B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021
BUSINESS & AG LIFE
Local fi nancial adviser honored with award
Gary Anger earns
Edward Jones
Investments’ A. F.
McKenzie Award
By CARLOS FUENTES
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Finan-
cial adviser Gary Anger of
Edward Jones Investments
in La Grande recently
earned the company’s
A. F. McKenzie Award
for outstanding sales and
eff orts in forming client
relationships.
Despite the negative
eff ects of COVID-19 on the
economy last year, Anger’s
business saw major growth.
He received the award for
surpassing $625,000 in
gross commissions, a goal
he once deemed impossible.
“I look at those numbers
and say I’ll never reach that,
and then it happens,” Anger
said. “The business is still
going extremely well. We
haven’t missed a beat.”
Anger has worked for
Edward Jones for 20 years.
He spent the fi rst few
years in San Antonio,
Texas, before moving to
La Grande to replace a
previous Edward Jones
adviser.
“I didn’t even know
where Oregon was,” Anger
said. “This offi ce
public, we had to
opened up because
mask up, there were
the previous agent
times we couldn’t
had some health
let anyone in, so we
issues. My wife
had to go outside
wanted to get out
with a clipboard and
tAnger
of (San Antonio),
paperwork and go
so that was another
sign things on the
reason to move up here.”
hood of their car or on the
Since moving to La
front porch,” Anger said.
Grande, Anger has seen
“We’ve done some Zoom.
steady growth in business
The clients have all been
every year.
very understanding.”
Even in 2020, a year in
Although Anger is the
which many businesses
only licensed adviser in
were hurt by the pan-
the offi ce, he said the com-
demic, Anger reached a
pany’s success has been
new high in gross commis-
a group eff ort since the
sions despite the obstacles
beginning.
presented by COVID-19
“Tessa Jackson is incred-
restrictions.
ible, and Melanie Dubsky,
“We had to close to the
who works part-time here,
Farm economy benefi ts
from low interest rates
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
SALEM — Eff orts to
stimulate the U.S. economy
during the COVID-19 pan-
demic pushed interest rates
to record lows in 2020.
Annualized rates on non-
real estate farm loans were
3.7%, beating out the pre-
vious annualized low of
3.8% in 2014.
In the last quarter of
2020 interest rates dipped
to 3.1%. In the fi rst quarter
of 2021, they turned up a
little bit but were still his-
torically low, said David
Widmar, co-founder of
Agricultural Economic
Insights.
The last few years
have seen a positive farm
economy pushing interest
rates lower.
“There’s a lot of uncer-
tainty in the macro
economy, but it’s largely
positive,” he said.
Low interest rates have
benefi ted the farm economy
for nearly a decade.
“The most obvious way
people think about low
interest rates is it costs less
to borrow money,” Widmar
said.
Low interest rates with
longer repayment terms
made the cost of servicing
debt historically low in
2020, he said.
Low interest rates also
impact the farm economy
by increasing the value of
capital investments such as
farmland.
“Lower interest rates
prop up those asset values,”
he said.
When interest rates are
low, buyers are willing to
pay more for a certain asset.
For example, investors will
pay more for an asset at a
1% interest rate than they
will at a 10% interest rate.
Farm profi ts and lower
interest rates make pur-
chases of farmland more
attractive. As long as lower
interest rates continue,
farmland values will con-
tinue to increase. That cre-
ates a lot of enthusiasm.
Widmer said two things
to keep an eye on are
interest rates and farm
profi ts.
Farmers’ costs of bor-
rowing money got lower in
2020 due to a combination
of low interest rates and
higher profi tability, which
improved the creditworthi-
ness of the farm economy,
he said, adding, “Looking
ahead, it’s important to
watch what’s going on at
the Federal Reserve.”
The agency has been
saying it doesn’t expect to
increase interest rates until
2022 with sort of a gradual
increase over the next few
years, but given the cur-
rent low interest rate, any
adjustment could be sub-
stantial — for example, a
return to 5% would be a big
shock, he said.
The economy is leaving
the uncharted territory
of the pandemic to a new
unknown — no one’s sure
what’s ahead for economic
growth, unemployment
and infl ation.vIf it’s a slug-
gish economy, interest rates
might not rise as fast as the
Federal Reserve expects.
On the other hand, if the
economy recovers quicker
and stronger than expected,
the Federal Reserve cold
raise interest rates sooner
than 2022.
