SECURITIES DEALERS INVEST IN ADS TO EDUCATE PUBLIC.

Byline: Humberto Cruz Sun-Sentinel

Prompted by surveys that show Americans know sitcom characters a lot better than they do the basics of investing, the self-regulatory group for the brokerage industry announced Wednesday that it is launching a nationwide investor education campaign.

The National Association of Securities Dealers' campaign, through the Internet and radio and television public-service announcements, will promote a toll-free number investors can call to check on a broker's background and disciplinary history. The number is [phone].

By calling another toll-free number - [phone] - investors can order a free package of investor education materials.

All the information, including the ability to ask for a broker's record and to lodge a complaint, will be available on the NASD's World Wide Web site (http://www.investor.nasd.com).

Checking a broker's credentials has long been considered an investor's first line of defense against rogue brokers, although some critics of the system say the disclosure system doesn't go far enough. Agreement is universal that much needs to be done to educate investors, especially novices who have been drawn to the stock market by huge gains the past two years.

``We are not promoting or selling anything except perhaps the idea of (you) becoming a more informed investor,'' said Michael Jones, director of the Office of Individual Investor Services of the NASD.

A self-regulatory group, the NASD is the parent organization of the Nasdaq Stock Market and NASD Regulation, which oversees the activities of more than 5,500 securities member firms, 535,000 brokers and Nasdaq. NASD, in turn, is regulated by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to focus groups and surveys by NASD, 63 percent of Americans know the difference between a halfback and a quarterback but only 14 percent can tell the difference between a growth stock and an income stock. A growth stock is one you buy because you think it will go up in price. An income stock is one you buy mostly for the dividend it pays.

And while 78 percent of Americans can name a character on a television sitcom, only 12 percent know the difference between a load and a no-load mutual fund - even though, according to the Investment Company Institute, 37 percent of American households own mutual funds. No-load funds don't charge a commission when an investor buys or sells, but all funds charge annual fees to pay the people who run the fund.

``Obviously, when it comes to investing, there is a knowledge gap out there,'' Jones said.

The announcement by Jones came less than two weeks after it was disclosed that erroneous guidelines issued by the NASD caused the mistaken deletion of information from the records of 461 brokers.

Michael W. Robinson, a spokesman for NASD Regulation, said Wednesday that all records had been restored. He said they dealt with customer complaints that were withdrawn with no payment made to the customer, arbitration cases dismissed before the awards phase and civil litigation dismissed before disposition. This information is made available to state regulators who may choose to make it public.