investment help

[denny80688]

well for all you investment gurus out there I need a bit of help. Following the death of my grandfather about 3 years ago my grandmother was left in charge of their savings. She is the kind of person who cant make a decision to save her life and looks to me for assistance. I recommended she talk with her financial advisor many times, and she has, but never follows his recommendations... And again since she has left much of their savings in places earning very very little interest she is looking to me for help... So heres what she currently has money tied up in...
-many US savings bonds which have all passed face value and some of whihc have stopped earning interest.
-several CDs with different banks all earning around 1 - 2%
-A ton of Johnson and Johnson stocks (worked for them for like 30 years)
-A buch of shares of Oppenheimer municipal bonds class A
-Many different IRA accounts all earning 1-2%
That all being said what are some good recommendations for her to invest in? She doesnt want any more IRAs or CDs and many of them will be up for renewal this year. Her advisor said to dump in in Oppenheimer finds and to possibly sell off a bunch of the JNJ stocks... He also recommended gifting the max amount away to her beneficiaries however its hard for me to recommend that to her because of a conflict of interest...
Well thats a long post but any ideas would be greatly appreciated! :notsure:

 

[007]

I am not sure who you go through for investments, and I am by no means an expert in this area, but I do dabble a bit in the investment world so take my advice with a grain of salt here . . .
I use TIAA-Cref as my brokerage firm. For starters, they are not open to the public, but Fidelity is and is an identical concept. They both are going to have similar options for investment.
One thing that you can do there is go in, sit down and talk with an advisor. Tell them what you/she has, what you/she wants to get out of the investments, and how long you/she wants it to be there.
They can provide to you a multitude of investment options that are going to be best suited for your needs and goals.
I am very happy with my investment firm . . . I make money every quarter on my investments, and I don't have to do a friggin' thing; they handle everything.
Hope that helps somewhat . . .

 

[007]

in addition . . . if I was in your situation I would:
A. Cash in the CD's and the Bonds and invest the funds into a diversified growth account as mentioned above.
and
B. Consolidate the IRA's
and
C. Leave the oppenheimer and JNJ funds where they are for now. They are probably pretty stable investments.

 

[tangman99]

I agree with 007. I'm not one to ask because I buy only stocks. I've never owned a CD or bond in my life. The only Mutual Funds I own are because my 401K only allows them.
Go find a good investment firm and research them first. Don't assume the big ones are the best. American Express I think ranked dead last in performance last year and I've golfed with a few Amex Financial Advisors. They are more intersted in getting you in and out of holding to make commissions. I would throw darts at a dart board before I'd let them invest my money. My opinion only and not a factual statement. Of course, it boils down to the person, but they have their rules and expectations handed down to them.
Good luck.

 

[denny80688]

thanks all I really appreciate the opinions. Do you guys have a short list of brokerage firms I could research? I used to use Paine Webber but that was less then a pleasurable experiance. My grandmother is using a small no-name office for her finances right now, but her and my grandfather have been using them for many years.

 

[takia]

The small, no- names in many cases are the best to use. they are not going to be affiliated, or push someting becasue of thier own agenda like a major house would do. If I were looking for a new broker at a major firm I would look at Goldman Sachs, AG Edwards, Bears Sterns, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley. But, again, she may be better where she is.

 

[denny80688]

yeah deffinatly wasnt bad mouthing the firm she is with... Her and my grandfather have been using this guy for many years. Its just a shame she never follows his recommendations, thats why I thought a second opinion would be good. Lately she has been listening to the advisor at her bank which of course keeps recommending she invest in things the bank is providing such as CDs. Even though she keeps saying she doesnt want anymore CDs or IRAs this woman keeps convincing her to get them...

 

[007]

I know a number of people who are very satisfied with Fidelity. They are a very large company and because of this, they have a lot of options available to them they are not going to be available to the smaller firms.
I personally have good experience with TIAA-Cref (only open to people working in the world of academics) as well as Wachovia Bank.

 

[swnewb]

Not trying to hijack, but is there any sites or books that you would recommend for investing by the poor and dumb (me). I would like to invest some money, but I don't have much and know even less about the subject.

 

[tangman99]

I would personally stay away from the banks for the reasons mentioned.
Fidelity has some of the best customer ratings, but get worse rating for cost. They are somewhat expensive in commissions, espcially on the stock side.
Where is DicemanJ? He is Mutual Fund Broker. He would have some real good advice.
As far as research and books, I would recommend reading something from Peter Lynch or the Motley Fools if you are interested in stocks. They will give you a good overview of what stocks are and how to look for good companies. No magic tricks here. Just identifying good fundamentals. A lot of people recommend books written about Buffet, but there is a little more than meets the eye to this man. He is one of the best financial gurus of our time, but you have to have the monetary power he has to get the kind of returns he gets. In a lot of ways, he drastically affects the businesses he invests in and thus has the power to get returns.
Now if you get daring and want to join my world of playing the market, add technical analysis and learn to chart trends and forecast. It's not a guaranteed science, but it does improve your returns if you can live by your owns rules which is easier said than done.

 

[denny80688]

what are everyones thoughts on ING? I was thinking of recommending she pull the money out of the CDs and cash in the bonds. Then put about 30% of the money into the oppenheimer finds she already has money in. Then take the remainder and put it into an ING savings account. At least they are giving 2.6% which is more then the 1.x% shes getting on the CDs. Then take a portion of the ING savings and invest it in one of INGs mutual funds.