The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • Page 37

The Sun Monday, March 23, 1998 Page 13c Business Buildingthat 401(k) nest egg may soon get a little easier Jane Bryant QjNN Staying Ahead i'i 1 ASSOCIATED PRESS Pro Image franchisee: David McKay owns two sports paraphernalia attributes much of his success to the Franchise Center seminar. Learning how to succeed in business Franchisesjrom Page 11c pected to reach more than $1 trillion a year by 2000, according to Carolyn Gough, Franchise Center executive director. At first, the center offered a 12-week course where franchisers, franchise owners and attorneys tried to teach potential owners everything about franchising, from how to select the right business to how to market it. The course still covers the "same ground, but has been pared down to an intense 2-day seminar offered twice a year. Kathryn Morgan, an official with the International Franchise Association's education foundation, said she has received positive feedback about the center.

"My impression has been that UTEP's program has been particularly intense and said. Oough said that 28 of the 135 people who have taken the course have already opened franchises or are negotiating contracts. McKay is numbered among the success stories, having gone from the ranks of the unemployed after being caught in mass layoffs by El Paso Natural Gas Co. to being an employer himself with his Pro Image stores. "It's different when you're in business for yourself," McKay said.

"You can't go to the boss to have him solve your problems, you've got to do it. You have to have the mentality that the buck stops here." Another graduate, Cynthia Huereque, co-owner of five teach- Hong Kong is getting a new airport Airport, from Page 11c) 'Vi ing supply shops, said the course proved useful when she and her husband launched their latest endeavor, a store In Houston called Eraser Dust. "A lot of the things that I learned in the class helped me as far as learning there's different ways that you can approach a new business," said Huereque. "If you're looking to buy a franchise, it equips you with everything you need," she said. "We were looking to franchise our business, and they give you the information to do that." Reggie Ramos Jr.

is a success story of a different sort. The owner of El Paso-based Reggie's Mattress Co. had been exploring purchasing a franchise when he attended the course in November 1995. The program persuaded him to conduct more research, and he decided against buying. "It was a good move for us because we would have ended up losing money and maybe losing everything if not for the information that they gave there," said Ramos.

Hoy said the center will continue to refine the course and, depending on the interest, may one day offer specialized seminars. ANYONE with a 401 (k) retirement plan can't help but worry about it. Most plans put your future into your hands. You have to choose your own investments from a list the plan provides. But how do you clioose? Some employers distribut booklets explaining general investment principles.

They often include pie charts, suggesting how "growth" or "income" investors might split their money be tween stocks and bonds. In the end, however, you throw darts. You know little or nothing about the level of risk your investments represent. Some of you will retire with half the income that you could have had, if you'd made better choices in your 401 (k). Don't get me wrong; I'm all for Investment education.

But it's not going to turn the average employee into a fund-picking superstar. To get the most from your money, you need specific, personal advice. Ideally, it will be based on the same scientific systems of analysis used by the managers of major pension funds. In the past, you could only dream of getting that level of professional help. But the 401 (k) world is on the verge of change.

A few top firms are developing personal advisory services, which employers can make available to employees. At first, this help will be offered only by major companies, but eventually it will filter down to smaller ones (at present, it's not available for individual purchase). The advice will come from a smart computer that's programmed with information about the investments available in your 401 (k). You'll add personal information (Income, age and expected retirement year); data on any savings held outside your plan (for example, your spouse's retirement plan) and the amount of income you think you'll need when you retire. The program then tells you which of your plan's investments will give you the best return, consistent with your retirement goal and the risk you can afford.

You're also told how much money to invest In each. A standout product The best-in-show for this new 401(k) advisory business in fact, the finest tool I've ever seen prepared for individual use comes from Financial Engines Inc. In Palo Alto, Calif. The firm was founded by Stanford University finance professor and Nobel laureate William Sharpe, whose groundbreaking studies of how markets work transformed the professional money-management business. Sharpe's product is still In its pilot phase but should be available to employers by midyear.

