I just inherited $100,000 and I want to invest it all in stocks! I have no clue never invested anything!?

Answer 1

Talk to your bank. They should have investment planners who you can meet with. If you bank doesn't or it is not free to do so, then I would find a bank where they have a free one. There will be fees associated with investing the money, but you shouldn't have to pay the financial planner anything. They can take into account your goals, desire for risk, and other circumstances when giving you advice. They are also familiar with many different types of investments.

Answer 2

I would learn the stock trade before you invest anything. Buying and trading stocks is not insured (FDIC), you can lose your entire $100,000. Contribute the max for your IRA. Invest in CDs, check out on-line banks which pay more in interest. You have to check the stock market daily (Mon - Fri) it is not a regular savings account. Plus you will be paying fees, commissions and taxes. Find out first. Just play with $5,000 to start but not all of it.

Answer 3

Congratulations! I suggest that you find yourself a good professional financial advisor. That's a lot of money. You can make good money on the stock market, but you can easily lose a lot of money if you don't know what you're doing. The cost of a good financial planner will be far less than the cost of a bad decision.

Use an advisor who charges by the hour, not one who works on commission. Commissioned advisors have to sell you something to make a living. An unscrupulous salesperson may sell you something that makes a lot of money for him/her. You want investments that make a lot of money for you. A fee-based advisor does not have a conflict of interest because they get paid regardless of what they recommend. There's no incentive to put you into something with high commissions.

I respectfully disagree with the person who says to go to your bank. Banks don't give independent advice. They sell their own in-house products because they are profitable to the bank, even if they are mediocre performers. You want to make profits for you, not the bank!

Whatever you do, don't select stocks based on tips from this website. There's no requirement that anyone who posts here have any competence at investing. You could get some tips that are entirely inappropriate for you.

Answer 4

I would NOT invest it all in stocks today! The market today reminds me of 1928. The crash is just around the corner! But then again, I could be wrong, so actually I prefer a "balanced" portfolio consisting of $25,000 worth of "cash" (meaning certificates of deposit), $25,000 worth of stocks, $25,000 worth of bonds and $25,000 worth of gold.

Some people advise a 30:30:30:10 mix with only 10% in gold, but the even proportions are easier to keep track of, and I feel that hard assets are going to be more important in the future.

Usually when one of these categories is tanking, one or more of the others are booming, so in the long run, you'll come out ahead over putting all your eggs in one basket.

This portfolio is pretty easy to manage. I used to be a "day trader" in the stock market, but found it was actually hard work, and if you went on vacation for a week and missed a sell signal, you wound up losing a lot of money, as once happend to me. With the balanced portfolio I suggest, you just have to check prices every three months or so. When one of the four asset groups has changed in value by more than 10%, buy or sell as necessary to bring things back in balance. For example, over the past few years, gold and stocks have gone higher, but bonds have lagged somewhat, so I sold some of my stock and gold and bought more bonds.

Since you are new to this, I would not try to "throw your own darts", but pick one or two highly rated stock mutual funds and leave it at that. An S&P 500 index fund would be a good choice, since there won't be a lot of trading going on that has the potential to eat up your profit. I'm a big fan of municipal bonds, since they earn interest tax free, so pick a couple of municipal bond funds for your state. I have my stocks and bonds with Charles Schwab, since "full service" brokearge houses charge more and they are always bugging you to make trades, because the more trades you make, the more commssions they get.

For the gold, buy around $20,000 worth of Canadian Maple Leafs and about $5000 worth of pre 1933 US gold coins. The reason for the rare coins is that if the US government ever decides to confiscate private gold holdings, as DID HAPPEN ONCE in 1933, the nuministic coins will likely be exempted, so you won't lose your entire gold holdings. Don't get suckered into letting some one else hold your gold for you, buy a good safe and keep your gold at home. I trade my gold at http://www.austincoins.com They ship by insured registered mail and you would do the same when you want to sell your gold back for Federal Reserve Notes (cash).

Answer 5

Make appointment and go to at least three different local banks' "brokerage departments" and tell them you have inherited $2,500 and would like to invest it in stocks. Open an account with the $100,000 with whichever one treats the "$2,500 investor" with the most respect...they deserve your business because they understand that $2,500 can be a lot of money to some people.

Answer 6

Call a person for legal advice or search the internet for information on this topic. Investing I think places like Morgan Stanley dean witter can help you. Watch where you invest your money.

Answer 7

Go to the Charles Schwab office in your city, and tell the rep there the same story. He will help you. Bring your checkbook, your ID, your social security card.

You want to open an online account. You want it to be a "margin account." You may want want to, some day, trade options.

Once your account is ready and funded, you can go online, to the "stock trading" tab on the Schwab website. Buy shares of the stocks you think are going to increase in price. Sell the shares when you think that something else will go up better/faster, and buy the something else.

Buy low. Sell high.
Or -- sell high, buy low.

Good luck.

Answer 8

STOP!!!

Don't be stupid!!!

You inherited $100 and you want to bet it ALL on something you know nothing about....see a problem here?

Take it slowly. Contact a financial planner

If you don't want to go that route and take a big risk...

Go to www.americancentury.com

Diversify your funds. 20% in stocks, 20% international, 20% in balanced fund, 20% in bonds and take $20 to blow on stocks...because you will blow it.

Answer 9

I would advise you to get a good professional adviser to help you with this one. Don't be stupid like a relative of mine, and lose it all because of bad advise. Just leave it in the bank, until you are sure, you advise is really really trustworthy. And don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

Answer 10

honestly not sure stocks are the best option rate now, i'd consider high interest savings accounts instead over risk and violitle stock market .