Blog

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...

Euphoria & Hysteria Seems nearly every day the market rises or falls on whether Europe is going broke or about to be saved. Trying to invest based on news out of Europe makes about as much sense as buying or selling based on what color necktie Nicholas Sarkozy is wearing. Despite all the hoopla,...

Last Saturday our firm came together for our annual holiday party. This year, we enjoyed dinner and jazz at The Inn on Broadway and, as always, celebrated career milestones and presented awards and promotions. Below is a summary of all the good news we have to share! First of all, congratulations t...

Tuesday, after the market closed, First Niagara Financial announced that they will issue $450 million of new common stock plus an additional $350 million of preferred stock and $300 million of bonds, to finance the acquisition of branches from HSBC. The additional shares represent nearly 20% more th...