Ask Doc

The Tools You Need for Your Best Retirement

I don't know you.

So that means I can't tell you precisely which credit card, stock recommendation, or diet is best for you.

But many readers think I can. For instance, our issue last week about credit cards prompted a flood of e-mails asking why we didn't recommend specific cards. Some folks seemed downright upset I didn't list their favorite card.

We're a small team here at Retirement Millionaire Daily. But we spend hours, sometimes even weeks, researching every topic we cover. We like to use our personal experiences and those of our friends and co-workers to help us give you the best recommendations we can. We can't say which credit card will be best for you, but we can present you with our findings.

Our job, as I've said before, is empowerment. Here at Retirement Millionaire Daily, we give you the tools necessary for you to make the best decisions for your life. Take control of your health and wellness today.

Q: Are there credit cards that do NOT charge a yearly fee? We pay off the balance each month but still pay a yearly fee. How can we eliminate this fee? – S.A.O.

A: S.A.O., yes, some cards do not charge yearly fees. A great resource we used for our research is the website NerdWallet.com. Here you can choose the type of card you want (rewards, cash-back, travel, etc.) and then select "No Annual Fee." This will help you see all the cards in that category with no annual fee.

Also remember, as we noted, the issue we published last week – "Stop Overpaying Your Credit-Card Company" – was originally from 2015. Some of the information and pricing may have changed, so we encourage you to research any cards you're interested in.

Q: There's one thing I have to mention that drives me nuts: Splicing units.

For example, in the August 23 Issue:

"For example, 8 ounces of avocado has about 34 grams of total fat. Of those, 4.9 grams are saturated, 4.2 grams are polyunsaturated, and an incredible 23 grams are monounsaturated.

"Compare that with an 8-ounce hamburger patty. That has 45 grams of total fat, but of those, saturated fat is 17 grams, polyunsaturated fats are 1 gram, and monounsaturated fats are 20 grams."

You have a serving size in ounces, and a fat content in grams. Why not keep the units the same to avoid confusion? If someone didn't know how to convert ounces to grams, how would they know what percentage of the avocado or hamburger was fat? If my conversions are right, 8 oz is about 227 grams, so an avocado is about 15% fat and a hamburger is about 19.8% fat. – S.B.

A: S.B., I agree, typically all units should be the same. However, we wrote the comparison using an eight-ounce measurement with fat in grams to keep it consistent with what folks would find on a typical serving label. But as always, we encourage our readers to do their own research, and we're glad you took the time to measure it out.

It's also important to look at the fat ratio: 67% of the fat in an avocado is the good, monounsaturated fat. But only 44% of the burger is good, monounsaturated fat.

It's also good to note that this isn't a typical serving. One serving of an avocado is only about one-fifth of a medium-sized avocado, or about one ounce. We upped it to 8-ounces to properly compare it with a typical-size burger.

These are all important considerations when reading nutrition labels. Having this kind of understanding is invaluable to your health.

Q: As a longtime subscriber to Retirement Millionaire, I am offended that now I am required to subscribe to another service, Retirement Trader, in order to get good ideas for trades that will supplement my retirement. Is Retirement Millionaire no longer a "trade" idea subscription? – J.T.

A: First, let me thank you for your membership to my flagship newsletter Retirement Millionaire. I hope you're enjoying your monthly issues and special reports.

I have two other subscription newsletters as well here at Stansberry Research – Retirement Trader and Income Intelligence. You aren't required to subscribe to any of them to get new recommendations.

Each letter represents a different style of investing. That way, folks can find which one works best for their own style and goals.

Retirement Millionaire is my common-sense approach to wealth, health, and retirement. In it, I share recommendations for stocks and fixed-income investments.

We designed Retirement Trader to teach subscribers how to use options to generate returns that are safe and consistent enough to help fund your retirement.

And Income Intelligence is, as the name suggests, obsessed with just one thing – income. We go beyond just dividend-paying stocks to examine every kind of income-paying investment available to individual investors. Our exhaustive research will point out which investment types offer the biggest, safest income streams from month to month... And we recommend the best ways to buy into those trends.

I'll continue publishing recommendations in my monthly issues of Retirement Millionaire. But if you're interested in one of my other newsletters, you can try them out with a 30-day money back guarantee. Click here to read more on Income Intelligence and here to read more on Retirement Trader.

Q: What is the most convenient resource to follow the bond market and get vital bond data? – G.G.

A: We've written before that we like using the website of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. It has a bond-search feature right on its home page, which you can reach here.

You can also calculate amounts like current yield and yield-to-maturity on this site.

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