Need guidance

[htbboats]

I'll try to be short as possible
Thinking of getting out of stocks and move the money into a safer place. At 61 years old and if stocks take a dive I'm afraid they might not recover before retirement. I,m not knowledgeable enough to know what to do or maybe even ask the right questions.
Should I go to bonds or maybe CD's? If bonds....what do I buy. What kind of return is likely?
I started off back in 05 with 150,000 and now it's at about 240,000. It's been in stocks, mutual funds,and etfs
Any info is greatly appreciated!

[boneil]

You need a certified financial planner. There may be one at your bank or brokerage. It's a little to late for you to start learning about these things on your own. You need to make moves sooner rather than later and not enough time to make up for any mistakes.

[htbboats]

I appreciate your info. So am I understanding you to say I should move out of the stock market?

[derek81]

Hey good news is the markets look great this week. lol But seriously you need to talk to a CFP, some stocks are a lot more volatile than others so maybe just moving somethings might be the right answer. This is not the place to take advice on that though, other than to seek out a good CFP.

[boneil]

I won't say much because everyone has their own situation, but I would tend to think that if you are retiring very soon, and your portfolio is mostly or all stocks, then I would say that its time to re-evaluate your portfolio. But maybe you don't need the income or maybe you do. Not enough info and I'm certainly not qualified to evaluate your situation. I have an Aunt who is retired and has her portfolio mostly in dividend paying stocks. She needs the income so she doesn't have much of a choice.

[htbboats]

Thanks to all of you for your time and replies.
Let me recap a few things. Ive been in the stock market for several years but now getting close to retirement and have been guided by several to move to a safer place in bonds. Let me also say I'm ignorant about most of this as you will be able to tell by the questions I ask.
So the move has been made to bonds. Ive been reading,trying to learn all I can about them. I think at the time I'm at least pretty happy with the ones he has bought. Most are 4 and 5 star rated bonds with other good ratings but a few are 1 and 2 star rated that Morning Star says are below average in returns. I cant see where or why these were chosen.
I do plan on talking to my Advisor today but just want a few opinions before I do.
Thanks

[janky]

I would also suggest you go see a professional but not at your local bank. Go find a fee based advisor and see what they have to say.

Now, at age 61 you still have a lot of living ahead of you so getting completely out of the equity market is not advisable. You mention going to bonds for safety but that is not necessarily the case. Lets look at the movement in the market over the last 3 months. The S&P 500 (equities) are down about 1.3%, the 20 year treasury (TLT) is down about 6.9%. My point is that bonds are not always the "safe" play. You need a mixture of both.

Good luck.