ilikewisco

You can withdraw from your IRA at 59 1/2, so you won't have too much time before then. The only thing I can think of is open a brokerage account and invest in stocks and bonds, converting to bonds the closer you get. That way you would get a better return than a CD. This would only be a decent plan if you have some time before you plan on doing this, like 15 years. I'm pretty new at this though, so others may have better advice.

The FA friend actually wasn't very enthusiastic on the mining, that was nate82's suggestion. I will suggest she talk to a trust officer. I told her to but she is stubborn and didn't think there was a need to get tax and law advice now. I will give her your scenario and hopefully she will see the benefit.

I did get a chance to talk to a friend who was a FA and still works in the industry. I wanted to pass on a couple things mentioned that weren't mentioned here in case anyone were interested. It can be a good idea to have both active and passive funds in a portfolio. An actively managed fund may have better returns in down times or different types of market conditions where adjusting the fund will outperform a passive fund. With large sums it can be a good idea to invest in increments so you are not exposed to as much risk as investing it all at once. The swings of the market will be averaged out than if you were to invest it all at once. It doesn't seem like taxes are an issue at this time. Going to make some adjustments on what we had originally planned, so generally: 5% mining 10% intermediate bond 5% high yield bond 15% broad international 5% small cap international 25% large cap 500 index 20% mid cap 15% small cap And try to cover all the boxes between growth/value. Might eliminate the mining and increase large cap. May put some of the stock funds in active managed, maybe 10-15% of large and mid cap.

I appreciate all of the info everyone has provided. We are going to continue to research our options and not rush into anything, possibly seeking professional help if we feel this is just too much for us to handle. I know a lot of people say get into the market as soon as possible, but I think we'd be better served to go in with confidence in our choices than just invest to get in. And thank you Nate again for providing extremely useful info, once she starts school paying no taxes on dividends should be a great way to cover expenses.

OK, he knows the family well and their investments are just held, so he probably was looking out for her knowing that is their strategy. It just seemed like 2% was excessive when you could be in a Vanguard account and the fees can be as low as .05% per year. I told her to make sure he would act as her fiduciary and put it in writing and he did not have a problem with that. He had also made a mistake which cost them money and tried to push them into something which was not beneficial to them, but they realized it wasn't to their benefit and did not allow it.

The tax considerations are a good point, we have thought about it a little, as far as reinvesting any dividends and not taking any income from it. Where that will be an issue is when she finally looks to cash out. She will be in school again in about a year so may try to take dividends then for living purposes and deal with those taxes, but it would be her only income. These are things I need to look into though. I have an uncle who has his own tax business, I will talk to him about what types of investments would align with a tax strategy. She plans to use this money to invest for the long term, no plans to pull it out and should not have to for any specific reason. She's more interested in leaving the money in the market and letting it grow. Personally I'm not sure if she should be expecting the same returns as we've seen the last 30 years but everyone she talks to says get it invested ASAP. I think the biggest thing is to take our time and do some in depth research on some funds and talk to more people. I have a friend's wife and my brother-in-law's uncle who are FAs and I would trust, but they are both located out of the area and she doesn't know either so would rather not use them. But I should still reach out and get some advice. Her family's FA was steering her toward a fund which took a 2% fee off the top, and I think other fees would have been applicable as well, and if she wanted to get out of that fund and into another it would be another 2%, so figured he's not really looking out for her.

#1 I tend to think this forum is pretty informed on a range of topics and would take the advice of certain members only if it aligned with my own ideas on the topic. It is anonymous so I really didn't see the harm in getting some input. #2 I didn't necessarily use only lowest fees as the deciding factor, though it did play a factor. I looked at how the funds were distributed and what holdings they had and these seemed like decent choices to me. But like I said, if anyone has any reasons why they're not I'd love to hear them, again, just looking for input. I get your point and this can be my last post on the subject, I guess I just didn't see the harm in getting some input. Any time I read some of these off topic threads there are a lot of good insights I would not have thought about. And I will take your advice into consideration as well, as I think this may be too big of an undertaking for us and would be better served by a professional. There is not much trust with who her family is currently using so pretty sure she is looking elsewhere, and may use the Vanguard services. I wouldn't just bring this subject up on any message board and expect any worthwhile discussion, but I feel this isn't your normal message board with respect to the quality of posters.

OK, instead of watching the Brewers today I tried to look into the index funds offered by Vanguard. If anyone is familiar with Vanguard funds please feel free to share your opinion. Just to clarify what I'm trying to do again, my gf has received an inheritance of about a half million and wants to invest to grow it, not looking for short term investment but long term and is fine being invested for 10 or 20 years or more before she would want to touch it. I am attempting to follow nate82's advice on the allocation. The last number is the expense ratio on the fund. 40% 500 Index Admiral Shares (VFIAX) 0.04% 20% Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund Admiral (VSIAX) 0.07% 10% Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund Admiral Shares (VIMAX) 0.07% 15% Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTIAX) 0.11% 5% Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index Fund Investors Shares (VFSVX) 0.25% 5% Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBILX) 0.07% 5% Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining Fund (VGPMX) 0.36% Any advice on the allocation and funds is appreciated. If this is not appropriate for Brewerfan let me know and I will end the discussion.

