Need Advice ASAP

[cuzg8tor]

We have $200,000 of cash available next week from real estate balloon payment. I believe current stock market down condition may be perfect place for this money. We will not need this money for income and looking at leaving it for our girls.

Will be talking to a TIAA CREF rep in a week and we are thinking about putting money in a indexed fund tied to the S&P.

Any advice?

[villagetinker]

IMHO, I would wait a little while, I do not think we have seen the bottom yet, and this drop is so big, even if you start buying on the upswing, you will probably still make out well.

[retiredguy123]

The TIAA CREF person is going to probably try to sell you an annuity because they will get huge commission (around 10 percent). Not a good investment. My advice would be to put the money into a Vanguard money market fund. Then, over time, I would transfer the money to a balanced portfolio of short and intermediate term Vanguard bond index funds and the Vanguard S&P 500 stock index fund. But, I would definitely not invest it all into stocks at this time. Way too volatile and unpredictable. My opinion.

[tophcfa]

IMHO, I would wait a little while, I do not think we have seen the bottom yet, and this drop is so big, even if you start buying on the upswing, you will probably still make out well.

Agree, if you decide to buy an index fund, don't put it all in now. Perhaps put in a small portion in now and add to your position over time if/when the market continues to trade off. It doesn't feel like we are near the bottom yet. Personally, I am another very bad day for the stock market away from where I plan to start gradually buying into an S and P index fund.

[l2ridehd]

I would not use TIAA or any other investment person. Just go to Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab and put 10K in a total stock market fund and 10K in a total bond fund. Than add another 10K to each on down market days until you have 100K in each. Than just re-balance back to 50/50 as this market jumps up and down.

[dewilson58]

This is a bad place to get investment advice.


You don't know the poster, the poster does not know you.


Too many "look at me and my great timing decisions" on this board.


Ask friends & family you trust and do your own due diligence.


Good Luck.

[stan the man]

When I need my shoes fixed I go to a Shoemaker when I need advice on investments I do not go to TOTV

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Every suggestion above are excellent suggestions. And further more, you need advice but NOT ASAP, because you need a plan. And mr helpful is correct, not here, with a financial advisor, and preferably, and independent one who is not going to sell you annuities.

BTW, certain retirement annuities you can't transfer money out except over 5 years to another retirement account or investment account, so an independent advisor is your best bet, but ASAP if you have the impulse to do something immediately because you see a for sale sign on the front lawn, but haven't received the inspection report yet!

sportsguy

[retiredguy123]

When I need my shoes fixed I go to a Shoemaker when I need advice on investments I do not go to TOTV
Most shoemakers will do a good job at fixing your shoes for a fair price. But, when you go to a financial advisor, you may or may not get good advice, and you may or may not get a fair price. Often, you will get neither. That is the problem with the financial advisor business.

[skyking]

If you want to invest in an index driven fund, invest in an ETF. Not a mutual fund. Lower management fees, thus higher return and you sell at the price you set, not the next day's value. I like putting in a limit price and waiting to get an email that it sold. Kind of like putting your line in the lake and taking a nap.

[notme6w]

We have $200,000 of cash available next week from real estate balloon payment. I believe current stock market down condition may be perfect place for this money. We will not need this money for income and looking at leaving it for our girls.

Will be talking to a TIAA CREF rep in a week and we are thinking about putting money in a indexed fund tied to the S&P.

Any advice?

You earned it so enjoy it and if you want to give it to your girls, then do it now and enjoy it with them

[bonrich]

Look for a fee based financial advisor. Looks for the best over all plan for you and what you are looking to do.

[daca55]

With the uncertainty in this market now and who knows for how long, I would consider putting half in a municipal bond. They pay a coupon every six months any they are tax free from federal and possibly state if the bond is in the state where you live. Then I would put the other half into the market very slowly.

[Chatbrat]

I've been an investor since I was in my early teens--made a ton of $$, during the 2008-2009 crisis--right now BP has been hammered, pays over 10%, if you reinvest your dividend in compounds your return, another good investment @ this time is BA, and finally GUT pays over 9%, in monthly payments , but you get a 5% discount from market price when you reinvest the dividend

A big mistake a lot of people who are not investors--is they tend to be too conservative, and finally a really good growth stock is UN

[Sbrothnj]

...unless you really havent done this before and dont have some basic ideas about investing. You will pay commissions and fees, often ongoing, for mixed results. Warren Buffet's sage advice for normal people is to put your money in a good index fund and leave it there. Few advisors, or mutual funds for that matter, actually manage to "beat the market" over the long term. I thought the advice from the first several advisors on this thread were all basic, sound and conservative approaches. If their guidance is not understandable to you, ie if you are truly novice at this, then perhaps an initial session with an advisor, or at least a continuing ed class or the like, before you do any investing, is needed. Stay with bonds, mutual funds and ETF's for broad and diversified exposure. If you want to do a bank in the interim, Synchrony Bank (online) has been offering around 2% on savings accounts. Good luck. Stay conservative. I agree that the market needs to settle out quite a bit yet. If you go in, go bit by bit.

