Allocations for 80 yr old

Thank you all..I agree on consolidation ..working on that. Someone asked if still with RIA at LPL..yes I haven't had the time to investigate that any deeper.

It is likely not much can change there as mom considers them her "friends" .

pwf
Maybe the advisor fees are a small price to pay for her comfort and peace of mind.

Possibly the FA can help consolidate the CDs with a low to no cost account.
 
A little story: My Uncle Pat was a bright guy; Korean war pilot, attorney, eventually a judge. Pat believed in CDs and believed is interest rate maximization. Every time a CD came due, Pat shopped for the best rate and placed the money with that bank or S&L. The result was that when Pat died, no one knew for sure that they had identified all of Pat's assets. Fortunately it was a small town (100K) and it was pre-internet, so his executor just had to contact every single bank and S&L in town -- trying to find all those CDs.

Moral of story: Don't let this happen to you. Follow PB4's advice and consolidate all of those holdings in one place as tax-efficiently as possible. Carefully review all inbound mail, especially 1099s and keep a list of all assets not already gathered. It may take a year or more for that list length to go to zero, but you have to do it.
Thanks Old Shooter. Another story. I worked with my 90+ yo uncle who is still quite sharp to consolidate their assets to a single trust account and his and her IRAs last summer/fall. Previously he had a variety of DRIPs and other disparate holdings but had consolidated most of it at Fidelity at my urging. Last fall, we found yet another stock certificate, mailed it into Fidelity and saw that the shares were added to the trust account as they should be.

So I visit him tonight... about 6 months later... and he informs me that there are two other stock accounts that we need to chase down. They are both spinoffs from his DRIP days that he completely forgot about.

Now that you mention it, next time I see him I should compare the dividend income on his tax return with the Fidelity holdings to see if there are any stragglers that we need to lasso.
 
Maybe the advisor fees are a small price to pay for her comfort and peace of mind. ....
Kind of agree, even though my mindset is to always optimize. But if the FA isn't doing anything too egregious, maybe just let it go (other than probably consolidating those CDs into a fund)?

If you have got her approval to discuss things with the FA, and if you do find some churning or other very high fee funds, etc, maybe hint to the FA to stop that, and move out of the worst funds into low fee index funds - or you will have a talk with her about moving her account. He ought to be OK with his 0.5% fee for almost no work at that point.

... I worked with my 90+ yo uncle ... and he informs me that there are two other stock accounts that we need to chase down. ...

... next time I see him I should compare the dividend income on his tax return with the Fidelity holdings to see if there are any stragglers that we need to lasso.

Good idea (for anyone in this situation). Go back a few years or as far as you can. Maybe also check the states 'lost and found', just in case (it will take a few years for an account to get turned over to the state)?
 
Kind of agree, even though my mindset is to always optimize. But if the FA isn't doing anything too egregious, maybe just let it go (other than probably consolidating those CDs into a fund)?

I agree with the optimize mindset. What's optimal can change with cognitive decline. Even worse, you have to recognize and accept the decline and change before it has significant negative impact on the portfolio.

Starting to see this with DF. He still makes good investing decisions, but executing them properly is becoming an issue.
 
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