Brian’s experience at business school and as an accountant proved very helpful when an ample inheritance came his way.Illustration by Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail. Source images: Getty Images.
The beneficiary: “Brian,” as we’ll call him, is a self-described “middle-aged accountant in the suburbs.” More specifically, he’s 56, semi-retired in Ontario and, since his beloved wife died far too young, a widower. Together they have one grown newlywed daughter who will someday inherit everything that Brian’s got left over – but hopefully not any time soon. In the meantime, should Brian tell his 30-year-old daughter what’s coming?
The inheritance: As an only child with a handful of childless uncles, Brian was well-positioned “at the tip of a funnel” to inherit the extended-family fortune – if there was one. “I never really talked to my parents or anyone about money or wills, it just wasn’t a subject of discussion,” says Brian, who had an inkling cash could be coming his way but was also well aware it could just as easily go to charity when the time came.
“I sort of half-expected that money was coming, which isn’t enough, so I prepared for life without it.” Brian went to business school and became an accountant, both of which proved very helpful when an ample inheritance indeed came his way.
Brian and his late wife received a series of lump sums: First, a couple hundred grand from his mother-in-law; next, $800,000 from his father who’d accumulated wealth through home ownership; and finally, a series of lump sums from extended family. All this added up to a collective amount of almost $3-million, which Brian and his wife considered communal.
“We always operated as a family and pooled all our money,” he says. “Fortunately, we very much saw eye-to-eye when it comes to money. I’m an accountant; she was a much better accountant.”
What they did with it: The money-savvy couple did exactly what they would have advised their clients: “Primarily, we stuck it in the bank in GICs, mutual funds – the regular stuff,” says Brian. They paid off their car loans and started making maximum (and additional, direct-to-the-principal) payments on their mortgage. “Once those were gone, our income stayed the same but the expenses dropped way down.”
The couple was newly flush but not quite sure how to actually enjoy their money. “We weren’t three-weeks-in-Bali people anyway, but with more money in the bank, we did try to travel more and have a little bit more fun,” he says. The pair took a big trip throughout Western Canada and his wife splurged on the motorcycle she always wanted. Good thing, too, since the couple was soon sidelined by his wife’s cancer diagnosis. In retrospect, those so-called “splurges” were money well spent.
“I’m so happy I get to say I don’t think we missed out on much,” says Brian, who’s trying to keep the life-is-for-living sentiment in mind going forward – within reason. “If I want to enjoy myself, I do. If I want an expensive bottle of wine, I get it,” he says. “But I also think it’s my responsibility to pass on more than I got.” For that, he’s since invested in stocks that pay decent dividends.
The revelation: A generation later, Brian’s in a similar position as his parents once were and wrestling with the same question about when and how to pass along the family money. “I consider myself in charge, at the moment, but I realize that will change,” he says. Like his parents, Brian’s been deliberately vague about how much money he’s got and how much is likely coming his daughter’s way – though in this case his money (literally) talks.
“I give [my daughter] enough so she knows that Dad’s not hurting, but not enough that Dad’s bleeding money,” he says. He paid for her wedding, for example, and gifted the newly married couple a generous cheque – plus a note about how he’d like to discuss what they might do with it (ideally, in his opinion, home ownership).
But that conversation hasn’t happened yet, and since he values his close relationship with his daughter over all else, Brian isn’t pushing it. Were his daughter to give every penny of the family fortune away to charity, which she might, Brian’s long accepted that that’s their prerogative – as it was his. “It’d be none of my business,” he says. “I won’t be in charge anymore and I won’t reach out from the grave either.”
Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Have you recently received an inheritance and would like to participate in Inherited? Send us an e-mail.