[Cheapbas]

See what the rep says but if it’s for their retirement which looks like it may be decades away, its probably is a good time. You may want to dollar cost average in over the coming weeks, put in a parcel at a time just to be sure further huge drops aren’t coming. An analyst said yesterday she expects the market to be Positive by year end. I hope she’s right

[Sbrothnj]

Synchrony Bank has been offering around 2%

[FredJacobs]

I sold annuities and mutual funds for over 20 years - I'm retired now, not looking for a sale. My advice is to sit tight right now. My motto has always been to never make decisions when you are in a rush, in a panic or drunk! Depending on your age, an annuity may not be right for you. Besides, your rep is going to see a big fat commission and probably push an annuity. Today, the market will probably go up - Dow futures are up over a thousand this morning. The market is unstable now. I would suggest you consider an S&P 500 fund - probably Vanguard - no sales charge. Also, I suggest that, if you are going to invest the entire amount, consider "dollar cost averaging." Divide your $200 thousand into lots - say 20 $10,000 lots. Invest each lot on the first of every month - like clockwork. This way you will buy more shares when the market is down and fewer when the market is up. In the long run you will have more shares and higher value than if you invested the entire amount at one time.

[denniskathyb]

I agree. Vanguard is famous for their low cost funds.
I also agree that market timing isn't easy and you'll only see the bottom in the rear view mirror.
I would ladder-in ladder -out. Put the money in at say 20% chunks for 5 months or if aggressive 5 weeks.

[Diverdave]

IMHO, I would wait a little while, I do not think we have seen the bottom yet, and this drop is so big, even if you start buying on the upswing, you will probably still make out well.

There is an old saying, "Never try to catch a falling knife". With $200k to work with diversification is something to think about. You might start with 25% in a good mutual fund, 25% in bonds and the rest in money market. Pull from the money market as the overall picture becomes less volatile. Just what I would do, there are lots of opinions.

[duffersue]

I have been very happy with Vanguard's personal advisors. They charge very little for their advice. I like the idea of just going into a money market and slowly getting into index funds and mutual funds. Call them and see if you like them. They don't have offices, everything is done on the phone. I started with them in the 90's, they were my 401K. As a single retired nurse I would not be living in the Villages if it wasn't for them.

[rsibole]

We have $200,000 of cash available next week from real estate balloon payment. I believe current stock market down condition may be perfect place for this money. We will not need this money for income and looking at leaving it for our girls.

Will be talking to a TIAA CREF rep in a week and we are thinking about putting money in a indexed fund tied to the S&P.

Any advice?

Ever hear the phrase, “once in a lifetime opportunity “? Maybe you have experienced one and took advantage of it or maybe you let your chance go by? There’s another popular saying” the rich get richer” . . . . . in my opinion, and with great certainty, I say these times, this very time, IS a once in your lifetime opportunity to get richer.

Great American companies, some of the greatest companies in history, are selling at bottom basement prices. Prices you will never see again in your lifetime. Oil, technology, manufacturing, consumer goods, industrials, utilities, financials. . . . . everything!

If this were not an election year, this flu season would not have been drummed up into such a panic. Tomorrow, next week, next month and for the rest of your lifetime the list of stocks in the Wall Street Journal will be the same but only the prices are going to be much, much higher than today.

Believe me or not, this is a once in a financial lifetime opportunity.

[JIMLUPO77]

Put half into the cruise industry ( rcl, ccl, nclh ). They are down 70 %.

Good long term investment, people will cruise again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rcl and ccl pay dividends.

[Chatbrat]

Final thought about professional advisors, the only time we ever lost $ in the mkt was when we lived on our boat and had a managed account from Solomon Smith Barney--it was duding the era--pre internet

Ask yourself this question--if these people are so smart how come they're still working to make more $$$--can't be that much fun hustling senior citizens

[dewilson58]

Put half into the cruise industry ( rcl, ccl, nclh ). They are down 70 %.

Good long term investment, people will cruise again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rcl and ccl pay dividends.


Not if the don't have cashflow.

[JIMLUPO77]

Cash flow is tied to business volumn. Thus, when people come back so does the $$$$$$$$

[Srummer]

Used to tell my clients to average into the market - put 1/3 in now, 1/3 in 30 days and 1/3 in 60 days. Be disciplined and don’t try to time the market. Now that I’m retired, I use Vanguard Target Retirement Fund - no fees in/out and low internal costs. It’s been very effective.

[cuzg8tor]

Please keep commenting. I am listening.

