Some recent news on Scottrade is the announcement of penny pilot options program. Thirteen option classes will be participating in an options Penny Pilot Program to determine if it is feasible to trade options in penny increments. During this pilot program, these options will trade in the new minimum pricing increments for a period of six months. At the end of the pilot, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) will analyze the success of the program and make a determination as to its future. See the rest of this article for the 13 option classes that will be participating in the Penny Pilot.

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Have you ever encountered a problem or challenge that seemed so great you didn’t even know where to begin? You found yourself frozen - so intimidated that you didn’t take any action at all, avoiding or denying the problem. When a problem seems unsurmountable, we’re more likely to feel overwhelmed and less likely to take steps toward a solution.

For many of us, our finances present one of these “insurmountable problems.” Whether we’re facing college debt, major credit card bills or the daunting task of planning for retirement, we may feel like we’re in over our heads. We feel that since there is no solution in sight and anything we do will not make much of an impact. We then decide that we might as well have some fun with our money rather than worry or embark on a futile effort.

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In a recent article, we discussed some tips for making New Year’s resolutions. Now that we’re (gasp!) halfway through January already, it’s time to take action (if you haven’t already) to realize your goals for this year.

I remember being told in school that “no plan is a plan to fail.” While this saying doesn’t coincide well with my normally optimistic outlook, it does present some truth. In our Dec. 30 post we gave some suggestions for creating your resolutions. Well, now that it’s officially 2007 it’s time to act.

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The Real Estate Operations ($REOPER) sector looks to be reaching a tipping point. A steady flow of institutional money continues to leave the sector as it has for the past couple weeks now. After the sector has seen a strong run, the time to take profits is now should you be holding stocks within this sector. Even companies with terrible fundamentals such as National Retail Properties (NYSE: NNN), EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP), and Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) have seen tremendous run ups over the last couple months. It is now only a matter of time before these stocks and the real estate market in general correct itself. I believe that when a correction in the overall markets takes place, Real Estate Operations will be the sector that leads the markets lower.

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