One big thing makes it special. j.uji; et Tnwer Catml PS 1 32 MB RAM 1.44 Floppy Drive 1 3.0 GB HDD '4MB PCIAGP Video 15" .28 Monitor 1 Keyboard Mouse 24X CD-ROM 16BltSoundCard Speakers I SfiK FaxModem 1.44 FDD 2.0GB EIDE HDD MBit PCI wIMB BfflHI i 15' SVGAJ8NI 104 Keyboard Logitech Mouse 16X IDE CD-ROM 16BHPnPSoundCard Stereo Speakers wiNftwuwianuai II1U llliui wiiooi 32MB RAM512KCacha64MB 111 FTin It shows you the odds that the mix of investments you have chosen will actually reach your retirement goal. This probability projection used routinely by professional investors is something most individuals won't have seen before. Here's an example to help you understand what a breakthrough it Is: The $100,000 goal Imagine that you have $50,000 in mutual funds that you think will gain 8 percent a year. If you're aiming for a $100,000 nest egg, a calculator will tell you that you can retire in 10 years with money to spare.

Most Investment software will agree. "Congratulations," the computer screen might read, "you will achieve your goal." But will you really? Future returns aren't guaranteed. Furthermore, an average annual return of 8 percent can yield a wide range of dollar amounts over 10 years, depending on how the market performs in each of those years. That's where Financial Engines comes in. Its powerful computing software tells you what your chances are.

You might learn, for example, that your aggressive stock funds have only a 30 percent chance of meetingyour $100,000 goal. If they miss, you might wind up with only $75,000, 10 years from now. That Information may come as a shock. You thought that as long as you held for the long term you'd always win. In fact, that's not so.

Your gain could be a lot lower than you thought. If that's a risk you don't want to take, Financial Engines' software lets you test other possibilities. You might seek a plan that has a 90 percent chance of paying you $100,000, 10 years from now. That means choosing a lower-risk mix of funds and investing more money in them each month. But you would be much surer of your retirement goal.

The other computer advisory services give you no clue that your plan might not work. But they all know how important this analysis is. Fidelity Investments in Boston, which will roll out a 401 (k) PortfolioPlanner this spring, hopes to build probability into the system soon. It takes dramatically more savings to be 90 percent sure of meeting a certain retirement goal That's something every investor needs to learn. Washington Post Writers Group lintel Triton Chips Pentium II 512K nasi iinwiwiqa Teacher: Carolyn Cough is executive director of the Franchise Center at the University of Texas-El Paso.

Center officials also want to There haven't been any takers practice what they preach and yet, but Gough and Hoy remain "franchise the Franchise Center," optimistic, as Gough put it, by exporting the "I do hope this will become a concept. model for franchising education For a $10,000 licensing fee, the worldwide," Hoy said. "Franchls- center is offering to help other uni- ing is a major component of our versities and colleges develop sim- economy and an enormous export ilar programs. industry." Sinclair taps into digital TV shops in El Paso, Texas, and ASSOCIATED PRESS vited viewers, such as legislators and industry officials. It will probably be some time before most Baltimore viewers start getting digital broadcasts.

Digital sets could be on the market by the end of this year, but they will be very costly at first. Some stations though none in Baltimore have committed to introducing digital broadcasting by November. The FCC has set a May 1999 target date for other stations In the top 10 markets to start digital transmissions, while the top 30 markets Including Baltimore are slated to go digital by November 1999. Ostroff said "it could easily be a year from now" before Sinclair offers digital broadcasting of any kind to its Baltimore audience. In the meantime, he said, Sinclair is simply trying to determine the best uses of a budding technology.

"We're experimenting with the possibilities," he said. "We're very excited about it. It's going to be fun." on a small scale to be as successful independently as we would have been as part of another organization." Besides mergers and acquisitions, and raising capital, Bengur and Bryan are trying their hand at merchant banking. They raised $1.1 million in 1995 to start and develop a Papa John's Pizza franchise in southern New ersey with about 25 investors. Bengur Bryan is part owner of a company called PJNJ Foods LLC, which owns 13 stores.

