Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with retirement

New economy, new investors, old scam. Help!

Arch1 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:33:34 -0800

Broker is pointing my 35 year old sister in law and spouse to a *variable annuity* as their first retirement saving choice. My relatives are late to starting to save, and have $20,000 set aside (taxes already paid). They don't have an IRA or 401(k). I've tried to explain the differences, but I'm looking for specific, recent web content that addresses starting to save for retirement for folks that have poet-level understanding. Help, mefites! It's not enough set aside to warrant a fee-based financial planner, but certainly merits good advice from good people.

And yes, they have their emergency fund and have zeroed the credit card debt. Thanks again!

Investing Outside of a Tax-Sheltered Account

mahoganyslide — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:46:37 -0800

Is it worth it for a student who makes less than $10,000/year to invest outside of a tax-sheltered account? I recently opened a Roth IRA (with a target date retirement fund). I am a student and make less than $10,000/year so my contributions to the Roth are rather modest. Although I recognize the value of slowly investing towards retirement, I cannot help but feel an itch. The prospect of using my savings to make more money for short-term use is tempting.

I understand the risks involved in investing. However, I've recently been thinking about investing in the Vanguard STAR fund (low minimum amount, no annual fees, moderate risk) outside of a tax-sheltered account. I'm not expecting a high rate of return, just a something that is above the current 1.xx% rate I receive from a high-yield online savings account. I envision myself being a lazy investor who will settle for a lower rate of return and spend valuable time doing the things I love. But, what are the ramifications of doing so?

For example, would it be worth it to invest the minimum amount for the Vanguard STAR fund? What would be the tax ramifications (e.g. capital gains tax...)? Am I being naive in thinking that I can simply invest some money in January, subsequently contribute a small amount over the months, and take out a couple hundred bucks in December?

I am aware that there are other funds out there with higher rates of return than the Vanguard STAR, but I can only afford this particular fund's minimum at the moment. I will definitely reallocate once I've contributed past the minimum of other funds. My question, however, is what can I reasonably expect as a small-fish investor in his early 20's who is still in college?

Student Loans vs. Investing/Saving with a Twist

1901gunner — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:11:46 -0800

The paying back student loan vs. investing/saving question - but with a bit of a twist So, I graduated from college back in May, building up approximately $40k in private student loans from Sallie Mae. (Yes, I know; private loans are not the best choice, but I've become much better educated in personal finance now and more wary etc.)

However, thanks to good credit, my interest rate is pretty low (based off the Prime Rate and right now <3%). Nevertheless - it is a variable interest rate, and I imagine it will begin to rise in the somewhat near future.

Since my graduation, I've worked in a part-time job with good pay, and have found a very good full-time position I'm starting next month. Take home will be ~$2k/month, and I live in a very low-cost area.

I've already budgeted dedicating $500/month to paying off my student loan (minimum monthly payment about $270 right now, my grace period just ended).

I know people such as Suze Orman advocate not worrying about paying a whole lot more beyond the minimum when interest rate is low, but since my loan has a variable interest rate, I want to pay down enough before the interest rate becomes more sizable. At the same time, I'm investing in a Roth IRA and building an emergency fund, so I want to allocate sufficient funds there, as well.

My question: What would you do if you were in my shoes? Is $500/month reasonable? I'm not well versed in economics, so I'm not sure how easy it is to predict the Prime Rate's future (I've checked out a couple of forecast sites, but not sure how trustworthy they are)-- is there a certain percentage rate where I should start to look at finding a loan from a bank/credit union to move my student loans into at a fixed rate?

Other details: currently I am funding my Roth IRA at $100 every other week, which hits about half of the maximum limit for the year (but I would like to max it out once my full-time job starts). By the end of the year, I should have about $1,000 in my emergency fund. Also, I just don't like being in debt, and am motivated to pay my student loans off quickly, but reasonably.

Thanks so much in advance! I've been lurking on here for a while and thought some people here might have good guidance for an approach :)

Looking for a retirement song.

crios — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:44:45 -0800

Musicfilter: Looking for a song for a friends retirement. She's retiring from high school English teaching after 34 years. We're looking for something along the lines of: upbeat, rock and roll genre, has a positive message, sad to leave friends but happy to not grade any more papers, hoping she left a positive influence. She is considering a couple of songs, one by the Association, one by the Eagles and one by Daughtry (she can't remember the titles of the songs). All clever and fun recommendations are appreciated.

