Investors always have questions, and we receive hundreds every year. While we cannot respond to them all, we address some on our weekly radio show and use others to help us choose article topics. Using the submit a question tab above, you can send us a question to be answered by our team of educators and financial advisors. We regularly post new questions and answers here. The links below will lead you to them.
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July 23, 2008 |
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Question:
I just retired and the recent decline has made we change my idea of how I should invest my retirement accounts. I need income from these investments to live on but realize I can't put all my money in bonds or Cd's or I will probably run out of money due to inflation. What do you suggest I do? Wait for the market to go up again? How far do you think the market is likely to fall before the next bull market starts?
Click here to read Merriman's answer!
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July 21, 2008 |
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Question:
I have some money I want to invest in a buy-and-hold account. I don’t know if I should invest it all at once or dollar-cost-average over a year or six months. Which is best?
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July 20, 2008 |
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Question:
In three years I will conclude a 30 year career in the
military as an enlisted man. I own a house, paid off this month, have
an 11-year old son, two cars (paid off), excellent credit and no debts.
The house is a rental property as I am currently living overseas. I
will have to buy another house in three years, start saving for
college for my son and will start a second career. I
have not started saving yet because I wanted to pay off the house. What
are your recommendations for buying a house, saving for college
expenses, retirement after my second career and tax shelters for the
next three years?
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July 19, 2008 |
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Question:
Regarding mutual funds, why isn't it a good idea to invest in C shares for a time period of one to five years, then convert to A shares in the fifth year? I have looked at American and Franklin Templeton and cannot understand, given the scheduled loads and expenses, why this would not be a good strategy. I am 53 years old. Thank you so much.
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July 18, 2008 |
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Question:
I currently have a Vanguard rollover IRA that's worth about $120,000. I expect that I will not need this money for eight years or more. I have taken $100,000 of this and allocated it according to your suggested Vanguard buy and hold strategy based upon a 60/40 equity/fixed ratio. I split the remaining $20,000 evenly between the Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund and the Vanguard Windsor II fund. I have always like these two managed funds. Do you think this little investment wrinkle of adding these two funds to your buy and hold suggestions is safe? Or are there any pitfalls to this strategy?
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July 17, 2008 |
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Question:
I am studying investments and I'm using the Fidelity Magellan
fund as a case study. How well has this fund performed in recent years,
and what benchmark do you use to evaluate it? What does "good
performance" mean to you? Does it include anything other than just
return? Would you have recommended Magellan in 1995, or any other
growth fund?
Click here to read Merriman's answer!
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July 14, 2008 |
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Question:
My husband and I are both working at universities, and
have invested money in the TIAA-CREF stock fund. I am still not clear
how to place this fund in a portfolio, how to evaluate its performance
and which benchmark I should use. It is not easy to follow this fund
since there's not much information available about it other than what's
on TIAA-CREF web site. What do you suggest?
Click here to read Merriman's answer!
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July 12, 2008 |
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Question:
I am a senior citizen and I invested $5,000 divided equally
between in Janus' Global Life Science and Olympus funds. Now my $5,000
is down to only $2,800. Should I my dump these funds? Should I switch
to another Janus fund? Or should I just sweat it out? I have other
investments besides these two funds.
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July 08, 2008 |
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Question:
If I buy a mutual fund at the end of a year, are there expenses that
will be assigned to my shares even if I have owned them only a short
while?
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