My family received a huge settlement after a loss in the family and a week from now I will be getting $2,100,000. I've been informed that in our case I won't need to pay taxes for it.
I'm 22 years old and I'm living with my girlfriend of a year. She knows about the money but nobody else does. I'm not concerned that she's only in the relationship for the money. She moved in with me while I was sleeping on an air mattress and I was broke as shit. We both work minimum-wage jobs so already we mostly cook at home/don't eat out much. We're both pretty happy living a frugal lifestyle. She helped through a lot including chores, helping me pay rent, and is just an all-around amazing person. She also brought up that we should sign a prenup if we ever get married. I love her so much and we both trust each other.
I make about $18,000 a year working a part-time minimum-wage job. I don't have any savings, only $150 in my bank account. I have $900 in credit card debt but other than that no student loan debt or any other debts. My car is paid off but it is a junker and I'm concerned it will break down on me soon. My rent is $675/month plus ~$60 in utilities and my lease ends in September. We plan on moving to a different city with better job opportunities once our lease ends.
It's all a little overwhelming but I've had a couple months to let it sink in. I don't plan on using any of it for a while, I know that when most people get a large sum of money they will lose it within 3-5 years and I don't want that to happen to me. My plan is to just live my life like normal and keep working my job and living in my apartment until my lease is up. Me and my girlfriend want to take some classes over the summer. I want to take some financing classes and she wants to pursue a career as a teacher.
I've read online that I maybe should talk to lawyers (in case I do have to pay taxes) and fee-only personal financers (set up a plan for my portfolio) to figure out what to do. I also have a connection to a family personal financer I plan on talking to this week. I have an idea of eventually putting most of the money into index funds and bonds and living a little bit off of that income but mostly let it grow.
For this year I plan on dumping the money into high-yielding bank accounts and CDs while I figure out what I want to do with my life.
Part of me does want to withdraw 1% of the money to put down for a new car, go on a week-long vacation, and for some breathing room. On the other hand I realize it's going to be tempting to use a lot the money without concern and that's a slippery slope to losing it all.
I'm looking for any advice, I'm clearly unexperienced when it comes to wealth but I'm willing to learn anything and change my plans to insure that I don't lose it all before I'm 30.
Submitted February 01, 2020 at 07:08PM by BlindCharly https://ift.tt/2SbrnYV
