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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...

For the past couple of months I have blogged about 'starting early' and 'investing in your 20's and 30's.' For those whose 20's and 30's have passed them by, that may not be particularly helpful, especially if they don't have substantial retirement savings to speak of. While it is true that the earl...

This is a catch-phrase that we have all heard. It is usually associated with a particular brand of footwear. Today we are going to apply it to your life insurance! "Just Do It" - arrange for a life insurance audit TODAY. You may reap significant benefits. Many of us have old life insurance poli...

  Coryn joins Brighton Securities as Human Resources Administrator. With 10 years of experience in the Human Resources field, we're pleased to welcome her to our management team. Coryn will be working part-time out of the Rochester office to help make Brighton Securities an even better place to w...

Last week's fraud indictment of Goldman Sachs was validation for that firm's critics but left some wondering what exactly Goldman did wrong. After all, defenders of Goldman and its ilk point out, brokerage firms need to be able to be on both sides of transactions in order to serve their customers. O...

Random thoughts on the end of Tax Season for 2010: How long must you keep your tax records? Generally you should retain your tax records for three years from date of filing. So if you filed your 2009 return yesterday, you should retain access to a copy until April 15, 2013. Because the period is...