Assisted living? Retirement home? Help!

Raze2k — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:13:34 -0800

Assisted living? Retirement home? Help! I could write a book about my family and our dysfunctions, but I'll keep it as brief as possible.

My grandmother has lived with my father since they came to the United States in the 1960s and that includes moving into the house that they've lived in ever since my parents were married. These three are the extent of any family my sister and I have ever known (my mother was cut off / lost contact with her family in PA and my father has no family that he's aware of in Romania).

There have been a lot of ups and downs over the years with arguments between all three adults, the likely cause being that they've all essentially become shut-ins, with only minimal contact with the outside world and virtually no friends at all. My mother and father claim to be happy with this arrangement, but you can imagine how stir crazy that might make a person. As a result, when arguments do break out, there's limited outlets for venting and everything escalates needlessly. Now throw in the fact that they've basically spent years of their lives watching television rather than having social lives and we get a bit closer to my actual question. My grandmother is 89 years old and as such, she's been hit the worst by the lack of regular social interaction and essential seclusion in her room watching television. There's a lot more detail that I could go into, but basically she's tired of feeling locked in and a recent, extremely explosive situation has left my mother not speaking to her. Consequently she feels angry, unwelcome and has spoken to my sister about moving out.

At 89 years old, her options are limited but she clipped an advertisement from the newspaper for an assisted living residence that she has asked my sister to look into; my grandmother receives less than a thousand dollars in Medicare a month and is under the impression that the residence wouldn't cost more than $1000. Unfortunately, that's most definitely not the case, as my sister's initial investigation turned up a yearly amount of close to $90,000.

So, I turn to you hive mind. Please give me your wisdom and insight into this situation.

My grandmother is far from invalid. She's lost some mobility (and feeling in some fingers), but has minimal -- if any -- difficulty going up and down large flights of stairs, getting into and out of bed / chairs herself, bathing herself and still loves to bake and cook. What she wants isn't a live-in nanny or person to make sure she takes her pills. My sister is completely in support of either taking her into her apartment or finding a 2 bedroom apartment, but I think that might be lacking.. in the sense that she'd still be a bit limited during the day in terms of social interaction. My sister says that my grandmother seemed very excited by the prospect of talking to other seniors and using amenities like an on-site hair salon; this from a woman who hasn't really left the house by herself (or more than a few times a year for that matter) in well over a decade.

What are my options in New York (either Queens or Long Island) that are affordable (Medicare + help from my sister and I) for someone who craves social interaction with other seniors (something she hasn't had in perhaps 30 years)?

Note: Despite my sister's suggestions, my grandmother hasn't gone on day trips with my sister while living with my parents mostly because she feels guilt or anger reflected back from my father. She has given up so much of her life for her son (and there's a huge back story here).

There's a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute, but Ma'am you mighta been the minute in between.

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:10:19 -0800

She spent $8,000 at a seminar on an "internet business opportunity". Now what? My mother-in-law is bright and professional (she has been a CFO for 30 years), but one day last month, she informed us that she had attended a seminar and wanted us to be partners in her new internet business. She had already given them $7,000 for their "platinum professional package", which includes web site construction and all of the training she needs to market her web site. I agreed to help her get something started and went to work researching the company and found out easily by Googling that they have an F with the BBB and hundreds of unhappy customers who never made the six figures they were promised. She did not seem to think that this information was important to her situation, since she is obviously smarter and more motivated than the people who failed with their sites.

The next weekend she went to another seminar and they got $1,000 from her for "business development", which includes walking her through incorporating, setting up a merchant account and tax advice. Then, last Saturday, in a conference call with the two of us, their "success team" mentor convinced her to give her credit card number for another $15,000 charge for "coaching" us through the entire process step-by-step, doing all of the SEO, and a warranty that she would make her investment back in six months. I immediately convinced her to cancel the contract and get the charge reversed. I explained that if we need this part of their services later, we can always call them back and order it later when we can get something in writing and it's not just an impulse buy. She now has some understanding that they have been using high-pressure sales techniques on her to sell her things she did not need.

