Covington Investment Advisors, Inc. Blog

 IDENTITY THEFT 101 “But he that filches from me my good name/Robs me of that which not enriches him/And makes me poor indeed.” -Shakespeare, Othello, act iii. Sc. 3.                                            What is Identity Theft? Identity Theft and Identity Fraud are defined as terms used “to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain” (www.justice.gov, 2015). Identity Theft can be something as little as unauthorized persons taking funds out of your bank account or in worst cases taking over your identity altogether and running up debts, committing crimes, etc. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average number of Americans who fall victim to identity fraud is 11.5 million annually and the average financial loss is $5,000. Before Congress created the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998, identity...

  Why Not Return to Glass-Steagall?               Paul Volcker and the Volcker Alliance, a think tank headed by the former Federal Reserve Bank chairman to restore trust and effectiveness in government (www.volckeralliance.org, 2015), recently released a research report titled “Reshaping the Financial Regulatory System” that creates a framework for more regulatory reform of the financial watchdogs.  It might work, it might not.  But it begs the question, why not scrap all of the attempts to rebuild the protections afforded by the Glass-Steagall Act and just reinstate that law without all of the convoluted machinations of Congress?  Financial downfalls can happen without the help of banks.  There was the very deep depression of 1920-21 that was more the result of the end of the First World War.  Raging inflation was as much to blame for the Carter Era Malaise as much as government policy and not as much banking mischief.  However one...

  Some Thoughts on Computer Security By: Daniel P. Messmer       I taught evening computer courses for adults for several years.  In the introductory courses I would always ask these future technicians what the most valuable part of the computer was.  The answers would range through the various hardware parts but rarely would someone get the answer right away: THE DATA.  The information stored on a computer cannot be purchased in a store or ordered online.  Well, not legally anyway. And this data is far more valuable than the sum of the electronic parts of a computer.  In this time of weekly news stories of data breaches and computer hacks we should take a look at the safety of this important and valuable part of our computers.   There are the obvious items: a good antivirus program and a good antispyware program.  These two items can often be handled...

  The Need for an Independent Federal Reserve Bank (Or a Perfect Federal Reserve Bank Cannot Be Taylor Made)   Patrick R. Wallace Daniel P. Messmer   If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.                                       -Milton Friedman   A Call to Regulate the FED             There are two current and different calls for regulation of the Federal Reserve Bank.  One is that more oversight is required from Congress.  Senator Rand Paul is leading this charge.  Unfortunately for Senator Paul, the Supreme Court has already ruled that the Federal Reserve among other entities is independent.  So while having to answer with audits to show no wrong doing, fiscal responsibility, etc. the board of the FED will act as it sees fit to best handle the economy.  Another movement is out there that the FED should be made to...

  Welcome and Happy New Year!       As part of an ongoing effort to provide best-in-class service, we are pleased to reveal our new website. Our new website, aside from being aesthetically pleasing, is more agile, interactive, and is more reflective of Covington and our core values.       One of our main goals we wanted to achieve when designing the new site was to help our clients and potential clients get to know us better and get a feel for who we are as a company, the services we provide, and offer insights to our philosophy through our new Blog.       In the coming months, our goal is to build out the Blog to provide insight and helpful information.       Stay tuned…