Memphis has been producing at least 50,000 bales of cotton per year for 100 years. That means that Memphis and Hall County have generated over 5,000,000 bales of fiber. At around 500 pounds each, well, that’s a lot of cotton! Andrews has a monument that says that 1,000,000,000 barrels of oil has come out of the ground there. We need a statue to cotton!

When many people think about investing, the first thing that comes to mind is the stock market. And that’s not surprising, as the rise and fall of stock prices is constantly in the news. But if you’re going to achieve your financial goals, you may well need to look beyond stocks and include fixed-income investments in your portfolio.

Most of the founders of Hall County arrived on the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad around 1888. They found their “Garden of Eden” was a “Sea of Grass.” The problem was you could not build a house out of grass. They dug a hole in the side of a hill outside of Memphis and survived until better materials were brought in on the train.

If you’re a business owner, you always have a lot to do and a lot to think about. But have you put much thought into how you’ll eventually leave it all behind? Even if you’re a few years away from that day, it’s a good idea to create an exit strategy. If you’re like most other owners, most of your net worth may well be tied up in your business — so how you exit that business can have a big impact on your finances and your retirement. As you begin the exit strategy process, you’ll need to examine some basic questions, such as how much you want for your business and how much it’s worth. But you’ll especially need to plan for the mechanics of your exit — that is, just how you’re going to sell or transfer ownership of it.

Long before the internet and email, people communicated by sending postcards. Memphis advertised for new settlers to come see and settle in the “New Garden of Eden.” New settlers wanted their families back east to see what a great place Hall County was to live, and the postcard people wanted to sell postcards.

You may have read reports about an impending “debt crisis” in the U.S. Should you be worried about investing in Treasury securities? Part of the concern over debt has been driven by the cost of government borrowing, which has risen because of higher interest rates.But it’s worth noting that while interest expenses have risen to nearly 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), this measure had exceeded 3% in the early 1990s.

Procrastination is a thief. It robs you of the one commodity that you can’t buy back which is time.

As we begin the new year,you may be receiving various tax statements from your financial services provider — so it’s a good time to consider how your investments are taxed. This type of knowledge is useful when you’re doing your taxes, and, perhaps just as important, knowing the type of taxes you generate can help you evaluate your overall investment strategy.

WELLINGTON – A 17-member Community Choir,under the leadership of musician Juliana Baumgardner, performed “My God and I,”“How GreatThou Art”and “When We All Get to Heaven” for Bill Hatch’s funeral service at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 3. Close friends Dana Bell and Gene Pena officiated at the memorial.

In 1922, the City of Memphis paved 50 blocks of the city with brick. Manifest destiny had drawn people to the new Garden of Eden, and the new people wanted a more substantial road system than mud and sand.