JACIE LANDEROS / Union-Tribune illustration

What's Inside Book proposes free-market approach to mutual funds Men a generation ago got better pay than now Going green: Internet Has Guides For Conscientious Investing Hiring estate planner requires research Religious investing can be test of faith Store credit cards galore may hurt credit score A matter of principle Rules change paper's report More Business

Before last year, Steven Francis had not exercised any of the stock options he had received during his tenure at AMN Healthcare, a company he co-founded in 1985.

• San Diego salaries

With the beginning of the summer driving season, hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians took to the road this weekend, turning vast stretches of freeway into some of the nation's longest parking lots.

Fifty years ago, millions of Americans were petrified at the prospects of being surpassed by the Communist Darth Vader when the Soviets launched Sputnik into the abyss. In the same year, passions were inflamed when nine black teenagers began attending a formerly all-white high school in Little Rock, Ark. During this turbulent time, pension fund managers and other investment professionals on Wall Street and around the country were grappling with a far more prosaic predicament.