Expert: Ed McFarland - 4/22/2004

Question
Hello Ed,

I have had great success with stocks for the past ten years almost regardless of whether the market was going up and down.  Because of this, I have quite a few friends and family who are constantly asking me where they should invest and a few have asked me if I could manage their portfolio.

Although I am not sure of what the best approach is, I would like to be able to start some type of investment vehicle (corportion or other acceptable vehicle) where I would be able to purchase publicly traded stock.  I am by far not a trader, most of my stocks which I purchase I hold onto for just over a year in order to keep my personal taxes down.

Do you know where I might be able to find more information about the laws in regards to how I would need to go about setting this up, or if this is even geerally legal?  Also, I thought that I had read somewhere that if a coporation purchases stock and sells it at a profit, that the corporation is taxed 80% less than a person would.  If you have any information which might be helpful to me in regards to this I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

-Brian

Answer
For the basic rules go to:

www.nasd.com National Association of Securities Dealers, www.sec.gov The securities and exchange commision, then check with the regulator for securities in your state.

But you probably want to start an investor club, the SEC has information and the National Association of Investors Corp. would be another resource.