Keep Track Of Your Broker

Investors looking for a way of keeping thorough notes of conversations with their stockbrokers can obtain a pad loaded with useful prompts from the Idaho and Washington regulators or the National Association of Securities Dealers.

The pad contains 15 two-sided forms with spaces for broker name, name of the stock, its pros and cons, and reasons for the broker recommendation.

Perhaps most importantly, there is a space for the broker’s CRD number. The CRD, or Central Registration Depository, contains information that tells the investors whether the broker is registered with the state and NASD, and what disciplinary history they may have had with regulators.

To check the number, investors can call the Idaho Securities Bureau at 1-208-332-8004 or the NASD disclosure hotline at 1-800-289-9999.

The pad can be obtained by calling the Securities Division of the Washington Department of Financial Institutions at 1-360-902-8731 or writing the Idaho Securities Bureau; P.O. Box 83720; Boise, Idado; 83720-0031. The form is also available on the NASD Web site: www.nasaa.org/ Notepad.html.

New unit trust tracks Value Line

The Value Line Investment Survey ranks stocks for “timeliness” - meaning the likelihood that they will rise faster than others. The best 100 stocks out of 1,700 merit a “1” rating, and, over the past 34 years, they have beaten the S&P 25 times. Since 1973, the Group 1 stocks have scored an amazing average annual return of 19 percent.

Now, Ranson & Associates Inc. (1-800-345-7999 or www.ranson.com) has launched a unit investment trust (similar to a mutual fund with a fixed portfolio) comprising the 1999 Group 1 stocks.

It’s called Value Line No. 1 Strategy Trust. As with all UITs, look closely at the fees.

Book explains savings bonds

Confused by all the rules for all the different types of savings bonds out there? A new book offers a plain-language guide through the maze.

“Savings Bonds: When to Hold, When to Fold and Everything InBetween” (Sage Creek Press; $19.95), by Daniel J. Pederson, is sure to become the essential resource for the millions of Americans who own bonds.

This easy-to-understand book is packed with all the details you’ll need to make sense of savings bonds, and devotes whole chapters to issues that often baffle bondholders, such as how bond interest rates are figured, the best time to sell bonds, how and whether to swap Series E and Series EE bonds for HH bonds, and how to take advantage of bonds’ special tax, education and other features.

You can get a free brochure on the book by calling 1-800-927-1901, or use the number to order the book by charge card (Pederson’s company, The Savings Bond Informer, will pay the shipping costs).

Money matter talk at EWU

Ember Baxter, an American Express personal finance adviser, will explain how to clean up debts and gain financial independence in a free talk at Eastern Washington University Jan. 20.

Entitled “Ouch, the Credit Card Debt Thing,” the presentation will include information on budgeting, saving regularly and the wise use of credit.

Community sources for assistance with problems will also be discussed.

Baxter’s talk begins at noon in Room 114 of Monroe Hall on the Cheney campus.

For more information, call the EWU Women’s Center at 359-2847.