inheritance

[AmyB]

For those of you who have lost your parents, what did you do with the inheritance. Did you put it to your child's education, invest it, help pay off the house, take a vacation, buy something you have needed or wanted for a long time, or what? Would you do the same again? Were you happy with your decision?

[st_claire]

When my aunt died, we used the money for a car and towards our down payment on the house. No regrets.

[WTMindy]

For those of you who have lost your parents, what did you do with the inheritance. Did you put it to your child's education, invest it, help pay off the house, take a vacation, buy something you have needed or wanted for a long time, or what? Would you do the same again? Were you happy with your decision?

 

When my grandma died, she left most of the money to her kids, but gave each of the grandkids a little also. The ones who were in school used it for education (I think it was earmarked for that and there was a trustee to help those under 25 to use it). Those of us over 25 used it to pay down the house. My parents used part of their share to take the whole family on a vacation. It was really fun and very special!

[G5052]

After both of DH's parents were gone we paid off my van a year early, bought a shed, bought new family room furniture, and went on a nice vacation that we could have never afforded otherwise. We felt very good about those purchases.

 

When his great aunt died, we were able to go on a week-long fishing trip one state away at a time when we couldn't afford a vacation at all. She was quite an outdoorswoman and would have approved.

[Amy loves Bud]

When my mom died, most of it went to my dad obviously, but she had a little money that she inherited from her brother that she went ahead and gave to us kids. I started an IRA since I had recently quit working, started a college fund for the kids, and planted a tree in her memory with it.

 

When dad died, the sum was quite a bit larger and I used it to buy a business that ended up doing very poorly and I sold for much less than I had in it. I don't recommend that route!

[runningirl71]

We have received some inheritance money recently and we used part as a down payment on our house and part to remodel our kitchen {we are doing this as I write!}

 

No regrets.:)

[homeschoolmomof6]

When my grandmother passed away she left a small amount to each of the grandchildren, but her will stated that the money must be used for the family. It specifically stated that we were to have "fun" with the money and not pay off bills, so we took a family trip to Disneyland and bought two computers for the school room.

[Caroline]

When my grandparents died, my parents used part of the money for our education. The rest they use to travel. They are in Alaska right now. They have also been to Europe a few times. My grandparents loved to travel, so I think it is a nice way to spend the money. My other grandma is 95 and still going strong, so no inheiritance there any time soon. Thank God because we love her and will miss her a lot. Not that we don't miss our other grandparents. I'll stop now because this sounds really weird to me.

[KatieJ]

Dad was already gone..we used the inheritance to pay off the remainder of a car loan we had, paid off the balance on a rental property we own and then went on a wonderful 10 day 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii.

No regrets!

[Happy]

When my last parent, my mom, died...well, actually, I promised her before she died that if there were money left after paying bills and such I would take her only grandchildren to DisneyWorld. The boys were 10 and 4 when she died. My brother kept the estate, tiny though it was, in turmoil for over three years. Finally, in 1997, we took an eight day splurge trip to Walt Disney World. It was a blast.

 

We also bought everyone a new bed. I don't remember why, except that it was probably time to update from hand me downs.

 

There was only a few thousand in my monetary inheritance. I kept some in savings for a long time, but an extended jobless period later on ate that up.

 

If I were to do it over again today.......I'd still splurge on the trip. Good memories, although, I might be tempted to go to Europe now. I'd also put more in each boy's college fund than I did. Now that we are actually in the college years, I wish I'd done lots more investing for that. :tongue_smilie:

 

The way I looked at it my boys were never going to get another birthday or Christmas present from my parents. Neither was I, for that matter. My mom was big on gifts and she wanted us to have some great fun with the money.

[Gretchen in NJ]

I have only seen him on TV a few times, but I like what Dave Ramesy has to say about debt. I think he would advise you to pay off your debts.

 

I think this is good advice in this type of economy, but Disney sure does sound so much better.

[AmyB]

We pay the mortgage off with some clearance. We have lived and worked a lot internationally, so we don't see any point in taking a vacation to someplace we will probably be working in soon anyway, plus we live in a paradise right now. We manage to pay for dd's athletic training with an Olympic level coach (about 150 US dollars/week), and we are saving for ds to go to college or whatever he eventually wants to do. We haven't owned a car for decades, so there is no expense there. Dh and I need to talk about this, and I was just looking for ideas.

[cin]

For those of you who have lost your parents, what did you do with the inheritance. Did you put it to your child's education, invest it, help pay off the house, take a vacation, buy something you have needed or wanted for a long time, or what? Would you do the same again? Were you happy with your decision?

 

 

We didn't have kids ourselves, and weren't planning on any. So....we piddled some away, and invested a bunch in this 'wonderful' stock. Right before th market started tanking. Yup, a year or 2 later we withdrew what was left, about 20% of it. We could have paid off our mortgage, but the market was doing SO WELL at the time....

 

My dad death resulted in a class action lawsuit. THAT money was used to pay off our car. Again, we didn't have kids, so in lieu of a car payment, we played and piddled the extra monthly funds. Yeah, we were stupid.

[nutmeg]

We spent 10% or so on 'stuff' and used the rest to continue working Dave Ramsey's steps, ultimately paying off our mortgage.

[dragons in the flower bed]

For those of you who have lost your parents, what did you do with the inheritance?

 

Paid off debts, and yes, that's what I'd do again in a heart beat. I would put the entire thing towards the biggest debt you have.

[SFP]

I inherited half a house. Half a house that my sister lives in and when she can no longer care for herself we'll sell. And at that point my half will more than likely be put to use along with hers to provide for her care in some facility.

[Once]

Debt here too. Sometimes I forget we don't have to make that payment anymore. It was a little bit of a let down but I do wish we had more to pay off ...more debt.:tongue_smilie:

[RebeccaC]

We used it to pay down medical debt and to pay for an expensive therapy call FastForWord and AIT therapy. FFW remediated our sons dyslexia and AIT helped remediate their sensory integration problems. We also spent a very small amount going to a family reunion at Cape Hatteras in NC.

[kalanamak]

Bulk into 529s, enough for a trip to Alaska for hubby and kiddo, and a set of matching silverware....I've been grunting along on 5 good spoons from Goodwill, 2 forks from a garage sale, etc. long enough. I'm almost 50 and my mother would have wanted me to raise my child with a matching set.:)

 

No regrets yet, but it has been less than a year...