Program Alerts Public to Misdeeds by Brokers

The much-tarnished National Assn. of Securities Dealers launched a public awareness campaign earlier this month to advise consumers about its Central Registration Depository program and about its new Web-based education campaign.

The program, designed to alert consumers about the disciplinary history of their brokers, offers a toll-free investor hotline: (800) 289-9999.

You give the program representative your broker’s full name and, ideally, their company affiliation, and the NASD will tell you whether he or she has been sanctioned by securities regulators or has lost securities arbitration suits.

What the hotline operators will not tell you is anything about pending regulatory action against your broker or about arbitration and court cases that were settled before a final determination was made. These can be highly significant omissions, because the wheels that grind out official regulatory sanctions move slowly. Meanwhile, brokers who want to cover up a potentially telling litigation trail can agree to settle consumer complaints that appear to be going against them before judgment.

Where the disclosure hotline has some significant shortcomings, the NASD’s Web site picks up with helpful, educational information that could be valuable for any individual. The site, at https://www.investor.nasd.com, includes information about how securities firms are regulated and summarizes important securities laws. Of greater interest to most people are tutorials on different types of investments.

The site also includes several financial calculators that can help you determine your monthly payments on a loan; how much you’d have to save for retirement, for college and for other presumably shorter-term goals.

Not wired? The NASD will provide a hard copy of some educational materials to those who call (800) 334-0668. The written material can’t do the financial math for you so if that is important to you, you may want to visit a public library that offers access to computers and Internet services.

Tax Guide for Investors: T. Rowe Price Associates has issued its new “Tax Considerations for Investors Guide,” which covers the waterfront of tax-favored investing, from investing through retirement plans to using municipal bonds and tax-deferred annuities.

Significantly, the booklet also has a good explanation of the tax and financial aid implications of saving for college in your name versus the name of your child. The 40-page booklet also includes a number of work sheets that can help figure out the math in your circumstances. Best of all, the book is free. To get one, call T. Rowe Price at (800) 638-5660.

Free Help With Filing: Thinking about buying one of those $12 to $15 tax books so you can figure out some of the finer details of filing your tax return? You can get a free, comprehensive guide from the IRS--the voluminous Publication 17--by calling (800) TAX-FORM (829-3676). This publication is the factual basis for most for-profit tax books on the market. But it isn’t as cleverly written, nor does it contain the copious examples and explanations offered by some better-known guides.

If you have a question about one or two specific issues, you could get one of the agency’s smaller guides that give more information on specific topics, such as dealing a rental property or child care tax credits. Those guides can be ordered through the tax form line as well.

If you’re on the Internet, you can download a host of tax information--including forms--from the IRS’ Web site at https://www.irs.ustreas.gov

Consumer Checklist is a weekly feature that covers a range of pocketbook issues of interest to Californians. To contribute information about new legislation, products, services or surveys, write to Kathy M. Kristof, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053; or e-mail kathy.kristof@latimes.com