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• When It Comes To College Saving, Keep It Simple

  Q. How about some guidance on saving for college. My daughters both have new babies and want to start saving for college. I recommended mutual funds with Vanguard. One son-in-law wants to fund college through a life insurance program with a fraternity... Posted Jun 06 2007, 09:00 PM by scottb with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Resources, Retirement

• When the Sky Falls, It Will Do So Slowly

  Q. My wife and I are 60 and plan to retire at 62. At that time we will have $31,000 annual income from Social Security and $48,000 from a corporate pension. A 401k/IRA of $1 million will provide additional income from investments. Recently I have been... Posted May 23 2007, 01:00 PM by scottb with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• The Best Retirement Formula: Make Your Own

  Q. Please email me your formula for figuring how much money it takes to retire. I am 72 and still working. ---J.A., by email from Dallas, TX A. For better or worse, I have no such formula. The best we can do is come up with different rules of thumb, all... Posted Jul 20 2006, 04:09 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• Salespeople Don't Sell Non-Commissioned Products

  Q. I retired in the spring of 2000 and my financial products salesman sold me on predominantly equities. After some painful losses, I want to diversify into some fixed income investments--- as we should have done in 2000. I've asked him about Vanguard... Posted Jul 15 2006, 01:56 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Gauging the cost of money management

  Q. Recently, my grandmother, who is 102, asked me to look at her investments. She just didn't think they were doing as well as she thought they could be. She was also paying a lot of fees. Right now, she has her investments in four different accounts... Posted Apr 06 2006, 12:10 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• 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)

• Yes, You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing

  Q. My wife and I have about $320,000 of investments. About a third of that amount is invested in two royalty investment trusts. One is oil-based, and the other is in natural gas. Even after the recent dunking the energy market has taken, we are still... Posted Jan 19 2006, 02:40 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Consumption Smoothing, Government, Taxes & Other Disasters, Home Ownership & Mortgages, Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• Worried about interest rates? Build a ladder.

  Q. In May I made a 7 figure deposit with a very large Boston wealth management firm. They invested 60 percent in equities and 40 percent in their intermediate bond fund. I protested when I saw the intermediate bond fund and forced them to exit it. As... Posted Dec 15 2005, 10:45 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• Should Dividends Be Reinvested?

  Q. There are some who say dividends should be reinvested whereas there are others who say it is better not to reinvest. What is your opinion? ---B.A., by e-mail A. The odds favor reinvesting the dividends. There are several reasons for this. The first... Posted Oct 13 2005, 01:59 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Home Ownership & Mortgages, Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Roth 401(k) Plans: The Basics

  Q. My company will soon start offering a Roth 401(k) option. Can you advise when one should choose it over a regular 401(k) option? Do company matching contributions also go into the Roth 401(k) or do they go into a regular 401(k) when the participant... Posted Oct 06 2005, 02:14 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Can Anything Go Wrong with Energy Investing?

  Houston reader R.C. writes: "In one of your columns, you said you would always have part of your money in an energy fund. I teach chemistry in a Houston college. For 10 years I have been telling my students there is a good chance the world would have... Posted Aug 09 2005, 02:14 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Medicare & Generational Storm, Q&A (from print)

• New Plan Passes Smell Test, Fails Thinking Test

  Q. Without warning our company announced a blackout period for our 401k funds. Our funds will be shifted from such Fidelity funds as Puritan, Spartan U.S. Equity Index, Magellan, Value, Mid-Cap, Small Cap, and Freedom to Met Premier Pooled GIC, Oakmark... Posted May 12 2005, 11:11 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Is There Any Value In Commissioned Investments?

  Q. I feel you do a good job of preaching to the choir. And sometimes I feel you are making comparisons that may not apply to the great unwashed--- those who don't read up on things like ETF's, index funds, etc. Others lack confidence in making their own... Posted Mar 03 2005, 02:19 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Early Pension: Take The Money And Invest It

  Q. My husband's place of business closed down two years ago. He had worked there for 30 years and is eligible to receive a pension (he's 55 years old). He's not drawing the pension, which will increase by 5 percent for every year that he DOES NOT draw... Posted Feb 24 2005, 02:43 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Investing To Live Abroad… Or Save Purchasing Power

  B.M. writes with a question that must be bugging many people who are wishing to retire abroad: " I plan to make a permanent move to Europe in the next one or two years. However, in the meantime I will earn dollars, most of which I will save. By the time... Posted Jan 25 2005, 11:30 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Financial Planning, Income Investing, Q&A (from print)