Inheritance Coming Our Way

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Jill on Money with Jill Schlesinger

Episode: "Inheritance Coming Our Way"
Date: January 22, 2026

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Overview

In this episode, host Jill Schlesinger, CFP®, fields a listener call from Erin in Colorado. Erin and her wife are about to receive a $200,000 inheritance from a dissolved family trust—a windfall that prompts big financial questions. The conversation centers on making the most of this inheritance while juggling student loans, a hefty mortgage, and long-term family planning. The tone is warm, candid, and practical, as Jill guides Erin through financial priorities and wise decision-making.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Erin's Financial Snapshot (03:31–08:02)

• Family Details: Erin (42) and her wife (43) have two young sons (5 and 2.5).
• Home & Mortgage: Moved from the East Coast to Colorado three years ago; home valued at $700,000; mortgage balance is $590,000 at 6.5%.
• Income & Expenses: Erin earns $95,000/year, her wife earns $150,000/year. Their monthly expenses—including daycare—are about $12,000.
• Debt: Outstanding student loans total $80,000 with interest rates between 5.6% and 6.8%.
• Retirement Savings: Erin has $150,000 in her 401(k) ($10,000 in Roth). Her wife has $22,000 in 401(k) and $88,000 in a traditional IRA.
• Brokerage & Emergency Funds: $66,000 in a brokerage account; $40,000 in cash on hand.
• 529s for Children's College: Only $5,000 saved but family expects Erin’s father to contribute substantially in the future.

"We've been pretty conservative contributing to that [529], but my father plans to give a lot to their college fund." — Erin (06:16)

2. Impending Inheritance(s) (08:00–08:44)

• Recent Trust Windfall: $200,000 from a dissolved trust after Erin's grandfather’s passing.
• Possible Future Inheritance: Erin’s father is wealthy and plans to distribute a significant estate among Erin and her five siblings, possibly over $1.5–2 million each. Timing and specifics are uncertain due to family circumstances.

"Do you know how much [you'll inherit]?"
"I don't exactly ... but I do know that he has a very large sum of money and it will be distributed..." — Erin (08:22)

3. Jill’s Recommended Financial Moves (09:12–12:09)

A. Student Loan Payoff

• Immediate priority is to eliminate the $80,000 in student loan debt.

"Immediately, of this $200,000, we are paying off all of the student loan debt. Goodbye." — Jill (09:31)

B. Cash & Emergency Fund Boost

• Allocate $20,000 to bolster their emergency fund, bringing total cash to $60,000.

"I would throw, just because I like round numbers, 20 grand in my cash on hand. Make sure it's in a high-yield savings account." — Jill (11:44)

C. Investing the Rest

• Place the remaining $100,000 (~after loan payoff and emergency fund boost) into their brokerage account.
• Maintain liquidity rather than pay down mortgage principal, as current payment is manageable and interest rates may fall in the near future.

"I would put some money in the brokerage account ... seems a little low [on emergency fund] ... plus the fact that, you know, we know this inheritance is coming down the road, so you can always take care of the mortgage eventually." — Mark, producer (10:54)

4. Advisor Fees and Do-It-Yourself Investing (12:25–14:34)

• Erin and her wife currently pay a financial advisor 1% of assets, but haven't used extensive planning services.
• Jill encourages Erin to consider moving funds to a low-cost provider (e.g., Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard) and manage a simple, diversified portfolio themselves—especially since their financial needs are still straightforward.

"If in my mind, you can go to Vanguard, you can go to Fidelity, you can go to T. Rowe Price, you can go to Schwab. I don't really care where ... open a Schwab account, a brokerage account, you move whatever is in there into Schwab and then you buy a few mutual funds, index funds, and that's that." — Jill (14:14)

• Jill offers to review a screenshot of Erin’s accounts to provide fund suggestions and ensure no adverse tax consequences arise from selling positions.

5. When to Hire an Advisor (14:35–16:30)

• Jill clarifies that hiring a financial advisor becomes more worthwhile when Erin receives a much larger inheritance and faces complex financial planning needs.

"Do you know when you're going to need an advisor? When you start inheriting this money and it's a big deal. Right now, an advisor for you, it's like, it's nice but ... couldn't I have you have that $1,500 a year in your own pocket. I'd like that for you." — Jill (15:40)

6. Lifestyle & Personal Moments (16:30–17:18)

• Light discussion about Colorado living and mutual invitations, with a touch of humor about family dynamics, real estate, and supporting LGBTQ+ communities.
• Erin warmly invites Jill and producer Mark to visit.

