabled child's eligibility and payment amount for SSI purposes if the child lives with the parent. But, under a new law, the parent's income and assets will count only until the child reaches 18.

Under the old law, a parent's income and assets counted either until the child reached 18; or until 21 if he or she was in school. The change will become effective Oct. 1. Q. I heard that some people who become entitled to Social Security disability benefits after June 1980 may get less money because fewer years of low earnings can be dropped out when figuring average earnings for benefit purposes.

Please explain. A. Social Security disability benefits are based on a worker's average monthly earnings. Until recently, five years of low or no earnings could be excluded in figuring this average, regardless of the worker's age at the time of disability. This often gave younger disabled work- By The Washington Post WASHINGTON President Carter soon will propose a billion-dollar-a-year relief plan for the steel industry perhaps as early as today but first he must resolve a fundamental question that has sharply divided his top advisers.

That question is, what should the government demand from the steel industry in return for important environmental concessions and substantial tax reductions? Douglas Costle, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has insisted all summer that if the administration gives the industry more time to meet clean air and water deadlines, it must have an iron-clad commitment that the money not spent for environmental compliance will be put into steel plant modernization, not into buying savings and loan institutions or oil properties or other attractive investments that have nothing to do with steel. Catching up Steel company presidents have argued that their hands must not be tied, and they have found allies among Carter's Business Briefs People sending money in response to advertisements for information on government surplus property sales are being bilked because that information is free. It may be obtained for a 15-cent stamp by writing: Defense Property Control Service, Bidders Control Office, P.O. Box 1370, Battle Creek, 49016. James Allen, National Auto Theft Bureau vice president, will address Central Illinois Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters at 6:30 p.m.

Oct. 6 at the Elks Lodge, 110 N. Madison St. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. has formed a subsidiary, John Hancock Financial Services to handle prospective medical and dental clients in the equipment leasing market.

A 184-page "1981 Guidebook to Fair Employment Practices" has been released by Commerce Clearing House, Chicago. It explains rules barring employment discrimination because of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age and physical or mental handicaps. DECKERS' LIVESTOCK, INC. MILFORD, IL 60953 MARKET REVIEW FOR SEPTEMBER 25, 1980 WHERE FARMERS, FEEDERS BUTCHERS MEET SALE EVERY THURSDAY PIG SALE AT 10:00 a.m. CATTLE SALE AT 1:00 p.m.

FEEDER PIGS: 24 mix pigs ave 4) at 36.75; 56 mix pigs av 42 at 34 SO, 52 whl pigs av 102 at 60.50cwt.; 43 mix pigs av 53 at 34.50; 30 wht pigs av 44 at 34.00; 31 mix pigs av 55 at 50 00; 27 mix pigs av 55 at 42; 27 spot pigs av 54 at 41.50; 24 wht pigs av 50 at 39; 27 mix pigs av 42 at 31.50; 24 mix pigs av 41 at 30; 23 wht pigs av 71 at 31; 21 mix pigs av 72 at 43 50; 20 mix pigs av 69 at 45.50; 16 mix pigsav 14 at 11; 14 wht pigs av 102 at 44cwt. CALVES A FEEDER CATTLE: blk hfr 300 at 69.50; 2 blk bulls av 337 at 75; 2blkhfrsav345at71; cb hfr 460 at 69; wt bill 630 at 60.25. SLAUGHTER STEERS 4 HEIFERS: wf str 1095 at 67; blk wf str 1285 at 66.75; wf str 1180 at 63.75; blk wf str 1045 at 65.75; blk wf str 1090 at 65.25; char str 1025 at 64.50; blk wf hfr 980 at 65; blk wf hfr 905 at 64.75; char hfr 940 at 64.75; wf hfr 945 at 65. SLAUGHTER COWS ft BULLS: 3 blk cows av 1030 at 47.50; blk cow 1420 at 45.75; blk bull 1305 at 55; blk cow 1295 at 48; char cow 1095 at 46.00; blk wf cow 830 at 49; red cow 1035 at 50; blk cow 905 at 46.75; 3 char cows av 963 at 45.25; blk bull 2065 at 49; brn cow 990 at 47.75; blk cow 1035 at 49.25; hoi cow 1445 at 44.25; blk cow 825 at 45.75; wf cow 800 at 46.25; wf COW 965 at 46.75. OUR BARN IS CLEANED AND DISINFECTED DOUBLE STRENGTH AFTER EACH SALEI TOP ON BUTCHER HOGS FOR WEEK: S49.10.

