Blog

I have had a couple of questions regarding "required minimum distributions" or RMD's over the past few weeks and thought I would share some answers. In the year you turn 70.5 years old you are required to begin withdrawing money from your IRA's, 401K's and other qualified retirement plans. The amou...

Cyclical industries have been a major driver of the market's recovery over the past year. It stands to reason, as cyclical companies will benefit the most from an increase in economic activity. Industrial companies are among the most cyclical. Manufacturing is a commodity-intensive process. It i...

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar may have let slip a clue the other day when speaking about the underwater oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Here is his comment to CNN: "Our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum to carry out the responsibilities that they have both un...

Today two local companies reported their earnings for the first quarter of 2010. Eastman Kodak is hailing a rise in sales and earnings when compared to the same quarter of 2009. I am always glad to hear good news out of Kodak. Too bad that this is not such good news. Digging into the report and a...

You may never need long-term care, but if you do, having a long-term care insurance policy can help protect your retirement assets from being drastically depleted over a short period of time. Many long-term care policies pay most of the costs of expensive assisted-living care, whether in nursing hom...

This is the fourth out of five columns regarding the impact of the 2010 Health Reform legislation to individuals.  As we spoke two weeks ago regarding higher Medicare taxes on high-come taxpayers, the health reform legislation comes with a price tag which is sure to impact us all either through high...

Washington and Wall Street are grappling over proposed legislation to further regulate financial firms. The financial crisis was a near-death experience for many firms (hello Merrill Lynch) and actual death for Lehman, Bear Stearns, and WaMu to name a few. Still in comas from which they may not emer...

  Amy Jewell joins the Brighton Securities team as an Administrative Assistant in our Rochester office. Most recently a substitute teacher, Amy is also a qualified assistant who brings experience to her new position at Brighton Securities. A resident of Livonia, Amy is an active member of the...

We are in the thick of first quarter corporate earnings reports and most look very good. Major banks have been making money (for a change), tech companies like IBM and Intel and industrials like Eaton are all reporting higher profits. That is all good news to investors' ears, but nothing rings as sw...

First-time home buyers can take a tax credit of as much as 10% of the purchase price, up to a maximum $8,000. "First-time" is defined as not having owned a principal residence for three years before the purchase. There is now a tax credit for repeat buyers as well as for first-time buyers. Taxpayers...