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The NASDAQ Composite peaked and the air began to come out of the Tech Bubble. Bill Clinton was President. The Rams beat the Titans to win the Super Bowl and the NY Yankees beat the Mets (sorry, Rory) to win the World Series. The last original "Peanuts" comic strip appeared in newspapers one...

Tesla Motors begins trading as a public company today. Tesla makes and sells a highway-ready electric car, and has been getting lots of buzz in the press. Three things come to mind: First the numbers. Tesla's offering of 14% of its shares will raise over $200 million, giving the company a tota...

I'm taking a short break from the world of finance to introduce our company softball team: After two weeks of rainouts, the Brighton Securities softball team took the field for the first time ever Wednesday at Norton Village Park. The weather was less than cooperative, but none the less the team...

Our T.V. spots featuring advisors and their clients was selected for a Bronze Telly Award in the "Local Television Commercial" category! The Telly honors "outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest film and video productions, and groundbreaking web commercials, vi...

When you terminate employment you have a choice to make. Do you leave your employer-sponsored retirement plan (401K, 403B, 457, etc.) with your previous employer or do you move it? It might be tempting to take the money and run. However, if you "cash out" your plan you will probably lose a large...

Today's topic is disaster, Armageddon, apocalypse. Parts One, Two, and Three dealt with much more workaday risks like default. What would happen financially in the event of worldwide panic? How would you feed your family if national currencies were devalued? There is a school of thought that says...

UIT stands for Unit Investment Trust. A UIT is a packaged investment offering that purchases stocks, bonds or other securities in order to achieve a specific investment objective. The objective might be to achieve tax-free investment income (i.e.-municipal bonds), to invest in companies in a cer...

We have covered different types of bonds in Parts One and Two of this series. Today let's talk about bond mutual funds. Most people know the general description of a mutual fund: a diversified pool of investments, typically professionally managed, in which you can buy shares. When you own a fund tha...

In Part One of this series the focus was on bonds, and the bank insurance or government backing behind them that offers safety to investors. Left out of that post were state and local bonds, commonly called municipal (or muni) bonds. Like the bank CDs and federal government debt we discussed yesterd...

I am skipping a post in my "What is a Safe Investment?" series to revisit a topic I touched on in early May in a post entitled "Of Boots and Oil." I was disappointed in the comment made by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. In a comment left on our blog, one person wrote: "Your point on tone is...