My 61-year old DH has been on workers comp for several years due to a serious back injury. He was awarded $2,000 monthly SS disability a year later, so he gets $1,000 (50%) from workers comp and $1,000 (50%) from SS disability.

He had a bad heart attack last October which resulted in a quadruple bypass. While he is doing okay now, our lawyer advised us after the heart attack that we should consider taking a settlement from workers comp. His reasoning was that if DH had not survived, I would have lost his income whereas if we took the settlement, we would at least have a guaranteed amount of money to work with. I do work part-time but my $660 per month paycheck doesn't even cover my $778 per month medical insurance premiums.

Since the thought of me not being protected has caused a great deal of stress on DH since his heart attack, we have accepted the settlement.

My question is what do we do with the $50,000 settlement we expect to receive within the next few months? We need to have about $1,000 a month to live on until DH reaches age 65.

Is there some kind of investment we can make that will generate a couple hundred dollars of interest a month in addition to the $1,000 a month withdrawal from the $50,000 that we will have to make?

Would it be worth the money to make an appointment with a financial advisor to get advice? How do I find one?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

im no professional but if i had even $10,000 i would buy gold eagle one oz coins

they are guaranteed by the us government and they really never lose value.

i bought one when they cost $323 an ounce and finally sold it when it rose up to $650, so its really a way to increase the amount of your investment.

i buy my gold coins from Kitco - Gold Precious Metals - Buy Gold Sell Gold, Silver, Platinum - Charts, Graphs, Prices, Quotes, Gold Stocks, Mining Stocks, bullion dealers

good luck to you.

Go/contact your local/nearest senior organization and ask them for a low-cost or free advisor. In any case, you need a knowledgeable person to help you make this decision, even with other helpful recommendations

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Have the courage to be yourself.

I agree that you should find a financial advisor, but do know that since you need this money for short term living expenses that you will want to select a low-risk, liquid investment vehicle. You should be able to find something that will generate a few hundred dollars interest per month, at least in the first year or so before you have withdrawn much of the balance.

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

If I am calculating right if you had an investment that returned 6% you would get about $250 a month on the $50,000 deposit. DOn't know if that is enough and even money maarkets aren't doing that well right now, they are all under 4%.

I would ask friends for a recommendation, it's the best way to find a financial planner. And I would stay away from a planner who only sells one family of funds, just my opinion of course.

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

Is the $50K what YOU will get? Or is it $50K settlement that the attorney will be getting fees out of?

If they are offering a lump-sum settlement you might instead ask if he can be deemed "perm total" and be paid biweekly or monthly--this cuts out the attorney getting up to 30% of a settlement.

I don't know why, but a lot of people are surprised when their settlement from Work Comp is 20-30% less than they expected---because their attorney took their % out of it. Oh, and if your attorney is not well versed in WorkComp laws, please consider consulting one who is. I'll be the first to admit that some Work Comp insurers/TPAs will screw over the injured claimants if they can. For a significant back injury $50K is not a whole lot! Some things to consider: Will the settlement terminate your DHs medical care (for the injury)? If so, you are definitely settling low. Has your DH been declared to be at maximum medical improvement (MMI)? Was he given an whole person impairment rating? If so, has that already been paid out or does this 50K cover that as well? Does he have any permanent work restrictions? What about vocational rehab benefits? I don't know the specifics of your DHs injury and treatment--but $50K seems kind of low to me.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

I would suggest a financial planner or your tax adviser. My mom (who is an EA), does many investments a year and I know that some of the people she does them for has a monthly "allowance" they pull out although I know most of them have more than $50K to start with.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

OP
check banks in your town, some of them offer regular checking with 5% interest up to $25,000
you have to meet few requirement tho, 10 debit card transactions a month, 1 electronic payment or deposit, and receiving your statement by email. we have a bank that offers this deal in western NC, and i read on financial message boards about the same deal with different banks, in different states.
be sure that the bank is FDIC insured.


Blackjuice:
why gold coins not swiss bars, i heard that the coins are 20%-30% overpriced.
Homepage > World Gold Council, the information resource for gold, investment, jewellery, science and technology, historical and culture good web site to check prices of gold.

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"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Albert Einstein

wow guys,
While I don't have 50K to invest right now,(and I'm sorry KellyJeff that you had to get it this way), it really makes me feel good that we have such smart ppl on board here w/ such an array of services/advice to offer. I am totally impressed! And I mean that. Lynne

Yes, I will do that first thing tomorrow morning.

Thsnks for all the responses -- they've given me a lot of very helpful information to follow up on

Just becareful. 50k is not a lot for the rest of your life. Make sure that is a fair settlement first of all before you sign anything.

I would not buy gold, its on the way down as are all commodities. Becareful a lot of people will try to sell you very expensive annuities and they may not be in your best interest. Find a financial advisor that will charge you by the hour not by hidden percentages. Most of all don't be afraid to get a second opinion if something just doesn't seem right. Listen to that little voice in your head, if something doesn't quite ring true it probably isn't.

Honestly at your age maybe look into stacking a few Cd's. by stacking I mean buy maybe 5,000$ cd every week or so for varied time periods so you alwys have one coming due in the near future. Check out bankrate.com and Ing direct. Ing has some great rates and they are a solid bank.

Trust your instincts.

I just wanted to add- I don't see how you can get 1,000 a month from a 50/k investment. Maybe you can get someone better than me to figure that out. Maybe talk to your lawyer nad say this is what you need to live and figure out the settlement from there.

I don't think that she meant that the a $50K investment would generate $1k/month income, rather that the intent was to withdraw from the principal and its earnings over the 4 year period between the present (age 61) and when her DH was SS eligible (age 65). Correct me if I'm wrong, OP.

I find this online retirement savings calculator helpful for the general case....fwiw.
How Long Will My Retirement Savings Last?

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

You are right, I did not follow what she was saying.

I wanted to come back and check this post and warn you about ETF's. They are the newest fad and are really being pushed. The fee's are very opaque ie many layers of hidden fees and there is no real long term track record. Just one more thing to watch out for.

Thanks for all the responses.

I posted my question on a financial board that I'm a member of and got some good responses as well.

The general consensus there was that I was probably ok just putting the $50,000 in my online HSBC savings account which pays 3.5% interest since it would be hard to find a CD that would pay more than the 3.5% -- and the HSBC account is so easy to manage -- and keeps the money available to us at all times.