So recently, my grandpa suddenly passed away from an accident leaving basically everything to me. I've started going through the house, finding everything that he has, but it's a lot, and some of it I don't know what to do with, or how to access it. So far, this is what I know:
-
I have about 200k in my name, already deposited into my own personal credit union account. I got this because in the event something like this happened, he had made several accounts at one bank in his name OR my name so that I could quickly get to it.
-
There is about $150k - $200k tied up in CDs at another bank across town in his name only.
-
There is a checking acct at a third bank with about $150k - $200k in his name only.
-
There is another $100k to $150k in EE and I bonds that are either mature, or close to maturity.
-
He had 2 cars, a mini-van and a small pickup truck, that are both in decent to good running condition at the house.
-
His home is completely paid off, there are no bills besides normal month to month utilities and costs. The house needs to update most of the appliances, and maybe the hot water heater, but it all works and is in decent shape so far as I can tell. The back porch will need to be torn down and redone though as some boards are warped and it's getting close to feeling unsafe to use it.
-
He has no outstanding bills or debts so far as I can tell. His funeral and preparations were prepaid 15 years ago in advance.
About me, and why I'm struggling.
I'm am in my early 30s and have been basically taking care of my grandpa the last few years, while still trying to go to school. He and school have been my primary focus though and I haven't had the extra time to get a job so I've been out of work off and on for the last 5 years. I was basically his primary care giver as I am/was his only family left. My problem is that I've never had this much money before in my life. My mother (unrelated to him) was poor growing up. Lately I've been more focused on taking care of him, but am still "officially" living about 400 miles away from his house and I am traveling back and forth when I can to manage most of everything on both ends. I honestly don't know what to do or where to start. I don't need money immediately to start setting up something with my life, but I would like to set things up where if I have trouble finding work, I have some kind of way to live, even meagerly.
I own my own car, share a little apartment, and with all of my bills and everything at home, my costs are less than $1500 a month until April where my lease is up and I can move. His bills at the house total about $400 - $500 every month, not including food that I would be eating. He has some food stocked in his pantry that I could live off of for a (short) while though. Honestly, at this point, any advice is helpful. I don't know how or what to save or where. It will be at least a few weeks - months until I have access to all the money, but like I said, I have about 200k as a cushion, I just don't want to burn through it all in a year, you know?
Submitted February 04, 2019 at 10:10PM by SometimesItDreams http://bit.ly/2UGF8P4