[greenflash245]

go talk to your financial person. don't rely on opinions from the neighborhood.

[greenflash245]

agree totally

[tophcfa]

When/if the market hits my trigger points I will buy a Vanguard S and P 500 index fund. The easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to get domestic market exposure.

[Eg_cruz]

Leave in cash and go visit some chartered financial advisors. Go to some of those seminars are just call them up and meet with them. Michael Whitaker and associates have seminars at Legacy Restaurant go and feel them out. Look up others but since you do not need the funds take your time and meet with advisors and insurance agents but advisor.

[Mendy]

Meet with someone at the Fidelity office in Sumter. They've given me great advice over the years and we made some shifts out of equities in January, weeks before this recent crash. I trust them. Just my 2 cents!

[Johnrocketstrong@yahoo.co]

I would recommend gold coins or gold. Gold is rising right now when all else is failing. We just had cashed some in and was worth $2000 more per coin than what we aquired for. Long term you can always go gold certificates. Very safe and probably best bet right now with unsure markets.

[champion6]

When/if the market hits my trigger points I will buy a Vanguard S and P 500 index fund. The easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to get domestic market exposure.Let me recommend this: VTSAX - Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. It provides exposure to the entire U.S. equity market, including small-, mid-, and large-cap growth and value stocks.

[caljeff]

I completely agree with "Stan the Man" and other similar posts. With that level of resources, why would you accept advice from someone(s) about whom you know nothing ; zilch, nada? You might want to reconsider your approach towards acquiring investment advice.
jus' sayin'

[retiredguy123]

Let me recommend this: VTSAX - Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. It provides exposure to the entire U.S. equity market, including small-, mid-, and large-cap growth and value stocks.
That is an excellent fund and I used to own shares in it. But, the Vanguard S&P 500 Index fund has actually had a slightly higher average annual return during the last 10 year period, 13.52 percent vs 13.42 percent. Both funds have the same expense ratio. Personally, I have been more comfortable using the S&P 500 Index Fund because all the companies in the fund are large companies. The concept of including some smaller companies may sound good, but it doesn't seem to deliver higher long term returns.

[JIMLUPO77]

This neighbor has 32 years experience on wall street...…………. Sectors / industries are the way to go.

Just remember a financial advisor with a 2.5% annual fee is 25 % after 10 years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CoachKandSportsguy]

That is an excellent fund and I used to own shares in it. But, the Vanguard S&P 500 Index fund has actually had a slightly higher average annual return during the last 10 year period, 13.52 percent vs 13.42 percent. swap s

Vanguard has applied for a patent about the way that their taxable account funds don't have any Capital Gains at the end of the year. There was a Barrons/Wall St journal article about that within the last year.

What they do is swap losers for gainers in certain ways, and there is a higher average price / return due to zero tax payments by you, withdrawing funds to pay. That will show up when you sell the shares as you will have a higher gain upon sale than paying capital gains taxes along the way.

Just something to think about.

sportsguy

[Michael Pauly]

Fixed indexed annuities have been a blessing to us. Suggest contacting Parady Financial for detailed info.

[retiredguy123]

///

[retiredguy123]

Fixed indexed annuities have been a blessing to us. Suggest contacting Parady Financial for detailed info.
I would suggest that anyone who is considering buying an annuity to read the following articles by Clark Howard.

Ask Clark: Is it still a bad idea to buy annuities? - Clark Howard (https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/investing-retirement/should-i-buy-annuity/)

Thinking about an annuity? Here's why they stink! - Clark Howard (https://clark.com/insurance/variable-annuities-vs-life-annuities-by-the-number/)

There is also other good advice about annuities on Clark's website at clark.com.

[joeharing]

buy .........VYM
.........use the dividends or reinvest.

[jimlambert]

There are tax consequences to giving that much money to your kids all at once. Talk to an expert before doing that!

[DaveK]

Based on my experience in the financial management business, we had a client who had an inherited account with TIAA/CREF and wanted to move it to our Schwab platform. The TIAA representative gave our client no end of trouble about redeeming her funds. It took about four months of procrastination and calls for excessive documentation by TIAA before our client finally got her money. TIAA was a wealth of wrong information. I agree with others to take your time, find an advisor who will provide an investment plan, and help you put your funds in Vanguard, T Rowe Price, Schwab or some other reputable firm. Go to the SEC Broker Check website and check out any advisor or broker you are considering doing business with. This site will provide the qualifications of the advisor, any disciplinary actions, and a form called the ADV that spells out how the advisor does business. Also available is a Brochure that discussed in plain English how the business is conducted, as well as the fees charged. If nothing more, stick the funds in a money market fund until you have a good investment plan.

