What to do with penson disbursement

I’ve worked at my company for 29years.We had a defined pension plan which was frozen in 2009 due to the economy.They have now decided to disburse the funds.I have 250k coming to me.I’m 60 years old and very conservative about my money.I do not want to lose any of this nest egg.I have been to a couple of well known investment firms and they all want to get me into high risk and high fee investments.I have a 401k at work now that i contribute to weekly however i had to pick the fund to put it in and i don’t think i picked the best one.I don’t know what to do!{can i just give it to you to invest i have been reading your articles for many years and you are extremely knowledgeable and trustworthy!]HELP,Thank You

Terry Says:  Well, thanks for the compliment, but I have enough trouble making decisions about my own money –and I don’t advise individual clients.  But I have a few suggestions for you.

First, don’t take the money directly!  This is VERY important.  Check with the company because there should be a provision to ROLL OVER this distribution into an IRA, so you don’t owe taxes on it now –and don’t lose all that future tax-deferred growth of the money.

Then, you have to make a choice about HOW to invest.  I suggest contacting Vanguard at 800-VANGUARD. They offer a free investment advisory service in their low cost funds.  Tell them you are very risk averse.  Then, if you have questions about their advice, write back to me.