Design for financial blog

I would like a design for a financial blog, just the design so I can give it to a coder to create it. The name of the site will be my first and last name. I have attached a basic layout graphic. It is a wordpress blog. The basic layout will be: -category/page buttons across top -header having my name and any appropriate graphics/colors -3 columns labeled according to the file, except a graphic above the twitter feed label that says something like "Live Trading Room, click here". This graphic will become a link to another page Its a financial site, so it would be good if it had the appearance of being related to stock trading, but not overly cliche like having a picture of a bull or the wall street sign. I guess any grapics would be in the header somewhere since the rest of the site will be content. As far as label/button colors, fonts, etc...I would just like it to look clean and professional. I prefer cooler colors to overly bright ones, though touches of brightness here and there can't hurt. The layout I made is not necessarily written in stone. If someone has a better idea I'm always open to suggestions.