Maintaining support for parent

I am trustee of a trust for my mother with considerable assets currently in a cerv tificate paying 13 percent. This income barely pays for a live-in companion to care for her in her own home. She is 78 and in reasonably good health. To reinvest the mature CDs at 8 or 9 percent would require me to make up the difference -- which I would like to avoid. What are some reasonable alternatives? -- J.H.

Two possibilities are feasible: First, you could reinvest the funds from maturing CDs in income stocks, currently yielding on a about 11-12 1/2 percent. A broker can recommend several alternatives, some of which have a record of paying some portion of their dividends from retained earnings and are, thus, tax excludable. Several money market funds are yielding around 11 percent. Although these alternatives are not insured, they represent prudent use of funds. second, if income fails to meet your mother's needs, you could begin a systematic withdrawal of principal. As previously noted in "Moneywise," simple charts are available to plan spending of principal without running out of cash. For a copy of these two charts, send 50 cents plus a self-addressed, stamped long (No. 10) envelope to The Writing Works, Box 752, Mercer Island, Wash. 98040 .