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About Gfw
My Family...
First, my proudest accomplishment is that I have been married to the same 'very good friend' for 39+ years - thanks Mollie, it required a lot of patience on your part. Mollie is a CPA currently operating as an Accountant at the 'Earthworm (Caterpillar) Tractor Company' - she deals primarily with the controls required to comply with Sarbanes Oxley.
In addition, I have two wonderful children that have both graduated from college. In 2004, my son received his master's degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management changed carrers (computers & consulting to finance) and is off to a geat start. My daughter is an 8th grade elementary school teacher (Reading/English) in the KIPP system - she really loves kids and they return the feelings.
I am extremely proud of both - and both are contributing to society - not taking from it. Could you ask for more?
My Experience...
I entered the insurance business in June, 1968 after graduating from the University of North Dakota. After a 2 year military leave of absence (thanks to Uncle Sam), I was relocated in 1970 to Armonk, New York as a Group Sales Representative. In 1976, I learned a little about pensions and became the Pension Sales Manager operating out of Southfield, MI. In 1978, I transitioned to the individual side of the insurance business as an agent and pension consultant. In 1981, I moved to Illinois where I became (and still operate) as the Director of Advanced Marketing and Pensions for a Midwest insurance
company.
During my 35+ years in the insurance industry, from the American College I earned both the the Chartered Life Underwriter [CLU] designation in 1975 and the Chartered Financial Consultant [ChFC] designation in 1982. I also earned the Certified Pension Consultant (CPC)designation from the American Society of Pension Actuaries in 1979. Until I voluntarily let them go, I also held the Series 6/63/65 licenses with the National Association of Securities Dealers [NASD].
And then came Computers...
In the late 60's when I went to school, you went more to have fun than to learn - I like to say that 'I had a major in social events and a minor in education'.
In those times, I doubt if more than one or two people where I was located (North Dakota) knew what a computer was, much less actually operated one - and the PC was still about 15 years from it's birth. I acquired my 1st computer (TRS80, Model-I) in 1980. My love affair with the computer began and the rest is history.
Today...
Today most of my time is spent playing with my toy computers and the web. I am the Webmaster at several different web sites. I also design, write and
implement a variety of end user software programs for the Windows operating system ranging from insurance product proposal programs (life, annuity, DI, etc.) - to financial planning programs and programs for calculations of minimum distributions and 72(t) distributions. My insurance/investment background allows me to convert my industry knowledge and experience to user friendly software programs.
With a background in C, C++ and MFC, I currently program mostly in C#.
My websites were built using Microsoft's Vs.Net and the C# language. The sites are powered by Windows 2003 Server and the back end data base is MS SQL 2005 with ADO/SQL as the access language.
Most fun program designed and constructed...
A web based insurance quoting system. Start with an Asp.Net web application that gathers the data and stores in in an SQL database. After storing the data, it executes a C# program that 1) retrieves the data from the database; 2) does all the calculations; 3) calls a PDF print driver to format the reports; and 4) sends the reports to the insurance agent by email. It then returns control to the web app that also creates a hyperlink to the PDF file for immediate viewing by the agent - all in about one second. The reports are exact duplicates of the reports generated by the regular desktop system, graphics and all! The online insurance illustrations include life, disability and annuities.
Technologies used include Windows Forms, Web Forms and Web Services.
My Other Hobbies...
My other hobbies include sailing, taking pictures with my digital camera and building web sites like this one. More recently, we spend a lot of time at our place in downtown Chicago - what a great city! All other thing being equal we'll move to Chicago full time in January 2009.
A few of my personal sites...
2002 Was a Very Good Year...
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07/01/2002
- 72t on the Net was featured in Ed Slott's IRA Advisor, "Your 72(t)
Questions Answered, Gfw as Guest IRA Expert - repeat appearance in August
2004.
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07/28/2002
- Gfw quoted in Wall Street Journal - "Be Careful When Establishing A Plan for
IRA Withdrawals" by GLENN RUFFENACH.
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10/21/2002
- Gfw quoted in Detroit Free Press - "Rule tries to ease nest egg dipping" by
SUSAN TOMPOR. Online version can be found
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12/01/2002 - Gfw quoted in Baltimore Sun - "IRS help may be
too much for younger retirees to bear" by EILEEN AMBROSE.
My Future Plans...
Retirement is still planned for January 2009 which means that I will have a few decisions to make including either starting a new business or perhaps just doing some independant consulting work. Life is Good!
Thanks for visiting!
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Tools and
Information
YOU CAN USE!
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