One of the things I am thankful for every day is the kindness of readers Thank you for your trust Question Should I continue investing in the stock market if I can make more than 6 percent in I Savings Bonds and retire in the next five or six years We have invested in Fidelity Funds since…
ReadDoes it make sense to defer Social Security benefits For many the answer is yes This is not the conventional wisdom It says to take the money and run But some new research indicates the conventional wisdom is wrong Let's start by working through an example For anyone born in 1943 or…
ReadThe shopkeeper of a corner store in a slum looked at the kid and said "Do you want to know what it's like to be old " He pulled a two pound coffee can from under the counter and hurled its contents thousands of pennies across the worn Formica counter "That's what it's like! Every month ends…
ReadQ I have my 401(k) divided across four Fidelity funds Value Balanced Diversified International and Contra Its management fees range from 67 (Balanced) to 94 percent (Contra) Based upon the above choices and management fees would you recommend that I try your "Margarita Portfolio"…
ReadIf anything makes me feel old it is tax reform When the president's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform released its much leaked recommendations two weeks ago my first reaction was an involuntary gag reflex the sort of thing that happens when you get too close to dog poop I know most people feel…
ReadRichard W Fisher the new president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank may have the ultimate small world story In early October he was in Waco speaking to a business group He casually mentioned that we imported nearly 54 million golf balls from China while we exported the DuPont Surlyn polymer…
ReadQ My wife and I are in serious trouble Here are the facts We earn $138K yearly and are both 58 We owe $30K in credit card debt We make mostly minimum payments We are never late on payments We owe $30K in college loans Two of our three sons are out of college now …
ReadA recent column (Going for the Gold with 401(k) Plans Tuesday October 18) categorized 401(k) and other qualified plans by their expenses It ranked them from Platinum to Gold Silver Bronze and lead As you might expect it brought a lot of mail Financial services professionals chided me for…
Read"Don't get old There's no future in it " That's what my stepfather who died four years ago at 84 liked to say Usually he said it while hoisting his watered Canadian Club a drink he liked so much that he received five bottles of the stuff on his 80th birthday He was not known for his healthy…
ReadQ In the September October issues of AARP Magazine a column advises a soon to retire couple to switch their small mortgage to a much larger one at 6 percent interest only and invest the left over proceeds in municipal bonds at 4 5 percent Apparently the reason is to gain a tax deduction I feel…
ReadA visit to the glitzy section of any city in America will give you the idea that we don't know what to do with all the money we have You get the same impression at any high end mall in suburbia In fact income thins out pretty quickly According to the most recent IRS statistics on tax returns…
Read