Kodak's Apple Problem is Apple's Kodak Problem
Published March 8, 2012 7229 Views
George Eastman was attacking apples before Steve Jobs was born.
However, George grew up in apple country (I don't mean Cupertino) and must have had an appreciation for NY State's delicious varietals.
There's a very good argument that Kodak was the Apple of its day.
So, why is tod...
History Repeats (or at least rhymes)
Published March 8, 2012 6306 Views
Investors often use historical comparisons to help gauge expectations on their investments. While this is a useful practice, history is full of time periods that have little in common with one another. If we look at the returns of a balanced portfolio (60% stocks / 40% bonds) from the years 1900 thr...
Our Team is Growing!
Published March 7, 2012 6637 Views
Brighton Securities is pleased to announce that Chuck Wade has joined our expert team of Financial Advisors. Chuck brings several years of client relationship-building experience from his previous career as a Sports Reporter on 13 WHAM. He is currently pursuing his MBA at The Bittner School of Busin...
Rumors and Trust, A Lesson From Kodak
Published March 6, 2012 6521 Views
I tell a lot of people about websites like Snopes.com. For those who don't know, Snopes and sites like it provide a resource for checking out the veracity of those pesky emails about things like bacterial onions, NPR's annual imminent defunding, or the laptop you can win by forwarding an email to 8...
Did I Miss Something?
Published March 5, 2012 6401 Views
Apparently I did. Last week, while I was going about the business of business - analyzing & advising, mainly - the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 13,000 for the first time since before the financial crisis gripped the global economy back in early 2008. I was informed of the Dow crossing th...
Kodak Seeks to Reduce Retiree Health Care
Published February 27, 2012 6788 Views
Kodak has announced that it intends to seek to cut some retiree health care benefits at the omnibus hearing in its bankruptcy court proceedings on March 20, 2012. The reduction of health care benefits has been an expected result of Kodak's Ch. 11 filing. Their intention as stated in the letter below...
Apple As An Income Stock
Published February 24, 2012 7166 Views
Yesterday, Apple held its annual shareholder meeting. One of the hot topics discussed in this meeting was Apple's massive, almost $100 billion, cash reserve. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook reiterated that the tech giant is still exploring its options for putting this cash to work and that paying a...
Could You Use It In a Sentence?
Published February 24, 2012 6293 Views
The Opening Belles (and Joe)!
This past Saturday, Brighton Securities participated in the 13th Annual Wayne County Rotary Spelling Bee. Marge Geyer, Danielle Wilkins and Joe Boyd were the members of our team, The Opening Belles and Joe! This was our fourth year participating in the Spelling Bee....
And This, My Friends, Sums Up The Disaster of a Solution in Greece
Published February 23, 2012 7087 Views
Investors presumably choose fixed-income strategies in an effort to help guarantee safety in exchange for upside gains. If that safety is deemed arbitrary--if a central bank is able to subordinate other investors of that very same security--then that, my friends, is a default regardless of snazzy se...
The Fed - Minutes From FOMC
Published February 22, 2012 6382 Views
Last week the Federal Open Market Committee, the part of The Fed that acts in investment markets to execute monetary policy, released the minutes of their most recent meeting. According to Bloomberg, the participants were divided on key issues. While the Fed noted improved economic data, they are in...