Kiplinger's RETIRMENT REPORT
P.O. Box 3298, Harlan, IA 51593.
Monthly, 1 year, $59.95.
Knight Kiplinger: "Dividend-paying stocks pump up your yields. Plenty of quality bank stocks yield close to 4% and offer enough appreciation to push your annual total return into double-digit levels. Consider J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and AmSouth Bank (ASO). They are all diversified enough to weather the risk of higher interest rates.
An educated hedge against inflation. SLM Corp., the student loan provider commonly known as Sallie Mae, offers bonds that adjust for rising prices. The bonds, which are issued in $25 units and mature in 12 years, promise to pay interest monthly at a rate equal to inflation plus 2%. The monthly interest may offer some competition to Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS), which pay the inflation adjustment only when the bonds mature.
Check out your financial advisor at a new website: www.helpforinvestors.org. It includes an easy-to-use list of where to check out financial pros, explains how to report investment fraud, and offers help for dealing with problems including broker bankruptcies, identity theft and 401(k) claims.
Trim long-term-care policies. Buyers can cut 35% to 40% of the annual cost of long-term-care insurance by limiting the benefit period to three years. One study found that with a three-year benefit, only 8% of claimants exhausted their policies."
