Introduction

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. A few things you may want to consider;

First, my condolences on the passing of your father. I lost my dad in 2000 and my mom about 6 years ago. I miss them both every day.

1) Speaking as a former broker, I would encourage you to find a broker/advisor near you to deal with, instead of dealing with one in another state. While there is nothing inherently wrong with keeping your present Edward Jones advisor, the fact is you are better off if you can see the person handling your assets face to face on occasion. You can easily move the account to an Edward Jones branch closer to your home, or you can change brokerage firms altogether. The idea that she doesn't want you to discuss your account with anyone else says to me that she doesn't want to lose your business. Well, guess what? It isn't up to her! It's YOUR MONEY! It is understandable because it lowers her overall assets under management (AUM) if you move the account, but you are free to move it anywhere you wish and she has bugger all to say about it. And BTW, if you decide to move the assets to another firm, that is seamless once the process starts, and at the very most, EJ might charge $50 as a fee to close the account.

The best way I could suggest to find an advisor near you is to ask any and all of your friends that have investment accounts who they deal with. Find someone that you trust, and ask them who THEY trust to do this sort of thing. At least you will have a bit better of an idea who you are going to be dealing with when you walk in.

2) Take a "Risk Tolerance Questionnaire" or 2. Or 3. Just Google that term and you will get dozens of decent resources. They are simple, usually quick little assessments that can act as a guide and help you determine how much risk you are willing to take, and therefore how your portfolio should or might be structured. You said "I have never wanted to be in the stock market because I don’t trust it" which is fair enough, but it is important to understand that if you want this account to grow, you have few other choices these days. A regular savings account or Money Market account or even US Treasury Bonds are all paying ridiculously low yields right now, and even the best of the safest, so to speak, is barely keeping pace with inflation. Having said that, some people are savers and some are investors. If you just can not stand the idea that your account balance might go down as well as up, then stay away from equity based investments.

3) You mentioned you are taking distributions from a 401(K) I would suggest you consider and look into rolling that over to an IRA, for the sole reason that doing so allows for much more flexibility in investment choices. You are pretty much locked into the funds the 401(K) provider offers, and that's it. There is no such limitation using an IRA, particularly if it is done through a full service broker, and that includes the various online ones, like E*Trade, for example.

However, if you are perfectly happy with the way things are, then fine! Again, it's your money.

4) Like most predictions, those claiming we are headed for another depression are often wrong. There may very well be another serious dip in the stock market on the horizon, and there certainly will be another recession at some point, but those have always happened with some regularity. A depression is an entirely different animal altogether.

5) Do not, and I repeat with the caps lock on, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES make any changes to your portfolio or holdings until you completely understand the risks involved with a given security, or the potential for loss in making the trade(s). I believe it was Warren Buffet that once said something to the effect that if you can not easily explain an investment idea to a ten year old child, avoid it.


As Host of this group, I would hope the participants here would refrain from giving specific investment advice, up to and including suggesting the purchase of specific securities. No one knows you well enough to suggest you purchase anything in particular, but if anyone does do such a thing, I hope that you would do your own due diligence before making any changes to your holdings.

If you have any specific questions about processes, types of investment securities, account types or anything else, this group is certainly frequented by knowledgeable individuals who are very capable of helping you understand things.


All the best, and may all your trades be net gains.

Paul