"We were happy to host you anytime." — Erin (17:18)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Debt:
  "Once you get confirmation it's all paid off...have some sort of burning of the document party...Don't actually burn it."
  — Jill & Mark (12:06)

• On Advisors:
  "Cause you give it to me straight and a little bit more honest."
  — Erin, on why she calls Jill despite having an advisor (12:35)

• On Inheritance:
  "If only. Spoken like someone of... who's one of five? Six, rather."
  — Jill, on wishing Erin were an only child to inherit more (08:47)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:31: Erin’s family, work, and house details
• 04:54: Breakdown of student loan amounts and interest rates
• 06:06: Details on brokerage accounts and minimal 529 savings
• 08:00: Upcoming future inheritance from Erin’s father
• 09:12: Jill lays out plan—pay off student debt, allocate remaining inheritance
• 10:54: Mark’s perspective: prioritize emergency fund and liquidity
• 12:25: Erin describes her financial adviser and costs
• 14:14: Jill recommends a do-it-yourself approach for now
• 15:40: When to consider an advisor for complex planning
• 16:30: Lighthearted close; invitations and personal anecdotes

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Actionable Takeaways

• Prioritize high-interest debt payoff (student loans at 6–7%).
• Bolster emergency savings to weather any surprises.
• Invest remaining windfall for long-term goals rather than making extra mortgage payments at a relatively high fixed rate.
• Consider the true value of an advisor; self-management is an option—especially for simple, index-fund-focused portfolios.
• Schedule periodic reviews as family circumstances and assets change (e.g., after larger inheritance).
• Communicate openly with family about expected future gifts or bequests to inform planning decisions.

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Listeners in similar situations—those facing a windfall or inheritance—are encouraged to reflect on their priority hierarchy and check in with trustworthy advisors (or Jill!) before making big moves.

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Transcript

[A]

Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right. And the best part, they accept Discover. Except Discover in a little place like this. I don't think so. Jennifer.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report, RingCentral will complet completely transform the way you work. It gives you built in AI across all your business conversations. Your phone System has an AI receptionist that answers calls 24, 7. Your video meetings have AI that takes notes instantly. Even your contact center has AI so you can help customers faster. It all comes together in one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for [e-mail] ringcentral voice of your business Foreign. Welcome to the Jill on Money show. It's Thursday, January 22nd and we are here answering your financial questions. Now, you know, in, in truth, many of the questions that you guys ask are big life questions. It's just that you'll find with many of the questions in life, it has something to do with money. So whether you're thinking about maybe making a big change, maybe you've got a new job, maybe you're wondering, gosh, what would happen if I stopped working in this job that is making me nuts, or how do I create a pathway to get to my retirement years or how am I going to pay for my kids college education if I have to actually retire at some point in life? All of these big questions we can help you go through. We can help pull the emotions aside and help clarify what you have in front of you, what choices you have. If that sounds appealing to you, all you need to do is go to Jill on money dot com, click the contact us button, write us a note. And if you'd like to come on the air live with us, just check the box. Mark. We'll do everything else while you're on the website. You know, we've got all this great content there. We've got another podcast, it's called Money Watch. We've got a blog, we've got a radio show. There are videos of my latest television adventures. There are resources and of course you can sign up for the free weekly newsletter comes out every Friday. So it's great. Okay, today we are going to speak with someone who has been on the air with us before, but she wants a little update. So it's Erin from Colorado. Welcome back. Erin, how are you?

[B]

Thank you so much. Doing really well. Thank you. How are you?

[A]

Great. What's happening? What can we do for you?

[B]

Well, like you said, we did chat about a year and a half ago. We are very luckily receiving some money from a trust that is being dissolved from my grandfather. He recently passed. And it's a good chunk of money. It's $200,000. And just try. I would love to hear yalls thoughts about what. What we do with this money and. Yeah, just kind of how to. How to best allocate it with, you know, we've got a little bit of student loan debt. We obviously have a mortgage, but those are only kind of, you know, debt situations, so.

[A]

Yep. All right. Yeah, let's. Let's go through it. So, Erin, how old are you?

[B]

I am 42.

[A]

Okay, and you are married, right?

[B]

Yes, married with two small boys.

[A]

Okay, how old is spouse?

[B]

43.

[A]

43. How old are the boys?

[B]

One's about to be five and the other is two and a half.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So very little.

[A]

Very little. And if I recall, so you moved from the east coast, you moved to Colorado, you bought a house. How much is that house worth?

[B]

It is worth 700,000.

