site banner
PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3230 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 30, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I've found myself in the position of being responsible for my elderly mother's finances. She has 800k to her name and has to earn approximately 20k per year off of it for necessary expenses.

I have a totally different risk tolerance in my station of life than she does, so all of my knowledge kind of goes out the window.

For now I have about 300k of her money in a HYSA, earning 4%. Not really sure where to park the rest.

JP Morgan keeps hassling her about some of their managed funds. Gotta admit I'm kind of attracted to allowing them to manage it (with a 1.3% fee though). They also are pushing an annuity which I just went ahead and declined.

If I just put everything into a CD at this point, it'll more than cover her expenses, but who knows what rates will do in the future and it seems like leaving money on the table (which at her age might be fine to buy some security). Also, she'd love to maintain as much as possible to leave to her 4 children. How would you handle this?

Parking all of the 800k in a 4% HYSA will give her 32k per year. What's the problem?

Do not ever go for an expensive, actively managed fund. 1.3% is absurd, unless you've somehow discovered the next Buffett, Lynch, or Marks. Nearly all of them under-perform the index! Of course they're hassling her to go for it, they want her money. Doesn't mean she'll benefit from it. They don't GAF. The vast majority of active managers are even worse at their jobs now than 20 or 40 years ago.

If you want to make the money grow for the next generation rather than just produce 32k per year (probably not enough to beat inflation), put a few hundred thousand in an index fund (the cheapest passive index fund that covers either the US or the world).

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats