When to keep your mouth shut

[John Galt]

My Dad and I had a very brief conversation about
investing today (I never bring it up.... a more touchy
subject than religion and politics in his house).

His main sources of income are his and my mother's SS
and his pension. All of his investments are CDs.
I think he is getting 2.5% or so. Says he can't go out further since he "may not be here next year".
Most of his money is sitting in his checking account
drawing -0-. He is happy that he has all that
money in checking. The really amazing thing is that
so many younger (and presumably smarter) people
do some equally weird stuff with their money. A lot
of this stuff is pretty basic, like...............if you have 100k
sitting in checking and you can get 2.5% in a MM, you
are losing $2500 per year. It's just like burning money in your yard really, unless you think the bank can
make better use of it

JG

 

[KB]

Ouch John.

My Dad showed me his brokerage account statements last week and his bond income was 110,000 for the 1st 11 months of the year. I think I need some bond lessons from him.

 

[Shredder]

John your folks sound like mine. When dad died, I offered to help mom out. she had 9K in a non interest paying checking account. I asked why? She said it was for emergencies, I asked what kind of emergency could not wait untill a bussines day. She relented and put most in a MM. She loved it when she told me how much she got in interest. Also they always borrowed to get cars, when they had plenty of cash, she said that's just the way they always did it. I explained how much they were helping the bank out. The only two things I had her change but for her it was a lot. I guess she's not ready for option trading yet. he he he Shredder

 

[Berkshire_Bull]

wow KB, thats a lotta dough, bond investing requires just as much skill as stocks assuming you're taking advantage of risk/return.

 

[Roger_R]

I think as folks get older they get increasingly worried or obscessed about running out of money and more protective of things, even if they are well off. My theory anyway. Maybe we'll even be there some day, but I think those in touch with the depression are even more so.

Dad was a 6 month and 12 month CD nut. He was also a rate shopper and when he passed on we had a heck of a time figuring out where every thing was. They may still be one of his accounts out there collecting interest for ever. Maybe better than keeping everything in a savings accout, but even though he was pretty sharp until the end, I don't think he had any decent idea of how much money he had because it was scattered in so many accounts.

In his eighties, he had a bad hip and knee and none of the house furniture seemed to be comfortable for sitting. The only thing that worked was a patio chair he'd had outside. Even though we offed to take him around to find a comfortable house chair, he just wanted to sit in the patio furniture. He certainly could afford another.

Maybe when I get there I'll sleep in my tent in the front room and dream about my camping days.

 

[Martha]

They may still be one of his accounts out there collecting interest for ever.

A tip on finding those lost accounts, try www.unclaimedassets.com. Also, most every state has a website where you can search for bank accounts and other assets of your deceased relatives. Or yourself for that matter.

Martha

 

[John Galt]

HI Martha. Yeah, my wife recovered some cash from the
State of Michigan. I found some unclaimed money due
a company that I used to partially own. Alas, it was so
long ago that I could not produce the required
paperwork. I worked it hard for about 6 months and then gave up.

JG