Recently, a friend has lost a loved one and has questions about what to do with sums of money left by that loved one. I wanted to write an article explaining my thoughts on what to do if you have a windfall from a departing loved one.
Before I begin, I want to share that, as human beings, we would usually not treat inherited wealth as earned wealth, so I think the insights from behavioural finance experts on mental accounting may not be helpful when we are still grieving the departure of our loved ones. Even after more than five years after my dad was gone, I still segregate his sums in a separate account and would only use the capital for medical reasons. The dividends are also reinvested most of the time.
The most important thing I would not do is pass the sums...