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Music fans of a certain age were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Aretha Franklin, long known as the Queen of Soul. Financial planners of all ages were saddened to learn of yet another person dying without a complete estate plan, including a will. Unfortunately, she’s just the latest in a long line of famous people who should have known better.

I grew up in the days when Halloween was fun and safe. The only downside was that I had older brothers who made a point of trying to scare me—and they often succeeded. As an adult, I don’t need my brothers to scare me. I just need to think about the future of retirement in America.

All investors recognize the need for information.

According to Wikipedia, today’s title relates to a governmental decision to reduce regulations and taxes in order to attract business to its jurisdiction. Often attributed to Justice Louis Brandeis, the concept has been around since the late 1800’s.

The retail brokerage industry began in New York City in 1792 with the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement. It established the organization now known as the New York Stock Exchange and fixed commissions for customers at one quarter of one percent.

In my much younger days, I never planned to get married and certainly didn't plan to have children. The last thing I thought I would do was to stay home with them. Yet in my 30s, I found myself married, with children and no outside employment. It wasn't what I had planned, but it was the life I was living.

We’re all familiar with today’s title but when I tried to track down its actual roots, I became confused. According to multiple websites, it relates to a farmer in Maine trying to give a traveler directions to town.

My brother was visiting from China, and we got into a discussion of the stock market and the impact of high-frequency trading, or HFT.

Oh, the things we discuss after a good dinner and copious amounts of wine. Does HFT help or hurt individual investors? Is the market "rigged" against small investors?

Electronic-trading systems were introduced in the 1990s.

Kenny Rogers made Don Schlitz’ song The Gambler famous back in the late 1970’s. If you recall the lyrics, the old gambler tells the young one that you have to know when to hold your cards and also when to fold them.