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• Consumption Smoothing
• Financial Planning
• Government, Taxes & Other Disasters
• Home Ownership & Mortgages
• Mutual Fund Investing
• Q&A (from print)
• Resources
• Social Security

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Pensions and Inflation (part 1): The High Cost of Modest Inflation

  Imagine this. You're in your late 50s. You've been working for the same company for a long time. You're in pretty good financial shape. You've paid off the mortgage. You have a nice balance in your 401(k) plan. You have some modest savings outside the... Posted Jul 03 2005, 12:30 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Financial Planning, Income Investing, Retirement

• The Four Bag Portfolio

  Today's Surprise Quiz: Which is more important, the asset classes in which you invest--- or the types of accounts in which you hold those investments? Is it possible that choosing a Roth IRA over a traditional IRA can be as important as choosing between... Posted Oct 05 2004, 02:16 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Retirement

• Balance, Not Safety or Big Bets, Brings Good Returns

  Q. I am so tired of taking devastating losses in stocks and bonds. I am 66 years old and was wondering if buying long term CDs (even at today's low rates) makes sense? I have accounts at Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Schwab. One Vanguard newsletter... Posted Jul 01 2004, 02:22 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• High Withdrawals Can Wreck A Good Fund Choice

  Q. I am 73 and my wife is 69, both retired. We have been receiving monthly income from a $700,000 note at 7 percent for the past two years. The buyer wants to pay off the note, which he can do with no penalty, in the next couple of weeks. We have been... Posted Feb 19 2004, 02:54 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Retirement

• Welcome to the world of small 401(k) plans

  Q. I am currently employed by a company offering a Simple IRA. They match the first 3%. 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... Posted Dec 31 2003, 11:59 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement, Social Security

• The Value of New Technologies for Retirement Investing

  Everything is in place. An average young worker can increase her retirement assets by at least $400,000. Perhaps $700,000. That's my conclusion after comparing the investment tools of today and yesterday. We have much better tools today. Only will and... Posted May 18 2003, 02:15 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Retirement

• The Investment Equivalent of Working at Wal-Mart

  Today's cosmic question: What's the best investment a retired person can make these days? Answer: Getting a day job. I'm serious. Investment returns are so low millions of retirees need to think about going back to work, at least part time. You can understand... Posted Mar 09 2003, 01:37 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Retirement

• It‘s (Still) Official: 5 Year Treasury Beats Govt. Funds

  Pretty soon we'll have the data for the 120th run of my Big Government Funds study. But I'll jump the gun and let you know the results after 119 data runs because, well, another month isn't going to change anything. The news? In all but 16 of the 119... Posted Dec 17 2002, 01:23 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Retirement

• The Investment Advantage of Stocks May Be Declining

  Q. Now retired, most of my asset allocation is in fixed income mutual funds with Vanguard. Several friends use financial advisors, who invest primarily in stocks. Is one method recommended over the other, and why? I suspect many asset allocation investors... Posted Oct 17 2002, 12:31 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• Check Your Tax Bracket Before You Seek Tax-Free Income

  Q. I am a retired teacher. I want to put my money into something that will give me a monthly return, but is also safe. I invested a lot of money in the stock market and lost almost all of it, so I do not want to get back into the stock market at all.... Posted Sep 12 2002, 09:56 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• Defined Benefit Pension Plans Have Limits

  Q. Which is preferred, a defined benefit or a defined contribution pension plan? As I'm sure there is no one-blanket answer to cover all scenarios, what are the important factors to consider in evaluating the different plans? My company is offering current... Posted Aug 29 2002, 10:34 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement