Charles Schwab

Not earning a competitive yield on your cash? A government agency is taking steps to show what you're missing. Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a proposal that would require brokerage firms to better explain cash account options and the yields paid on them. Investors often accumulate cash in a brokerage account after, say, selling a stock or receiving a dividend payment. Periodically, the broker "sweeps" that cash into a savings vehicle (money moved this way is often referred to as sweep cash)

John G. Craten, senior partner of the beleaguered Baltimore financial company Coleman Craten LLC, has resigned from the firm and directed co-founder Monica L. Coleman to remove his name from the company, his lawyer said yesterday.Craten's resignation, which became effective Monday, comes after reports last week of lawsuits alleging that the company and Coleman committed nearly $1.2 million in fraud, largely through bad checks.Craten is himself a victim of bounced checks and is "owed more than $90,000 after checks in payment of long overdue amounts were dishonored," said Herbert Better, his attorney.

Aether Systems Inc. of Owings Mills said yesterday that it has won a two-year contract to provide its wireless data communications systems to Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., one of the nation's largest financial-services companies.San Francisco-based Schwab will use Aether's technology in its new wireless trading service, which is expected to be introduced by the end of this year. Aether will provide software and customer support for the venture.With the service, Schwab customers would be able to check their accounts and carry out trades using small electronic devices such as Palm Pilots, two-way pagers, hand-held computers and certain telephones.

The 1990s will be over in 70 days, but the decade's cash-happy, technology-obsessed spirit shows no sign of dying. Yesterday, yet another high-technology company went public and made a serious boatload of money.The latest grabber of the brass ring: Aether Systems Inc. of Owings Mills. The 3-year-old wireless data company saw its shares more than triple in value -- from $16 to a close of $48.4375 on the Nasdaq market. Thanks to this steep rise, Aether now has a market value of $1.26 billion.

Less than a week after allegations surfaced that Coleman Craten LLC defrauded Charles Schwab & Co. and a Howard County couple of nearly $1.2 million, a Florida trading firm has stopped doing business with the Baltimore firm.Corporate Securities Group had executed securities trades for the downtown firm since it opened last year -- a typical arrangement for start-up brokerages like Coleman Craten, said Joel E. Marks, vice chairman of the Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm.But Marks said yesterday that reports of two lawsuits containing the allegations in The Sun last week "raised red flags around here."

The Maryland securities division said yesterday that it has signed a settlement agreement that revokes the stockbroker's license of Monica L. Coleman and permanently bars her from securities and investment-advisory businesses in the state. Coleman, who is accused by investors of taking more than $3 million, signed the agreement with the division Dec. 15. In the agreement, she neither admitted nor denied allegations by the securities division that she violated the Maryland Securities Act.The attorney general's office said the agreement, which marks the culmination of an eight-month civil investigation, includes a Baltimore Circuit Court injunction which prevents Coleman from selling securities or dispensing investment advice in Maryland.

AT CHARLES Schwab & Co.'s Towson office last week, a handful of investors hunched toward a computer for a lesson on online trading."It's the future," said Robert Gallatin, a consultant who is attracted by the prospect of researching and making investment decisions via his home computer in Baltimore whenever he wants. "If you deal strictly with a broker, you're limited by the hours when that person is in the office."Classmate Donna Sekora has been buying stock through a discount broker for two years, but she wants to learn more about the online trading that her hairstylist has encouraged her to try."

Given the intermittent problems he has had trading stocks through his online broker's system, Bob Schreier does not want to take any chances when the clock turns to Jan. 1, so he's selling all his stocks.Despite assurances from Charles Schwab & Co that it is ready for any computer troubles that might arise when the new year arrives, the 50-year-old accountant from Orland Park, Ill., doubts it can deal with the very remote chance that its system will crash at the stroke of midnight."I don't trust Schwab's system," he said, explaining how it has sometimes been slow to execute his buy and sell orders and has lost some when it crashed.

After languishing for years, the Individual Retirement Account has suddenly become the hottest investment vehicle around.Many investors wrote it off after Congress, more than a decade ago, restricted its most compelling feature: the tax-deductible contribution.But now, brokerage houses and mutual fund companies are being blitzed with calls from people who want information about IRAs -- especially the new Roth IRA."It is ridiculous, every other phone call is about the Roth IRA," said Morry A. Zolet, senior vice president of investments at Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. in Baltimore.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks tumbled as companies from Boeing Co. to Callaway Golf Co. warned yesterday that Asia's economic slump is digging into profits."

