Start Here: A Series for the Season After the Loss

William Clinton |

If you're reading this, there's a good chance someone you love has died and left you something. Maybe it's a retirement account. Maybe it's a house, a brokerage account, or a check you weren't expecting. Maybe it's all of that, plus a pile of paperwork you don't know where to begin with.

First, I'm sorry. Whatever the amount, it came at a cost you didn't choose.

Second, you're in the right place. This series was written for you.

Why I'm writing this

I'm Bill Clinton, a CFP®, CIMA®, and CPWA®, and the founder of Riverstone Wealth Planners. I've sat at a lot of kitchen tables in the weeks after a loss. I've walked families through this process more times than I can count.

Over the years, I've seen the same pattern again and again. The money lands, and people feel pressure to do something with it right away. Some rush to pay off the mortgage and every debt before they've talked to anyone. Others freeze and let the statements pile up unopened. Both reactions make sense. Neither one tends to serve them well.

What helps most is having someone who has been down the road before. Think of a sherpa on a mountain. The climb is yours. A guide just knows where the trail gets steep, where people tend to slip, and when it's fine to stop and rest.

That's what I want this series to be. A guide for the climb.

Who this is for

This series is for you if:

  • You just inherited money or property, maybe for the first time.
  • You don't have a financial advisor, or the one your parent worked with doesn't feel like yours.
  • You're grieving and trying to make sense of money at the same time.
  • Your mind keeps running scenarios, and you're worried about getting it wrong.

You don't need a finance background. I'll use plain words and keep each post short.

How the series works

Eight posts, one each week. Each one answers a single question and ends with one small step you can take that day. Nothing more.

The posts move in three stages.

Slow down.

  • Post 1: The Money Landed. You Don't Have to Move Yet. Why a short, deliberate pause is the smartest first move.
  • Post 2: Why Every Decision Feels Impossible Right Now. What grief does to decision making, and a simple way to sort your questions.
  • Post 3: The First 30 Days: A Short List. The handful of things that can't wait.

Understand what you have.

  • Post 4: Inherited Retirement Accounts and the Clock. The rules that come with an inherited IRA or 401(k).
  • Post 5: It Isn't Only Money: The House, the Stock, the Stuff. What to do with things that aren't cash.
  • Post 6: When People Start Asking. Handling family requests and sudden offers.

Make it yours.

  • Post 7: Their Portfolio, Your Life. Whether to keep what your parent owned.
  • Post 8: Making It Yours. Deciding what you want this money to do.

One promise

You don't have to decide everything now. And you don't have to carry it alone.

That's the promise of this series. Read one post a week. Take the small step. Let the rest wait its turn.

If you'd like to go deeper at any point, my white paper "You Don't Want Your Parents' Advisor" covers this ground in more detail.

One small next step

Save this page, or the email it came in. Then give yourself permission to make no big decisions this week. Next week, in Post 1, I'll explain why the most useful thing you can do right now is almost nothing.

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, A Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.