To help our shareholders understand the impact of the slowing economy on the Women's Equity Fund, we have asked our portfolio manager, Bill Apfel, to discuss his strategy and outlook in this newsletter. For individual investors, the market downturn reminds us that equity investments are indeed for the long-term. One of the most valuable benefits of long-term investing is to build sufficient savings for retirement. Women in particular are at greater risk of poverty in retirement or after divorce.
Many women work part-time or put careers on hold to raise a family or take care of a sick parent.
In the process, they reduce their lifetime earnings and savings. Bipartisan legislation to encourage retirement savings and allow people 50 and older to increase their payments to retirement plans to make up for years when they were not working was recently introduced by Ohio Representative Rob Portman and Maryland Representative Benjamin Cardin. We encourage our shareholders to voice their support for this legislation with their representatives in Congress. Another important issue being considered by Congress is protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. In our last newsletter, we told you about our joining with other concerned investors to sponsor a shareholder resolution with BP Amoco, one of the large oil companies that has an interest in oil exploration in the Arctic.