Dear Dave: My mom is 95 years old, and she’s in amazing health. Financially speaking, she has about $150,000 in Certificates of Deposit, money market accounts, and savings bonds. Is there a better place she can invest her money? — Anonymous
Dear Anonymous: Certainly there are other investment vehicles that will make much more money than CD's, money markets and savings bonds. However, at your mom’s age people aren’t generally investing for the long haul, unless they’re investing it for their heirs.
If she’s comfortable with her finances, I’d suggest just leaving things alone. Don’t try to force her into something new. At her age she may still have bad memories of the Great Depression and a negative perception of the stock market. In a case like that, mutual funds might make her fearful. I wouldn’t take the chance of robbing a 95-year-old lady of her peace to try and do the “proper” thing with money.
However, if she’s agreeable to the idea of doing a little better with her money, you could start by moving a little into growth stock or balanced stock mutual funds. But do something like this only if the change won’t upset her and leave her fretting over her money. What we want for your mom is financial peace. — Dave
