What’s the Best Way to Handle an Inheritance Without Stress?
What do you do when grief rolls in with a hefty inheritance? We're diving into some real talk about handling a windfall of over $300,000 after losing a loved one. What’s the Best Way to Handle an Inheritance Without Stress? Our listener is dealing with a mix of emotions and responsibilities, like paying off debt and sorting out property, all while wanting to make wise decisions. We’re here to break down how to honor that gift without feeling totally lost. So grab your favorite drink, kick back, and let’s chat about making those dollars work for you while giving yourself the space to breathe.
Check out the full podcast episode here
Money can be a tricky topic, especially when it’s tied to emotions like grief and loss. Today, we’re diving into a heartfelt listener question about inheriting over $300,000 after losing their mom. It’s a lot to handle, both financially and emotionally. Our listener is concerned about making the wrong move, which is totally understandable. We all want to honor our loved ones, and that often means being smart with what they’ve left behind.
We start off by grounding ourselves in the emotional aspect of this situation. Losing a loved one is hard enough, but then you’re hit with the responsibility of managing their legacy. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed, and we remind our listeners that there’s no need to rush into decisions. Instead, take a step back and give yourself some breathing room. We suggest starting with the urgent matters, like that $19,000 debt, which is a no-brainer to clear out right away. It’s like decluttering your financial life! Once that’s done, we pivot to the importance of protecting the bulk of the inheritance. This isn’t the time to gamble or jump into risky investments. Instead, think about safe options like a high-yield savings account. We talk about the value of keeping the money separate, perhaps even setting up a new account specifically for the inheritance.
It’s all about being smart and intentional. The conversation then shifts to the emotional spending trap many of us fall into after a loss. It’s easy to feel the urge to splurge on something to fill the void, but we encourage our listener to set clear boundaries on any spending. Finally, we lay out a phased approach to managing the inheritance: pay off debt, stabilize the funds, evaluate future goals, and invest with purpose when the time feels right. Remember, it’s a journey, not a race, and we’re here to help guide you step by step.
Takeaways:
- Handling grief and money can be tough, so take your time making decisions.
- Paying off your high-interest debt is a smart move that reduces stress.
- It's crucial to protect your inheritance money before trying to grow it.
- Avoid emotional spending; set a budget for fun purchases to keep things in check.
- Build a simple plan in phases to manage your inheritance wisely over time.
- Ask for guidance from God to navigate your decisions with wisdom and care.
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What do you do when grief comes with a life changing amount of money? In today's episode, I talk with someone who's just inherited more than $300,000 after losing their mom and they don't want to waste it.They don't want to touch it too soon, and they definitely don't want to make the wrong move. They've got debt to clean up, a property still being sorted out. And a big question for me, how do you honor the gift and handle it wisely?We're going to break that down on today's show. Hello, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here. Welcome to Financially Confident Christian. I'm so glad you chose to join me today.Every day on the show, my goal is to help you break that cycle of financial shame and make confident decisions with your money.And today's topic is one of those difficult situations that unfortunately a lot of us are going to go through, and that's how to handle an inheritance without feeling lost. And we got this voicemail question from one of our listeners.
Speaker BHi, Ralph. I've been listening to the show for a while now and I finally decided to reach out.My mom passed away earlier this year after a long season of caregiving and my sibling and I were there through it all. She left us money. And now I'm receiving about $311,000 or could even be more.Between life insurance accounts and a property we're still sorting out, I also have about $19,000 in debt and I want to pay that off right away. After that, I, I'd have around $286,000 left. I don't want to waste this. I don't want to touch it unless I absolutely have to.I'm just feeling a little lost with what to do next. Where should I put it? How should I structure it? What's actually wise here?
