Need real estate and/or financial advice

[yellow4yield]

Originally Posted by Nawah

My father's estate is not yet settled. When it is settled, I'll inherit about $200K. Any suggestions on what to do with the money?

Do you have any experience with investing?

How would you be about getting an online brokerage account and buying selling / investing that money yourself online?
Learning how to do all that?

If you have someone do the investing for you, you pay heavy commissions and make less money.

If you are willing to learn about all this stuff. And do a LOT of hard work - investigate any company you might invest money in - checking out their financial statements for example, then you can make more money.

For example, if I gave you the company name...

Global Aviation Holdings

Would you be able to find their financial statements and tell me if they are making money or not?

When you buy "corporate bonds", you are loaning the company money...

Would you loan money to a company named "Solyndra"?

For now I would recommend you get the book...

"The Bond Book" 3rd edition
(Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More)
by Annette Thau

Read it cover to cover before investing one cent.
Amazon.com: The Bond Book, Third Edition: Everything Investors Need to Know About Treasuries, Municipals, GNMAs, Corporates, Zeros, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, and More (9780071664707): Annette Thau: Books


And find an independent investment advisor who you pay cash to for advice. Perhaps $100 an hour. Do not have ANY accounts with that person. So they would have nothing to gain (commissions/kickbacks) from the investment advice they give you. Have that person double check anything you are thinking about investing in. Warn you off if they can find anything nasty. And do your homework as well.

If you pay $1000 for investment advice, that is a good deal as opposed to losing 200K!

And don't listen to any investment "buying" advice on the internet or TV. Use your own research.

[Nawah]

Thank you. I'm a pretty good researcher, and I like the idea of having control over my money and not paying anyone else for kickbacks or commissions. However, no, I do not have any experience investing. I do watch Fox News, and their Saturday morning show has lots of advice. I'll get the book you recommended.

Question: Are the rules of investing unchanging and timeless? In other words, will the book you recommended be outdated in a few years? Thank you.

[yellow4yield]

P.S. An independent investment advisor in Colorado!

[yellow4yield]

Investment books are NOT timeless. The book I recommended is recent. And in that it discusses the recent problems with municipal bonds and how some cities are going broke - bond holders could lose all their money.

Several years ago municipal bonds were considered a very safe investment. Not today!

Search google.com for the words...
municipal bond default

This city can't pay its electric bill...
Highland Park, Michigan Tearing Out Its Streetlights To Cut Costs

Start reading the NY Times business section (online) daily...
The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia

You will see news stories about certain countries in Europe having financial difficulties. And you would not want to buy any bonds for those countries. Or businesses which are having trouble.

[Lincolnian]

Originally Posted by Nawah

Thank you for all of your good advice, even if some of it is alarming (I guess it should be). Since we're talking, I have another question:

My father's estate is not yet settled. When it is settled, I'll inherit about $200K. Any suggestions on what to do with the money?

Again, I'm 53, single, house is paid off, I'm just starting my retirement planning. I make $37K per year.

Thanks again!!

Conservatively invest it since you're close to retirement age. You could pick a targeted retirement account which is a mix of stocks, bonds, and cash equivalents which readjusts the mix as you approach your targeted retirement date.