"for fun" as in not actual money but a portfolio on yahoo or something, just to track how I do. Once I have disposable income I would actually invest, but use the fake account as a way to see how poor my analysis is before I actually am investing real money. Good point about it's not a loss until you sell. As far as timing the market, I don't really want to try and time it, it just seems right now you would be buying in high, and if you waited and it dropped your money would be worth more because stocks would be cheaper. But I guess that is the definition of timing the market, and it could just as easily add another 20% and we never see 24,000 on the Dow again.

Thank you Nate for the advice, it is very helpful. I take a contrarian view on markets so feel it's always over sold. It just seems like all the gains from the recession far outpaced the real economy, and that seems like the market is running on fumes. But I guess if you think about everyone in the country investing in 401k's and the world putting money into the US markets it makes some sense. Thank you for the advice on bonds, I always thought they are a safe way to invest if you invest in highly rated bonds. I guess the return is not worth the safety though. We will be using this advice and taking the long view, as we should. After I get my student loans paid off I plan to invest for the short term and learn the hard way. I'm reading Security Analysis now and plan to set up a for fun portfolio soon and keep trying to learn more about finance and markets. Once I track the fun portfolio I will be able to see some of my shortcomings hopefully. I do have a degree in economics, but it really has made me more of a cynic than believer in markets. I ended up pursuing a graduate degree in engineering and that is what I do for work now, so I don't use the econ in my job other than developing the economics of future projects. Edit: Would it be a good idea to use Vanguard FA? They charge 0.3% per year. My gf thinks it might be worth doing, the fees are less than the FA she had been talking to originally. We are just a little worried we might not be sophisticated enough for this amount of money and do not want to do anything foolish.

My gf has inherited a substantial amount, over one half million, and is planning to use Vanguard to invest. She had met with a FA her family uses, and that she has a Roth with, but the fees associated just seem like a waste. We've been looking into stuff together and are leaning toward a diversified plan of some percentage of domestic and international stocks and bonds. Plan to use index funds and ETFs and minimize fees. She is planning to invest more heavily in stocks as she wants the best returns. I agree with this except for the caveat that the market is nearing the end of a cycle and the money would be more valuable once a downturn takes place. I am supporting her in her plans though, as I do not want this to be my decision in any way. And I realize I would be trying to time the market, which is a terrible strategy. I think a reasonable portfolio would be 70% domestic, 20% international and 10% bonds. I would invest more heavily in international but she would like to stay in domestic, feeling the US economy is strong. Any advice on this plan is appreciated. We both feel a FA would effectively just be skimming and a Vanguard account with index funds would accomplish the same goals while reducing fees.

Game, from what my friend has told me I think I can handle the work and the hours, though that is something I worry about. Losing the position I have now is something that sways me to stay too. MoreFans, My luck would be I'd get out there and they'd be packing it in. I'm not making a decision for a little bit here so I will keep tabs on that. The housing situation is not a concern, as the company I would be working for provides it for me.

I graduated in May with a bachelor's in chemistry and landed a job in my field in June in the area I'm from. Its a really good company and the benefits are great. The pay is a little lower than what I was expecting but is competitive for the area I live. I have a friend who just went out to North Dakota and the money sounds almost too good to pass up. I'm debating leaving the position I just started and going out there for a few years. I could pay off my loans and save up enough to go back for my master's degree in chemical engineering. If I stay where I'm at I don't think I will get an opportunity to go back. I am already in my mid 30's, so if I am going to do this, it will have to be this spring. Just wondering if I should stay at the position I'm in, where there are opportunities to advance but would probably mean moving, which wouldn't bother me. Or should I take a chance and go for the money, with the plan on going back to school. But I will be leaving a position that fits my degree and is a good resume builder. One other possibility is falling into a career in the oil industry with my chemistry background. I would be applying for chemistry jobs there but I have issues with my driver's license at the moment which limits my search. And that problem will not be resolved until May of 2016, which is the biggest reason I have chose to stay in the area I'm in now, but should not be a problem for the roustabout positions in North Dakota. Any advice would be appreciated.

I also got in contact with a business that installs solar panels in my area. They have been around for quite a while and the owners are quite knowledgeable. They mentioned to me about MREA (Midwest Renewable Energy Association), and I plan on looking into it more in the future. I volunteered one day with them over winter break and I may work with them this summer also. They are right across the street from where I live, so it works out great, and they are a great group of people also. If I do pursue the alternative energy field I will definitely keep a close relationship with them. Again, thanks for the responses. It's something I have been thinking about quite a bit and I enjoy to hear of anything I may be overlooking.

That is what I am hoping. Thank you for the response, its kind of an odd situation so I don't know of anyone with similar circumstances. Anyone I talk to at the school says they have never encountered something exactly like this either. One area that interests me much is renewable energies and efficiency in general. I originally went to school in Madison for engineering, and I would have chose that again, but it is not offered where I am going. I am trying to concentrate more on the physical aspects of chemistry pretty much for that reason. Also probably going to carry a minor in physics because it relates closely to my chemistry studies. I kind of got into the business sequence on a whim and enjoyed it. And when I thought about a goal in some sort of "green" technology it all seemed to fit well. Edit: I know in general they fit, but realistically I am having a hard time envisioning a scenario where they would.