Speaker AThis one hits close to home for me. Lost my mother, it's been over three years now, and I found myself in this very situation.So before we even talk about money, I want to acknowledge something. You've been through a really hard season. The caregiving side of that, the loss of that and that grief. And that's a lot for any of us to deal with.And now you're being handed responsibility on the other side of that. So you feel an overwhelmed friend. That makes a lot of sense to me. But here's the thing. I want to encourage you right off the bat.Handling an inheritance wisely starts with slowing down a little bit. You've been through a season where there's been a Lot of change. You've been through tough times here. This is not a time to rush into any decisions.But I want to give you some ideas of how to make the best decision for you. First thing I want to encourage you to do is give yourself some space before making any major moves. Your mother passed away. That's a tragedy.But the situation you're in right now is not urgent. Now, it might feel urgent because you're getting a call from this broker. You've got to sell the house.You got a lot of moving pieces, but you don't have to do anything right away. You don't have to invest everything immediately. You don't have to optimize everything right away.And you certainly don't have to have a perfect plan this week, this month, or even this year. You really need some space to think clearly. But let's get into some specifics. You mentioned this high interest debt.Paying that off is a very good choice. So let's simplify that one part. That $19,000 of debt clearing, that is a brilliant move.It's going to reduce your stress, it's going to improve your cash flow, and it creates a clean foundation. That, my friend, is not wasting the inheritance. That's actually strengthening your position.So you've already got one move that you can do right away. That, that I would say is a fantastic thing.The next thing I want to encourage you to do is to project, protect the majority of the money before trying to grow it. You said something important. You said, ralph, I don't want to touch this unless I have to. And I think that is a wisdom and a brilliant idea.So start off with the end of protection in mind. This is not the time to go to the casino, put it all on black and let the little ball spin around. And I know you're not going to do that.I'm just being a little bit funny here. But start by protecting the money. My suspicion is you realize how difficult it was for your mom to accumulate this.I felt this very same way when my mother passed away. I was actually kind of surprised at what I received. My mother was always one of these people.And if you've listened to the show, I've talked about my mom all the time. She's very important in my life, but she's one of these people who always scrimped and saved.And when I found out what she left me, I was almost shocked. So for me, it was about protecting that. And I want to encourage you to do the same thing.Maybe a high yield savings account to just park that money as you're starting to get some of these things, just park it there. Or a money market account. One of the things that I'm going to encourage you to do because I feel like there's a part of this.You want to make sure this money stays separate. So maybe you create a separate account like mom's money or my inheritance money. Don't focus so much right now on trying to maximize it.Just try to stabilize it. I think that's really going to help you. Which leads me to this. Avoid any emotional or rust spending decisions.Let's talk about some smaller decisions too. So many of us, you've been through a season of grief. You feel probably broken. You feel like a level of despair.And you might be thinking, maybe I'll go buy some jewelry or some gifts or some things around the house. And none of those things are wrong. When my mother passed away, I actually went out and bought a new vehicle. I put a down.I used some of my mother's money she gave me for a down payment. But I also think back now and that's been a couple years ago. Like I said, it's been over three years now.Some of what was operating in that was emotional. So I'm going to encourage you to set some boundaries for yourself.Maybe you set a small intentional amount that here's what I'm going to spend, sort of like my fun money. But avoid letting that spending expand emotionally. Keep the majority untouched. And I think that's what you're going to end up doing.Because this money carries meaning for you. It carried meaning for me. It wasn't just what's in the dollar amount. It wasn't just the value. There's meaning behind that.Which leads me to the final thing here. I'm going to encourage you to build a simple plan in phases. You don't need one big decision, you just need a few phases.Here's what I'm going to recommend. Phase one, we've already kind of talked about this. Pay off that debt and park that money safely.Whether that be in a cd, in a money market account, a high yield savings account. Just park it there and let it stew a little bit. It's going to grow. Interest is going to be safe, and then you can move into phase two.In phase two, this is a time to evaluate your goals. I don't know what your situation is. I don't know if this is going to be a situation where you go buy a home.Maybe you and your mother had talked about doing something with this money. But phase two is to evaluate those goals and consider the long term structure here. You don't have to decide all of this today.And then phase three, once you've figured out those goals and you know that long term structure, then begin investing with intention for that. This clarity that you need is going to come step by step, not all at once.But now I want to take this a little deeper because this money is definitely connected with something emotional. It came through loss and I can't understand that. And I hope you're hearing me. I am so sorry for your loss. That's a hard season.Like I said, I went through this a few years ago when I lost my mom. There were so many competing emotions and honestly it was overwhelming. And with the money she left me, I wanted to honor her.And that made every decision feel heavier than it needed to be. But one of the things that I found solace in was God was right there with me.He wasn't just there in my grief, but, but he understood what I needed to do to move forward. And I'm going to encourage you, reach out to God and ask him to help you handle this with wisdom and to help him guide you step by step.But friend, you don't have to rush into this. You just have to handle it with care. And I'm very confident you'll do that. So here's your win for today.I want to just encourage you to choose where the money will rest. For now, just one sentence, maybe something for the next 90 days. I'm going to place this money in whatever that is we talked about.The savings account, the high yield savings account, the money market account.You're going to park it there and you're going to build a plan because that stability is going to reinforce and helps you come up with a better strategy. Well, let's get into the word of God. I'm going to go to Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 12 today. It says wisdom is a shelter, as money is a shelter.But. But the advantage of knowledge is this wisdom preserves those who have it. Because in the end, wise patient decisions protect what you've been given.And that's really the answer to your question. Wise patient decisions. I hope that helps you today. How about we pray together?Heavenly Father, right now we lift up those who are walking through loss and grief and, and carrying the responsibility of what comes next. You see our broken hearts, you see our grief, Lord, and you see our desire to handle this well. I just ask that you would give him peace.As they slow down and give him wisdom in each decision and truly confidence to move forward step by step. Lord help them to protect what they've been given and to not feel rushed or pressured.Guide them with care only that you can do Lord and remind them that you are with them in both the emotional and and the practical parts of this journey. And we ask this in Jesus name Amen friends, you don't need to figure out everything today.Just take the next wise step and maybe you've got a question just like this. If you've got a question about finances or something that's going on in your world, head over to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionWe'll put a link in the show notes but send us a question and I'll help you tackle that on one of our shows coming up. Again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question. I just want to thank you for joining me today.I want to encourage you to stay financially savvy. May God bless you and you have a great day today.