CATTLE BOUGHT FOR DIRECT SHIPMENT, A FEW REPRESENTATIVE SALES: 46 blk strs avl221 at 71; 80 mix strs av 1126 at 70; 41 mix strs 1100 at 70; 37 mix strs av 1119 at 70; 37 mix strs av 1086 at 70 38 mix strs av 1158 at 68, 52 mix strs avll22 at 68.50; 44 mix strs av 1111 at 69; 47 mix hfrs av 943 at 68; 44 mix Mrs av 943 at 68; 32 mix hlrs av 909 at 67; 46 mix hfrs av 975 at 68. Decker's Livestock. Inc. OWNERS, MANAGERS AUCTIONEERS DON, CHUCK BILL DECKER ALL INDIANA PIGS ft SOWS BOARS MUST BE INSPECTED BY VETERINARY IN INDIANA! BL00MINGT0N LIVESTOCK COMM. CO.

1 Mile South pf Bloomlngton, U.S. You Should Know Bob Gipson "Mr. Insurance" Phone 827-8523 R.W. GIPSON AGENCY Risk Managers 219 E. Washington-Bloomington 521 N.

Kickapoo, Lincoln S2 BE. ers an advantage over older ones since a considerably greater portion of the younger worker's career earnings could be disregarded. A new law effective July 1980 establishes a graduated scale for dropout years based on a person's age when disability starts. Q. I have Medicare coverage because I receive Social Security disability benefits.

If I go back to work and my disability payments stop, will my Medicare protection stop at the same time? A. Up to now, Medicare protection always ended when disability benefits stopped. But a new law has improved Medicare protection for the disabled. Medicare coverage will continue for 36 months after monthly benefits end for people who are working but who have not recovered from their disabilities. The change applies to people whose disabilities have not ended before December 1980.

The Questions and Answers that appear in this column have been furnished by the Bloomington Social Security Office at 200 West Front Street. Ph. (309) 829-9436. 31 Col. Harold Kindred Owner the Law Justice Center.

Land located and 133.34 acre tracts "WE ARE BONDED FOR YOUR PROTECTION LISTER PFISTER HYBRIDS ATTENTION MR. FARMER GET YOUR LIVESTOCK HERE EARLYI AUCTION 1 P.M. SHARP, OCT. 1st Already Consigned: 17 black white face stock cows, 15 calves weighing 300-350 lbs, 1 Angus bull from 1 farm in Farmer City, also several head of feeder pigs, feeder cattle, sheep of all kinds. SPECIAL FAT LAMB SALE Repossessed Car Sale Wed.

Oct. lit 12 KX) Sat. 10 A.M. Topi last wk. 61.00 Oct.

4th Blm. Livestock Comm. Blm. Livestock Comm. I LAND SALE 10 AM fri.

Oct. 3rd North door I Saybrook, II. 77 Acre tract, 2 forty acre tracts If you need a truck far llvtntock, Auctioncm Col. Harold of call B29-198S or B39-36SO Klndrad, Stova Klndrad If fc A QJ falsi 1 "WHERE BUYERS AND SELLERS MEET" GHBHDSD mam co ceajsWVE amsvjeke bit Jerry Ryan figures he's saving a lot of money by doing without anextension phone. But the fact is, he's paying an even higher price for not having one.

Think about it. For much less than you'd expect, you can reach rather than run for your phone. Whether you're doing laundry, watching the tube or taking a snooze. So make your last run for a phone. Come to the GTE Phone Mart and choose one of our great styles.

Then the next time the phone rings, you'll just reach for it casually. "Touch Calling available in most mil SB mairr College Hills Mall, Normal. 215 W. Water, Pontiac.