By Malcolm Berko
Published: February 5,2013
In the summer of 2009, I had $5,000 to invest in my individual retirement account, and my broker recommended I buy 500 shares of Rackspace US Inc. at $9, and I'm glad I did. The company is in San Antonio, and my husband and I have a friend working there who tells us how enthusiastic he is about this company.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: February 4,2013
HSBC Holdings PLC was fined $1.92 billion recently for helping terrorist nations launder trillions of dollars, and its stock actually appreciated after the announcement. The increase in stock price certainly impressed me. So do you think 200 shares of HSBC would be a good long-term investment?
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 29,2013
I'm 41 and divorced with two children. And, thanks to my super dad, I've had a great job for 11 years, with excellent benefits and a very good retirement plan. I have an individual retirement account worth $109,000, consisting only of stocks you have recommended in the past eight years. I got a good bonus this year, and my dad, who retired from Kimberly-Clark, recommends I buy 100 shares of that corporation. What do you think?
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 28,2013
I want to make a gift to Morning Star Development, an evangelical missionary organization that sends laypeople, doctors, nurses and teachers to Afghanistan to provide schooling, irrigation projects, medical care and nursing care to the poor people who live in the mountain villages. I have three stocks, each worth about $6,000, and want to contribute one of these three for the organization to sell and use the proceeds for its good work.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 22,2013
I am 63 and recently got laid off after 31 years with a Fortune 500 company. Considering the economy here and overseas, why would stocks increase in price? We have a record national debt, and the Federal Reserve prints $85 billion of new money every month and gives it to the banks that won’t lend it to consumers, who are charged $49 to bounce a check.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 15,2013
We bought 260 shares of Invesco Ltd. in December 2007 at $31.45, and the stock hasn’t been back there since. We have nine other stocks, but this is the only one we are concerned about. We need to raise about $7,500 more in cash to modify our home so our Marine son, who was injured in Afghanistan, can move in with us until he recovers.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 10,2013
I live paycheck to paycheck and have zero savings. I'm a single father of three daughters, and every time my savings reach about $1,000, something comes up, and I have to begin all over again.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 9,2013
I lost $9,000 when Orion Bank in Florida was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2009, and CEO Jerry Williams, whom I've known since 1998, went to prison three years later because he falsified the bank's books to hide losses. He's broke today.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 3,2013
I'm a barber who loves your column and listens to lots of bad-luck stories. Your October column about the church people who invested $9,000 in 1,000 U.S. $1 silver certificates prompts me to ask why so many financial scams work. A customer told me he had lost $17,000 in an oil drilling partnership that had promised him a 32 percent return. Another invested $7,000 in Iraqi dinars, losing it all, and a bowling buddy lost $11,000 trading stock options.
By Malcolm Berko
Published: January 3,2013
I am convinced the Standard & Poor's 500 is headed to 1600 or higher this year. I've completed these (enclosed) detailed calculations, concluding the S&P 500 will earn $107.42 and trade at 15.1 times earnings. Then by extrapolating these numbers, I place the Dow Industrials at about 15,864.
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