Dear Mr. Berko: I am 32 and recently got a doctorate in French history. After 14 years of attending classes, I will apply for my first ever job at UCLA, which would pay me about $55,000 a year. But first I will take nine months to go on a needed vacation and live with three friends in Marseille. I have about $173,000 in student debt but managed to save $21,000 while borrowing. While I’m in France, I’d like to invest $10,000 in biotechnology stocks because my sister, a high school science teacher, says biotech stocks could triple in a year. I want to make money fast. Do you have any recommendations for low-priced biotech stocks?
I also need to find a brokerage firm. I’ve searched social media — because they have interactive, personally shared, honest, community-based, non-commercial information — for the best brokerage firm.
I got five recommendations — namely, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, E-Trade, Merrill Edge and Fidelity. Please advise and tell me which is the best firm to invest with.
— P.D., Portland
Dear P.D.: Something’s terribly wrong here. How can a system allow you to accumulate that much debt? And how can you justify owing that much money (unless you don’t intend to pay it back) for a job that pays $55,000 a year? Meanwhile, never ever use social media for important financial information. In the past several years, social media have morphed into a public display for personal perversions and become a marinade for the human brain and a cause celebre that revolutionizes rather than evolutionizes changes in the landscape of our American culture.
