My moms portfolio

[Brat]

Fidelity also offers phone investment advice.

[38Chevy454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat Fidelity also offers phone investment advice.

That is what I was going to say. She would need to go in person to get things set up (primarily for signing forms and to meet her advisor at the nearby branch), but then she could do things by phone with a person she is familiar with.

[nwsteve]

OP, if you have Private Client status with Fido, I am pretty sure you can have that support level extended to your Mom regardless of her portfolio status. Your rep will provide what ever level confidentiality your mother requests.
We provided this benefit to our DD/DSIL and Fido has helped them with a variety of issues that I know nada about beyond what DD has shared.

[Humbooster]

In addition to the great comments and replies, keep in mind that in the case of "American Funds" all of this group of funds have shares that are sold with an up-front sales charge, which declines as the amount invested increases but it is still a fee that is taken up front so any yield has to first overcome this.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youngblood ....I don't mind giving her advice and what to do, but I would feel a little uneasy being in charge of her finances while she is still of sound mind. ...

I don't get this part. You obviously have forgot more about investing that your mother knows from what you have described and you investments are doing well. You wouldn't be in charge of her finances... just her investments... she'll still be paying her bills and all.

When my dad passed 14 years ago he has lots of accounts everywhere... I sat down with Mom and sis and mapped out a plan to consolidate everything at Vanguard in a taxable account and a tIRA using a handful of index funds. Other than rebalancing and doing some sales to raise some cash for a house she was buying with sis I've never had to touch it.

[Dash man]

It sounds like you’re getting great advice here. I also had my 401k with Voya and was pleased with the funds and low expenses. My megacorp paid all administrative fees.
DW and I have Fixed Retirement annuities with USAA and haven’t paid a penny in fees. However, it’s probably not a good choice for your mother with a smaller nest egg.
My Fixed Retirement annuity has the following properties:
Interest rate is locked in at the time of deposit.
It started with a 3% bonus on any first year deposits.
Ten percent can be withdrawn each year without penalty.
There was a penalty for withdrawing more than ten percent for the first seven years. (We considered deposits like a CD and didn’t touch them).
Interest is tax deferred.
Withdrawals are always interest first and taxed as such.
You can withdraw as much as you want after seven years free of penalty.
The funds are backed by the strength of the company, so make sure they are rated highly and financially strong.

The penalty for early withdrawals might hurt your mother, so I don’t think it’s a good idea for her. This type of annuity has been great for us. We recently had PenFed CDs mature and were able to deposit the money into our annuities locking in 3%. Beginning in November we can withdraw as much as we want without penalty. So we’re not locked into a CD term of several years to get this rate. We do have other CDs and equities. These annuities are about eight percent of our net worth. So it’s a great part of our plan, keeps our taxes down for now, and is secure with a highly rated company. It was a good choice for us. But I would never buy any other kind of annuity.
ETA: We’ve designated beneficiaries for any funds remaining after our death. The insurance company doesn’t keep it.

[Youngblood]

A quick update. I reviewed my mom's portfolio and I have to say it's not as bad as I thought it might be. The Voya funds are OK compared to Vanguard, and the fees are quite low. She currently has a 70/30 split between stocks and bonds. I reviewed the funds she has, and I believe I will only have her move money out of one (maybe two) of them. She is earning about 8.5% ROI over the past 10 years.


I've talked her out of moving her funds to the bank and to just stay put for now. I plan on sitting down with her to review a game plan for her funds that I would like to move to other Voya funds.


Just curious. For the members that are retired, what kind of mix do you have? I was thinking of trying to get her around 60/40 (stocks / bonds), or 65/35.

[pb4uski]

While success rates are relatively unaffected by AA from roughly 55/45 to 70/30... 70/30 is aggressive for my taste.

[Dash man]

We’re 63 and have about a 50/35/15 portfolio, with the 15 being real estate. I think 70% stocks is a bit high.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youngblood A quick update. I reviewed my mom's portfolio and I have to say it's not as bad as I thought it might be. The Voya funds are OK compared to Vanguard, and the fees are quite low. She currently has a 70/30 split between stocks and bonds. I reviewed the funds she has, and I believe I will only have her move money out of one (maybe two) of them. She is earning about 8.5% ROI over the past 10 years. I've talked her out of moving her funds to the bank and to just stay put for now. I plan on sitting down with her to review a game plan for her funds that I would like to move to other Voya funds. Just curious. For the members that are retired, what kind of mix do you have? I was thinking of trying to get her around 60/40 (stocks / bonds), or 65/35.

I'm not surprised Voya is acceptable to you and mom.

Asset allocation starts here:
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/ins...ations?lang=en

[Youngblood]

I had a good visit with my mom over the weekend. I went over her portfolio with her and recommended moving some $$ from underperforming stock funds to a target retirement fund. The goal is to get her to around 50-55% stock funds, instead of the 70% where she currently is at.


Also, I gave her a homework assignment to track her spending. I want her to have a 2-3 years worth of expenses that she has easy access to and very little risk to it. She has some $$ set aside for this (maybe a years worth of expenses), so I feel we will have to move some funds out of her portfolio to achieve this. I'll have to see how this would impact her taxes if I do this, though.


All in all, it was a good visit. I could tell she felt a lot better after I was done and she understood why I made the decisions I made for her.

[pb4uski]

Well done! Now just keep it up.

[HI Bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Youngblood I had a good visit with my mom over the weekend. I went over her portfolio with her and recommended moving some $$ from underperforming stock funds to a target retirement fund. The goal is to get her to around 50-55% stock funds, instead of the 70% where she currently is at. Also, I gave her a homework assignment to track her spending. I want her to have a 2-3 years worth of expenses that she has easy access to and very little risk to it. She has some $$ set aside for this (maybe a years worth of expenses), so I feel we will have to move some funds out of her portfolio to achieve this. I'll have to see how this would impact her taxes if I do this, though. All in all, it was a good visit. I could tell she felt a lot better after I was done and she understood why I made the decisions I made for her.

Good job! My mom trusted her Oppenh__mer advisor and really felt that the advisor had done well by her, and had her best interest at heart. My mom owned all front-load, high expense ratio funds, and an annuity, all sold and maintained by one advisor. She liked to be able to talk to the advisor on the phone and never had to make any decisions herself. Probably cost her 50%+ over 60 years, though.

This year, I finally got my father to switch to VG, rather than paying the same fees my mom had been paying.