While driving home on my lunch break the other day, I happened to turn on the radio and catch a little bit of The Dave Ramsey Show. One of the callers had just received a windfall of money and needed some advice. The lady had recently suffered the loss of her husband, and he had left her with a million dollar life insurance policy. She was not very confident in her abilities to handle that amount of money, and she certainly did not want to squander it. After hearing her story, Mr. Ramsey gave her some very simple words of advice: don’t do anything. This advice may seem shocking to some, but I thought it was absolutely brilliant.

As most of you know, my day job is in the funeral industry, and this is the exact same advice that I give people on a daily basis. There are many well-meaning people – and some not so well-meaning – out there who are eager to help you spend or invest your new found windfall. However, when going through a period of grief, it is always best to hold off making financial decisions until the initial sting of the loss has worn off. (That goes for most major decisions, not just if you are receiving a large insurance death benefit.) We simply aren’t thinking clearly during these times, and it can lead us into making poor decisions. If a financial decision seems good right now, chances are it will still be a good decision down the line.

In fact, I would suggest that anytime somebody receives a windfall – whether that is through insurance, an estate, or the lottery – they should stop and do nothing. Whether you are experiencing grief due to a loss or extreme excitement due to an unexpected win, your emotions will be clouding your judgement. Once you have that money in your hand, it is not going to go anywhere unless you let it leave. A good investment now will usually still be a good investment 6 months from now. There is no reason to rush into anything that you do not understand. Doing so is a great way to see your sudden windfall dwindle to zero.

So, what should you do with the money? There are a lot of great options, from savings accounts to high value fixed rate bonds. Here are a few options to help you keep that money in your pocket! [Read more...]