The Do's And Don'ts After Receiving An Inheritance

April 22, 2024 DINARRECAPS8

Brad Smith·Host Tue, Apr 16, 2024,

As older Americans prepare to transfer their wealth or will it to their family, what should inheritors know before receiving this large sum of money?

Wealthstream Advisors Financial Advisor Katharine George explains the do's and don'ts when inheriting wealth, which includes money and even real estate property.

"I try to stay away from rules of thumbs but I would say in general, [avoid] making big decisions. I would say wait about six months or so, especially if you're grieving," George says. "These big changes... in that short period of time when you're grieving if it was someone close to you, we don't want to make any decisions that are rash. So buying another property or going on a big vacation.

These big changes, it could be that you need these assets invested and saved for your long term or it could be you could retire tomorrow. It really depends on the personal situation but not making any of these big decisions immediately after is really important, really let the dust settle."

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This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: Well, the baby Boomer generation is aging. We all are, come on now. With its oldest members nearing 80 years old. And for a generation that has done quite well for themselves, that wealth is now starting to be passed down to younger generations. Gen X and millennials are slowly starting to inherit large sums of money investments or even pieces of real estate. All of this can certainly overwhelm and alter your life.

So what should you be doing with inheritance, and what are the tax implications behind the Great Wealth Transfer as well? For more, I'm joined by Katharine George, Wealthstream Advisors financial advisor. First and foremost, we should just say, appreciate your family members while they're here. Spend that time with them. Enjoy so much of that experience.

And then if you do have to get into a position where you've got to figure out what to do with this windfall of assets, now, what do you do? What is the most apt decision that people should start to make and where they can start the thought process, Katharine?

KATHARINE GEORGE: Well, Brad, I mean, there's lots of different types of assets that people invest like you just mentioned. I'd say, the number 1 question that I get from clients who just got money is, do I have to report this on my tax return? They just got $1,000 in cash. Is this taxable? The answer is no. When you receive assets, that is not taxable. It's when you sell something or when you pull from the retirement account, that's really when the taxes could come into play.

But the first decision is really to decide, should I sell this? Is this an appropriate investment for me? These types of investments can be bucketed into non-retirement assets and retirement assets. And with non-retirement assets, there's actually a big tax advantage to selling. In most cases, when someone passes away, what they paid for the asset kind of gets stepped up to the market value today, meaning that if you sell it, there's no taxes.

So there is a period of time where you can sell the investments that you receive and maybe put it into something that would be more beneficial for you. That's kind of the first tip.

BRAD SMITH: What about real estate or other illiquid assets?

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