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 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 ...

Tagged with: BDC

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 ...

Tagged with: Disney

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 ...

Tagged with: general mills

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? ...

Tagged with: bamboo

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 ...

Tagged with: government spending

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 ...

Tagged with: GoPro

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. ...

Tagged with: iRobot

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 ...

Tagged with: Patterson

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 ...

Tagged with: plastic bags

Dear Mr. Berko: I bought Rite Aid stock at $6 in 2015, thinking the rumored buyout by Walgreens would give me a nice short-term profit. Could you explain to me what happened to the stock? Does Albertsons or Walgreens own ...

Tagged with: Rite Aid