It plans to add 20 stores over the next three years. Bengur Bryan is also part owner of two Papa John's stores in Colorado, and it signed an agreement to open another four in popular ski areas. It also won a franchise for a dozen Papa John's stores in Pennsylvania. "We think it is a good business," Bryan said. "We think it has a competitive advantage over the other pizza chains." SinceBengurBryanopened.it has added seven investment bankers to its staff.

Bengur and Bryan see the firm growing to 20 or 30 employees, but not much larger. "We don't see ourselves creating a bureaucracy," Bryan said. "We are in a hurry to be more successful, but not in a hurry to be a big company." of) I RAM512K Cache 32MB SDRAM 111 FDD 11 Clnnnu 1.44 FDD IlilFtoinv Monitor Win95wCDManual 56K FaxModem AMD K6-200 S219 Pentium 233MMX S319 IAMDK6-233 S279 P.nDumll-233 39 I KJXuralM S205 PHlumll-26a 579 T-- 4MB 4DIIB though it's not politically popular to say so," he said. John Earnhardt, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, said the industry does support HDTV. "We think that HDTV is really going to drive consumers' acceptance of digital television," he said.

When asked about Sinclair's skepticism toward HDTV, Earnhardt said, "Sinclair's position is one of several that are out there. They've certainly been very vocal about their position." Sinclair's digital strategy Is now entering an important new phase. The company has begun transmitting on digital channels assigned to its WBFF and WNUV stations. Currently, those trial signals are not intended for viewing, because no commercially available sets can receive them. However, Sinclair hopes to have prototype sets ready to show demonstration broadcasts by the end of April.

The demonstrations will take place at a still-undisclosed location somewhere in downtown Baltimore and will be open only to in finding success Capital Corp. of Washington, decided it was time to sell. Grotech and Allied backed Wordsworth in a 1986 leveraged buyout of MasterPower, which at the time was a division of Black Decker Corp. Wordsworth interviewed a handful of investment banking firms, but picked Bengur Bryan to find a buyer and negotiate the sale because it had a "good feel for the marketplace." "They were small enough that even a small deal like ours would have significance," Wordsworth said. "They did a good job for us.

We ended up with an excellent package." Leads for some of the deals have been funneled to Bengur Bryan from its former colleagues at BT Alex. Brown Inc. Bengur headed Brown's energy group, and worked with oil service companies and gas and oil exploration concerns. Bryan ran Brown's transportation group, working with trucking, shipping and aviation companies. But the energy group was scrapped, and transportation was restructured, so Bengur and Bryan left to start their own company.

"We had confidence in ourselves," Bryan said. "It was just a matter of whether we were going Sinclair.from Page 11c more for a prettier picture." Sinclair's preference for multicasting over HDTV has ruffled more than a few feathers in Washington. Some lawmakers and consumer advocates accuse the broadcasting industry of using the promise of HDTV to win free access to valuable chunks of the digital spectrum, and then backing away from that promise once the licenses were awarded. In September, just weeks after Sinclair announced its intention to pursue multicasting, company President David Smith was subjected to a round of hard questioning by members of the Senate commerce committee. Perhaps noting Sinclair's experience, the networks have generally been low-key about their HDTV strategies.

DeMott called Sinclair "the leading proponent of multicasting" and said others may be rooting for it from the sidelines. "A lot of people would like to see multicasting because you can make more money on it, even Atkinson Bengur Bryan is Investingjrom Page lie company in Madison, was known for Hexen and Heretic, two highly acclaimed computer games. A month later, Bengur Bryan dealt MasterPower a Westminster-based maker of hand-held industrial tools, to Houston-based Cooper Industries Inc. in a private transaction. "They are very smart, they are very sophisticated, and they are very discreet," said Vincent A.

Wolfington, chairman and chief executive of Carey International the Washington-based limousine and private car transportation company with operations in 65 countries. He turned to Bengur Bryan in 1992 to raise $4 million in a private placement because the small investment banking firm would take the time to understand his business, he said. "They actually did not only do their homework and understood the business, they were successful in identifying qualified investors," Wolfington said. Al Wordsworth, former president and chief executive of MasterPower, put the company on the block when its main backersfTimonium-based Grotech Capital Group and Allied cils and notebooks to the top of parking ramp to record arrivals. A big turn on final approach, the mountains of Kowloon, and its downtown location make Kai Tak tricky enough that pilots have to land manually instead of relying on automatic flight controls.

