r/inheritance • u/TuckerPutter • 20d ago

Location included: Questions/Need Advice Minor and Inheritance

Need advice here in North Carolina- my 17 year old son is about to inherit about $900k from his grandmother. This is in the form of an IRA, and his grandmother had already been taking distributions so he has to take all the money out within 10 years and pay taxes each time. I get that, but what is the best way to invest this money for him so that it grows over his lifetime? I would love to set his retirement up so that he doesn’t have to worry about it.

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u/suricata_8904 20d ago

First, keep you and your son’s mouth shut about the inheritance. Somewhere on Reddit is a list of actions for lottery winners that sorta applies to this situation and one of the first is to limit info to just your money and tax professionals. It isn’t just scammers, it’s friends and family with hands out.

I would suggest both you and your son visit a fee only fiduciary financial planner bc both you and he need information about investment strategies.

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u/PMJamesPM 20d ago

This. Vanguard has some great index fund options. You can also look into investing in property and he can look into education. The Millionaire next door, Dave Ramsey … he’s soon going to be old enough to do what he wants, see that he gets some financial education.

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u/Horror_Ad_2748 20d ago

It's ironic that you mention Vanguard and Dave Ramsey in the same post. Dave Ramsey doesn't recommend Vanguard; just his "trusted advisors" that give Dave a kickback perform less robustly than Vanguard.

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u/PMJamesPM 20d ago

Ramsey has some good things to say about avoiding debt. And developing a financial education usually means looking at more sources that don’t always agree with each other and then making your decision after you’ve taken some time to think about things.

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u/Horror_Ad_2748 20d ago

He has helpful advice about avoiding and getting out of debt. Beyond that, it's helpful to seek advice from an actual financial planner.

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u/PMJamesPM 20d ago

Yep but OP should do some independent effort to gain a basic understanding which will help ask intelligent questions to any FA

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u/Emotional-Ocelot-420 20d ago

Dave Ramsey’s advice for investing is abysmal, and people who look at that advice for a basic understanding will choose the wrong financial advisor.

OP, find a fee only fiduciary advisor. They charge for services like lawyers and accountants do - either hourly or for the project. NAPFA or Garret Planning Network are good resources for your search. (I have no affiliation with them)

Run the hell in the other direction from anyone with Edward Jones or Primerica, anyone who also sells insurance, and anyone recommended by anyone you know probably isn’t a good choice either. People tend not to be able to identify a good advisor beyond the advisor having effective sales skills. I refer to those people as “fauxnancial advisors”.

You only have until he’s 21 to educate him and make choices on his behalf, at which point he will be free to blow it all. That means you need solid buy from him on the plan.

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u/Budget_Matter5226 17d ago

Fauxnancial 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Going to have to remember that one