[A]

And tell us about the mortgage. What kind of mortgage did you have to get for that $700,000 house?

[B]

Yeah, so our mortgage is still. We've only been here about three years, so we are. The mortgage is at 590,000 dol. 90k. And it is at 6.5%.

[A]

So one of those big beefy ones. Okay. Are you guys both working?

[B]

We are, yes.

[A]

Okay, how much do you guys make?

[B]

I make 95k a year and my wife makes 150.

[A]

Okay. How's the cash flow with that big fat mortgage? Like, how's it going for you guys?

[B]

It's going okay. We are. Our monthly expenses are with, you know, daycare and all of that fun stuff. Um, we're about 11,000. Well, let's be conservative. 12,000amonth.

[A]

Let's say 12. Okay. 12,000amonth. Okay. Oh, you mentioned student loans. What's what remains on your student loans and what's the interest rate?

[B]

So there are three student loans left. They are totaling 80,000. The highest interest on one of them or on two of them is 6.8%.

[A]

Okay. And what's that. The smaller one? What's the. What's the interest rate on that?

[B]

5.6.

[A]

Okay, bye. Bye. Yeah, exactly. Right. Okay, so I got that. That's all good. And you guys are, you know, you're you're making it work. You're paying off a lot of this debt. Are you both making retirement plan contributions?

[B]

We are, yes. I have about 150k in my employer. 401k. 10,000 of that is in a Roth 401k.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then my wife has about 22,000 in her company's 401k. They don't have a great matching, so we haven't put a lot in there. But she also has a separate IRA that has 88,000 in it.

[A]

And it's traditional. All this money we're talking about, except for that 10,000 in the Roth is traditional, correct. Okay, got it. Do you guys have any brokerage assets? Anything that you've like, socked away? I don't know, stock, company stock, anything there? We do.

[B]

We have a joint brokerage and it has 66k in it right now.

[A]

Okay, and how about anything for the kiddos? Any 529 assets?

[B]

We do. We've been pretty conservative contributing to that. I know, I know. There are plans from my father to give a lot to their college fund, thankfully. So right now that is sitting only around 5,000 in total. So split that in half for each.

[A]

Okay, How. How much do we trust your father on this? Can we actually, could you say to him, dad, should I be using some of grandpa's money from the trust and funneling it into the 529 accounts, or do you think you're going to make more sizable contributions? Can you have that conversation with dad?

[B]

I can definitely have that conversation. We've had many conversations about where money goes when he passes, so I feel pretty confident that we don't necessarily need to burden that for ourselves.

[A]

Okay. So we don't have to take on funding that 529 plan in a big way.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

Okay. In addition to your 66 grand in the brokerage, how about cash on hand?

[B]

We have about 40k in cash right now.

[A]

Okay. Is there anything big coming up? Anything that is going on? Anything house related, Anything within the next 12 to 18 months? Is there any need car, anything like that?

[B]

No, we took advantage of that EV credit before it disappeared and got a really great deal on a lease. So we are, you know, lord willing, knock on wood. Nothing big is coming yet. Now that I've said it out loud.

[A]

I'm a little afraid, but don't be, don't be. We're good. Okay.

[B]

Nothing planned.

[A]

Okay. And you guys have your estate documents?

[B]

Yes, ma'.

[A]

Am. And how about life insurance for the kiddos?

[B]

We're all set there.

[A]

Okay, great. Are you going to inherit a bunch of money from your rich dad?

[B]

He has done very well for himself.

[A]

Notice how I did that, Mark. You see how I made that leap? People don't like to say I had a rich dad. I wish my dad were richer. Like literally. My father died, my brother in law's like, that's all he had. I'm like, yeah, I thought it would be more too. No, I knew, I knew what it was going to be. But are you going to inherit a bunch of money?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Do you know how much?

[B]

I don't, I don't exactly. Because there's a little, there's a little complication right now with things moving around. My, my mother is unwell and so we're trying to like all of the different things that are allocated in a certain way. But I do, I do know that he has a very large sum of money and it will be distributed between myself and my, my siblings.

[A]

So. Okay, how many siblings?

[B]

Five.

[A]

What?

[C]

Oh, God damn it.

[B]

I know, right?

[A]

I wanted her to be an only child, but if only. Spoken like someone of. Who's one of five? Six, rather. Okay, so like if you had to guess. I know you don't know the amount. Do you think he's worth More than $10 million? Are we going to get more than $2 million or a million and a half dollars each? What do you think?

[B]

Yeah, it'll probably be around that.

