Money Essays - Startup Cult, DraftGerald Roch,

Money Inheriting What do you do when you suddenly inherit money? Are you supposed to run out and spend it like crazy? Are you supposed to put it all in the bank? Do you tell anyone you have your money and where you got it from? These are all questions that went through my head as I turned 18. I was an overnight "rich" person. What was I to do? Ever since I can remember, my mother has been telling me, "when you turn 18 you are going to get the money your Daddy left for you." For some reason I never really believed her. I thought that I would get about $2,000 or something and be able to buy a nice computer for college or something along those lines. I never thought I would be able to buy a house. I dont even want or need a house, but all of a sudden I am able to buy one. I did not grow up poor by any means, but I was not the kid on the street with money to toss out either. Now that I had money, what was I supposed to do with it? The first thing I did when I got my money was hug my mother really tight. Ever since I was 2 she had been paying taxes on it, investing it, making sure it was safe, and tons of other things she really did not have to do. She did it all out of the kindness of her heart. When the judge in control of my funds would be a dork and send us a nice little letter saying that he "was sorry but had decided to move the money from a 10% interest account to a 4% account", my mother would be talking to our lawyer and trying to get it back to the good interest rate. We would always be getting letters like that, so having dinner with a man who charged us $250 an hour was not unusual. Even then I never realized that I would be getting actual money. I must have been in some kind of a dream land, but it did not make any sense until one certain rainy Monday. That Monday I had gotten called out of band by my lawyer, who to my suprise, was standing in my high school hallway. He handed me a stack of documents about 4 inches thick and instructed me to sign on various pages. I did so, and afterwards he gave me this big smile. "Congratulations, Beth. You now are in control of your money." I asked him exactly how much I had to spend and he directed me to the bottom of the next to last page. I stared at an unbelievable figure - $84,000. Was my lawyer serious? I actually had a bank account somewhere with my name on it that contained that much money? I could go out and by a new car and give each of my friends cars? I did not understand how overnight I had gone from my little dream world to reality. I now had a bunch of dilemas to deal with, and I was not sure I even wanted them. Would having money change me? That was a major concern of mine for a long time after I got my money. I did not want to become one of those superficial people that depend on money to make them happy. On the other hand, now that I could afford to get nice things, I wanted to take advantage of it. I could now go out and buy a nice computer for college, maybe buy a new car, and finally get some new clothes. The last time I had money to spare on clothes, I was in the 6th grade, so I think I was a little overdue for a trip to the mall. Clothes, a computer, and a car seemed very shallow to me, so I decided to get some advice on what to do with my fortune. I did not want to spend all of my money and then wake up one day and realize it was all gone and I had to hunt for tuition. That would be the last thing in the world I would ever want. Randy Baird worked for American Express at the time, although now he works for Prudential Securities, and he was more than willing to meet with me and discuss my financial future.