I am tip-toeing around this because I absolutely do not want to make her feel like she did something stupid. (Back-story: when she encouraged my developmentally disabled little sister-in-law to marry someone she knew for 5 weeks, who needed a green card and we strongly protested, the result was a two year rift and little sister being banned from speaking to us. Yes, he abused her and they are divorced already and he's been deported). So, she sometimes gets lost in hope and deep denial and I want to make sure she doesn't lose everything in the process.

I am committed to helping her build some kind of online business. I am sickened by the idea of giving this company any more money, but I know the high pressure salespeople will continue to call her because she's a good mark. (Side note: the company is in Utah, entirely Mormon and contributes a lot to Mormon politicians. I don't want any money going to fund anti marriage equality efforts ugh!)

She understands that it could take years to build an online presence and longer than that to recover her investment. She is looking for something to supplement her income and keep her busy after she retires. She is willing to take a loss on the $8,000 and not use this shady company, but is still really excited about the idea of starting from scratch to do this right. She trusts me completely at this point and is letting me take the reigns of the whole project. So, what now?

What can I tell her is a more realistic amount of money to spend on building an online store in one of the niche product areas she's interested in (green or pet products or green pet products)? I've found many quality drop-shippers and I've spoken to them on the phone and feel that they are legitimate. Is it even possible to build a business this way that can eventually bring in a regular monthly income?

How can I learn more about the process so that I can protect her from being further exploited? And how can I assertively protect her money without making her resent me? What other questions should I be asking?

Financial Advisor Overseas

aggienfo — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:28:07 -0800

I am looking to find some a financial advisor/service (complication: I'm in Japan) Like everyone else I've been barely hanging on to the economic roller coaster the last year or so and looking for some a good advisor. Some background info: I'm 29, have put around $50K so far, but I've been blessed to be able to invest over 1K/month between an IRA, TSP (military 401k), and general investments. I would consider myself semi educated financially - basically follow Dave Ramsey, Suze Ormand in having no debt, 4-5 months savings, and I can understand generally something from CNBC or Wall Street Journal.

That being said I am starting to put a significant amount of money into savings for the future and would like some guidance in asset allocation and more varsity level advice. In catering the the military I know of First Command (bad experience) and USAA (which I would swear by), but I was seeing if anyone else as other idea of services or companies that would be able to adequately work with someone who is over seas.

Hot new three-way, with load

Clyde Mnestra — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:12:09 -0800

Choice of retirement plans: TIAA-CREF, Vanguard, Fidelity? Mattress? My university has changed its retirements benefits scheme, such that we can elect between TIAA-CREF, Vanguard, or Fidelity for our 401(a) and 403(b). The rollout of information, particularly anything that might allow comparative analysis, has been abysmal; basically, we can explore via Fidelity (which apparently serves as an intermediary, or service provider, regardless of where we sink the money) or by making individual appointments with representatives of one of the three funds.

I have had had poor customer service experiences with TIAA-CREF, but then again, I don't know what Fidelity or Vanguard would be like to deal with in this capacity, nor do I know much about their range of retirement products. Anyone been through this experience, or know of particularly good resources for helping to make a decision? Thanks very much.

P.S. I am aware of this, but it is now somewhat dated.

What to do with a leftover 401k account?

bookdragoness — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:27:27 -0800

What to do with a 'leftover' 401k account? I worked as an intern/co-op for a cumulative 9 months during college at a company that had 401k matching, which I took advantage of while I was there. I've since graduated and moved on to work for another company that does 401k matching and have one there as well.

I have about $1500 in the first 401k account that has been sitting there for the last few years but that I tend to forget about. I am fully vested and don't want to just withdraw it and pay the tax penalty.

I've done basic research into what to do with a 401k, so know my options, but don't really know what makes more sense to do.

Should I, given the market:
(A) Leave it where it is for now
(B) Roll it over into my current 401k
(C) Roll it over into a traditional IRA (and if so, recommendations for an IRA company?)
(D) None of the above (and if so, what?)

I am 24, female, in Arizona, and recently got married (but don't plan on having kids for a couple more years), if that helps.

And yes, YANATP/YANMTP (tax professional). Thanks in advance for the Hive Mind's input!

