My husband is being forced to sell a large piece of property in W. Tx. It should net around 1.5- 2.0 million. With taxes and realestate fee's I'm conservativly giving us in pocket around 1.3.

I want to invest 1 million in a VERY secure way, with almost none to no risk. We lost an inheritance back in the late 90's to bad investments and are very afraid of doing that again.

We are in our early 40's and would like to retire in 15-20 yrs (it could take us 3 yrs to sell the property).

According to my math if I broke down the CD's into 13 cd's (equalling 975,000 for insurance issues) at 5.5% interest, my figures show we would have the original money grow to 2.5 million in 15 yrs, which would allow us to retire with interest income of 125,000-150,000/year. With our roylaties in our pocket to supplement that income we should be quite comfortable, with the children grown and moved off (hopefully) and our home 3/4 paid off.

Is there a safe way to have this money grow even faster and bigger? I'm so scared of the market and its fluctuations and with our middle age status I'm not really interested in too much risk at this point.

The other 300,000 will be used to pay off all car notes, credit cards and give us a cash nest egg for college for the kids etc. We will also be putting 50,000 into a CD for our children to receive upon completing there college education (call it incentive!)

Any help would be appreciated. I'm also afraid of financial planners as we used one and lost 150,000 back in the 90's.

A return of 5.5% is a very nice return.

If you want something safe, CD's, Government Bonds are they way to go.

I would disagree with you decision about putting $50,000 into a CD for your children as a means of a bribe for them, but that is my opinion.

As we all know there is no way to predict the stock market. If you put your money anywhere except in your own hands you are taking a risk. But, I am sure that you know that.

If I had that amount of money, I would be dividing it into different accounts.

I have had great success with accounts in Dodge & Cox and Vanguard. They both have good, solid histories. I also had money in Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. It did very poorly. So, I would avoid making investments with organizations that portray themselves as being able to help only select groups of people.

One account with Dodge & Cox that I originally invested $5,000 nearly doubled in the course of a few years.

I think that it is the magazine Fortune 500 that lists in August of every year the firms where the investors have gotten the best return on their monies. That is how I learned about Dodge & Cox.

I am no financial expert. But, the foregoing is based upon my good and bad experiences with investing. As such, I hope that it is helpful to you.

I appreciate your response. So do you think that just putting them in the highest yield CD (FDIC) possible and just letting the money have baby moneys is just to "safe".

Looks like with a risk I could double the money in 10 yrs instead of 15.

I know that at the very least that I would like to go part time at my job within 10 yrs to allow more time to travel as my youngest will be out of the house (I'm praying) by then.:rolleyes:

I'm only 42 and feel like I'm running out of time!

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Originally Posted by CaptainForest

A return of 5.5% is a very nice return.

If you want something safe, CD's, Government Bonds are they way to go.

I would disagree with you decision about putting $50,000 into a CD for your children as a means of a bribe for them, but that is my opinion.

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Honestly... the reason we want to do this, is simply because we came into some money at a rather young age and we didn't have any idea how important it would be to us later.

I didn't get my education until we ran through all that money. I felt like if my children knew that at the end of their education they would have some "getting" off the ground money they'd have something to drive them even further. This coming from a mom of a 22 yr old who is A FRESHMAN in college... and feeling like I'm draggin her kicking and screaming.

This way if they blow through that money they have an education to support themselves (it will also be in our wills that they must have a college education to receive any inheritences).

I understand where you are coming from.

You feel a college education is important and you want your kids to get one, which I totally agree with.

I just think back to my childhood and I just think forcing your child to do something against their will could be a huge mistake.

Your child could end up taking a useless degree like a major in history just so they get the money.

I don't mean to offend anyone on this board, especially if they have or know someone who has a degree in history, but really, what does a degree in history really get you?

Unless you want to be a historian, or a history teacher, I don't really know of any other practical uses for that degree. So a child getting a college degree in that would be somewhat useless, unless they took some personal finance courses, etc as well.

It is one thing to force your child to go to high school because since they are under 18, the government is on your side and you can force them, you can see their report cards, etc. But in college, it's much harder since you can't see how they are doing, can't force them to go, etc.

I guess I just got hung up on the word bribe. Saying to your kids, I want to give you a nice big gift once you graduate from college just sounds better and a better mind set overall than a “bribe”. This way, the kids don't EXPECT something. A bribe they would expect something big, a gift could be anything, and gifts don't necessarily have to be given and are only given to show appreciation whereas a bribe is being you want them to do something for you.

Them going to college should be something they want to do for themselves, NOT for you.

First I disagree with using bank CDs. Most bank CDs only go out 5 years so 5 years down the road, you may not get the same interest rate. So you can't count on that. I would be more inclined to use government securities, hopefully tax free ones. Even if the rate is lower, the yield will be higher.

Another thing I would look at is an annuity. You can invest that money in a annuity with a guaranteed payment for life starting at retirement.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

First I disagree with using bank CDs. Most bank CDs only go out 5 years so 5 years down the road, you may not get the same interest rate. So you can't count on that. I would be more inclined to use government securities, hopefully tax free ones. Even if the rate is lower, the yield will be higher.

Another thing I would look at is an annuity. You can invest that money in a annuity with a guaranteed payment for life starting at retirement.

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First as a "bribe" not what I meant, but more of an incentive. I understand what your saying, I just hope that if they are thinking of not going to college than this would be something to look forward to if they do.. like a downpayment on a house or a nice car.

Anyway I know when we die, we are putting the bulk of our trust in increments for them as they age, while sitting in some sort of CD or something. They won't get it all at once like we did, instead they will get funds in increments of 200k every 8 yrs or so, plus they will have their oil royalties that they will get funds from monthly. I have a young child who is 10 and an older one who is 22. There is such a difference by the way your 20's 30's and 40's. If we had been in our 40's when we obtained the money we inherited it would have meant more to us in the realm of college for our kids, houses, and retirement, instead of what appeared to be unlimited funds (we inherited nearly 300k) we had a good time spending it dammit and have nothing to show for it now!


I'm so dumb with investments. Will the annuities and other things obtain the same income in the long run as the CD's. I am trying to obtain a goal of 2.4 million in 15 yrs at least. Tax free does sound great but I don't want to have to wait till I'm 65 to start getting my interest payments. I want to retire before I'm 60.

Well one of the things you said may knock an annuiyy out of consideration. One of the drawbacks of an annuity would be that when you both die, any funds left in the annuity go to the carrier. So if you plan is living off the interest then willing the balance to your kids, then that may knock that idea out of contention.

Frankly, I don't think its necessary to leave your kids enough to set them up for life. I also think your methods leave something to be desired. I would be more inclined to educate the kids on how to handle money then dribble it out to them. If you don't want them to have access to the whole thing and have them blow it, will your assets to a trust and have the trust continue paying them their share of whatever annual amount you wind up getting. You really should discuss this with an estate planner.

Getting back to an annnuity it really doesn't work that way. You tell the carrier how much you have to invest, how much income you want and when you want to start receiving it. They will then tell you if its doable.

Thanks for the advise.

I see now that I need to do a lot of homework and speak to a financial planner for advise.

As for not leaving the money to my children, I know what you mean, however I also know that someone left this to us (my husbands grandfather founded the estate and it has grown to what it is today), hence I would like to leave my children their share to hopefully continue the growth.

Yes I realize that setting them up for life is unrealistic as would setting anyone up for life on half a million dollars. I fully intend to live another 50 yrs and my children could be well in their own retirement stages before they see that money :)

You can always invest the money in me! :D

You might not get a very good return though..