I was supposed to get $270,000 from my grandparents – my dad’s investing wiped out 90% of it

What would you do if you inherited money, but your parents mismanaged it? A Reddit poster is trying to figure that out right now. The poster got a $270,000 inheritance from his grandparents, but he was young when the money came, so his parents managed the funds. Unfortunately, his dad thought he would get fancy with investing the money, though, and so the poster ultimately ended up receiving only $27,000 when he came of age.

The Redditor feels cheated because his older sister and his cousins all got the full amount of money from their grandparents. As a result, they were able to buy houses and graduate from school debt-free. The original poster (OP) lost that chance both because of the bad investments his dad had made and because his parents also lost money that had been left to his mom. 

So, the big question is, what should the OP be doing exactly? 

Here’s how a Reddit user is responding to a stolen inheritance

The OP explained that because his parents essentially squandered his money, he does not want them in his life. He didn’t invite them to his wedding, nor have his parents met his kids.  His parents are understandably upset about this — especially because the OP’s sister has no kids, so his parents are not able to have a relationship with their only grandchildren. 

Of course, the OP is well within his rights to restrict access — and he has a legitimate reason to do so, given that his parents essentially stole money that was intended for him. In fact, depending on exactly what his father did and depending on how the inheritance was structured, it is possible that his father breached a fiduciary obligation, and the OP could take legal action to try to recover the lost funds. In fact, several other Redditors commented that the OP should check the local laws and think about doing so. 

What the OP is instead doing is telling his parents that they have to replace his lost money with interest if they want to see their grandkids. His parents are upset about this and said it would interfere with their retirement savings, but the OP feels that’s their own problem based on the decisions they made. 

Money can make family relationships complicated

The OP has every right to be upset, especially since the others in his family were able to enjoy financial success due to the gift his grandfather provided, and his parents took that from him.  The parents really should make things right, even if that means they have to enjoy a less lavish lifestyle in retirement or even work part-time jobs. It’s up to the parents to decide if it is worth making the financial sacrifices they essentially forced on their child. 

This sad situation is a lesson to any parent who is put in charge of managing an inheritance. Gambling on speculative investments or investing someone else‘s money when you don’t know what you are doing can have serious consequences. The best thing to do in this type of situation is to try to find a trusted financial advisor who can offer advice on what to do to keep the money safe while helping it to grow.

If the OP’s parents had done that, instead of assuming they were experts in investing when they are not, then the entire family would be in a much different situation right now — and a much better one. This is exactly the type of situation where the advice of a financial advisor can do more than just help people make better money choices — it can change lives for the better. 

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