Where to go for a Humble Retirement

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:41:29 -0800

In twenty-five years i'll be retiring with my minimal social security benefits and medicare to keep me briefly going. I've got no savings right now, but I'm almost done paying my debts. I rent. I want somewhere tiny, a bungalow with a kitchen, perhaps a tiny garden, stonking bandwidth, maybe near a lake, maybe near a wood, but really not so much. I just want to whittle sticks, greet neighbours, not climb stairs, and hack on code. I don't mind renting again until i die. Where should I move in the US, and when? (My daughter will be grown up and, touch wood, supporting herself by then. My parents will almost certainly be dead and will have left me a $100,000 or so, I imagine.

Love it or leave it

TheOtherSide — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:07:32 -0800

Which countries are easiest for a US citizen to move to permanently? Within the next 15 years I'd like to retire from my current career and start another. At that time I would consider moving from the US, and if I do that, I'd like to purchase some real-estate ahead of time.

I'm not a nationalist. Although I have strong preferences toward the US bill of rights, I'd like to reside within a population that follows the spirit of that bill, rather than the marketing. In general, I find the US population lacking in spirit toward ideas of freedom and access. But, honestly, I have no other experiences to which to compare the US.

Which countries should I research further or keep on my hot list? Which ones, in 10-15 years, would likely be willing to take in a liberal, single, middle-aged male with a BS or MS in science and a teen-aged child? Which countries will likely be the beacons of liberty and individual rights of the future?

I'm also interested in alternative fuels and populations of people who seriously understand the needs of renewable energy as part of future economies.

Which of those countries would be easiest for a US citizen to migrate to? Or, how would I best prepare myself over the next decade to increase my chances?

Expat with scattered savings and retirement funds - how do I organise them?

wingless_angel — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:36:19 -0800

Expat needing to organise and manage money across two (or more) countries. How best to save in multiple places, and organise superannuation/retirement accounts? I recently moved to the UK, and I am self-employed here. For the first time, I have to take care of insurance, tax, and expenses instead of my employer organising this. I am putting aside money for tax every month. I have savings accounts both in the UK and Australia with various amounts in them. I am not sure how long I will stay in the UK (probably no more than a few years) and will either go home or to another country. I really need to get my money together and work out what to do with it.

I have two Superannuation accounts that refuse to roll together in Australia (both public sector). I have not signed up for a retirement fund in the UK. The most pressing issue right now is whether I let my most recent super account switch from Defined Benefit to Accumulation. I don't necessarily plan to go back to the same sector, so would accumulation be wise?

Should I open a retirement account here in the UK, even if I only plan to stay for a few years (I am paying NI contributions)? Or should I do something else with the money I would have otherwise saved? For example I have an Etrade account for share purchasing that I opened and never used.

Are there any savings accounts that work well for expats in multicurrency? I know about HSBC Premier but I do not have enough money to go with them.

I am concerned that I have pools of money all over the place, and I am not getting the best out of them. I would like to work these things out for myself if I can, if you are an expat how do you manage your money and savings?

Paying for graduate school out of your 401k. Stupid idea?

falameufilho — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:28:00 -0800

Paying for graduate school out of your 401k. Stupid idea? I have been working on a masters degree for some time now, paying out of my own pocket. It is not cheap, but I believe it will be worth it in the long run.

However, some extra income I was counting on to help me fund my tuition didn't materialize, so it looks like I could run out of money before I finish graduate school. I've been thinking about tapping into my 401k to cover the rest of my tuition, but I have a feeling that might be a stupid idea. Is it?

P.S.: I am not a permanent resident in the US, so student loans are not an option for me.

How do we arrange financing to buy an apartment in Paris or London?

jchaw — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:06:50 -0800

How do we arrange financing to buy an apartment in Paris or London? Hi!

We are non-EU residents and will like to buy an apartment in either Paris or London.

We plan to use the apartment for a few weeks a year, when visiting Paris and/or London. For the rest of the year, the apartment will be available for short-term rentals, e.g., to tourists.

We don't have bank accounts in the UK, France, or any other european banks. We also do not have bank accounts with any global investment or commercial banks, e.g., Goldman Sachs or Barlays.

We do have good credit (state-side), good jobs (state-side), and a nice home (servicing mortgage).

We plan to put a downpayment of about 20%-33% for the apartment we plan to purchase in Paris or London.

Our questions: How can we finance this apartment? What types of banks should we enquire at? What are the logistics involved to secure financing? What type of documentation is required? Do we need to put up collateral, and in what form? What types of fees and interest rates should we expect in such financing?

