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By Scott Burns Q. I would like your opinion of a decision I made a few years ago. Is it a good investment to purchase 'permissive time' in a government pension plan? In 2008, I retired at age 60 with a government pension. My agency offered the...
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By Scott Burns Get ready for one of the largest corporate migrations in history. It will happen of necessity as managements try to find ways to do things for employees without increasing payroll costs. The move will be from the expensive coasts to less...
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By Scott Burns Q. My wife and I have recently inherited $400,000. The money is presently parked in a bank savings account. We are both retired and were financially secure even before this windfall. Could you suggest some long term options for investing...
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By Scott Burns Finding investment income is difficult. But it isn’t impossible. The search will demand that many investors leave their comfort zone well behind. If you are a CD investor, for instance, you’ll be hard pressed to find yields...
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By Scott Burns Q. I have $27,600 left in my IRA account. On my quarterly statement it looks like I received 96 cents in interest. This is in a money market account. I just can’t leave this money and receive only 96 cents in a quarterly statement...
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By Scott Burns If the reports from the Trustees for Social Security and Medicare are accurate, our collective unfunded obligations shrank by a whopping $15.56 trillion when the reports were released on August 5th. The decrease is nearly twice as large...
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By Scott Burns Q. Some time ago you wrote a column about possible proposals for Social Security 'modernization.' Why is it that nobody, but nobody, talks about raising the earnings cap on the employment tax? Why not raise the cap from $106,800...
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By Scott Burns If investors could be granted a single wish, it would be this: Let me know when stocks are rising, so I can be in — And let me know when stocks are falling, so I can be out. Surely, there must be some way to know when the market will...
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By Scott Burns Q. My husband and I moved to Austin about 5 years ago. Tom is 65 and I am 63. Tom is a marketing research executive who was laid off in February of 2009. He has been unable to find work. In January of this year he and a colleague started...
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By Scott Burns Some columns hit a nerve. I was quickly deluged with emails from people “Ready to March” after the publication of my recent column on how low interest rates may cut the long term retirement income of seniors by as much as 50...
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By Scott Burns Q. My wife and I are 66. I have a $56,000 IRA. She has a $37,000 IRA (total $93,000). Both are in CDs at 2.5 percent. In 4 years we must start mandatory withdrawals. We now get about $70,000 a year from Social Security, her pension and...
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By Scott Burns If Lacy Hunt had to fight a duel, he would arrive armed with an arsenal of very powerful charts. In his role as economist for Hoisington Investment Management , an Austin firm that manages over $5 billion in fixed income assets for major...
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By Scott Burns Q. My husband and I are 65, retired, and own our home. Due to a family emergency last year, we needed to use a home equity line of credit. The interest rate is very low. It seemed like a good choice. Now we are making monthly payments and...
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By Scott Burns Will we make it through retirement? That question dominates my email as readers try to figure out how the recession, low interest rates and a dismal stock market will affect their future. Without a crystal ball, the best tool is financial...
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By Scott Burns Q. Many columns ago, you wrote that the 50s decade of life was the "make it or break it" decade. Well, I think I really messed up. I'm 57, invested in oil and gas mineral rights and subsequently lost $240,000. My broker also...
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