Tuesday, December 11, 2012

What to do with your Inheritance


What to do with your Inheritance

By Keith Bunn Jr.
December 11, 2012

It is always a sad time in our live when we lose a loved one, but depending on the circumstances, it could also be an incredible blessing if they have left you an inheritance with a dollar amount attached to it. But what should you do with it? Most people I know would take a trip, buy a bunch of stuff, or maybe do some repairs to their home. None of those are a bad thing, but is there something better that that inheritance can go towards? 

In my opinion, there is one question that I will ask myself when this happens, "What can I do with this inheritance that best honors the loved one that gave it to me?" I see no better way of doing that than bettering our lives in the long run. In our case, we would have to go right down our 7 Baby Steps. 1) Establish a baby emergency fund of $1000. 2) Pay off our debts smallest to largest with the Debt Snowball. 3) Go back to the baby emergency fund and boost it up to 3 to 6 months worth of your household expenses  4) Put 15% of our take home pay into retirement funds. IRA's, 401K's, 403B's, and Roth's. 5) Fund kids college using Educational Savings Accounts (ESA's) and 529 plans. 6) Pay off our home early. 7) Build wealth and give a bunch away.

Now I'd like to make myself clear so I don't sound like I'm just waiting for someone to just kick the bucket and leave me with a bunch of cash. I've had many relatives pass away in my lifetime and I have never asked, "What am I getting?" To me, that is selfish, uncaring  and rude! If I inherited some cash after someone passed, great! I'll go as far as I can in the Baby Steps. If I don't get anything, that's fine too. The memories I have of them are all I need. Those are priceless!!

Now if I received a rather large amount of cash in an inheritance and I was able to get through the Baby Steps with cash left over to play a bit by going on a trip for a week or so, then you can bet on that I'm going to do just that. Because I know my loved one would want me to enjoy that money also. 

Of course, this is what I would do. You'd have to decide what you would do. I don't want to improve our financial situation with the loss of a loved one, but if by some chance they bless me with an inheritance, I will not only honor their memory with it, but use it to improve my family's life as well.

Questions

1) What would you do if you received an inheritance? 
2) What would the best way for you to honor your loved one's memory?

I hope my posts inspire you to look at what you’re doing financially and if needed, make some changes that will cause you to win financially. I also look forward to reading your views on any articles or postings that I may post. For more money news, facts and ideas, follow me on Facebook, or Twitter. Thank you!


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