Pink for girls and blue for boys has been a tradition since the beginning of the 20th century, even though no one is really sure why dressing all babies in white stopped being the norm. Since the pink and blue tradition is still very much alive for babies, why not pink and navy, women and men.

Pink & Navy on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria opened in December of last year, occupying space in one of the Pine Avenue Restoration project buildings. But to owner Janae Rudacille this building is a lot more than just a location for her smart new shop. It's literally where she was born and lived for a good part of her childhood.

A lifelong resident of Anna Maria, Rudacille was always interested in retail and worked for seven years in one of Anna Maria's beach shops. Like so many of her friends, she was challenged to find gifts and clothes that didn't have a beachy or nautical feel without leaving the Island.

What Rudacille has achieved in Pink & Navy is a diverse mix of clothes for men, women and children as well as gifts, furniture, books and more. She likes to think of her shop as a small department store on the beach, Fifth Avenue meets Pine Avenue.

Although primarily an apparel store for men and women, Pink & Navy carries children's toys, soaps, candles, jewelry, cigars and Envirosax tote bags. The chairs and sofa scattered around are not only a cozy place to relax while you're shopping, but also are for sale. Stray Dog lighting fixtures made in Haiti are very unique pieces, with some of the company profits donated to care for stray animals in Haiti. One of P & N's signature items is Royal Apothic fragrances and candles, rumored to be one of Kate Middleton, the future Queen of England's, favorites.

Rudacille's great fashion eye is everywhere you look in the shop. Classic little dresses ranging from beach cover-ups to dressy event styles, jeans and sexy Hanky Panky and Coobie Bra undergarments are in abundance. Some of the clothing lines Pink & Navy carry are Milly, Charlie Jade, Judith March, French Connection and Michael Stars.

With the help of Rudacille's manager Jessica Foraker, Pink & Navy has flourished from the high volume of walking traffic along Pine Avenue. Rudcille says the street she was born on is better than ever and has evolved into what it was really designed to be. They also have some charity events they are working on with other Anna Maria businesses, and a fashion show and a day of pampering for special people are being discussed.

In our modern fashion environment, the rules are out the window, and pink is no longer too girly for men to wear and navy blue is the new black for stylish women. Never-the-less, Pink & Navy represents both women and men in a polished, dress-up, dress-down eclectic shop.

Pink & Navy

216C Pine Ave.
Anna Maria
941-567-4000

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Saturday
Closed Sundays

All major credit cards accepted

 

Sales of annuities tend to increase after periods of financial uncertainty. So, even though the last couple years have been pretty good for stock and bond markets, the impact of the last decade where there were two major stock market declines, a real estate bubble burst and a full scale financial crisis, investors still like the sound of the word guaranty.

An immediate annuity is a contract with an insurance company. You give them a lump sum of cash, which is immediately annuitized into a stream of income. The income is usually a monthly payment and the amount is based on your age, the term over which you wish to receive the income and additional factors like whether or not you want your beneficiaries to continue to receive the income for a limited time if you die early in the contract period.

The first and most important factor you should understand is that when you annuitize the cash value of any annuity, you have given up your right to that cash value in exchange for the promise of the income payments specified in the contract. So, your heirs receive no portion of the cash value in question, unless you protect them with a beneficiary income benefit, which reduces the monthly annuity payment you receive during your lifetime.

www.immediateannuities.com is an easy to use website which shows quickly the amount of monthly income you can receive from immediate annuities with varying characteristics. I ran a scenario for a 68-year-old female investing $100,000 and the system showed $625 a month ($7,500 per year) without any protection for beneficiaries. So, this initially sounds attractive, equating to about a 7.5 percent annual return on your capital with the promise of the insurance company to pay, as long as they are in business or until the benefit period runs out.

When does the benefit period run out? That depends on how long you want to receive the benefits. If it is a lifetime benefit period, then it continues until you die. If you die two years into the contract, then the insurance company still gets to keep the initial $100,000 payment and no longer has to pay the monthly benefits, unless you provided for your beneficiaries to receive the benefits for a certain period of time. Of course, adding in any form of protection for your beneficiaries reduces the month benefit that both you and they ultimately receive.

Let's look at the math from a different angle. The average female has a life expectancy of about 83 years. So if you purchased one of these annuities at age 68 you would expect to receive the income for about 15 years. Live longer and you gain more benefit. But using the averages we can see that the insurance company will pay out 15 years worth of $7500 or about $112,500 in our example. I'm not an insurance guy, but it looks to me like they are basically borrowing your $100,000, investing it over 15 years, keeping most of the profit and giving you about $12,500 back over the 15 years as your share of the profit.

The results can vary, with the insurance company benefitting if you die before the life expectancy table indicates is probable and you benefitting if you live longer. I believe you must really value the concept of the guaranteed backing of the insurance company to make an annuity the right decision. Even a conservative investment plan investing that $100,000 and earning 5 percent over time would be able to provide $7,500 of annual income for 15 years and still have about half of the original principal value left. Higher returns may be reasonably achieved with a proper asset allocation plan.

The concept of having money left when you die is also a big decision point for some. Keep in mind that if you annuitize, the principal value of the money becomes the property of the insurance company, and your heirs receive nothing. Some annuities have some benefit riders which may provide some benefit to your heirs, but the cost of these riders is a reduction in the income the annuity pays you while you're alive. Also, the promised annuity income steam is not adjusted for inflation (unless you buy that rider as well), where an on-going investment plan may provide enough return to increase the cash flow each year as costs generally rise.

Summary: annuities may be a good financial planning tool for those who want the guaranty of a particular income stream and for those which leaving assets to heirs or having the money available for other purposes is not a priority. For others, I suggest doing what the insurance company does with your money after you annuitize and they start sending you the monthly income – invest it in a diversified portfolio, pay yourself the income and have the principal available for use at your discretion, or by your heirs.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.