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• Couch Potato Investing
• Home Ownership & Mortgages
• Income Investing
• Mutual Fund Investing
• Retirement
• Social Security

• Less Debt Means More Purchasing Power

  Q. Dave Ramsey, author of "Financial Peace," suggests that people should never purchase something on a credit card that they can't pay for when the statement arrives. Suzi Orman has similar ideas. It seems to me that this would be a good thing for individuals... Posted Jan 12 2006, 02:50 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Portfolio Survival vs. Personal Survival

  Q. One issue that seems to be neglected is the impact of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) on the survival prospects of IRA accounts. This isn't a trivial problem. When you withdraw the RMD you must pay a tax so there is less income. Second, any money... Posted Sep 08 2005, 11:26 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Positioning Your Portfolio for Withdrawals

  Q. I have a SEP-IRA of $350,000 in 36 different stocks and mutual funds. I'm 62 and would like to start taking some money out in four years. What should I do? ---J.J. by e-mail from Dallas A. Simplify the portfolio, reduce the price volatility of what... Posted Apr 14 2005, 01:55 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Home Ownership & Mortgages, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• With a Good Match You Can Tolerate A Poor Fund Family

  Q. My employer offers a Simple IRA. They match the first 3 percent. This is great, but the only fund company they are offering is John Hancock Funds, with class A, B, or C shares and horrendous yearly expenses. Should I invest anyway to get the match... Posted Feb 26 2004, 02:12 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Benchmarking A Manager For Your 401(k) Plan

  Q. My employer offers a 401k with several funds from Merrill Lynch and other companies. They have an investment vehicle called a Goal Manager. This is a no fee plan. It is a selection of 10 funds used to create portfolios based on five models--- conservative... Posted Nov 06 2003, 10:05 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Sorry, Compounding Won‘t Overcome Higher Taxes

  Q. I've read your recent column in favor of dropping the 401k for a Roth. And I fully understand that one's lifetime taxes paid could be higher if 401k contributions were over-utilized. However, I've seen no discussion of the effects of the additional... Posted May 15 2003, 02:26 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Over 90 Percent Equities Isn‘t A ‘Moderate’ Portfolio

  Q. I am at a loss about what to do. My husband suggested I write to you before pulling what's left of my retirement and taking a huge penalty. I retired from SBC in 2001 with a lump sum. I rolled it over to Merrill Lynch for financial security. I'm only... Posted Feb 13 2003, 03:09 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Today, The Flow of Cash Is “Out” of Equities

  Q. It seems reasonable to me that 401(k) plans and other private retirement and annuity funds would create a tremendous "buy" pressure in the stock market. Say that 10 million people have $1,000 transferred on the first of every month from their paychecks... Posted Oct 03 2002, 02:12 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), Retirement, The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Rebalancing Your Portfolio: A Little Goes A Long Way

  Q. I have a portfolio of mutual funds made of value, growth, blended, foreign, and bond funds. I also have some fixed income in money market and savings bonds. I maintain a fixed percent in each of these areas by rebalancing occasionally. I've heard that... Posted Oct 01 2002, 11:42 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Mutual Funds Still The Best Buy in Management

  Q. How does one compare mutual fund expenses with organizations that invest directly in stocks? An independent financial organization is attempting to convince me that mutual fund costs to the investor are higher than independent investors. They say that... Posted May 02 2002, 09:37 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Fund Screening---It Takes More Than Wishful Thinking

  Q. I retired over twelve months ago and moved all of my 401k money to a financial planner to invest. It amounted to $700,000. I agreed that I could accept moderate risk. By the end of August, the funds had decreased to around $560,000. On September 10th... Posted Mar 07 2002, 01:43 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• In “The Battle for Investment Survival” Risk Matters

  Q. I am in the military and I can see what the current events have done with the stock market. I have never had money to invest before but I have saved $20,000 over the past few years. I can see that when the market opens it will be time to buy shortly... Posted Oct 04 2001, 10:51 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Couch Potato Investing, Income Investing, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Like a Rose, Volatility is…

  Q. My wife is very conservative with investing our money. It is all in mutual funds and bonds. This sounds silly but I would like to invest a mere 1 percent of that money in an individual stock. Please tell her that she is being ridiculous. The stock... Posted Aug 16 2001, 09:55 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• Portfolio Management Is More than Commissions

  Q. A broker from a large firm tells me that when a mutual fund states its operating expense percentage in its prospectus, the fund's brokerage costs for buying and selling stocks are not included in that percentage. This does not fairly compare the actual... Posted Jan 18 2001, 10:16 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival

• The Value of Your Portfolio Is the Market Price, Today

  Q. Like many, we have "lost" a small fortune with our investments during the past few weeks. I would like your opinion. I believe that since our total investments are still above what we put in, we haven't lost anything until we actually sell. My husband... Posted May 25 2000, 08:59 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Q&A (from print), Social Security, The Spender's Portfolio & Portfolio Survival