PERS board lowers investment
earnings assumption
BY TED SICKINGER
The Oregonian
SALEM — The
board of Oregon’s Public
Employees Retirement
System voted unanimously
Friday, July 23, to reduce
its long-term assump-
tion about earnings on the
pension system’s invest-
ment portfolio, a decision
that will increase required
contributions to the fund
from public employers
and reduce benefi ts for a
number of employees who
have yet to retire.
The board’s rate deci-
sion occurs every two
years and is inherently
political, as even small
reductions can have major
budget impacts on munic-
ipalities, school districts
and state government in
order to meet pledged pen-
sion payments for retirees.
On the other hand,
leaving the assumption
too high underfunds the
system over the long run
as it assumes more of the
money to cover benefi ts
will come from invest-
ment earnings rather than
employer contributions.
In part heeding the
strong suggestions of
investment consultants,
the board cut the expected
annual rate of return from
the state’s pension fund
from 7.2% to 6.9%.
The reduction approved
July 23, coupled with
a slight increase in the
infl ation assumption for
public employee wages
that the board adopted,
would increase system-
wide contributions for
the 900 or so public
employers who participate
in the system by 2.7%
of payroll, or about $715
million, over the two-year
budget cycle that begins
in July 2023.
But the actual impact
to employers could be far
less if the pension fund
continues to yield big
investment wins. Year to
date, the system’s returns
are about 11%, beating
assumptions. If that holds
until year end, it would
off set about half the pro-
jected rate increase.
Gov. Kate Brown and
state lawmakers in recent
years have done their best
to limit increases in gov-
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ernment employers’ pen-
sion contributions stem-
ming from the need to pay
back the system’s $24.3
billion funding defi cit. In
2019, for instance, they
passed controversial legis-
lation to extend the repay-
ment period for that defi cit
by eight to 10 years to
lighten public employers’
pension load.
That move was politi-
cally expedient to protect
public budgets and ser-
vices, but is the kind of
kick-the-can maneuver
that leaves the system
deeply underfunded even
as its investment portfolio
has been generating huge
gains during a 12-year bull
market.
For years, meanwhile,
the pension board has been
under pressure to reduce
what many consider to be
overly optimistic return
assumptions that leave
employers off the hook
for properly funding their
employees’ and retirees’
benefi ts. It has slowly
reduced the rate over the
last decade, but not as
aggressively as some think
necessary.
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equally incredible,” he said.
“Tessa, she’s been with me
since the beginning. She’s
helped me grow all this.
I’m really hoping to get her
licensed, because someone
has to take over when I
retire.”
Anger’s ability to com-
municate clearly and pas-
sionately with clients has
helped him succeed in La
Grande, according to Ste-
phen Harris, tax preparer
with Eastern Oregon Tax
Service, which has worked
extensively with Anger.
“He’s easy to work with,
he’s really friendly and he
explains things so that you
can understand it,” Harris
said. “He understands
people and where they’re at
in their life, so he can help
them with their fi nances
and where to put their
money.”
Since moving to
La Grande, Anger said
that he and his family have
fallen in love with the area.
He especially credits the
community with helping his
business stay strong, even
through a pandemic.
“The people are
friendly. It’s a commu-
nity,” Anger said. “The
beauty of the countryside
as well, there’s so much to
see and so many places to
go. And it doesn’t take me
45 minutes to go 3 miles
because of traffi c.”
States to workers: Get your
vaccine or face weekly tests
BY PHILIP MARCELO
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES —
California and New York
City announced Monday,
July 26, that they would
require all government
employees to get the
coronavirus vaccine or
face weekly COVID-19
testing, and the Depart-
ment of Veterans Aff airs
became the fi rst major
federal agency to require
health care workers to
receive the shot.
Meanwhile, in a pos-
sible sign that increas-
ingly dire health warn-
ings are getting through
to more Americans, vac-
cination rates began to
creep up again, off ering
hope that the nation could
yet break free of the coro-
navirus if people who
have been reluctant to
receive the shot are fi nally
inoculated.
In New York City,
Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced that all
municipal workers —
including teachers and
police offi cers — will
be required to get vacci-
nated by mid-September
or face weekly COVID-19
testing, making the
city one of the largest
employers in the U.S. to
take such action.
California said it will
require proof of vaccina-
tion or weekly testing for
Now Open for Dine In
all state workers and mil-
lions of public- and pri-
vate-sector health care
employees starting next
month.
The VA’s move came
on a day when nearly
60 leading medical and
health care organizations
issued a call through the
American Medical Asso-
ciation for health care
facilities to require their
workers to get vaccinated.
It was unclear
what would happen to
employees who refuse
to comply. Some of the
unions representing New
York municipal workers
said the city could not
impose the requirement
without negotiations.
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