Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 4, 1992                   TAG: 9203040302
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

INVESTMENT LOSS NOT SO STUNNING

For Howard Miller, age 77, of St. Petersburg, Fla., my heart bleeds - a little. He will lose $8,000 income this year even after switching from CDs to Ginnie Mae securities.

Assuming his CDs yielded 10 percent and the Ginnie Maes 7.5 percent (average of 15 GNMA funds, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, March 1992), that $8,000 loss computes to an investment of $320,000 [$8,000/(0.10 - 0.075)]. Not exactly poor!

Mr. Miller could withdraw 10 percent of his investment and income each year for 19 years before he would reduce the investment value to zero. By then he would be 96 years old.

If, after moving out of his waterfront condominium, Mr. Miller could only survive for two years (on an income of almost $40,000 a year in a tax-free state) - that is indeed, in his words, "tough"! EDWARD D. SPEAR BEDFORD