[A]

Nice. See, I got there. Okay, good. Okay. And. But you're happy and you're young and you're working and so you want to manage your own life. So this is all good. I just want. Okay, so I'm good. Okay, here's what I'm thinking. Immediately of this 200 grand, we are paying off all of the student loan debt. Goodbye.

[B]

Great.

[A]

Bye. It's gone. How much money were you putting into that? You know what the, like of your 12 grand a month, do you know how much of that would be those student loan payments?

[B]

Well, you know, since, since the pandemic, we've been kind of paused on any payments.

[A]

Okay, let's get rid of them.

[B]

They're federal loans, so we have to.

[A]

Payments. Yeah, good. We're done. Okay, so get rid of those. That's it. So now we have $120,000 left. I think the question really is of that $120,000, should we slap a little money down on the principal of the mortgage or should we beef up the brokerage account? That's really the big question. I was going to actually do something different. Because before you talked about your rich father, I was going to say, oh, we'll put some money in the 529 plans, but it doesn't sound like you need that. Mark, do you think it's more important for Erin and her lovely bride to beef up the brokerage or to maybe whittle down maybe of the, you know, I don't know, I'm just like making it up, like to make that 590, 500 or something. Like it's not going to necessarily change your payment and you're, you're absorbing the payment, it's fine. But what do you think, Mark? Liquidity, access to money in brokerage invest versus maybe the emotional help of a little bit of a lower outstanding mortgage amount. And it's not cheap, by the way. Six and a half percent.

[C]

It's not cheap, but I will leave it alone. I think rates are going to continue to come down, I think over the next year, 12, 18 months. I wouldn't do anything until that kind of settles down. I would put some money in the brokerage account. I would probably beef up the emergency reserve a little bit. Seems a little low. And plus the fact that, you know, we know this inheritance is coming down the road, so you can always take care of the mortgage eventually.

[A]

Are you guys putting money in your cash account when you said I got 40 grand on hand, Are you actively contributing to that or not?

[B]

Not, not a lot right now.

[A]

And same with the brokerage, like brokerages, old stuff or gifts or something like that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And so that's kind of something that, like, I would like to change because we've, we've been so tight for the last three years, but this kind of gives us some breathing room to be a little bit more intentional.

[A]

Okay, so if that's the case, I agree with Mark. I would throw like, just because I like round numbers, I throw 20 grand in my cash on hand. Make sure it's in a high yield Savings account. Put 100 grand in your brokerage, you know, so we're going to pay off the 80 grand in the student loans. You're going to feel so good. You guys should have a little party. Oh, we will, like some sort of like burning of the document party. Once you get confirmation it's all paid off. So then we pay that off. We put.

[C]

Don't actually, don't, don't actually burn it.

[A]

Exactly. Then put 20, 20 grand in your cash account, add 100 grand to your brokerage. Is the brokerage account all in stocks right now?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. And it's individual stocks or funds.

[B]

They're funds.

[A]

Okay. And where are you holding that brokerage account?

[B]

We have a financial advisor that's helping us with that.

[A]

Dude, if you have a financial advisor, why are you calling Aunt Jill?

[B]

Cause you give it to me straight and a little bit more honest.

[A]

Oh, sweet. So wait a minute. What kind of funds are in there and how do you pay this Advisor?

[B]

They get 1% of the annual return.

[A]

You mean of the value of the account?

[B]

Yeah. Sorry. Yes.

[A]

Are you sure you need these people?

[B]

No, I'm not. I just. I. I don't know a lot and so that's kind of. I get nervous opening my own things. But I would really love to not pay anyone to manage my money.

[A]

I don't feel like you need to that right now. I mean, the brokerage funds, are they. Are they exchange traded funds or mutual funds? You know, mutual, I believe. Okay. And do you know, like, primarily the, the, the mutual funds they're using, are they index funds or are they funds like a company name like the Morgan Stanley, blah blah, blah fund, the Merrill lynch, blah blah. Do you know what the most of these funds are?

[B]

I don't off the top of my head.

[A]

Okay, here's what I'm going to suggest. Okay. I think you should send us a screenshot of your brokerage account.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay. And where, by the way. Oh, is your wife's Ira there with the advisor?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. So right now, that advisor. I mean, by the way, 1% of 88,000 or 66,000 is fine. It's not like a big charge. But are they doing financial planning for you?

[B]

They, I mean, they, they will advise us on these type of situations. Um, yeah, like them. We. We have not. Honestly, we haven't really, like, leaned on them too hard because we've had a fairly simple financial picture so far. So it's not been very complicated. This is the first kind of like, what should we do?

