LOUISE BOLGER | SUN
Cindy Tutterow's cakes, pies, cookies and other confections are
available on Pine Avenue in Anna Maria.
BY LOUISE BOLGER |
SUN STAFF WRITER
Everyone of a certain age remembers Cheers, the local hang out bar in the popular television show where “everyone knows your name.” Bradenton may not be Boston, but the welcome will be the same at the Cortez Clam Factory on Cortez Road.
Randy Ellis, Dave Sadler and John Medico, co-owners of the Cortez Clam Factory, had no idea that almost six years after they opened their bar/restaurant they would have overflow crowds almost every night. The owners like to describe their establishment as a “five star dive bar” – kind of an oxymoron, which is exactly the point.
The inside of the Clam Factory or The Clam, as locals call it, is open and rustic with natural wood walls and recently installed hard wood floors. And speaking of recently, in mid-October The Clam went to a no-smoking policy, so if you haven’t been there in a while, you’re in for a nice surprise. There is a combination of regular tables, high top tables and, of course, lots of seating at the two bars. There is no hostess, so just come on in and seat yourself. There are outside tables, a tiki hut on the side and plenty of parking.
The choice of food at The Clam may also be a surprise with a variety of selections on different nights like Monday’s sushi, Wednesday’s lobster and Friday’s fish fry. One of the bars also is a raw bar where the clams and oysters are shucked right in front of you and the peel and eat shrimp are chilled.
The Clam offers regular entrée selections like lobster and shrimp pasta and pork osso buco Marsala, as well as grilled specialties ranging from a mahi mahi sandwich, fish tacos and cheeseburgers. The Clam has a large smoker where it turns out ribs, pulled pork, pastrami and other barbecue favorites. Appetizers and soups are also on the menu, including calamari, Buffalo wings and New England clam chowder.
Sunday’s NFL ticket plays on multiple TV screens, as well as a giant pull down screen, and food specials such as 50 cent wings are available. The Clam features entertainment every night, which includes some of the best professional musicians in the area starting around 6 p.m., but the highlight of the week is Tuesday night’s Clam Jam featuring Buster Cole, and there is never a cover charge.
The trio of partners, all of whom work actively at The Clam, have years of experience in the food industry ranging from Marina Jack’s, where Ellis was the general manager, to other high end venues in Hawaii and Nantucket. Randy Ellis says the Cortez Clam Factory is a casual honky-tonk place where everyone is friendly and wants to have a good time.
And those having a good time at The Clam are mostly folks of a certain age who definitely remember “Cheers.” Randy Ellis says it’s like a club – a sort of Hard Rock for retirees, with a good number of younger patrons all looking for good quality food and affordable drinks. The Cortez Clam Factory – close to the fishing village, close to the beach and in a world all its own.
Cortez Clam Factory
10104 Cortez Road W.,
Bradenton
941-798-9898
Facebook/Cortez Clam Factory
www.clamfactory.com
8 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day
Food served till midnight Sunday through Thursday and
1 a.m. Friday and Saturday
Happy hour: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
All major credit cards
accepted
No smoking
Take out available
Retirement planning
Investment Corner By Tom
Breiter
In retirement planning today, researchers and investors typically consider the accumulation and distribution phases separately. Much of modern retirement planning depends on what is known as the distribution rate in retirement, which is the percentage of your assets withdrawn as income each year. This rate is important to compute how much wealth you need to accumulate before you retire. Once you know how much you need to save in total, it is possible to work backwards and determine the approximate savings rate you’ll need during your accumulation phase. This rate is often known as the safe savings rate.
RETHINKING RETIREMENT PLANNING
You’ve likely heard of the 4 percent rule, which serves as a guideline for a sustainable rate of spending during a 30-year retirement. However, rather than isolating the accumulation and distribution phases, what if you were to link these two phases together and view them as an integrated whole. Targeting a savings rate during your working years and associating it with a planned distribution rate in retirement may create the most comprehensive plan. The first step is to estimate the withdrawals you’ll need to pay for your planned retirement expenses after taking all retirement income sources, including Social Security, into consideration.
SOLVING FOR X
Let’s say you make $100,000 today and want to withdraw an inflation-adjusted 50 percent of your salary from your portfolio (a 60/40 mix of stocks and bonds) each year for a 30-year retirement. Your goal is to figure out the savings rate that will allow you to finance your anticipated retirement expenses. Adhering to that savings rate throughout your career should help you meet your expected retirement expenses, regardless of the withdrawal rate you use when planning.
Your required savings and withdrawal rates depend heavily on the return of your investments. If we review data between 1926 and today, there has been a lot of volatility in the maximum withdrawal rates that are sustainable, ranging between 4 to 10 percent depending on the returns offered in the markets after you retire. We can also calculate sustainable savings rates based on the market cycle, with the results ranging from 10 to 38 percent.
Over time an average savings rate of 16 percent provides a high probability of success. In other words, saving 16 percent of your income during a working lifetime will help you accumulate enough capital so that when the 4 percent rule is applied in retirement you will have a similar lifestyle to your pre-retirement years.
IS THIS THE RIGHT AMOUNT FOR ME?
There is no guaranteed way to accurately forecast your retirement needs, as you can’t know for sure what the future holds, what your circumstances will be down the road and how many years your retirement will be. However, historical data and research can provide a strong benchmark to follow. Aiming to save 16 percent of your annual salary is a great place to start if you’re early in your career and just getting started with your retirement planning.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
As always, having a plan in place for retirement savings and other goals is a great idea. For many, working with a qualified financial professional to determine an appropriate savings and withdrawal rate that aligns with your specific situation and goals is a good idea.
Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing. Visit www.breitercapital.com.
