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Remember that "Advisors" are going to steer you in a direction that helps them in some fashion. I don't think you should spend money on "Stocks and bonds" unless you're a stock or bond expert. If i told you that you should invest your money by purchasing goats, your first thought would be "but i dont know anything about goats" so its the same with stocks, unless you are a stock "expert" why invest money in something you know nothing about? Its better off sitting in a bank account making 0 interest, at least you won't lose the principal.
It might be better to invest the inheritance money in buying another house...that way, you can own the house outright, give the house some TLC and get a renter in there and make a profit off the rent. There's no real risk, you'll own the house which should appreciate over time and you'll make money monthly on collecting rent...its much safer than buying stocks imo.
Owning one rental house, pouring money into it, and trusting a renter to pay the rent on time and not damage the property is your safe strategy? Good grief! You may as well put it all on the roulette wheel.
you don't need much knowledger to purchase a mutual fund or put a simple portfolio together that you can set and forget.
you don't need to know all the biology behind the formation of a baby to be good parents and have a child so your analogy is not quite the same with your goats.
I'm 52 and we paid off our mortgage, accelerated the payoff on our 1.9% car loan and maxed out our 401k/403b accounts. Not having a mortgage still allows us to save and invest additional money. We are able to go out to eat and enjoy life without a high monthly payment. Right now we are saving an additional amount to pay for the youngest child's college costs. In two years when our youngest enters college we will be moving to a less expensive house and using the additional equity to retire early. It is much easier to save than to pay off debt.
Owning one rental house, pouring money into it, and trusting a renter to pay the rent on time and not damage the property is your safe strategy? Good grief! You may as well put it all on the roulette wheel.
First of all, why would you "pour" money into it unless you are buying a fixer upper. Also, why would you have to worry about the renter not paying? Just do a credit check and cross your Ts and Dot your I's and you don't have to worry about a dead beat non payer. If you do it right, its profitable.
you don't need much knowledger to purchase a mutual fund or put a simple portfolio together that you can set and forget.
you don't need to know all the biology behind the formation of a baby to be good parents and have a child so your analogy is not quite the same with your goats.
You need a lot of knowledge to know what to purchase in the first place. There's nothing "simple" about investing in stocks, bonds and other market stuff, its not as easy as 123 and there's risk. You don't have to know biology about baby formation to be good parents, but if you did a lot of research on how to be good parents, you would have a better shot to be good parents rather than someone who is winging it.
actually no , if you are not buying individual issues but using funds nothing could be easier today.
my 80 year old aunts are totally clueless. but all they do is subscribe to the same fidelity insight newsletter I do . once a week they read a 10 second update and make a fund swap on occasion.
the internet is filled with are 2 or 3 fund couch potato portfolio's anyone can use and get excellent results with just yearly rebalancing.
tax planning can be complex and retirement planning can require lots of knowledge and guidance but today investing in simple couch potato portfolio's couldn't be easier.
I had a similar situation, except I didn't inherit it. Some tips, in general....nothing specific, though:
What state are you going to move to? Reason I ask is that I'm going to move, too. But I'm staying in state.
Again, some REALLY good advice from almost ALL of you, but I especially want to thank bpollen for taking the time to go into such detail! We will definitely consider ALL the advice posted so far, and thanks again to ALL!!!
Anyway, we are planning to move to New Hampshire from Colorado because of the natural scenery, New England seasons, and the small town look and feel of most of the state.. (We vacation there frequently and spent three years in Maine, btw, so we know what we are in for! And, yes, we do know that property taxes are very high there -- and in some towns, REALLY high!!)
Again, some REALLY good advice from almost ALL of you, but I especially want to thank bpollen for taking the time to go into such detail! We will definitely consider ALL the advice posted so far, and thanks again to ALL!!!
Anyway, we are planning to move to New Hampshire from Colorado because of the natural scenery, New England seasons, and the small town look and feel of most of the state.. (We vacation there frequently and spent three years in Maine, btw, so we know what we are in for! And, yes, we do know that property taxes are very high there -- and in some towns, REALLY high!!)
I spend a lot of time in NH too. Property taxes vary quite a bit. There are some towns around Lake Sunapee that are quite reasonable.
This concerns a large cash inheritance that is now just sitting in a savings account. Before continuing, just a bit of personal info:
We are 60-ish and planning to retire in four years (five at most). Our dream is to buy a smaller home in another state. We have always been fairly average as far as savings and spending; and before receiving the inheritance, we had no debts except for our car loan and our 3.75% interest mortgage; and we were looking to basically trade one mortgage for another when we retired. (With my pension and our combined social security, we would have enough to live on, even with our current mortgage payment.)
Now with the inheritance, we are able to pay off the mortgage in full and start retirement entirely debt free (paying "cash" for the new home after our current home sells). However, the "fee-only" CFP we just consulted has advised us that we should continue with a mortgage, even into retirement, and except for paying off the car ($16K remaining on a 3.75% interest loan), that we should invest the inheritance money in stocks and bonds. However, we (and especially I) are very uncomfortable doing so, as we have always been "bird in the hand" type people and are definitely not risk takers.
Does anyone have any personal experience with this kind of situation? And/or what would you advise?
Why did you go to a CFP if you're not willing to take their advice?
Why did you go to a CFP if you're not willing to take their advice?
I just wanted additional opinions from those who have actually been in our position.
The main reason we went to the CFP was to get advice about how to maximize our savings without risking anything, and we do agree with his advice regarding paying off the car and keeping the mortgage (at 3.75% interest, he proved that it was to our advantage to do so). However, it just seemed (and still seems) to me that he was putting maximizing our potential income over what was 100% safe.
Anyway, to repeat, even if we had not received the inheritance, we would still have enough to see us through retirement (barring any major and unforeseen catastrophes), but that doesn't mean that we want to waste our "windfall"; and gambling in any form simply does not interest us, even if the risk is almost infinitesimal.
And so at this point, we will definitely pay off the car, and we are now leaning towards investing about 2/3 of it in bonds and leaving the remaining 1/3 in savings.
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Some tips, in general....nothing specific, though:
