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Money panel
By Times staff writer Q. How did you get started in investing? I helped start a women's investment club -- after hours, of course -- where I worked in a surgery center, about five years ago. We disbanded the club about two years ago. Now, I just have my mutual funds and some minor stocks with my DRIPS (Dividend Reinvestment Programs). Q. What is your best investment so far? RPM (a maker of specialty coatings). That was one of the stocks I investigated for the club. The club decided not to invest, but I did. Q. What is your worst investment so far? XXSYS, a company out in California that retrofits bridges and trellises for highways to protect the understructure. I bought it at $4 a share. It's about 21/2 cents now. Q. What have you learned about investing? I've learned how to read the paper. I've learned that there are good days and there are bad days. But where else are you going to put your money? You can put it in a savings account with half-a-cent interest. I have changed some of my mutual funds, put half in bonds. Q. How are you invested now? Still 80 percent stocks and 20 percent bonds. Q. What is your biggest money concern right now? Living on pretty much a fixed income. There's not going to be any windfalls coming in to pay for the increases in, say, the water bill, the electric bill, the telephone bill. They get increases but I'm not going to be getting any. Q. Do you have an investment goal? I did. I wanted to save enough to go to Paris. I've got enough for me, but not enough for my husband, so we'll have to wait until the market goes back up to pay his fare. I realized a long time ago that I wouldn't be a millionaire.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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