“Merrill Lynch, with Wal-Mart’s blessing, was choosing mutual funds based on payments that the funds would make to Merrill Lynch,” says Braden attorney Derek Loeser of Keller Rohrback in Seattle, Wash. “This explains the anomaly of a $10 billion plan ending up with off-the-shelf retail funds that just so happen to share revenue.” Forbes magazine [...]

Businesses and individuals making 2009 contributions to charity should keep in mind several important tax law provisions that have taken effect in recent years. Some of these changes include the following… IR-2009-114, Dec. 8, 2009 WASHINGTON — Individuals and businesses making contributions to charity should keep in mind several important tax law provisions that have [...]

It is the season of giving and I think it is wise to give as wisely as possible. Cash is often not the most effective thing to give. Appreciated securities are a more efficient choice. I know the thought is that the market is down, how could there be appreciated securities out there? Well, you [...]

by Ashlea Ebeling, 12.22.09, 03:00 PM EST The research tax credit, AMT protection and others are likely to be revived, but it’s a pain for taxpayers. When members of the U.S. Senate finally head home this week, they will be leaving the future of 50 individual and business tax breaks in limbo. All expire at [...]

The Conference Board, a private research group, has released its statistics for November. The index of Leading Economic Inidicaters rose 0.9% last month, up from 0.3% in October making this the eighth consecutive month for positive results in the index. November’s numbers actually outperformed the 0.7% expected by many economists. The positive performance came from [...]

Larry P. Arnn, the twelfth president of Hillsdale College, received his B.A. from Arkansas State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School. From 1977 to 1980, he also studied at the London School of Economics and at Worcester College, Oxford University, where he served as director of research for [...]

It is often said that California leads the nation into various “new” things. Pray that California style legislators don’t come to your State or to the Federal Government. As a Californian and a conservative thinker, I apologize to the rest of the nation on behalf of Californians who have thrust the likes of Nancy Pelosi [...]

We are all familiar with the idea of “the wisdom of Solomon” because he figured out how to discern the real mother of an infant by threatening to cut the infant in half and each woman could have half an infant. Of course the real mother said, “No, give it to the other woman” and [...]

The first two columns in this series by Brad Steiman offered answers to frequently asked questions about active vs. passive investing, and explored a general set of ideas around market efficiency. The main purpose has been to help build a framework for educating clients on the debate. There are other good reasons to approach the [...]

By Dan Jamieson – Investment News The United States will avoid a “double dip” recession, with real gross-domestic-product growth topping 2% next year, according to Standard & Poor’s Corp.The research firm is estimating a 1.7% annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter, and a rate of 2.4% by the end of next year, Sam Stovall, [...]