What to do with $150,000 cash right now (January 28, 2008)

  A friend of mine called and said he had been stopped out of several positions and was looking at around $150,000 cash that he did not know what to do with. CDs? Stocks? Bonds? SOme GLD??? Or other ETF long or short???(He will have nothing to do with buying a house, he hates upkeep, landlording,  etc etc etc).

  Any specific or general suggestions I will pass along to him. I told him, off the top of my head, a CD (short term) sounded best to me...he has no debt at all and this is money he will eventually get back into equities or bonds in the future.He is retired and around 80 years old.

 Thanks in advance. I just told him I thought the stimulus package was too little too late, and that any upswing to me would be a minor blip, not a serious sustainable rally.

 B


 PS hope this week makes us all some $$ as I am down for the year.

I would play the extreme moves down for pops..if you can nail 5% a trade, one trade beats the money market returns.

It is tough trading funds/ETFs/stocks in this environment, I sure wouldnt commit big money to longer term investments..gotta trade tight on these big moves we get.

If you were trading the cycles the last year or 18 months, the money has been good (not saying I have)

RJA - commodity note that invests in food inflation. buying RJA you believe there will be inflation in food

or you can buy a city block in Detroit and be landlord to SEMCON

$12,000 tax-free gift to me.

Seriously though, if he's 80 that changes things.  How likely is he need to need this money to live on in the next 5 years?  What are his goals?  What's his tax situation?

D, he is not going to need it to live on.I am uncertain of his tax situation...

 Think the RJA idea is one to think seriously on, thanks KOAJ....I suspect he will divide this into increments, maybe 10 % per vehicle.

 He is just casting about. When he asked I just could not see much that was better than cash off the top of my head.

  Maybe he should buy a few bottles of Chateaux Margeaux 2000. At least he could catch a buzz if they fell in value!!!!.

 

or he could just take the Pats next weekend

If he's not going to need it to live on and doesn't expect to then why doesn't he either splurge on something enjoyable to him or have the enjoyment of giving it away, either to family that needs it or to his favorite charity?

 He gives it away in increments...but wants it to continue to increase (thereby, giving more to more people over time). Basically he privately funds certain kids' educations with it..

Did you ever listen to Sid Rosenberg on sports talk radio up there? He's on 790 the ticket here in south florida now and claims to have ties to the NYG because he did the pregame shows for their games while there.....Anyhoo, he claims that Eli has been playing so well as of late because Shockey isn't in the huddle asking why he didn't throw to him on every play....Personally, I thought the Giants were done when Shockey went down. Obviously I was wrong since they are in the SB.

 

Considering the stock markets up and downs of late... I say you put it into something u dont have to turn on the tv and follow everday of the week...... I would invest that into some Muni's (Municipal Bonds) you can def get a triple A rated and insured triple tax free muni at or over 5% easy......the worst is over with the insurers nows the best time to get a bargain with a high yeild..... As long as your buying into the same state your reside you will not pay a penny in tax..... Puerto Rico and Alaska bonds are also triple tax free for all state residents.

  Any and all suggestions welcomed, and passed along.

Here is a fantastic site if you like live music recordings...they have 45,000 and counting all free, along with a host of other things. I found them today:Gunners, you will be into it...movies texts, etc etc etc

 archive.org

i know of sid...he got kicked out of NY for something i dont know what...he's a good guy and very smart. used to have a big gambling problem

for what its worth, shockey and tiki were holding eli down...questioning everything he did in the locker room to him, to teammates and to the media. shockey will be cut aftr this season

 A. He won't be betting it.But if he were it would be on basketball, which he actually enjoys!

 B. Booze bitches etc etc, he has plenty of. No need for him to go anywhere for any of that. He has steady girlfriends...I suppose he is a young 80 for that reason alone.

 C. As far as the money foes, as it is earmarked for other people, he simply wants it to not lose value.I guess he has taken more risks in the past (hence actually owning equities in that account)...I suspect, in the end, he was simply testing me (not sure why) as in truth, he knows more about money management than I ever will.

 D. Given that I am liquidating holdings and selling into what I suspect will be a shallow rally (hope,again, I am wrong) I may take the booze and bitches advice myself, as one can really not have too many of the latter, anyway.

As it is I have added to GLD, and otherwise,watching it go up for now. I  am content to be in cash for right now.I do hope this rally allows me to sell at a profit, or at least minimize the losses sustained in the current year.But after that, sitting on the sidelines until I see something more substanital than a Fed quick fix.

IF it is really earmarked for other people who have long-term time horizons for education then he should definitely be more aggressive with it than he would be if it were for his needs.

100% the play.

New England Patriots ML @ -420. $150,000 to win $35714.29!!

23.8% in 5 hours.

Then spread the $185714.29 on:

2008 Major Wins for Tiger Woods.

3 @ +750

4 @ +1200

...i like it

 

Enron Patriots

  It is.He sends select poor kids to a couple of private elementary schools (he lives ina  rural area, so we are not talking enormous, absurd amounts ala NYC etc private school tuition.
  He is not the type who will hand it over upon his death to a foundation. He may leave specific instructions about its use to his surviving son (he has one who helps him in this matter).

  Anyway, thansk for the sugegstions.he remains in cash at the present and is not in a hurr, although he did ask me again in the early part of last week what I thought.In a way, I think he has already determined what it is he will do with it, and I think I am being tested to see if I get the "right" answer.I doubt I will, but...I will come up with a final answer by the end of this month for him.

would've suggested buying gold but it's shot up into astronomical levels lately.....safest bet would be to just empty the money into an offshore savings account IN EUROS before the USD completely collapses.