Charlotte Planning Retirement

Black Hills Corporation Reports Third Quarter 2007 Results, Announces Increase in the Quarterly Dividend and Provides 2008 Earnings Guidance

For the three months ended September 30, 2007, net income was $17.5 million, or $0.46 per share, compared to $22.3 million, or $0.66 per share for the same period ended September 30, 2006. Income from continuing operations for the three months ended September 30, 2007 was $17.6 million, or $0.46 per share, compared to $22.2 million, or $0.66 per share, reported for the same period in 2006. For the nine months ended September 30, 2007, net income was $75.0 million, or $2.02 per share, compared to $60.2 million, or $1.80 per share for the same period ended September 30, 2006.

Chat transcript with Roy Komack

Roy Komack founded and serves as president of the Family Financial Architects, Inc in Natick. He received his MBA from Boston University and is a Life Member of the American Association of Individual Investors and NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor.

Here is the transcript from Oct. 2, 2006, of Komack answering Boston.com readers' questions about personal finance and investment. .

Cheaper electricity touted

Now, in hopes of prompting legislators to move on the measure, the Lexington Electric Utility Ad-hoc Committee is touting its review of electricity costs at 12 area high schools from July 2006 through June 2007, which found that schools served by a municipal electric company, or muni, paid about half of the average 18 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity that those served by NStar were charged. NStar is an investor-owned utility.

The study included a review of electricity costs at public high schools in the Acton-Boxborough, Belmont, Brookline, Concord-Carlisle, Lexington, Lincoln-Sudbury, Newton (Newton North and Newton South), Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, and Winchester districts.

Tips for making a clean fiscal break during a divorce

Going through a divorce can make you an emotional wreck. But you don't have to be a complete financial wreck as well.

First, build a down payment

Dear Liz: I'd like to buy my first house soon, but real estate is expensive where I live and condominiums seem more affordable. What is your take on owning a condo versus a house? Because I will have to do 100% financing, I will have to pay $250 a month in private mortgage insurance, which will result in a payment of about $2,450 a month for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, which seems like a lot. I was advised that I could decrease my tax withholding, because the mortgage interest will be deductible, and that will make the payment seem less huge.

Answer: Wait a bit and build a down payment.

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NBH posts fiscal gains

Palmisano, CEO of NBH, the parent company of North Adams Regional Hospital, said the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2007, showed a surplus of $325,000 on $78.4 million in total revenue.

"We had an excellent year last year," Palmisano said. "But we're not out of the woods yet. To make a profit of $300,000 in an $80 million budget is nothing. So I don't mean to imply that the turnaround is complete."

He said that a $2 million essential community provider grant from the state helped get the budget back in the black, and that he hopes to get the institution to the point where that grant is no longer a part of the profit-and-loss formula.

State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, said the grant did exactly what it was designed to do: "Put them over the top and help them to have a positive year."

Downing credited Palmisano with doing "a tremendous job" getting the entire medical community involved in the turnaround.