Need help on the best ways to invest money without too much risk.?

My best friend is about to get an inheritance of about $150,000 and we are trying to find the best way for him to put it aside and make some money on it. The only thing I can think of is to get CD's or bonds, but it does not seem like the rate is too good at this time. Can someone give me a few ideas that we can look into.

Thanks

If he is about to inherit 150K, the best thing to do would be to put it in a money market account.

S/he should then talk to a fee based financial planner (paid by the visit instead of commission on your purchases) to help figure out the ideal allocation of funds for your friends time horizon/risk tolerance.

If your friend is under the age of 60, the full fixed income route is less than ideal, it just isn't anywhere close to the historical returns of a long term stock investment.

put majority in a CD in a bank, or even IRA (10K should be good to let it grow on compound interest for 30-40 years)

put some in mutual fund.

if you want to invest in stock market there are good oppertunities out there. how much you invest in stock market is all depending on how comfortable are you willing to lose that money. not saying you are going to lose money, just saying how much will you allocate your money in stock market as "play money"

worst case you lose lots of money, but you will still be ok if you dont have to have the money right away and you can wait till stock bounce back up

for me, i place half in bank, half in stock market (75% long term and 25% trade at regular basis)

if you want to invest in stock market, please don't just pick something, do your homework and research first.

watch Mad Money on CNBC jim cramer helps a lot!

look into opening a Roth IRA acct. The average return over the last 10 to 20 years has been 8%. Don't be foolish and place it all in the stock market unless you know what you are doing.

The best way is NEVER cds and rarely bonds though they may be a small part of the solution. After taxes and inflation both lose purchasing power - sometimes a lot. That is NOT safe. Don't misuse the word safe. Solid closed end funds & etfs (both trade like stocks) provide diversification and that is where safety & growth lie. ADX GAM IEF EWA IAU (gold) all parts of the puzzle. $150k way too much to be foolish with. Would ruin his future. Feel free to ask follow-up qs as focusing on making a point here vs charting a portfolio. The kind of major reading many will suggest of no value and unnececessary.

Take your time. Park the inheritance in a bank money market temporarily.
Read: Simple Wealth Invevitable Wealth by Nick Murray (I can lend you my copy. No need to buy it.)
Talk to several investment advisors.
Then decide. The outcome will be worth the wait.

Earn 6.01 % for 90 days at www.everbank.com on this money while you are deciding what to do with it long term

Consider the Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund with a current compound yield of ~5.05% APR.
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/...
Sometimes other institutions will have a higher teaser rate, but Vanguard tends to have the highest yields I've found over the long run. (Vanguard money markets are not FDIC insured, however.)

Article on teaser rates:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ba...

ING and HSBC often have rates close to Vanguard, and most of their products are FDIC insured. Bankrate.com provides links to CD's with high interest rates. You can check these at the following links:
http://home.ingdirect.com/
http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/personal/sa...
http://www.bankrate.com/

(If you are investing for a long period of time and are willing to accept some volatility, you should consider putting some money into no-load low expense mutual funds. These are not guaranteed, but over the long run produce much higher returns.)


I hope you find these sites useful.