Long time ago, maybe 30 years ago, I just had some money and decided to invest it in the market and have done so more or less ever since.
Q. What have you learned about investing that you think others should know?
The main thing I do, I stay away from the ones that are highly traded every day on the market. They're too volatile. Primarily, that's why I'm in bonds and ordinary stocks that pay dividends. They're usually more reliable year after year.
Q. How would you describe your approach to investing?
Not ultraconservative. I take a few chances, but it's something that doesn't have much risk. If they've been paying dividends for past 20 years, you have a record for success.
Q. What do you find the most difficult about investing?
Getting the information. If you get it from brokers, you don't know if it's one-sided or not.
Q. How are you invested now?
Sixty percent in municipal bonds and 40 percent in ordinary stocks. I don't go in for CDs. They pay too low a price.
Q. What changes, if any, have you made in your investment strategy in the past year?
None. I had two REITs that paid off which forced me to go into another issue or another REIT.
Q. Do you think now is a good time to invest?
Yeah. The market seems to have recovered. As long as (stocks) don't snowball too quickly, everything should go along pretty well. It will go up and down; that's the nature of the brute. I try to invest in things that I can see will be there in years to come based on their past.
Q. Do you have a goal for your investments?
To keep actively investing what I have. I don't sell a stock just to make money. I choose them mainly for their dividends. If they start having problems, then I get rid of them.
Q. What is your biggest money concern right now?
The cost of living keeps going up, and I have a limited amount of investments, so to keep them paying enough to pay everything else off - that's my biggest problem.
Q. Where do you get your investment advice?
I have two or three brokerages and, of course, some in the newspaper, and I get a magazine about investments.
- The Times Money Panel is composed of more than 500 readers who have signed up to share their opinions on making, saving and spending money.
