Rock City Investments

To all clients or potential clients –

 

Hello.  I am Stan Dickson, President of Rock City Investments, Inc. in Little Falls, New York.  I am proud to be operating a small business in the city I have called home since 1983.  We opened our door to new clients in the second quarter of 2006.

 

I graduated from Colgate University in 1975 with a degree in Economics, and graduated from Brooklyn Law School with a Juris Doctor degree in 1981.  I am a member of the New York Bar as a non-practicing attorney.  Non-practicing is the operative word here, so I suggest you get your legal advice elsewhere – next door, perhaps, at the law office of Mark Rose, my co-owner of our offices at 31 N. Ann Street.

 

I spent 19 years at Herkimer County Trust, where I served at various times as President, Chief Financial Officer and Director.  I am a graduate of the New York Bankers Association Management School, Stonier Graduate School of Banking, and the Professional Masters of Banking Program through Louisiana State University.  For the last 10 years at the bank, I was an investment officer working with a portfolio of up to $100 million consisting primarily of mortgage backed securities, municipal notes and bonds, and US Treasury and Agency securities.

 

At the present time, I am a member of the City of Little Falls Urban Renewal Board, a member of the Board of Trustees and Finance Committee of Little Falls Hospital, an officer of Little Falls Elks Lodge #42, and a member of the Board and Past President of the Little Falls Family YMCA.  Prior civic affiliations include East Herkimer County Industries, Canal Place Development Association, Herkimer County Drug Treatment Court, Utica Chapter of the American Red Cross, Herkimer Area Resource Center, and City of Little Falls Planning Board.

 

I have been very fortunate to have lived and worked in Little Falls for all these years.  I am further fortunate in being able to establish my own business here.  And I am thirdly fortunate in being able to pursue a field I enjoy, and one in which I feel I can add value for my clients. 

 

On the one hand, investing can appear overwhelmingly complex, with a mind-boggling number of choices at every corner, and hidden risks under every rug.  On the other hand, what investing really requires is within the grasp of most of us - realistic expectations, an understanding of risk and reward, a healthy appreciation of time horizons, reasonable command of our emotions, and just plain old common sense.  Part of our purpose at Rock City Investments is to use that set of everyday skills to bring all that complexity down to a comprehensible and manageable level.  From there, we can build a portfolio that makes sense and accomplishes our objectives.

 

We are investment advisors; we are not brokers and we are not custodians.  If you select us as your Investment Advisor, you are free to choose any custodian and any broker.  Your choices of custodians or brokers are independent of any investment advice we would give, and are independent of any fees we would charge.

 

For your convenience and for ours, however, we have made operational arrangements with TD Ameritrade Institutional.  In the absence of any other preference by you, we utilize them as the custodian of our clients' assets, and as the broker executing their trades. 

 

Rock City Investments is set up in the TD Ameritrade system as an Investment Advisor.  This allows us to efficiently manage and monitor activity for all of our clients.  As a client, you would have the capacity to view your account online at any time, and we can assign you various authorizations - including the ability to make your own trades online.  Statements will be provided electronically or in paper form, at your option, to both you and us.  A direct link to Ameritrade, allowing you to view your account at any time, is provided on this web page by choosing Account Look-up.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.  I can be reached at 315-823-3810 or sdickson@rockcityinvestments.net.

 

- Stan Dickson -