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• Q&A (from print)
• Retirement
• Variable Annuity Watch

• Fees Influence Performance and Asset Allocation

  Q. I have two questions. First, my wife's financial planner has her IRA invested in a fund (ticker: FABGX) that has a 5 percent back load, a management fee, and a 12b-1 fee. I say that's bull. Of the total, $20,000 is in a money market fund which at her... Posted Feb 09 2006, 01:40 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Tip the Croupier

  Consider the investment value of noise. The subject here isn't sound. It's market noise, the endless up and down of stock prices that signifies little but causes hopes to soar and crash. Most investors try to screen out noise, looking for the "signal... Posted Dec 21 2003, 01:55 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• The Efficient Market Doesn‘t Go Away

  Either you get the return or someone else does. It's that simple. Baylor University economist William Reichenstein, along with University of Saskatchewan finance professor Dale L. Domian, remind us of this basic fact in the current Journal of Investing... Posted Oct 15 2002, 01:44 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• In 401k Plans It Helps To Have Different Investment Styles

  Q. Like many others, I am concerned about my 401k plan choices. I had about $35,000 as of the first of the year but it is losing ground as we speak. I contribute $2,000 a year, as my company will only match fifty cents on the dollar up to a maximum of... Posted Apr 26 2001, 11:25 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Two Big Time Investing Woes: Volatility and Taxes

  Q. In January 2000 we got an AMEX advisor and set up a portfolio of mutual funds. We suffered loss like everyone else. We got a capital gains 1099 form due to AMEX. We were not part of any gains like others who had been with AMEX for a long time, yet... Posted Apr 12 2001, 09:25 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• A Closed End Fund Portfolio

  How would you like to have the benefits of margin buying without the expense or risk of getting a margin call? Well, it can be done. Instead of buying stocks and bonds in a margin account, paying interest on the margin debt, and worrying about a possible... Posted Jun 27 2000, 11:07 AM by scottb with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• Where to look for 7 Percent Yields

  Q. My wife and I just sold our higher priced home and purchased a new smaller home--using your advice since we are both 70. We have paid for the new home with cash and have over $50,000 we need to invest. We have several CD's and IRA's paying good rates... Posted Jun 22 2000, 11:30 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• The New Dis-intermediation: from mutual funds to CDs

  Remember "disintermediation", the flow of money from one investment repository to another? Well, there are signs, and incentives, for it to come back. This time, instead of having money leave banks and thrifts for mutual funds, we are likely to see money... Posted Jan 23 2000, 10:23 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• Alternatives for Government Fund Holders

  Q. Your recent column on the disappointing performance of government securities mutual funds confirmed what I suspected about my GNMA and Treasury funds with AARP, but it still broke my heart. I have $100,600 invested with AARP in this fund and on September... Posted Nov 25 1996, 09:51 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Capital Gains and Mutual Funds

  Sometimes you need to try again. Two weeks ago, C.E. of Dallas asked, "When is the best time to sell a fund? Should we sell before the end of this year? Or wait until the first of next year? I am concerned about the hit we might take tax-wise. "That's... Posted Oct 24 1996, 07:58 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Searching for Long Term Investment Performance Data

  Q. Recently, you gave 15 year averages for five fund objectives. However, since the market has been mostly up for the last 15 years, I would like to have 30 to 50 year averages which will include the weak market 60's and 70's. If mutual fund data does... Posted Dec 14 1995, 10:54 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• The Brokerage Revolution

  Morgan White has seen the future... and it includes lower fees to mutual fund management companies. Mr. White, who went from a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and a Stanford MBA to money management, is a principal in Woodside Asset Management... Posted Dec 10 1995, 10:35 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• How Well Have The Big Bond Funds Recovered?

  Query: If long term interest rates are about the same in June, 1995 as they were in June, 1993, have the largest government bond funds enjoyed a price recovery equal to their decline? Not hardly. On average, a $10,000 original investment in one of the... Posted Sep 03 1995, 01:08 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• Skip the Government Bond Funds

  There are now 663 mutual funds that invest in various forms of U.S. government guaranteed obligations. Question: how many of them can provide a higher return than a simple trip to the local bank to put money in a 5 year CD? Answer: Not many. At the end... Posted Aug 13 1995, 01:02 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• Annuities or Mutual Funds?

  Q. Emergency question: Which is a better long term investment--- Annuities or mutual funds? ---S.N., Wishek, ND A. We need to distinguish between the animal and its cage. Annuities and mutual funds are cages, the animals we put in those cages are investments... Posted Apr 03 1995, 11:16 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print), Variable Annuity Watch