Hello everyone.

My mother passed in September 2009. Between my sister and I, we were left 50,000 a piece. 27k was given to us in the form of death benefits and life insurance, and the other 23k was in the form of a beneficiary IRA.

The guy that took care of our IRAs told us that it would have to pay out either monthy or annually, because of the way beneficiary IRAs work. As the guy told us, it's taxable.

What should I do? Should I invest in stock? CDs? I've been talking to a grandfather of my friend, and he says I should do the route of the Heartland Fund. Our mother gave us a golden opportunity to make sure the next generation of our family is taken care of. Thanks in advance.

Ever consider mutual funds? They may work a little better if you're trying to grow you inheritance while also keeping it fairly safe.

Look into Funds and ETFs offered by Vanguard or Fidelity, both offer very low cost alternatives.

First thing you should do is figure out what your cash needs are with the Non-IRA money. If you can figure out how much money you're going to "need" within the next three to five years, keep that money out of the market. If you can't put the money in and leave it for at least that long, you're better off in cash or short term bond or treasury funds, preferably an index fund or ETF. On the IRA side, follow pretty much the same tact, if your "advisor" can give you what the required distributions will be over the next five years, keep that money in cash or equivalents too. Then invest the balance. Good luck.