June 27, 2016 EditionEdition

Amy Bouchard was in her late 20s and working at BIW when her daughter was born. Looking for ways stay at home and still make money, her brother urged her to sell the whoopie pies she'd been making for friends and family since junior high.

Flashing a platinum or gold credit card used to be a status symbol, but a recent Money Pulse survey by Bankrate.com found the times are changing, especially among younger generations.

A Silicon Valley investor wants to change the system, and already is advocating with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to create a new U.S. stock exchange called the Long-Term Stock Exchange that would give companies more breathing room to focus on longer-term ideas and products.

One of the most common complaints we hear from business leaders is Maine's high cost of energy. Is it a fact or myth?

You're looking to move on from your job. You dutifully made your list of “likes” and “dislikes” for your current job. The last thing you want to do is end up at a new job with the same problems (picture Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”).

Carl Chatto oversees Maine's second-largest accounting firm, Portland-based Baker Newman Noyes. In Maine, the firm has 68 CPAs and 146 employees overall. Its in-state revenue was $25.7 million last year.

Maine has the lowest electricity costs in New England. So why are they so often cited as a problem for businesses both large and small? The simple answer is that many of them compete against companies in regions of the United States where electricity prices are even lower than those in Maine.

New hiresCBRE|The Boulos Co. hired Cole Smith as an associate in Portland.Pierce Atwood, a law firm in...

At Caravan Beads, owner Barry Kahn hired ReVision Energy last year to install 264 photovoltaic panels, each 260 watts, on the roof of his 22,000-square-foot retail store and warehouse. “That was encouraging,” says Kahn. “It's nice to have essentially no electric bill.”

Associates of Deanna Sherman, president and soon-to-be CEO of oil and propane supplier Dead River Co., say she brings to mind the vintage E.F. Hutton TV ad in which a noisy room goes silent to hear advice from the stock brokerage.