I’ve Received an Inheritance

Before it is money to invest, it is something entrusted to you.

An inheritance rarely arrives the way people imagine. More often, it comes wrapped in loss, and the money carries the weight of the person who left it. So, alongside the practical questions sits a quieter one: how do I do right by what I have been given?

Canada is in the middle of the largest transfer of wealth in its history, with roughly one trillion dollars passing between generations (CPA Canada, 2023). For most people who receive it, the experience is not about financial expertise. It is a once-in-a-lifetime moment they were never trained for, arriving at the hardest possible time.

The money is the question. Honouring it is the real one.

People often come asking where to invest it. That matters, but it is rarely the first thing. Underneath are decisions that deserve more care:

The permission not to decide anything yet, because there is almost never a reason to rush, and good decisions are rarely made in grief. How the inheritance fits the life you already have, rather than sitting apart from it. The tax that follows certain assets forward, from inherited registered accounts to the gains that accrue from here. And the larger question it quietly raises: now that this has passed to you, what do you want to eventually pass on?

When you are ready, start here

When you are ready, the next step might be the steady, unhurried planning in Wealth Foundations and Investment Management, or, if the inheritance has you thinking in generations, the Family Legacy Office. There is no clock on any of it.

An inheritance is not just money received. It is something entrusted to you.

You do not need to have decided anything before we talk. Often, the most valuable first step is simply to get a clear picture. We help you do that, then plan when the time is right.