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If you are one of my clients, you've heard that statement over and over again. I say it because the logic behind our central bank and apparently the ECB is just that. I have truly grown weary of the nonsensical so-called "solutions" to the problems that ail both the US and European economies. Con...

Last week we said goodbye to 2011, a year with plenty of sturm und drang but, at the end, little net change. At the closing bell last Friday it was a mixed bag of results for US markets. Here are the final numbers for the year: Dow Jones Industrial Average: +5.53% (DJIA for short) Standard & P...

We're 10 days past the Winter Solstice and the days are getting longer. Before we know it, summer will be here - not soon enough for my taste. As we bid goodbye to 2011 there were several big events this year of note to investors: The US Treasury was downgraded to AA from AAA by Standard & Poors....

In this industry, benchmarking is the standard measurement for performance. A portfolio manager's success is gauged on how his or her fund faired compared to an appropriate index. A stock fund might be measured against the S&P 500 for instance. This is a mechanism that demonstrates how much value a...

Here at Brighton Securities, we try to keep our interactions with clients as painless as possible. But every now and then, we want them to Yelp! For the uninitiated, Yelp! is a popular business review site that started in San Francisco and now covers local business in cities around the world . Cust...

Latest news out of the Big Yellow Box is that two members of Kodak's Board of Directors have resigned. According to a company spokesman, the two gave no reason for their resignations. But no reason given doesn't mean that no reason exists. That leaves us with just the tea leaves to read, to try and...

This coming Saturday is New Year's Eve. But for most financial and tax purposes, Friday this week is the end of the year, and your last chance to get a little financial "buttoning up" done. If you plan to deduct certain expenditures on your Schedule A for 2011, you need to make the payment this we...

On a daily basis, we are bombarded with headlines from the mainstream media. Whether its problems in the Euro-Zone, the collapse of MF Global, persistent unemployment, "stagflation" or the nation's enormous amount of debt, there is plenty of negative sentiment out there. What does the market say...

An interesting read in this morning's Wall Street Journal is "Inside Capitol, Investor Access Yields Rich Tips." The story outlines how a New York based brokerage firm escorts clients(hedge fund managers) around Capitol Hill to meetings with congressmen. I find it outrageous that these public ser...

The next time you file your tax return, make an estimated tax payment, or wince at the withholdings from your paycheck, keep in mind that at least some of your tax dollars go toward protecting us all from financial crime and making our markets freer, fairer, and more open. Yup, that's the mission of...