Image by: Jeff Kubina
By Giovanni Fields
A family member making their transition into whatever lies after this world—if any—may be a tough thing for us to overcome, but to ease the pain a little, your loved one has left you with more money than you can imagine. Money cannot supplant the feeling of loss, but if you find yourself on the receiving end of all grandpas’ hard earned finances, know that you should do well to protect your funds from family, friends, and most certainly yourself.
The same thing applies for you lucky few who managed to land big on the wheel of fortune ten dollar slots at the casino. Seeing that pointer land on the jackpot of hundreds of thousands of dollars may have been one of the greatest moments of your life, but if you don’t take action to protect your finances, whatever riches you may have accrued may equate to nothing more than a fleeting moment of bliss in five years-time.
So to ensure that you don’t use it, abuse it, or get it stolen by guys in business suits wielding silver tongues, here are 4 ways you can protect your recent forthcoming.
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#1) Start a Savings Account
The cash may look and feel pretty, but instead of sticking it under your mattress and risking it all being burned to ashes in a house fire, securing your finances in an accredited, notable bank will provide you with much greater security. And the cool thing about this is that banks often provide monthly interest rates to those who don’t touch their money. The 1% interest most banks advertise may seem like nothing, but when you’ve got hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, even just 1% interest can equal a thousand a month of free money to add to the stack.
#2) Keep it a Secret
Probably the most essential thing to keep in mind upon coming in close contact with large amounts of money is the fact that what you just happened to attain is very, very valuable and highly sought after. People are known to shed all morals in pursuit of the green paper, some even going so far as murdering complete strangers to receive it in bank robberies and heists.
And if people in this world have mustered up the courage to kill another over money, what’s stopping others from doing the same to you? Okay, perhaps they won’t kill you, hopefully not, but those close to you probably will lie, and cheat their way into your pockets, and some might even go so far as to steal.
All this can be prevented by just doing one simple thing: Keeping your mouth shut! Yea, after playing big in the casino and coming out even bigger, you may want to buy a megaphone and advertise your bank account to the world. But it is important not only for your wallets safety, but your safety to stay as low key as possible.
People change when in the presence of money, and if you’re not smart about how you approach this, you may find yourself being nothing more than a shark in a sea filled with remora fish.
#3) Devise a plan
Creating a structured 5 or 10 year plan as to how you’re going to spend and manage your finances will do well for conserving your funds and making sure it’s life span is lengthened. Upon receiving an influx of cash, your initial response may be to purchase the newest car and the biggest house on the market, but keep in mind that once you surpass a certain amount of money, you will be entering an entirely new league of costs and expenses.
Houses which you may not have considered before might become viable options and cars which were only a pipedream may be within reach. This may be captivating, and you may have temptations to go ahead and splurge on that Lamborghini, but keep in mind that this new league, or world, that you may have entered will demand a pretty penny. Instead of spontaneous purchases, quell your excitement, sit down under a candle-light and map out a plan that will stretch your money for decades, and not months.
#4) Consult a Financial Adviser
A few months ago you probably would have laughed at the idea of consulting a financial adviser, finding the idea of paying somebody to tell you how to spend your finances utterly ridiculous. But now you’re bordering on rich, and most likely you’re knowledge about managing money dates back to your C in Geometry back in your sophomore year of community college.
In your eyes a few hundred thousand dollars might seem like a world of cash, and you may let that feeling carry you away, but to the adviser, who probably has dealt with billionaire clients, you may be just another run-of-the-mill client. He or she would be able to break down your finances for you according to your life, job and family and provide you with sound plans to keep your money stretched well into the future.
Of course their going to want some of it for themselves, but after crossing a certain border of cash, the investment is absolutely necessary.
Have you found yourself drowning in cash as of late? Tell us—anonymously, of course—about your recent forthcoming and how you plan on protecting it.