By Birgitta Wolfe, Managing Editor
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP The world of financial realities is sending “ambassadors” to those of us mired in various states of economic chaos.
And one of those ambassadors is longtime township resident Joseph Kelly, of Germantown Road.
Mr. Kelly is a certified financial planner, one of 64,000 CFPs in the country. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards recently selected 27 professionals out of that pool to serve as volunteer regional representatives, called ambassadors, to policymakers, community organizations and media.
Mr. Kelly’s territory includes New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
His duties will include educating the public on the importance of having a financial plan to meet one’s goals and promoting the ethical standards of the board and promoting the role of CFP professionals.
Reaching certifications status, Mr. Kelly explained, involves a three-year education and ethics program of college courses and a two-day, 10-hour application test, which only 50 percent of the students pass.
Mr. Kelly, 57, works for Valic Financial Advisors, of Bedminster, where he advises school districts whose teachers have retirement funds in 403B accounts. He was also the president and owner of Jay Kay Wines & Liquors on Route 206 from 1976 until 2003 when he sold the business.
”People are not putting away enough money,” he said. “Saving in this country is abysmally low.”
In 2008, the U.S. savings rate was in negative territory, and now it is just 1 percent while Japan’s is 8 percent, and the world’s is generally at 4 percent, he noted.
Another problem is people are too afraid to take risks in the stock market and put all their assets in cash, he said
Over an 80-year period, stock market equities have an 8.3 percent rate of return while cash and bonds has a 2.4 percent return. With a 3 percent annual rate of inflation, the certificate of deposit return comes out on the negative side, he explained.
”I just love this stuff,” he said, elaborating on how a lot of people who didn’t panic made a lot of money back when the stock market hit 6,500.
The point about planning was brought home by the incessant ringing of his phone for which he finally had to excuse himself so he could answer it.
On his return, he said the caller was a customer who had been too conservative and put everything into cash. And now that the market was approaching 13,000, he “wants to be in the market like yesterday.”
”I want to help people step back and look at (their financial picture) objectively, establish a goal and then plan how to achieve that goal,” said the financial advisor, who has an MBA degree in finance from Rider University.
And, with pride, he added he is a member of the Academic Hall of Fame at Bordentown Regional High School, his alma mater.
He recently contributed an article, titled “Diversifying Your Portfolio,” to the current issue of the CFP Board newsletter.
So with all this expertise, one has to ask, does he take his own advice? Does he have a plan of his own?
”Absolutely!” and he elaborates on how he was able to put his three children through the Peddie School and college without going into debt that’s 25 years of tuition. They are all successful, and they continue to take his financial advice, he said.
There is Stephanie, who has a financial degree from Villanova University and at age 28 is a vice president at Goldman Sachs.
There is Greg, who owns StreetConnect, a technology solutions firm in New York, and Jeff, who manages a solar energy company.
Not only that, Lorraine, his wife of 32 years, also takes his financial advice. When she came into some cash to invest, they discussed the options, and he guided her to a 6.8 percent return on her money fortunate for him, he implied.
Some customers are more demanding than others.