We appreciate your insights to any of these questions. If you have previously done something similar, we will love to hear your experiences too.

Thanks! :-)

Can I keep some of the money?

notned — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:28:58 -0800

PARS distribution questions -- I taught part-time for 10 years. Recently I realized that life is too short for doing that and so I've stopped. The school notified the PARS retirement and they want to distribute to me. The estimated taxable portion is $3109 and the estimated non-taxable is $2817. Can I roll over to a traditional IRA with the $3109 and "spend' or put the $2817 into savings for a rainy day? What am I not thinking of?

Retirement gift for my dad?

TwisterSister — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:15:31 -0800

I'm in search of a retirement gift for my Dad, who literally has no interests/hobbies. And in fact could be considered a workaholic. For Birthdays/Christmas/Father's day I've previously given him things like food and movie gift certificates and sometimes plants. Kinda generic. More recently I've started sending him books along the lines of "Things to do when you retire", to prepare him for the shock.

Thankfully, he seems to have started making the mental preparations, though his newest 'hobby' seems to be dating. Which, from what I gather, includes doing whatever the lady-of-the-moment wants to do. So, I'm not exactly sure what to do with that one.

Other info:

-He's in great health
-He's fairly well off financially
-Lives in a small-ish town in one of those red states that don't allow you to mail liquor across state lines
-Lives far enough away that I won't be visiting

I know. It's not much to go on. I'd particularly love ideas for some fun/wacky stuff (under, say, $150), because I think my Dad could really use some more fun in his life now. He's earned it!

When were women Colonels first upgraded in rank upon retirement?

StickyCarpet — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:11:21 -0800

Military retirement policy: When did the US Army reverse it's policy of not upgrading women who served actively as Colonels to Brigadier Generals upon retirement? (They have always have done so for men). I know that the first woman General was 1971, but women were not automatically bumped up in rank at that time. I'm asking because my Aunt served as a Colonel, wasn't bumped up, was kind of pissed when the rules changed sometime after she retired. She's still alive, and I'm wondering if I can initiate an appeal to get her pay grade updated.

What are the baby boomers going to do when they can't afford to retire?

Clambone — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:42:36 -0800

What are the baby boomers going to do when they can't afford to retire? I've been doing some research about personal finance recently. I'm very fortunate: I'm relatively young (34), make a salary in the top quintile, and have no children yet. As such, I can afford to save a pretty good amount of money each month. Even so, making relatively conservative assumptions, it seems as though I can save enough to get by comfortably, but not lavishly.

Of course, most people aren't in my position. Most people have lower salaries and higher expenses. In fact, most people approaching retirement do not have a nest egg remotely large enough to comfortably handle retirement. I learned in business school that the baby boom generation had a negative savings rate, and it's going to look even more negative after the real estate bust.

So what are they going to do? I'm starting to get really concerned about the upcoming wave of baby boomer retirees.

What's my best bet in moving a Rollover IRA to another bank/brokerage firm with my negative net worth?

blue andrea — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:36:07 -0800

I need to know what my options are for moving this thing, given that I have a negative net worth. Can I roll it into another brokerage-style Rollover IRA at a brokerage firm, not a bank, and avoid the money laundering law stuff? Or am I relegated to Bank IRAs until I'm out of school debt? Do I suck it up and take the $75/month hit until I can start depositing money again (I don't know when that will be), and hope that the investments make up the difference in the long run? I haven't lost as much as most in my portfolio, and I know I have time to make up the losses, the monthly fee just seems like an unnecessary loss I should be able to avoid. My Rollover IRA (brokerage, not CD/money market) is with Schwab, and is a product of a 401(k) account I had through them ages back that I converted when I left the company. The monthly fee ($75) is waved if you deposit at least $75 into the account every month. When I had a job, and for the past 8 months this wasn't a problem, but money is tighter now. This means that if I keep my account here, I'll be losing $900/year in fees.

My original plan was to move the money into a Rollover IRA at Bank of America, since that's where I keep my other stuff, and they have no-fee brokerage IRAs. However, from reading articles on AskMeFi and elsewhere, a bank sounds like not the best plan. In any case, in investigating the process, I found that the application asked for my net worth; I have a negative net worth because of school loans, and the field only accepts positive numbers. The customer service rep I chatted with online told me that I can't open a brokerage retirement account with a negative net worth because of money laundering laws. He said my best bet was a Bank IRA (CD/money market options).

