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Money panel: FRED KOPEC, 45, airline pilot, St. Petersburg
By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published June 18, 2006
How did you get started in investing? My first year in college, during the junk bond era, I bought a couple of bonds on a recommendation from one of my teachers. It did quite well. What is your best investment? Over the years, my purchases and selling of real estate. What is your worst investment? Buying airline stock. What have you learned about investing that you think all investors should know? I read an awful lot about not only what's going on in the United States, but around the world, and I do listen to radio talk shows just concerning financial formats. It gives me a clear picture. How would you describe your approach? On my 401(k), I have been kind of conservative. On real estate, I've been a little flamboyant in the past. I look at many, many variables before I make a financial decision, especially now. What do you find the most difficult? Being home Monday through Friday to execute buy and sell orders. Because of my state of employment with my employer, I'm totally out of the stock market. How are you invested? I've pulled all of my investments out of my 401(k) and put it into insurance contracts prior to the market decline right after Sept. 11. I also did this back in the first part of May of this year. Do you think now is a good time to invest? I'm going to wait it out until the summer. I think the market is still not where it should be. I think further corrections are coming. What is your goal for your investing? Since I no longer have a retirement program with my airline, everything I do now is going to be toward saving toward my own retirement. What is your biggest money concern? Having taken such a huge pay cut in the last year, I have to manage what I have and what I make just to sustain myself. My discretionary income is almost nonexistent. Learning to cope with the change in what I made a year ago and what I make today. Where do you get your investment tips? The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times of London when I can get it. I go to BusinessWeek or Money, just to get an overview of their perspective of the American economy. - FRED W. WRIGHT JR., Times correspondent
[Last modified June 18, 2006, 06:17:09]
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