Scott Burns
-
How to spend more now, less laterSep 07, 2015 8:21 am - Allow me to introduce the Hedonic Tilt. That's a formal title for what most of us want to do in retirement. We want to spend more now, while we can enjoy it. And we'll c...
-
Retirement money should flow toward lower feesSep 07, 2015 8:21 am - Q: My husband and I are both 43. He is a federal employee. I'm self-employed in real estate and other consulting gigs. He has $283,000 in the Thrift Savings Plan. He has...
-
Cash is only good when stores are stockedAug 30, 2015 7:23 am - Q: For the past several months my wife has encouraged us to increase the amount of cash we keep at home and on our persons. She worries that our banks and financial inst...
-
Cash: what's not to like?Aug 27, 2015 12:17 pm - Q: As a longtime follower of the Couch Potato portfolios, and now as a retiree drawing from my savings, I have a question about management. While working, I invested reg...
-
Investment hunches seldom end wellAug 23, 2015 6:20 pm - Q: I am well diversified with an IRA and investment portfolio worth about $300,000. Home and cars are paid for. No debt. Earlier this year, I found $9,000 cash sitting i...
-
The real story behind high-yield CDsAug 17, 2015 6:15 am - The offer is amazing, but there it is. Plain as day, a newspaper advertisement offers an FDIC-insured certificate of deposit. It's a big, bottom-corner ad with "5.5 perc...
-
The value/cost problem of financial adviceAug 16, 2015 6:15 am - Q: I have a financial planner with a major national bank. I have $685,000 with him. The high value for this account was $695,000. I recommended we add a stock to the por...
-
Investing the Vanguard way at FidelityAug 11, 2015 6:13 am - Q: In a recent column about hiring a financial planner, you suggested Admiral shares of Vanguard's Balanced Index Fund. We are currently with Fidelity Investments. Does ...
-
Don't let managing your retirement become full-time jobAug 02, 2015 7:15 am - Q: I am 59 and plan to retire next year. My independent financial planner says I am good-to-go. But I want to be able to do more projections and track my cash flow, inve...
-
Taxes not always a big deal with annuity profitsJul 27, 2015 7:06 am - Q: When my mother died in 2010, she left me an annuity. I am retired. My husband and I live on our Social Security and a small pension. I had five years to do something...