Should we invest this money?

We will soon net about 70k by selling a small residental building lot. We are both approaching
60, so although we have no immediate need for the money, we soon will. Can we invest these funds to shelter most of it from taxes? Should we? Thanks so much.

You have an interesting problem. Normally, a good way to invest the amoun and defer taxes would be to invest the amount in a variety of Index funds. However, the U S economy does not appear to resiliant at the moment. You can avoid some taxes by purchasing T-bills. Currently they pay 5+% and are not subject to local and state taxes. Interest on municple bonds are not subject to federal taxes. But the priciple is subject to risk, much risk.

To be safe use t-bills. To accept some risk but possibly greater reward, consider investing part in a variety of index funds but avoid U S funds except for a small amount maybe $5,000 to $10,000. Put some in oil stocks such as COP, DVN, APA. What ever happens to the U S market, the oil stocks will not suffer greatly, since their markets are world wide. Consider investing some in Chinese stocks and some in Indian stocks. For example CHL and TDF and SAY. Avoid mutual funds although TDF is a mutual fund. You will be subject to annual realized capital gains annually with mutual funds, except for index funds.

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Your question does not provide enough background info to properly answer. However, considering short term rates are the highest they've been in years (about 5% or more), be it in bank CD's, money market funds or short term treasury bonds, you really can't go wrong in any of these short-term income type investments. These days you get paid a decent return for taking on very little risk - might as well do that.

You may be able to do a 1031 exchange to avoid taxes, and put it into a low risk fund. I wouldn't do anything with real estate right now.

You should invest it in some way, but not in something risky. Consider how much income you need, and look for a relatively safe investment that produces income. One way to shelter from taxes is via mutual funds that invest in municipal bonds.

This is not professional advice.

consult 3 tax attorneys see what they say it will be cheaper than this forum

Unless want to risk buying more property you can not shelter it from taxes. Much better locking up intrest-bearing investments right now to build up a retirement fund flow.

To completely shield it from taxes your best bet would be municipal bonds. Buy city/state bonds (ones that originated in your home state) and you wont pay federal or state taxes on the interest. Though there is risk, I wouldn't put it as "much risk" as the other guy said.

Of course, that amount of muni interest could trigger AMT, which you really don't want to deal with if you don't have to. T-bills would be another good way to go. Of course, all of this has to fit in with your overall portfolio, and since I don't know that, I can't really give you good advice. So, I'd say talk to your financial adviser.

The answer is yes invest it and make more money that is the logical thing to do.