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Last word from the Congressional "Supercommittee" was that the august body of 12 members of Congress had failed to reach an agreement on their required task: finding a way to reduce the Federal budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. Let's look at that number in digits rather than words: $1,200,00...

Investors have plenty to worry about lately, though that is nothing new. They were worried about Thai banks in 2004, and the Indonesian elections a dozen years back. Not all investors, certainly, but plenty of them, and there always seems to be some new thing to worry about, helpfully served up dail...

We are the 91% who are employed (92.9% in Rochester).We are the 66.9% who own homes and the 25.9% who rent.We are the 94.1% of Americans paying their mortgage on time.We are the 88.4% who are staying put.We are the 53% who pay income taxes. So who are the 1%? You'll find CEOs of the biggest banks on...

In recent years many of our income tax deductions have been temporary breaks with a shelf life of a couple of years. Over the next 14 months dozens of tax breaks will be expiring. Some may be extended and others will probably disappear. From year to year you cannot assume that the same benefits wi...

Conventional wisdom would tell us that if we did not pay for an expense, we certainly could not deduct it on our tax return. Seems like there are always exceptions to the rules and the tax world is no different. Medical expenses, property taxes and points paid on a mortgage can all be paid by some...

Brighton Securities has been focused on growth; we're renovating our Brighton office to add 30% more space and even added jobs throughout the recession. Part of that strategy has been to recruit professionals in other industries and coach them to be great advisors. Yesterday, The Brighton Pitt...

In Late September Bank of America announced they would levy a $5 monthly fee for certain debit card users. A month later, they dropped that idea after much huffing and puffing by the media. It seems some consumers were upset to have to pay more, and around 60,000 of them pledged on Facebook to chang...

Brighton Securities was quoted yesterday in the Christian Science Monitor. The article discusses the impact of bank transfer day last weekend. George has been discussing the movement with Rochesterians on his twitter feed (@gtconboy)where you can join him with your questions or observations.   Alexa...

Just when you thought your tax return could not get any more complex... Guess what? Reporting your capital gains and losses is going to get a lot more complicated. You may be filling out up to four forms, a schedule D plus up to three Form 8949's. New basis reporting rules went into effect this y...

As I had mentioned in a previous blog post Social Security benefits will be going up 3.6% in 2012, the first hike in two years. Here are some other changes for 2012: The Social Security wage base will jump to $110,100 (a $3,300 increase). In 2011 the Social Security tax rate on employees was lower...