Mecklenburg Times: News for Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties Real Estate, Development, Construction, and Community News in the Charlotte area and throughout Mecklenburg, Union and Iredell counties

Dear Mr. Berko: Please don’t use my initials or city, because my comments might encourage the local school board to fire me. A dear aunt passed away last March, leaving me two pieces of property, which I sold for $620,000. ...

Tagged with: Financial Adviser

Dear Mr. Berko: What do we do with 1,300 shares of General Electric, which we bought at $31? Our stockbroker says we should hold them. My wife says sell. And I don’t give a (nasty word) what we do. That ...

Tagged with: General Electric

Dear Mr. Berko: I have eight long-term maturity bonds from eight different public companies, each with coupons between 5.5 percent and 5.65 percent. They are all rated BBB, which is still bank-quality, and I paid about $10,000 for each bond. ...

Tagged with: Berko

Dear Mr. Berko: About four years ago, I bought 200 shares of FireEye at $53, and two months later, it had fallen to $33. You said to sell it because the underwriters were a “crock of crooks” and told me ...

Tagged with: Berko

Dear Mr. Berko: My wife and I are thinking of investing in Chinese stocks or mutual funds. If we were to buy stocks, we’d invest $10,000 each in Alibaba, Noble Group, Ping An Insurance, ICBC and HNA Technology. If we ...

Tagged with: China

Dear Mr. Berko: In March of this year, I bought 300 shares of Fifth Third Bank at $34, but it hasn’t gone higher, even in this bull market. The shares have just continued to go down in price, while most ...

Tagged with: Fifth Third Bank

Dear Mr. Berko: Palm Beach Research Group, a financial think tank in Florida, is offering a plan called FS2081. The folks there say it’s unknown to the public but guaranteed to pay me $11,384 a month. This plan is used ...

Dear Mr. Berko: GoPro looks like fun. Our neighbor’s son showed us photos for over an hour (a little too long) of his skiing trip, and some of the video looked fantastic. He says GoPro is the latest trend, and ...

Tagged with: GoPro

Dear Mr. Berko: What are McDonald’s largest competitors? They’ve got to be what’s damaging McDonald’s revenues, which, according to Morningstar, have been declining every year since 2013. How can McDonald’s compete with all the new franchises selling hamburgers, fries and ...

Tagged with: McDonald's

Dear Mr. Berko: Three other people and I own a small company. We’ve been in business together for 14 years. We have a large 401(k) plan, in which we equally share, and I’ve been managing it since we took it ...

Tagged with: marijuana