So what's my best bet?

Question about Highly Compensated Employees and 401(k) Contributions

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:21:32 -0800

Am I a Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) with regards to making 401(k) contributions? Here's what I know:

* A Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) is limited in his or her contributions to a 401(k) program.

* According to this page, (and others) if I made over $105,000 in 2008, I would be considered an HCE in 2009.

* My company will automatically limit the contributions I can make if I earn more than the HCE limit from them.

Here's my situation:

Last year I switched jobs from Company A to Company B in February. At Company A I was earning about $80,000 a year, at Company B I make $110,000 a year (Go me!). Company B would automatically declare me an HCE if I earned over $105,000 from Company B last year. Because I switched mid-year, I earned about $100,000 from Company B last year. However, I received about $20,000 from Company A last year (including bonus and unpaid vacation time). So, my total income last year was $120,000.

My question then is whether I am an HCE based on my total annual salary from last year (across both employers) or am I not an HCE because my salary from my current employer is less than the limit?

Throwaway email account: mefi.hce@gmail.com

[Asking as Anonymous to avoid awkwardness with my MeFi coworkers]

Fire-and-Forget Investment Advice

anotherpanacea — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:34:24 -0800

Seeking fire-and-forget asset class investment advice for retirement: TIPS? Global Equities Index/Wilshire 5000? I know this is mildly controversial, but it seems like the 'common sense' approach has changed lately from "stocks for the long run" to "risk = loss." See especially here. My wife and I are about 35-40 years from retirement. My wife may retire earlier (25-30 years) if she can get away with it. We're both professionals who would like to minimize our attention to the markets so we can focus on our careers.

1. We can and will hire an investment advisor: this question is research for that meeting.
2. I'm currently feeling less secure in stocks as an asset class than I did five years ago. Even if this was a market bottom, I'm worried that stocks may not do so well in the middle-to-long term after all this deprecation of the asset class and the US's newfound skepticism of Wall Street. I don't mind volatility, but the bond/stock return on investment profile seems to be different than it was for the last 50 years.
3. I've been thinking a little about Zvi Bodie's Worry-Free Investment advice. (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities plus Social Security to protect standard of living.) It feels horribly pessimistic, but maybe that's the right way to be about retirement? Also, I worry that Social Security may be risky as well. Hell, saving for retirement assumes we're not going to die of cancer or in a plane crash, right? Shouldn't it be a little optimistic?

Anything I can do about missing employer 403b match by less than 1 hour?

warsawjude — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:34:09 -0800

Shot down for 403b employer match b/c I have 999.08, not 1000 hours worked in calendar year 2008. Anything I can do about this?

Is a 457 a better way to save for retirement than a 403(b)?

grouse — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:11:22 -0800

Is a 457 plan a better way to save for retirement than a 403(b) plan? I work for a state government, and have the option of a 457 or a 403(b) for retirement savings. I'm already contributing the maximum amount that my employer will match into the 403(b). I wanted to add some more and found that I also have the option of a 457. It seems like the 457 is similar to the 457, except that after I change employers I can withdraw the money at any time with no penalty, paying my normal marginal tax rate for that year. This seems like it is a much better option.

The only downside seems to be the limited number of funds I can invest in compared to what's available in the 403(b). Is there something I misunderstand?

Where should I put an inherited IRA?

theora55 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 06:58:10 -0800

I inherited an IRA (under 50 K). Because the person who contributed all the money is dead, I am required to take annual distributions. It's currently managed at a big bank, for an annual percentage, plus fees. I'd prefer to have it local, low-cost. Who might offer this, plus managing the distribution, at very low cost? What IRS reporting is required - can I do that myself? The current manager keeps it more active than I think is necessary, and it seems too small for that level of management. The calculation about how much to take out seems pretty straightforward.

Financial Advice for Dummies.

ElmerFishpaw — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:15:17 -0800

This has my parents spooked. Tell me how to ease their financial fears. I guess what was supposed to be safe ("FDIC Insured") is no longer so safe in their eyes. Are they right? They have pretty much their entire savings in an ING savings account and are way spooked. Can you link me to something saying ING is safe and FDIC insured means "Youre all good Mom, dont worry."?

Unless, of course their fears are actually valid. Then what should they do? What should any of us do?!