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Can someone provide options for depositing proceeds from the sale of a house, with safety and best yields as considerations?

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Was the house your mother's? What to do with it depends on what her financial circumstances are. Is she going to need the money soon? Then you want to consider putting it in something that could be liquidated quickly as the money was needed, e.g. savings or a mutual fund. If it is going to be used more slowly, you may want to consider an annuity. If it isn't going to be needed at all, just look around for stocks or funds having the greatest growth potential, keeping your eye on the fact that the stock market has increased so much lately that it is not stable.

I'm not a financial advisor. The thing I do with my mother's money is leave it where it is in the bank, IRA's, and little bit of stock. This is because she doesn't have much longer to live and may need the bulk of the money for herself soon. Growth and the risk that goes with growth is not something I'm considering. My eye is more on the preservation of what she has.
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Most banks have a Trust Department to handle transactions like this. They will be happy to guide you to something you can draw from as you need it.
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How much $?. 100K? or 400K? or more? For me this would be the main factor in what approach to consider. Based on my experience with my mom, a NH/SNF will run from 60K-100K a year. Avg NH stay is 3 years. Easily 250K - 300K when you fold in extra costs like PT, OT copays or doughnut hole medications costs. The costs of elder care are just staggering. If you are on the upper east coast of the US, could be higher.

If between house sale & moms other $, she has mid6 in funds, then she likely has enough to private pay for care & also $ to invest & leave $ in her estate. I'd meet with a FA who is a stockbroker Series 7 type in a traditional wire house to discuss options. But if she is in the 100k to 300k range, it is all probably going to have to pay for her care with very little left if any for an estate.

If mom will likely need all her funds within the next few years you need to put it into something that can be liquid easily and without penalties. That leaves out annuities or most investment strategies. Probably old school savings accounts, money market or maybe shorter term CD's. As jessieBelle said interest is low but at least it's something, safe and easily liquid.I'd set up her bank accounts to be POD (pay on death) so that whatever balance passes to you outside of probate.

If mom does not have a prepaid no cash value funeral & burial policy, I'd use her $ to get that done. This will be about 8-10K. My mom spent a good amount of money on dental care before she went into a NH - in retrospect this was a really good use of funds as so many in the NH have feeding issues due to bad teeth and heart issues due to gum disease. Neither Medicare or Medicaid really pay for any dental (although I think they pay for a set of dentures). Speaking of Medicaid, Look hard at her finances to see if Medicaid may be needed for moms future in a NH & if so be sure to keep records and documentation as to where every penny of the house sale went to. & no gifting to family no matter how tempting. Medicaid has 5 yr look back. If house sold today, that's 2019!
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Thanks for your helpful reply, Jessie. Like your mother, my mother-in-law probably doesn't have much longer to live, I'm guessing, and she will be needing that money and her IRA to live on. She can't afford to take risks. I'm thinking a money market or savings account. I'm not seeing any other safe options.
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It does sound like you need to be conservative and concentrate on preserving her wealth, instead of growth. You can talk to someone at her bank or a business such as Fidelity and they can help guide you in what would be a safe place to invest the money so that it can still have some growth. Savings accounts, including money market, are safe, but the interest right now is next to nothing. A professional adviser will know of other options so you can get out of the 0.1% interest group. (Gosh, I miss the old savings & loans with their huge interest rates. Those were the days that we could actually live off interest.)
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