Invest Mom’s Money in Real Estate
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Anonymous
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My mom lives with us and has dementia. She is stable, for now. I quit my job to take care of her. Financially, my family is ok. My mom has about $275K saved for her care. Her social security check is about $1,600 a month after insurance payment. Her money is sitting in the bank for now. What would you do with that amount? I know it is not that much, but she worked hard to build that money for her old age. She moved to the US from a poor country. I am her POA, and only child.
Would you invest that money in a small condo to rent? Invest in stock market? I am not well versed in these things. Just looking for options. I am well aware of the cost of eldercare, and just want to make sure she has enough money for her in care when the s**t hits the fan. |
Anonymous
| Put it in a six month CD (certificate of deposit). Absolutely no real estate or stocks!! Go to the bank and tell them you want to put it in a six month CD. |
Anonymous
| OMG. Please do not invest this money which she will likely need in the next 10 years into anything risky. I would do CDs and high yield savings account so it doesn't lose value to inflation. As a person whose mother died within 3 years of a diagnosis of dementia, please do not tie this money up for any longer than a year. |
Anonymous
| A poster on here put their cash in a Fidelity high yield savings account. See what your bank offers. You should be looking at around 5%. |
Anonymous
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At some point you may need to put her in memory care or get in home care so that’s what she needs it for….Dementia can be absolutely brutal. Put it in 6 months cds and high interest savings. Investing in real estate is the worst decision you could make as you cannot easily access it and usually not good for short term gains.
You could invest some in mutual funds (something low cost and large like vanguard vti) …depends on her age and health. But at least half in high yield savings or cds. I also think it’s admirable that you quit your job to take care of her but consider whether you can afford to do so as well (financially emotionally etc). |
Anonymous
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What type of dementia? Some have more rapid progressions than others, and some include aggression, which affects care decisions. If you don't know which one she has, get a more accurate diagnosis. Then based on that knowledge, I would research institutions that will take her if her care gets beyond what you can provide, and compare with the cost of a home aide (doesn't actually need to be a certified senior healthcare person). If you have a sense of when you'll need to start paying more for her care, it will narrow down the possible investment choices. Are you sure you can manage a rental, along with caring for your mother? You can't be in two places at once. You need to calculate whether rent or dividends from stocks will generate enough revenue. If it's just you and one aide at home... maybe? But sending her to a home will definitely cost more than what you can earn from her money. There are also Medicaid memory care facilities, where they only take people who have spent down their assets. Some facilities have programs in which you can enter as a full-paying patient, then stay as a Medicaid patient. Depending on the state, Medicaid patients can also receive funds for in-home care. Maryland has that service. You need to do some research on all that. |
Anonymous
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Given that the money could be needed fairly soon, I would not put it in the stock market. The stock market could fall by 30 percent tomorrow…
Nor would I invest in real estate. Do you know anything about real estate investing? Have specific skills as a landlord? What happens if you need the money in a few months’ time? Bad idea. Put the money in a high yield savings account like Ally, or a money market account in a brokerage, or in a cd at a bank. Something safe that gets you 4 or 5 percent is better than something risky. |
Anonymous
I'd do this - save it for her care. Look for hghi yield savings accounts as pps have mentioned. I'm sorry you're dealing with this with your mom. |
Anonymous
| Yes, at her age the standard investment advice is to have only low-risk investments. She can't afford to lose that money. Open up a brokerage account - I just put some in a Vanguard money market account, very liquid, and the return is about 5% right now. |
Anonymous
| If she has dementia, she will never live in a condo. Spend the money for her care and then she goes on long term care medicaid. |
Anonymous
| Please for the love of god DO NOT invest in real estate if you’re not extremely experienced in real estate investing. I work in real estate and would never take on the pain of property management and it’s not at all a safe investment (not to mention all the other issues above). You could have a mutual fund portfolio with lots of safer and lower return investments and a little bit in a real estate fund. And that’s the max involvement in real estate you should consider. |
Anonymous
| No. Put it in a 5% yielding account. |
Anonymous
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Talk to a qualified financial adviser. 275k is about 18-24 months memory care. I wouldn’t want to be too risky, but I’d want to generate more than putting the whole thing in a high yield savings account.
Let’s say you keep 250k in very conservative vehicles. Then you put 25k into some of the best stocks for selling covered calls. I played with a few configurations and strikes at 15 day expiration and generated 3k-12k (6-24k)/30 days. This is ONE strategy that can build more quickly. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what any of this means, but find a financial adviser who will talk to you abut using a portion of the money to generate higher returns. |
Anonymous
| Treasuries are high now. Buy 2-3-5 year Treasuries in low denominations like $1000. The actual government issues NOT "funds." You can redeem them as needed. Put them in your and her name joint right of survivorship. |