SHORT INTERESTS: TIPS, TRENDS, OBSERVATIONS

When you spend, it honks

As if car alarms hadn’t taken noise pollution to a new level: Now we have the “beeping wallet,” a newfangled billfold that emits a beeping noise after a credit card is removed. The beep continues every 20 seconds until the credit card is returned to the wallet.

The device, the brainchild of Westlake Village, Calif., entrepreneur David Kopel, is aimed at reminding folks not to forget their credit cards — a worthy goal, no doubt. But if it catches on, it may have the equally positive result of getting department-store clerks to hustle a little more just to get those darned beeping wallets to shut up.

Not to mention waiters and waitresses. Restaurant ambience could take on a whole new meaning.

Stock-ing up on risk

Many workers loading up on company stock as part of their company’s compensation program are clueless. A recent study conducted by the International Association for Financial Planning in Atlanta found that a majority (66%) of employees who get company stock through programs like stock option, 401(k) or stock bonus plans don’t understand the risks they are taking.

G. Joseph Votava Jr., president of the association and a financial planner with the Rochester, N.Y.-based law firm Nixon Hargrave Devans & Doyle, says this ignorance keeps many participants from diversifying their investments. Mr. Votava says it’s not that uncommon for participants to have most of their investable assets tied up in these programs.

“They simply have too many eggs in one basket,” says Mr. Votava. “When the company is going north, that’s great, but if it goes down for four or five years their investment is eroded.”

He views the survey as an opportunity for brokers and planners to help investors understand these programs. Indeed, more than four out of every five advisers surveyed said most participants in these plans don’t understand key issues related to their investments, such as the alternative minimum tax, estate planning and the tax implications of receiving and executing options and insider trading issues.

Call it Generation $

Say goodbye to the spendthrifts of yesteryear. Members of Generations X and Y are willing to forgo vacations and fancy dinners to achieve their long-term goals.

A survey conducted for Lincoln Financial Group and Money magazine by Roper Starch Worldwide shows 64% of Americans 18 to 34 are saving for retirement and the average starting age is 23. By contrast, more than one-third of respondents 65 or older said they didn’t begin saving until after age 40; the average age was 36.

Not surprisingly, 62% of those in the 18-to-34 set agree with the statement: “One of my biggest goals in life is having a lot of money,” compared with 27% of those 65 or older.

The national telephone survey took place in January, with 1,007 respondents, including 774 who were employed full-time and 233 who were retired. While 79% of retirees said they were financially “comfortable,” others may not have the same fate. Among those employed full-time, 27% haven’t yet begun saving for retirement. In households where income is less than $30,000, the average monthly savings is $200, of which $50 is put aside for the golden years.