[A]

Okay, here's what I think. I think you guys should open up your own accounts. I don't think that it, like, it's not rocket science. If you don't want to, that's okay too. But if. If in my mind, you can go to Vanguard, you can go to Fidelity, you can go to T. Rowe Price, you can go to Schwab. I don't really care where. What is the fund company that is in your 401k.

[B]

It's through Schwab.

[A]

Okay, perfect. Maybe you open a Schwab account, a brokerage account, you move whatever is in there into Schwab and then you buy a few mutual funds, index funds, and that's that. So what I suggest is that you take a screenshot of your brokerage account and the IRA account, send it to us and then we can give you some suggestions of funds to consider. If you want to do it yourself, then you're going to save yourself this 1% of the account value. Do you know when you're going to need an advisor? When you start inheriting this money and it's a big deal right now. An advisor for you, it's like, it's nice but like as you said, you don't really need it. Let's say something changes. You say, oh my, you know, my, my dad is actually restructuring everything because my mom is not well and he wants to put a million dollars into each of the six kids pockets. Then we have something to talk about. Then we need real financial planning and we'll hook you up. Like now I know that for you and you say like, oh, I don't know much, but like you're making choices inside your 401k and all we're going to do is try to replicate choices. You know, when we talk to people and they say, oh, I don't know anything. Okay, what. Here's what you need to know. Number one, you choose index funds. Number two, you have one broad based US Fund, one broad based index fund for international, maybe one bond fund and maybe one extra fund after that. That's it. I'm not sure we should necessarily sell what's in your brokerage account because I don't want to create a tax situation for you, but I'd like to see what you have. And then as things change and you know, listen, you'll, there'll be different choices in your life. You can check in with us anytime. But also if something big happens, then that's when I think you might need a financial advisor. For right now, it's, I mean it's not bad, but it's like for what? You know, couldn't I have. You have that 1500 bucks a year in your own pocket. I'd like that for you.

[B]

I would like that for me too.

[A]

I think that you are in great shape and we are so happy that you guys are settling into Colorado and, and Mark, do you think you'd like to go to Colorado? Because Erin and her wife have a $700,000 house. Could be a nice place for you to explore.

[C]

I've been there. I have a very good friend who lives in the Denver area. It's very nice. I could never live there, but it's nice to visit.

[A]

Why can't you live there? I could live anywhere pretty much. I mean, I can't live in the south, obviously. I can't live in a place where they don't like gay people so much. That's number one.

[C]

You could not live anywhere.

[A]

Yeah, I could live in London. Okay. I've lived in Providence, Rhode island, for God's sake.

[C]

And you would never live there again.

[A]

I stayed there only five years too long. It's very small. Okay. Erin, anything else for you?

[B]

No, but we were happy to host you anytime.

[A]

Yes, that's right. Okay. If you are like Erin and her wife and some lump sum amount, some windfall drops in your lap and you don't know the hierarchy of priorities for you or your family and how to think about it, get in touch with us. Go to jillonmoney.com, click the contact us button. Write us a note if you want to come on the air like Aaron. Check the box, Mark. We'll do everything else. And while you are on the website, don't forget, the Great Money Reset is there. I just got a note from my publisher that somehow this book has been chosen for some sort of TikTok thing. I don't even know what that is, but they're going to try to sell books on TikTok, which is great. Otherwise you can just buy it right here through our website. The Great money reset. 10 Bold Steps to turn chaos into opportunity. You're resetting your life in some way. Check out the book. Okay. You can subscribe to us on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Try to do something nice for someone else today. Change your work, change your wealth, change your life. Thank you for listening and we'll talk to you tomorrow. 2026 is calling and it's your year to launch that business you've been dreaming about. We all have ideas, talents or projects we keep putting off. But the magic happens the moment you take action. Don't let another month slip by. January is short and the fastest way to turn your vision into reality is to start your business with Shopify. With Shopify, you get everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already taken the leap. Shopify gives you all the tools to build your dream store. Hundreds of beautiful templates you can customize AI powered tools to write product descriptions and headlines. Even edit your photos in minutes. Marketing is built in too. Reach your customers with email and social campaigns wherever they scroll and as you grow, Shopify grows with you, letting you handle more orders and expand into new markets, all from one dashboard in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with shop. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com jillonmoney go to shopify.com jillonmoney that's shopify.com jillonmoney hear your first this new year with Shopify by your side. Hey, this is Richard Deitch, the host of the sports Media Podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered.

[C]

I've been turning down interviews all week. Kodakapi reached out. Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said no. I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.

[A]

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.