[retiredguy123]

There are tax consequences to giving that much money to your kids all at once. Talk to an expert before doing that!
There is no income tax if you give money away. Also, there is no Federal estate tax, as long as you don't give away more $11.58 million during your lifetime. So, $200K won't even come close to triggering any taxes.

[rjm1cc]

Pay attention to the costs.
I would look to an online broker. Either do it on your own or use their Robo free advice or there paid advice. I like ETF and maybe a stock or two you think is really good.
Since you can not time the market I agree with you that now is a good time to buy. Be sure to list the beneficiaries on the account if you do not have any special estate objectives.

[retiredguy123]

Pay attention to the costs.
I would look to an online broker. Either do it on your own or use their Robo free advice or there paid advice. I like ETF and maybe a stock or two you think is really good.
Since you can not time the market I agree with you that now is a good time to buy. Be sure to list the beneficiaries on the account if you do not have any special estate objectives.
It may appear that the stock market is dropping like a rock. But, do the math. The S&P 500 Index closed today at only 3.5 percent lower than is was one year ago. So, it may not be as good a deal as it may seem.

[Kenswing]

I would recommend gold coins or gold. Gold is rising right now when all else is failing. We just had cashed some in and was worth $2000 more per coin than what we aquired for. Long term you can always go gold certificates. Very safe and probably best bet right now with unsure markets.

lol Gold is falling like a rock.. Last week gold hit $1,700 an ounce. Today = $1531..

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Gold is an asset class which has no income, and has mostly used in jewelry, and small amount in industrial products. What gold is most highly correlated with is the strength of the US dollar which is reflective of the US relative inflation rate versus other currencies.

With US asset deflation, gold will go down, not up. With a currency crises meaning that the US inflation rate is increasing faster than the rest of the world's inflation rate, then gold will rise. With excessive debt, the dollar could plummet, increasing the price of gold. So everyone should own no more than 5% of a portfolio in gold, but that's it.

In today's market, people have been selling their gold to pay off margin and offset losses. Not until the US deficit balloons out of control, will gold start to appreciate significantly, YMMV

[Kenswing]

Gold is an asset class which has no income, and has mostly used in jewelry, and small amount in industrial products. What gold is most highly correlated with is the strength of the US dollar which is reflective of the US relative inflation rate versus other currencies.

With US asset deflation, gold will go down, not up. With a currency crises meaning that the US inflation rate is increasing faster than the rest of the world's inflation rate, then gold will rise. With excessive debt, the dollar could plummet, increasing the price of gold. So everyone should own no more than 5% of a portfolio in gold, but that's it.

In today's market, people have been selling their gold to pay off margin and offset losses. Not until the US deficit balloons out of control, will gold start to appreciate significantly, YMMV

But it's always good to have some on hand for the Zombie Apocalypse.. lol

[waynehal55]

buy .........VYM
.........use the dividends or reinvest.

Great choice..............Yield is about %3.70.

[retiredguy123]

But, I sure like those William Devane commercials. By the way, if you buy gold coins from that company, and then sell them back when the gold value has not changed, you will lose 8 percent of your money.

[Finchs]

This is a bad place to get investment advice.
You don't know the poster, the poster does not know you.
Too many "look at me and my great timing decisions" on this board.
Ask friends & family you trust and do your own due diligence.
Good Luck.

Hey, normally you would be right on, saying this is not the place for investment advice--However!
If you read the intelligent, thoughtful responses this post has received you may be surprised how really helpful they are! I retired as a real estate agent, but spent 20 years as a stockbroker and then as a financial planner before that, and at this time of downsizing in my own personal world of finance I find the advice given here lead me to explore some investment vehicles that I had not considered (ETFs specifically). In fact, I never heard of them til now. Those did not exist when I was in the business, and I really appreciate this posting opening up the discussion. Thanks, All!!!

[jimshrager]

I would recommend dollar cost averaging until potential news of a cure for the coronavirus. Until that the news comes out the market will be very volatile and putting all the money in at at one time could be mistake. Talk to Fidelity here in The village about their managed accounts you get a personal advise to manage your account based on my risk tolerance .

[cuzg8tor]

I have an appointment with a Vanguard advisor next Thursday. I think his services will cost me about $600 for managing the $200k for the first year. I will take this year to get smarter as an investor.

I need to learn how to pass this money on to kids with minimal tax due, how to sell and buy smartly, how to intelligently diversify and how to minimize costs. Excited about my new journey as I am OCD when it comes to learning new skills. Thanks for all of the advice even though some was contradictory.

[JoelJohnson]

While I won't suggest what to buy, I do agree to wait a bit, but I suggest you open a ROTH IRA (depending on when you will need the money). If you won't need the money for over 5 years you can do very well in the market and withdraw the money tax free (after the first 5 years, not counting what you put in).

[Bay Kid]

Great time to buy a home. Interest rates are dropping like a rock.