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By Scott Burns Belfast, Maine -- It's hard to believe, sitting here at a cottage window, that the world is having its daily crisis, that billions are being lost, that oil prices are yet higher, and it is all the subject of important -- no, pressing...
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By Scott Burns Q. Which would be safest and offer the best long-term results for my 401(k) --- a stable value fund or an inflation-protected bond fund? ---O.C., by email A. Go for the inflation-protected bond fund. Long term, it will provide you with...
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By Scott Burns Allow me to introduce the Power of Non-Financial Thinking. This is the kind of thinking that actual people can do. It involves none of the magical thinking preferred by those on Wall Street who make their living selling us the next financial...
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By Scott Burns Q. Can I be said to be a millionaire? I have cash-type assets of about $180,000. I have a 401(k) worth about $82,000. My paid-off home is worth about $175,000. I will also receive a defined-benefit pension. I could receive it (retire from...
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By Scott Burns Downsizing may be the best retirement decision millions of boomers can make. It’s relatively easy to do. And, as you’ll soon see, the lifetime benefits can be enormous. But first, meet John and Jane Bighouse. They’re about to downsize....
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By Scott Burns Q. I have around $1.2 million, mostly in equities. My house is paid for. There will be around $300,000 in company profit sharing when I retire, and that has been my ace in the hole for the conservative portion of my investments. If I were...
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By Scott Burns Medicare premiums may soon start crushing retiree spending power. I estimate that many a long-lived couple may need to reduce their retirement spending on non-medical consumption by 13 percent to 26 percent to avoid sharp declines in purchasing...
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By Scott Burns Q. My wife and I are nearing retirement, maximum two years away. In his recent letter to stockholders, Warren Buffett said that investment returns from 1901 to 1999 averaged 5.3 percent plus 2 percent additional for dividends. He described...
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By Scott Burns How does the cost of raising a family affect your retirement planning? The answer is good news, in a backhanded kind of way. When we have children we voluntarily reduce our adult standard of living so we can raise the kids. Since our adult...
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By Scott Burns Q. When I started taking required minimum distributions from my IRAs, I used a withdrawal formula based on dividing the value of my IRA by 27.4. I understood that this value would have to be withdrawn annually until the IRA was depleted...
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By Scott Burns The only thing constant is change---that includes Couch Potato investing. When I created the first Couch Potato portfolio nearly 20 years ago it was a very simple portfolio by both design and necessity. Design required it be something anyone...
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By Scott Burns Lots of explanations are offered for the soaring prices of oil and commodities. You can choose from: (a) the terrorism premium, (b) speculators, (c) peak oil theory, (d) shrinking net exports from oil-producing nations; (e) rising demand...
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Q: How can I prove that my company 401(k) plan is a loser? The company I work for has our plan with Putnam. I believe there is no combination of funds in the 401(k) that has ever beaten the S&P 500 index over any period of time. But I need to figure...
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By Scott Burns "Please write an article telling people with less than $15,000 a year of retirement income how they are supposed to survive." — R.S., by e-mail Millions of people face this predicament. According to the Social Security Administration...
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By Scott Burns Q. I wonder if single-premium immediate annuities (SPIAs) are for me. I am 75. My wife is 73. We have no debt, $850,000 in IRAs (mostly in the American Fund family) and $150,000 in a ROTH, again with American. We also have $150,000 in CDs...
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