Asset allocation for a centurian

Malthusian

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If you are the executor of the estate (and have LPA) I'd want to start tidying up, i.e. streamlining financial affairs now. Investing the realised proceeds into liquid low risk assets. Little point in speculating with life expectancy and market movement.

The OP hasn't mentioned an LPA and I suspect this is largely a hypothetical question.

However, if you have LPA for a living 103-year-old, then you are legally bound to act solely in his interests. Being his executor is irrelevant, he isn't dead yet and the only legal duty applying is that of the attorney.

The 103-year-old's heirs may be in their 70s, or, if he's skipping a generation, 30s or 40s. They may well have investments of their own. Unless the centenarian knows that his heirs will want to spend the money as soon as they inherit it, there is no inherent reason to encash the portfolio or pile into bonds. In the absence of a specific need to spend the money in the short to medium term, cashing in an existing investment portfolio is speculation; it is speculating that the markets will go down over the next few years.

If an attorney cashed in a proportion of the centenarian's investments to ensure that there were sufficient funds to meet his care needs for the rest of his life regardless of market movements, this would be sensible. If he cashed them in to make his job as an executor easier as you suggest, then he would have broken the law and would be liable to the heirs if the markets went up.

Gadfium

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Lovely!
I shall just note that the word the OP probably intended to use is centenarian.

Not at all...he meant centurion. His good friend Biggus Dickus has done very well with his investments. In fact, he's currently living off nothing more than the intewest....

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

because I wouldn't want to die in the bottom of a market crash and sell at a bad time

Personally, I don't want to die at the top or the bottom of the market....

badger09

Malthusian wrote: »

............. I suspect this is largely a hypothetical question.

Whatever makes you think that?

Sometimes, past performance really is a good indicator of future performance;)

BananaRepublic

bowlhead99 wrote: »

I've made a new year's resolution to stay out of MatthewAinsworth threads as it will probably save me a lot of time over the course of the year. I'll allow myself this one transgression to tell you that...

Firstly I hope you are not unwell, as that was a worryingly short post. Secondly, that was a very cryptic remark. Do explain ...

badger09

have a look at some of MatthewAinsworth's other threads;)

Radiantsoul

Probably 103 is the right time to start spending like crazy.

Malthusian

badger09 wrote: »

Sometimes, past performance really is a good indicator of future performance;)

But not always. This particular hypothetical question was quite interesting.

coastline

Radiantsoul wrote: »

Probably 103 is the right time to start spending like crazy.

Maybe 100% Viagra Life Strategy ...

Gadfium

Radiantsoul wrote: »

Probably 103 is the right time to start spending like crazy.

Coke and hookers. An excellent way to get rid of money and to ensure that he doesn't reach 104....

LHW99

If he's capable of shorting global equities at 103, I want to know his secret.