The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Vol. 9 No. 30 - April 15, 2009

BUSINESS

Trust your pet to beach vet

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story

SUN PHOTO/LOUISE BOLGER
Dr. Luke Berglund of Beach Veterinary Clinic.

The lives of humans would be so much easier if animals could talk. Not only could they inspire us with their bias free view of the world, but they could also let us know where it hurts when they’re not feeling well. Until the average human learns the language of animals, there are veterinarians who can thankfully translate our pets’ needs and wants.

For more than 15 years the Beach Veterinary Clinic, located in the historic Cortez fishing village just off Cortez Road, has been helping our beloved pets. In January 2006, Dr. Luke Berglund purchased the well established practice.

Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Berglund loved animals but hated winters. After graduating from Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine he and his wife, Amanda, decided to seek the Florida sunshine and relocated to Sarasota, where he worked for other veterinary clinics until he had the opportunity to purchase the Beach Veterinary Clinic. He and his young family, two little daughters Madelyn and Grace, are now well entrenched in the Florida lifestyle and are active in the local community.

In addition to Berglund, The Beach Veterinary Clinic also has Dr. Crit Holland available to help with your pet’s needs and a large staff of assistants and technicians who have been with the clinic for many years. They offer all standard veterinary services, including general surgeries, boarding, grooming as well as products to purchase like heart worm and anti-flea treatments, shampoo and quality food. He has already changed the look of the clinic and plans on continuing to update the building as well as adding a new surgery suite and Web site to be on line shortly.

Berglund takes pride in his policy of trying not to turn anyone away and allowing time in his schedule for emergencies and client’s work schedules. He says his job is to help you make the right decision when it comes to your pet’s health, a decision that is sometimes not easy to make.

In what’s left of his spare time, Berglund volunteers to perform cat and dog neutering for non-profit adoption and rescue groups in the area, and sits on the board of animal services for Manatee County. You can also listen to Berglund answer animal related questions at 1280 AM radio on Sundays at 3 p.m in the appropriately named show, "Pet Talk." Not to mention finding time to be a judge at last year’s Dog Costume Contest, sponsored by The Sun.

Berglund may not be Dr. Dolittle, but he does have a degree in advanced animal speak. So the next time your little four legged friend can’t tell you where it hurts, get over to the Beach Veterinary Clinic where they specialize in the language and love of animals.

Beach Veterinary Clinic

4404 124 St., Cortez
941-792-2838

Monday-Friday: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 7:30 a.m. to noon
MasterCard, Visa, American Express

Anna Maria Island Sun News Story
Stocks stage rally – worst may be over

Investment Corner

After a terrible 2008, major stock indexes continued their declines for the first two months of 2009, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average went below 7000. Then, abruptly, just as most were predicting a decline for the Dow to below 5000 a four week rally has ensued taking the Dow back to the 8000 level.

What does this mean for investors and for the economy? With the admission that my crystal ball isn’t any clearer than anyone else’s with regard to short-term news and market action, I think we may look back and say that Mr. Stock Market once again tricked the masses a little and may be showing us that the world as we know it is not about to end.

We should keep in mind that the Dow is still down over 10 percent in 2009 (as of this writing on April 3) from the first trading day in January, so it’s not like the average investor is back to feeling great again. The NASDAQ Index is slightly positive for the year, but again no big profits unless you were putting a lot of money into the market back in the first week of March. Few we know were doing that.

The big questions facing investors now are: Will this latest upturn last? Has the bear market ended and a new bull market begun? It is easy to get lost in all the terminology and opinions. It is my belief that someone considering putting investment capital into equities and some of the great opportunities that exist in corporate bonds should consider the following:

1. Recessions end. Every single one before this one has, and there is no basis for believing this one won’t. The stock market has a history, in every single recession of the last 100 years, of rising substantially before the recession is officially over.

2. Considering #1 above, perhaps this latest significant rally is a sign that the current recession is closer to the end than the beginning. Only hindsight will tell for sure, but with some economic data recently reported showing a few rays of sunshine, I’m gaining hope that this is the case.

3. It is normal after a 20 + percent rise in the stock market to have corrections and pullbacks. Those who invest today should not panic or be dismayed to see the market’s rally stall and perhaps pull back before the next leg up begins. Then again, this is starting to feel a little like 1982 to me. The initial burst in August of that year surprised everyone, and the market just kept edging up for many months with no pullbacks to buy in on.

The message – don’t try to be fancy. Invest today for where you think the market will be three to five years from now. As I mentioned in a previous article a couple months ago, after 10 to 12 year periods of time where the stock market provided little or no return (like the last 10 years), average returns in the next decade are way above average, on the order of about 17 percent per year (source: www.haysmarketfocus.com – a subscription based research service).

The research effort at my firm is revealing what we consider to be some very healthy signs. The number of stocks making new 52-week low prices has shrunk to an insignificant level, and there have been many more stocks advancing in price than declining. These are signs that the recent rally has some quality behind it, and that has been a characteristic of the rallies which started most other new bull markets. Of course, there can be no guarantees, so make sure to use a common sense allocation for your investment plan.

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.


AMISUN ~ The Island's Award-Winning Newspaper