10 Clues you’re with the wrong Investment Broker

March 10th, 2010. By AbiK

Nowadays, just about everybody’s been wondering if their money’s in the right place. But economic woes aside, these ten clues ought to give you that something’s-not-right feeling in your gut when it comes to your investment broker’s handling of your account—and possibly grounds for a securities fraud case…

1. There’s inconsistency between your broker’s verbal statements and the performance of your investments.

2. There are misrepresentations by your broker, or important information about an investment which the broker did not disclose—particularly regarding the investment’s level of risk.

3. If you notice frequent and excessive trading in the account, including “in and out” trading.

4. You notice trading in high risk, speculative or unsuitable investments.

5. Your broker is managing your account by trading in securities and strategies that you don’t understand.

6. Your broker is making trades that you did not previously authorize.

7. There is trading in low-value securities or obscure companies on foreign exchanges, or private investments.

8. Your broker—or his supervisor—fail to respond to your complaints.

9. Your broker makes repeated promises to make up for losses through various devices.

10. There is a loss of funds or value in the account that you do not understand, and your broker cannot reasonably explain.

Take the Wheel, I have to Shave! and other Tortelicious gems…

March 9th, 2010. By LucyC

Welcome to Totally Tortelicious—a review of some of the more bizarre legal items making news. Goodness knows there’s no shortage of them. 

This one was a real close shave (and a very bad pun). A young woman in Florida, who was driving through the Keys to meet her boyfriend, decided she need to shave her bikini line en-route. I mean who has time to pull over these days? Seriously. 

Not surprisingly, she caused a car crash. 

Wait—it get’s weirder. (What is it about Florida?) 

The 37-year old handed the wheel of the car to her ex husband—who was not in the driver’s seat—both figuratively and literally. After piling into some poor guy who had slowed down to make a turn, she keeps her foot on the gas—clearly focused on her destination—and drove another half mile down the road where she stopped and swapped seats with her ex-husband so it looked like he was the one who had been driving. 

My question is why didn’t she just get her ex-husband to drive her all the way there? As it turns out, she should not have been driving in the first place. The day before the accident, she had been convicted and sentenced to nine months of probation for DUI and driving with a suspended license. Her license was revoked for five years and she was ordered to get her car impounded. 

You know, you couldn’t make this stuff up, even if you wanted to. 

Talk about getting off to a roaring start. According to New England police, newlywed 22-year-old Marissa Read the rest of this entry »

How much does Foodborne Illness cost the US? Take a guess…

March 9th, 2010. By AbiK

A whopping $152 billion each year. Yes, $152 BILLION.

So says a report conducted by the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University that’s titled Health-Related Costs From Foodborne Illness in the United States (3/3/10). The $152 billion reflects not only health-related costs such as physician services, hospital services and medicines but also what’s referred to as “quality-of-life losses”—i.e., deaths, pain, suffering and disability.

According to an article at healthfinder.gov, the magnitude of the cost comes from the sheer number of individuals affected each year by foodborne illness: an estimated 76 million Americans—of which about 5,000 die.

Some more stats from the report:

Costs by pathogen: Campylobacter: >$18.8 billion; Salmonella: $14.6 billion; Listeria: $8.8 billion.

Biggest culprit: Produce. Think spinach, lettuce… 39% of E. coli outbreaks were due to produce regulated by the FDA.

States with highest foodborne illness-related costs: California, Texas, New York, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Study says LA surpasses NYC, Chicago in Wage Theft

March 8th, 2010. By AbiK

Every so often there’s a little news story out there that doesn’t get as much attention as it perhaps should. Take a story by Max Taves at LAWeekly.com not long ago. The headline: Unscrupulous Employers Skim $26.2 Million. Ok, surprise, surprise. But the real headline hits you when you read the subhead: That’s per week, from lower-income Angeleno’s paychecks.

$26.2 million per week? Rack that one up on an annual basis and now you’re talking over $1 billion in alleged wage theft.

Taves’ article (2/18/10) is based on a study co-authored by UCLA sociologist, Ruth Milkman, and Victor Narro. The 69-page study, Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles, concludes that 17% of LA county’s poorest workers are basically ripped off to the tune of $26.2 million each week—money they never see in their paychecks. Money that they should see in the form of minimum wage pay, overtime pay for time-and-a-half overtime worked, and rest and meal breaks. The reason, the authors argue, is that employers in LA county “know there’s no enforcement.”

What’s interesting in this study—aside from the sheer numbers involved—is that when the authors compared LA to those in NYC or Chicago, they found that LA low-wage workers were more likely to be Read the rest of this entry »

New Meaning to “Shut Up and Drive” Cell Phone Bumper Stickers

March 8th, 2010. By AbiK

As Maine continues to debate a proposed bill that would require cell phone manufacturers to put warning labels on cell phones and packaging stating that they can cause brain cancer, particularly in children, it’s a good time to review some tips—some of which may surprise you—on how you can try to reduce your risk of radiation exposure from your cell phone.

The bill, by the way, is sponsored by Rep. Andrea Boland—and has strong supporters on both sides of the debate. Boland was quoted in an Associated Press article as saying that the US lags behind other countries that have either mandated similar warnings or endorsed policies warning the public about cell phone use. The article also quotes supporters of the bill as referring to continued unregulated cell phone use as  “playing Russian roulette”, and that “We can do nothing and wait for the body count.”—likening the situation to big tobacco. Meanwhile, those in opposition to the bill cite lack of conclusive scientific research.

The following list of tips for reducing cell phone radiation exposure is from the Environmental Working Group (EWG):

1. Buy a low-radiation phone. Do your research—EWG publishes lists of the highest and lowest cell phones Read the rest of this entry »