Submitted by No-Permission8416 t3_11g8wjd in personalfinance
Me (19) and my sister (18) lost our mother to cancer about a year ago. She was our sole guardian. After the sale of our childhood home, we are each left with about 100k. While this is a good amount of money to someone my age, I know that it can be used up quickly. I also know that if invested properly, it can be a nice financial help to both of us for the rest of our lives. Our mom did ask that we don’t touch it until we are 21/22? but that is not officially in writing anywhere. She also did not want it to be used to pay for school (solely) as she knew it would all be used up. My sister and I are both in college, we get good grades and have a few helpful scholarships, both work a lot, and have some outside financial help to pay for school, so that is not my biggest concern.
For now, we have put all the money (200k) into a trust so that it is not attached to either of our names, but the money is just sitting there (it’s only been like 1 week but still). I do have a personal vanguard ETF account that I opened when I turned 18, just because I heard many things about how it’s important to start early on. But with the 200k, what do I do? How do I invest it? I’ve talked to one financial advisor but it was kind of confusing to me. He kept saying that I invest differently if it’s long term or short term goals, which makes sense but honestly my mom died at a pretty young age so I’m hesitant to put my money into an account that I can’t touch until retirement. I don’t know the timeline of when we may want to use it. Maybe for a downpayment on a house, help with grad school? A car? I have no clue. My family is not that financially literate (in terms of investment) and mostly invests through real estate, which can be more hands on then I think me or my sister would like. Advice?
Edit: Thank you so much for all of these answers!! There’s so many great ideas/ info here to look into. I will definitely take the time to educate myself and think about my future plans and will recommend my sister does the same.
I will specify, no we do not plan to spend it on anything crazy or stupid. It’s honestly surreal that we have this amount of money at our age, I honestly act like it’s not there (which is good but would be better if it was gaining more value lol). We want to be smart about it I know our mom would want us to have financial security as we grow up. Fortunately we are able to live comfortably right now without it, but hopefully we can make a decision on what to do soon!
Another edit: I am seeing a lot of comments about us separating the money. Won’t it grow faster if it is together? We are super close, she is my best friend, we respect/ support each other greatly. l don’t see that changing ever. Why does it need to be split right now? Can we wait a few years (like until we are done with school)?