Putting your Inheritance to Work

1. What do you hope to achieve by investing your inheritance?
2. Will you need access to this money periodically?
3. What type of bills should you pay off immediately? Should you pay off a mortgage?
4. Do you want to earn a regular income or can the money sit and build itself?
5. Do you want to quit your job? Go back to school? Create a trust for your children? Retire early?
6. What types of risks are you willing to take?
7. What’s your tax bracket? What kind of tax planning is appropriate for you? Will you be crushed by capital gains taxes? Tax implications alone are enough to make most people seek professional advice.
8. Are there any strings attached to the money, and if so, how does this impact your investment decisions?
   

Investing for Income

Many people don't want to use their inheritance money immediately; they choose to invest inheritance money to provide an income. You can do this many ways but there are serious differences in the risks associate with insurance annuities, stocks, bonds, rental real estate, gold and the many alternative investments being ‘hawked’ these days.

Investing for Long-Term Goals

If you have longer-term goals like retiring in style or paying for young children’s future education, you can afford to take a broad range approach. For example, we may advise you to put some of your inheritance in stocks, some in mutual funds and some in bonds. In addition, an IRA retirement fund may be a good option for you.

Investing for Short-Term Use

While it's a good idea to invest inheritance money for long-term projects, you might want to invest a portion of it for short-term need. If you think you'll be buying a house, car or other short-term need, you’ll want to invest in safer but higher earning accounts than money markets and certificates of deposit that previously were a good option.