[manaboutown]

Since the 1960s my focus has been on rental real estate, starting with small apartment houses on Capitol Hill, in D.C., then into self storage development starting in the early 1970s. Over the years I never paid much attention to the stock market and kept most of my money in money market funds for liquidity. When IRAs first became available I think the maximum one could set aside from earned income was $2,000/yr so I started one and kept at it. I dabbled in stocks and commodity trading (in which I fortunately broke even), but with minimal amounts. I mostly invested in blue chips and never paid much attention. My big score so to speak was on a few shares of BRK I bought at about $3K a share in 1983, I think. I just tucked it away and forgot about it.

Then in 2022 and 2023 I sold some multi-owner properties which resulted in me receiving a substantial amount of cash (for me) to invest in securities. I needed to take action so started researching how to optimally proceed. I am now coming up on 83 and realizing I likely will need some financial steering assistance at some point. So, I am looking for the right advisor situation for me. My search has proven discouraging so far. It feels like I am looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

As an aside I see it as a dangerous time to enter the market as the S&P 500 Shiller CAPE ratio now exceeds 35, very, very scary. So, it is mostly T-bills for me, for now.