Please don't jeopardize your mother's savings! As a 75 yr. old widow, myself, I learned a lesson over the past 20 yrs...now, I can sleep nights with my CD's yielding 7%. I depended on 2 of the top brokerages in the country for their "expert" advice and NEVER made a capital gain. Am still sitting with a huge loss, trying to recover. You might say "take" the loss on my inc. tax, but, at $3,000 per year..I won't live that long. Because of your mother's age, stay OUT of the market, please.