What is a broker/dealer?
A broker/dealer is a firm that oversees the activities of investment professionals (us) to ensure that their clients' (you) best interests are being served. So, if you've ever purchased or sold investments through a registered investment professional, he or she was affiliated with a broker/dealer.

A Full Selection of Investments
Working with an independent broker/dealer means that we can select any investment we need to help you achieve your financial goals. At large wirehouses, brokers don't have that freedom of choice. For the most part, they must sell what the firm tells them to sell, or must meet national mandated monthly quotas.

Questions to ask any broker:

Whom do you report to?
Only financial professionals working with an independent broker/dealer can truly say they report to their clients. Other professionals report to a sales manager who sets specific targets for sales to existing clients. How will you ever know if the recommendations provided to you by such an individual are geared to your goals or to other factors?

Do you make more money when you sell a product developed by your firm?
It's not uncommon for a broker to receive additional financial incentives to push their firm's own products. In fact, certain investment firms will not even carry the competitors' products regardless of how well they perform. Rather, they offer "suitable substitutes." We don't have such concerns.

Our Clearing House

National Financial Services LLC: An Industry Leader
As you may know, we have an agreement with National Financial Services LLC (NFS) in which NFS provides trade execution, clearing, and other related services for your account. The agreement also allocates between NFS and us certain responsibilities regarding your account.¹

Established in 1983, NFS is an industry leader. It presently services over 14.4 milliion accounts and custodies over $1.3 trillion in assets.²

¹For further details regarding these responsibilities, please refer to
the welcome letter you received from NFS upon opening your brokerage
account.
²As of December 31, 2005

Asset Protection

Securities Investor Protection Corporation
We and NFS are both members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)³, which was created in 1970 to protect customers of member broker/dealer firms. The SIPC is a non-profit membership corporation funded by broker/dealers, which are required by law to be members. To cover assets such as yours, the SIPC fund is supported by:

• $1 billion line of credit with a bank consortium
• Borrowing power of up to $1 billion or more from the U.S. Treasury through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Because the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 affords special benefits to SIPC-covered firms such as NFS, our agreement with NFS provides your assets a high level of coverage.

³A full description of the SIPC organization and its coverage may be found at its Web site at http://www.sipc.org.

2008 TAX FACTS
AT-A-GLANCE
For more detailed information of 2008 Income and Estate/Gift Taxes & Retirement Plans
Click here.

Retirement Plans
TriCor will help you find the best retirement plan for you. Click here for more info.

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
You've heard the saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket," and while it's certainly applicable to investing there's a tremendous downside when people try to apply it to investment guidance. Read more.