ArcaMax

Dear Mr. Berko: Since we sold our business and retired 11 years ago, our $768,000 individual retirement account has averaged 8.8 percent, including dividends. I'm proud of this performance because I manage the account. Some years were better than others, but we have been able to take out over $60,000 a year from our IRA without touching the ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: My husband is an engineer with a secure job. I run the household, take care of our 12-year-old son and two dogs, make all the investment decisions for our retirement, and pay the bills. We're both 44. Our objective is long-term growth, and we have $53,000 to invest. I'm darn tired of reading Barron's, Fortune, The Wall Street ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: Malls and shopping centers have fallen significantly in value. I want the names of six mall REITs selling below book value and six mall REITs that have comeback potential. Then tell me why you like them. And I want all of them to yield over 15 percent. I'll invest $10,000 in each. -- LL, Detroit

Dear LL: Things were so much ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: My stockbroker is recommending that I buy 400 shares of Altria ($23,200), the big tobacco company, because it pays nearly 5 percent. I told him that I'm not sure I would be comfortable owning stock in a company that sells cigarettes, which kill Americans. My ex-brother-in law smoked Marlboro cigarettes for 25 years and lost a ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: I'm interested in an advertisement by the U.S. Mint offering silver Krugerrands for $79.95. This is the first silver Krugerrand ever minted by the South African Mint for the U.S. Mint. Because it's the first, do you think this will have value for collectors? And could you explain to me why a troy ounce of silver weighs more ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: I made the mistake of writing a $198 check to Weiss Research for Larry Edelson's stock market advice. Weiss promised to return my money if I wasn't satisfied, but the publisher won't respond to my requests for a refund. I can't find a workable email address for Weiss Research or Martin Weiss. Please help me.

Secondly, my ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: I won't own stock in companies that sell guns, sell tobacco, sell liquor, poison the environment or cheat the American public as banks and health insurance companies have. My stockbroker recommended that I buy 300 shares of Pfizer. But I don't want to invest in a pharmaceutical company that is being sued for hundreds of ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: I've enclosed my check for you to review my portfolio. My husband passed away four years ago, and I'm now a 71-year-old widow. A lady friend and I attended an invitation-only lunch for seniors two weeks ago, which was very interesting. The speaker believes that in the coming years, we're going to have a stock market crash and ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: In early January 2016, I had a $16,000 certificate of deposit that came due and couldn't stomach the low yields. An accountant friend told me about Iron Mountain, which he hired to store the records for his practice. It yielded 8 percent, and I bought 400 shares at $25 on his recommendation. It went up to $41 in each of the ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: Could you please tell me what cat bonds are and how they're different from other bonds? And could you tell me the name of the college that offers annuities yielding 10 percent? I'd like an answer without your usual abrasive sense of humor. -- SD, Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Dear SD: Catastrophe bonds, or cat bonds, are inherently ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: Please explain to me what a business development company is and how it works. Also, my brother, who is a certified public accountant, has recommended that I buy 1,000 shares of Main Street Capital. What do you think? -- SP, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Dear SP: Business development companies were initiated by Congress in 1980. The goal...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: We bought $50,000 worth of the 5.3 percent Tesla bond in August 2017. Our stockbroker wants me to sell, take a tax loss and use the remaining money to buy 200 shares of Tesla stock. My wife is insistent that we buy 800 shares of The Walt Disney Co. We need your opinion. -- JL, Portland, Ore.

Dear JL: You've got a smart spouse....Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: I've been offered an opportunity to invest $125,000 in a Florida bamboo farm. Please tell me what you know about this industry. Also, could you give me your best estimate about when the next recession will be? -- WB, Destin, Fla.

Dear WB: In 2010, a Floridian whose family had been growing acres of oranges for several ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: My stockbroker had me buy 300 shares of General Mills in the summer of 2016, for which I paid $71 a share. In the past 12 months, I've had a 29-point loss. I never thought that a blue chip company such as General Mills could fall by 40 percent in a year. My new broker wants me to buy 300 more shares of General Mills and sell my...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: My wife and I have two questions. Could you please tell us the difference between entitlement spending and discretionary spending? Could you give us examples? Also, could you explain the difference between our national debt and our deficit? Please try to do this without using complicated economic terminology so we don't have to...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: On your advice, I didn't buy stock in GoPro in 2015, when it was trading at $56. And about a year later, it fell to $8. But as it recovered and rose to $16, my stockbroker had me buy 1,000 shares. It immediately fell to $10. I sold it and took a 6-point loss. Now it's about $5, and he's advising me to buy another 1,000 shares. ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: Almost a year ago, we bought our first home, which has an enclosed pool. We never expected that a pool would require so much work. After months of cleaning it, we decided to buy a pool cleaner. We bought one from our neighborhood hardware store, and it works like a charm. We're delighted with it, and it saves my wife and me from ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: I've lost money buying several stocks in the robotics industry. It seems that they go up when I don't buy them and go down when I do. I bought Intuitive Surgical shares at $398, and a month later, the stock price fell by 30 points, so I took a huge loss. I bought Zebra Technologies shares at $111 and sold them at $80 three ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: My stockbroker is recommending that I buy 1,000 shares of Patterson Companies Inc. The stock yields 4.6 percent and has increased the dividend every year since it began paying dividends. He says the stock has hit bottom at $23, and he believes that this would be a good long-term investment because management is turning the ...Read more

Dear Mr. Berko: What do you think of Enterprise Products Partners? I want to buy a good income stock (at least 6 percent) with a safe dividend that should increase each year. A stockbroker suggested this stock, and I'd appreciate your opinion. Also, I am on an anti-plastic bag campaign and would like to sell a stock short that makes these ...Read more