Green Dot lost over 60% of its already post-prime value last summer and NetSpend was never a Wall Street darling with its check cashing distribution partners and second fiddle position.

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William Wood, a Sears, Roebuck retiree from Rhode Island, met with Merrill Lynch to establish an IRA. He delivered a distribution check to the brokerage firm with instructions to deposit it into the new account.

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He suggests asking the 529 plan to send the distribution to the child (to a custodial account) and writing the check to the college off that account.

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Just as photos on camera phones needed Instagram's filters for their distribution to grow, and GPS chips went from preventing you from getting lost to Foursquare's social check-ins, so the physiological signals that are currently generating charts, graphs and analysis will eventually be moulded into more social experiences, he argues.

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