The inheritance

In some families money goes around. Your parents have earned it themselves or inherited it from their parents. Where the money comes from isn’t important, all that matters is that it’s there. Now you’re in your thirties or forties and don’t have any money. But you know your parents have plenty and don’t give you a dime. So all you have to do is wait for the inheritance, or should you?

Are you sure that you will inherit it? Or are you just pleasing the other and hoping you will appear in their will? How long will it take before you will inherit the money? Are you accepting your “broke situation” until you inherit the money? What will you do with the inherited money? Will you spend it all in one place and blow it away, or do you want to invest it? If you chose the second option, investing, are you already preparing yourself by investing small amounts? What will a million dollar inheritance do with your mind and your behavior? These are just some things to consider.

Imagine the situation that you and your family are about to listen to the will of your deceased parent. You are there, your two brothers and the brother and sister (and their partners) of your deceased parent. Your financial situation is not that good at all, you’re almost broke. You have two kids in high school and they both want to go to college within the next three years. Therefore, extra money would come in very handy. You are a little nervous about the will, and the fact that your kids are depending on it for college. You are a hundred percent sure that you will inherit a lot of money because your parents always told you so.

As the will is being read, you slowly realize that you won’t inherit a lot of money. The last couple of months there was a full time nurse around and a lot of medical bills had to be paid. There was also a large donation to the hospital that took so good care. This consumed roughly half of the inheritance.

About a quarter of the total expected inheritance of a million dollars was donated to the church. There was only $250,000 left. According the will, it should be divided between you, your two brothers and the brother and sister of the parent equally.

You were expecting one third of a million, but you’re getting $ 50,000. What emotion do you feel right now, as if it happened to you? Are you angry, sad, disappointed, without hope for the future or any other emotion?

You may think about your financial future in a way that you don’t have money right now, but you will inherit it someday. Think about it twice before you rely on it. We didn’t even talk about the timing yet.

Let’s end money stress together.