Rolling over an IRA

You appear to be well situated financially with a nicely diversified portfolio of investments. Why would you want to change your investment strategy at this point in time when you appear to be doing so well? At your ages you certainly do not need tax-free investment shelters; especially tax-exempt income funds that traditionally pay the lowest rates of return.

So here's what I recommend you do . . . demand a personal financial statement from this alleged investment counselor. If his net worth is at least double yours, give him some consideration. If he is (as most of them are), "saving up his money to invest," get as far away from him as possible. Why should you pay a "counselor" to do things you can do all by yourself?

You can easily find highly rated tax-exempt funds and other mutuals with a good history without having to pay someone a commission to do it for you. You might be bettor off at this time consulting a good attorney to set up a living trust for your children. That seems a better way to protect all of the assets you've worked so hard for than paying a rookie counselor to bleed you dry with commissions.

First and foremost, when retirees reach retirement, any potential loss of principal should be avoided or minimized to a very low percentage of the total portfolio. You have done well to accumulate the amount you have. The investment methods to accumulate the retirement value is not necessarily the best way to continue growing it and also to significantly preserve value, for your money to last all of your retirement years. Moderate high to High-risk investment is generally not a good choice for retirees. Financial security to the end of life is the greatest concern that retirees are thinking about. I will assume that is part of your concern also.

A variable annuity may not be a good choice. It will certainly pay a nice commission and there is nothing wrong with that, because it comes from the Insurance Company's side of the transaction. However, your earnings will be very unsure and withdrawal penalties are extremely high in the first several years of the annuity. Any variable product or account is seriously affected by what is taking place in the current market, which is very volatile right now. The market has been very unstable for several years and most likely will follow this trend as long as energy prices continue to escalate. The mortgage trouble is certainly contributing to this lack of stability. The economy is too uncertain, with too many questions of direction.

My first advice is to begin to TAKE and KEEP absolute Control of your money. It's your money, why should someone else control it. Opening a Self-Direct IRA is the easiest way to start. A Traditional IRA is good, but the Roth preferred, because it is TAX FREE.

Special Note on Roth IRA Conversions: Beginning January 2008, the Pension Protection Act made amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow for direct rollovers into Roth IRAs from retirement plans as long as the requirements for converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA are meet. These are the two requirements for this conversion: you must report the amount converted as income, and modified adjusted gross income must be less than $100,000(not counting amount converted). Please double check with your tax preparer on your eligibility.

Also remember the act signed by George Bush in May 2006. This is a window to convert, regardless of your income. It eliminates the $100,000 income limitation on Roth IRA conversions and rollovers effective January 1, 2010. Anyone who elects to rollover or convert to a Roth IRA will have the benefit of deferring taxes out to 2011 and 2012. If you use this window; all of your earnings on your money will be TAX FREE for the rest of your life. You almost cannot beat TAX FREE, especially if you invest in double-digit returns.

You can then place your funds in your SD IRA and invest directly where you want to. You can still get advice from professionals and even use professionals in any part you choose. If you have not done so, You should begin to educate yourself on preserving your wealth and searching out safe investments yourself. It's not that difficult. You can do it.

Concerning the IRA ($250K), Stocks ($125k), and CD ($450):
I don't know what you're earning on your IRA. Probably not much.
Your stocks are probably not doing as well as you would like.
Your CDs are fixed at a very low rate. I'm sure you're not earning very much here. Your earnings are probably running behind inflation, with the current market conditions. Inflation for 2008 may have its highest rate climb in the last decade. So, you may be loosing money here.

These accounts can be re-invested safely to do much better than what they are doing. You can certainly roll all of these 3 accounts over into a Self-Directed IRA and then diversify it into several safe investment vehicles that can give you double-digit returns. Although there can be no claim of return, I have seen triple digit returns in actual accounts.

I know of several investment opportunities that you can take advantage of. Your question actually caused me to join. Today is my first day using this website and I will have to go back and read the policy as to how I can answer questions with precise information. Therefore, I'm answering your question rather reserved. I work in the financial services industry and have been looking for avenues to help people where I can (even if its free) and also expand my client base where mutually beneficial for the client and myself. I give investment opportunity information to anyone that wants it; regardless if I make any money or not. In fact several of the opportunities that I am referring to, I have no connection with. Feel Free to contact me for details. KNMSr@yahoo.com

Concerning the Vanguard Money Market Fund:
I don't know very much about this particular fund. Therefore, if you open a SD IRA, you can open a Scottrade or Ameritrade account under the name of the IRA and research all money market accounts with their software, inside your account web-site portal. You can diversify between several money market accounts. There are many money market accounts that are doing okay. Plus, you can purchase stocks as well. You will save a boatload on fees. Transactions fees are set (not by the size of the transaction)- so you know exactly what your fee is before you make the transaction. I have a Scottrade account and it's very simple to learn. Don't be overwhelmed when you first enter the site. Just follow the instructions given to you when you open the account and you'll be familiar with how to navigate, operate and trade in your account in a very short time.

In conclusion, I would say "NO" to your question. Get several opinions. Talk with advisors and agents that deal with NON Traditional Investments as well. Most traditional investments cost you more in fees. Many brokers and agents will not recommend anything they cannot make a commission on. That leaves many investors limited to what they have as options for investing. Believe me, there are more safe investment opportunities available than what any one broker or advisor is willing to share with you.

Thanks for the opportunity to share this bit of information.