Monday downturn raises questions about market CHICAGO - The stock market's 187-point nose dive Monday abruptly ended the Dow's brief foray into positive territory for 2009, leaving stock-watchers to ponder whether an unexpectedly strong spring rally will survive into summer. Plenty of evidence suggests the bull market may be done, or at least out of momentum, after 14 weeks on the upswing. The economy remains fragile, investors are increasingly worried about the prospect of rising interest rates, gas prices are climbing again, and a market correction was probably overdue.

It is the year of living cautiously for investors with individual retirement accounts. The economic problems that felled investments and job security have turned many formerly eager IRA investors into tentative souls. "We've seen a slight increase of a few hundred dollars per account in the IRA contributions made in 2009 compared to last year, which is the good news," said Ken Hevert, vice president of retirement savings products for Fidelity Investments. "However, we've also seen an overall decrease in the number of people actually making those IRA contributions."

It's a shame the rest of American finance can't clean itself up like Legg Mason did. If Wall Street could confess to terrible losses and sweep them out the door the way the big Baltimore money manager did, we might be closer to ending the recession. Stage by painful stage, Legg bailed out its money-market customers for a total of $2.3 billion in losses on paper linked to mortgages and other funky bets. The final junk got dumped into the recycling bin two weeks ago, when Legg disposed of $300 million in debt issued by a "structured investment vehicle" for $49 million - a paltry 16 cents on the dollar.

WASHINGTON -- With today's turmoil in the housing market, hitting up mom and dad for a down payment might be a young buyer's best route to homeownership. It's hard for the younger generation to become first-time homebuyers today as they try to juggle numerous financial responsibilities, experts say. "Stakes are higher," says Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, chief strategist of consumer education with Charles Schwab & Co. "Today, young people are solely responsible for their retirement. A lot of young people are coming out of college with high levels of debt."

Almost everything seems to be going wrong for the American economy at once. People are buying less, but most things are costing more. Mortgage rates are rising, the dollar is falling and prices of key commodities such as oil are leaping from one record high to the next. Yesterday, the dollar plumbed new lows against the Japanese yen, the euro and other major currencies; the price of an ounce of gold rose above $1,000 for the first time, and lenders raised home loan rates once again. Government figures showed retail sales fell in February as consumers cut back on cars, furniture and electronics.

Nation : Courts Interstate Bakeries pursues its own plan Interstate Bakeries Corp., which makes Wonder Bread, said yesterday that it would proceed with a bankruptcy court hearing Jan. 29 to request creditor approval for its plan. Tuesday's midnight deadline for outside proposals passed without any filings from Yucaipa, an investment firm lead by billionaire Ron Burkle, which last month submitted a preliminary proposal to buy Interstate Bakeries, valuing it at $580 million. The proposal did not provide details of a reorganization plan.

It used to be that financial services firms focused most of their attention on people who had already accumulated wealth. Now, though, much younger age groups are being embraced, even lauded. Consider this statement from one brokerage: "Gen X-ers ... have actually done a better job of planning for a financially secure retirement than their elders, the boomers." There are a few reasons for the sudden courtship. One reason is that financial advisers say that today's twenty- to fortysomethings face a far more complex financial landscape than their parents did. With pensions dwindling as a standard benefit, for example, workers are left on their own to save and invest for retirement.

If you had listened to Wall Street's sloganeers and decided to "sell in May and go away," you're probably kicking yourself now. You would have missed out on a rally that lifted the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average and the Russell 2000 small-cap index to record highs last week. In fact, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index - for the first time in seven years - finally regained what it lost when the technology bubble burst in 2000, setting its own closing record. Of course, there is still plenty of time for the old adage to prove right this summer.

If you've been socking away money in a fee-based brokerage account, you may be one of about 1 million customers facing some changes in the coming months. For retirement savers, it represents a good opportunity to evaluate exactly what advice you're receiving as you accumulate a nest egg. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently decided not to challenge a federal appellate court ruling that overturned an exemption to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which had allowed fee-based brokers (as opposed to those working solely on per-trade commissions)

Not earning a competitive yield on your cash? A government agency is taking steps to show what you're missing. Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a proposal that would require brokerage firms to better explain cash account options and the yields paid on them. Investors often accumulate cash in a brokerage account after, say, selling a stock or receiving a dividend payment. Periodically, the broker "sweeps" that cash into a savings vehicle (money moved this way is often referred to as sweep cash)