Seconds before landing on a runway that juts into Hong Kong's harbor, the plane must bank 47 degrees to the right. The pilot is guided by a red-and-white checkerboard painted on a hill, his or her vision, and for part of the approach a radio beam. Three serious accidents one on takeoff and two during landings have occurred in the past 10 years, killing 13 people. Neither landing accident occurred on the approach over the city. Most air- craft take that route, but, depending on the wind, they also can land from the opposite direction, over Hong Kong harbor.

Civil Aviation Department spokesman Vincent Kan said the unusual approach may make pilots even more careful and actually contribute to a relatively good record. "When you approach Hong Kong, you have to be vigilant," he said. Jeff Turner, a pilot who has flown for Hong Kong's airline, Cathay Pacific, for 21 years, said Kai Tak was "challenging, not dangerous." "You need more thinking time, more action time," he said. Chek Lap Kok airport will be bigger and fancier, but won't stir the blood like Kai Tak. Built on a platform of reclaimed land off the northwest shore of hilly Lantau island, Chek Lap Kok will have a weather system capable of detecting wind shear.

Air traffic control computers will be able to handle about 1,200 planes at once, four times more than Kai Tak, and the four runways are double the number at Kai Tak. Operating 24 hours a day, Chek Lap Kok is expected to handle 35 million passengers a year, and the number could rise to 87 million. But for some aviation buffs, it just won't be the same. Kowloon high school student Christopher Chan, who has collected more than 1,000 photographs from years of plane spotting, said few people will miss the noise. On the other hand, he said, the new airport "will not have his fascinating approach." 32MB 6.0GB EIDE HDD 1 1 asm nnr ir SVGA2B MOT Pr vu 1M Keyboard Microsoft Mouse 104 Keyboard 1 Log'itecMouse i 24X IDE CDROM 1 Ensonlc PCI Sourtdcard i 56KUSR FaxModem 1 32X IDE CDROM SoundBlaster AWE64 Stereo Speakers WINSftwtuMamiai S6K Faxmodem wiN95wCDttanuai 'Stereo Sneakers 1 CD Software Bundle i tAl Pill HI We provide FREE 2.0GB 169 3.0GB $199 4.0GB S239 oupgndaBfl repot I 23-98 PriMvenbject1 72pm S7B I 8 QGB S389J 6.0GB S2M ICWKnhMbriatMmnM I TptgyMwgBpMort os United States Postal Service DC Metro Facilities Service Office 1 0400 Little Paltxenl Parkway, Suite 400 4mb3Upm I1B 72pm 119 6MB72ptn S29 IOhIm ttO I REAL ESTATE WANTED The Postal Service is soliciting proposals to purchase a site for the proposed new Rhodesdale Main Post Office.

The boundary for the preferred area is a one mile radius around the existing post office. Where streets or highways are used as boundaries, sites on either side of the street or highway are considered within the preferred area. All utilities and access to a two-lane paved public street must be available. Site size desired is approximately 0.75 to 1 .0 acres of land. This requirement excludes setbacks, easements, drainage and water retention, septic requirements and any other unusual condition affecting land development and use.

Offers must include additional land, if necessary, to meet the above requirements. Information on the sites should include property location, plat map, site size, Roodplain map and a picture of the site. Interested parties are requested to send information on available sites to: John J. Turpin UNHEDSrATES POSTAL SERVICE Columbia, MD 21044-3510 The Postol Service will also consider buying existing buildings (approximately 1 ,600 s.f.net). It is requested that all offers be received by April 1 7, 1 998.

Questions may be directed to the above individual at 41 0-884-1 838. IF A PROPOSAL IS SUBMITTED BY AN AGENT FOR THE OWNER, EVIDENCE OF THE AGENT AUTHORITY MUST ACCOMPANY THE PROPOSAL..