What to Do With a Windfall
Once or twice in your life, a huge wad of money will land in your lap.
Maybe you will get a hefty legal or divorce settlement. Maybe you will receive an inheritance. Maybe you will retire or get laid off, triggering a lump-sum payment.
What should you do next? Here are some thoughts.
Take Your Time
First, do nothing. To be sure, receiving all that money seems to call for action. But instead of making snap decisions, you should probably stuff the cash in a bank account or a money-market fund for a few weeks and take a deep breath.
"This money might have to last 30 years," says Minneapolis financial planner Ross Levin. "That's much more important than what you do in the next 30 days."
In fact, in the initial weeks, try to avoid making any major decisions. "You shouldn't immediately quit your job or sell your house," Mr. Levin says. "You don't want to make irrevocable decisions right away."
Count the Cash
Before you decide what to do with the money, you need to figure out exactly how much you are receiving. As Mr. Levin notes, "the money often isn't as much as it feels like it is."
For instance, if you are in line for an inheritance, you may lose part of the money to estate taxes. If the inheritance includes retirement accounts, there will also be income taxes owed. Similarly, the lump sum you receive from your employer could shrink sharply, after Uncle Sam takes his cut.
Still feeling flush? Before you kiss the boss goodbye, think about how much income your newfound wealth will generate and whether you can really live off the money involved. Folks not only tend to underestimate how much they spend each year, but also they tend to overestimate how much income they can drain off a portfolio.
As I have noted before in this column, one rule of thumb suggests you can withdraw $5,000 in annual pretax income for every $100,000 saved. That might sound like awfully little, especially when you can buy bonds that yield more than this 5% withdrawal rate.
But remember, you will want your income to rise over time, thereby offsetting the impact of inflation. To that end, you will need to reinvest part of your gains each year, so that your portfolio continues to grow. That growing portfolio will, in turn, allow you to increase your annual withdrawals.
Play It Safe
There's a danger that you could fritter away your newly acquired wealth by spending too much, or buying bad investments, or falling into the hands of an unscrupulous adviser.
With that in mind, start by focusing on sensible, low-risk strategies. For instance, consider taking your lump sum and using it to pay off credit-card debts, auto loans and even your mortgage.
Reducing debt will improve your financial situation without incurring investment costs and without risk of financial loss. And if you later find you are short of cash, you can always re-mortgage the house.
If you are receiving a legal settlement or a buyout from your employer, you may be offered the choice of a lump sum or a regular stream of annuity income. Many folks instinctively opt for the lump sum. But I would give the annuity serious consideration. Why? By taking the money as a monthly payment, you avoid the perils of investing such a large sum.
Hiring Help
Before you opt for the annuity, however, buy yourself some financial advice. I wouldn't sign on with a regular broker or financial planner. These folks will almost certainly tell you to take the lump sum, because they want to manage the money and thereby collect fees and commissions.
Instead, see if you can find a financial planner who will work for an hourly fee. Ask the planner to do a "present value" calculation to figure out whether the annuity or the lump sum is worth more.
Also ask the planner to look at the tax implications of your choice and to check on the financial strength of the company that's standing behind the annuity. You can find a list of financial planners who work for an hourly fee at
www.garrettplanningnetwork.com.Even if you aren't getting offered an annuity, it might be worth buying a few hours of advice from a financial planner.
Your goal: Get a few pointers on how to invest your lump sum. That way, if you later decide you need full-time financial help, you will be in a better position to assess the strategies suggested by potential advisers.
Family Values
Instead of using an adviser, you may decide to invest the money yourself. There is, of course, no way you can guarantee yourself good investment performance.
But if you want to stack the odds in your favor, try settling on a good low-cost mutual-fund family and then restricting yourself to that family's funds.
On that score, my top three choices would be Baltimore's T. Rowe Price Associates (
www.troweprice.com), New York's TIAA-CREF (
www.tiaa-cref.org) and Vanguard Group (
www.vanguard.com) of Malvern, Pa.
Vanguard offers rock-bottom investment costs and an impressive array of market-tracking index funds. TIAA-CREF also boasts low costs and an intriguing array of funds, some of which combine indexing with active stock picking. Meanwhile, T. Rowe Price has somewhat higher costs, but that partly reflects its more active approach to investment management.
With enough money and enough time, you could lose a small fortune at any of these fund companies. Still, if you buy a broad selection of each company's funds and then show a little patience, you shouldn't go too far wrong.
如何处置意外之财
在你的一生中，总有那么一两次机会去处置一大笔意外之财。
也许你打官司或离婚赢得了巨额的赔偿金，也许你继承了一笔遗产，也许你即将退休或被炒鱿鱼，能收到一次性付清的补偿金。
那你会怎么办呢？以下是几条建议：
一、从容做决定
首先，什么也不用做。的确，获得了大笔横财看上去需要你立即采取行动，但与其匆匆忙忙地做决定，你不如把现金先在银行户头里或者货币市场基金中存放几个星期，然后让自己平心静气。
驻明尼阿波利斯的财务顾问罗斯-列文(Ross Levin)表示，也许这笔钱要备你今后30年所用，因此，最初的决定比你在接下来30天内所做的一切更重要得多。
实际上，你在最初的几周内应该尽量避免做任何重大决定。列文认为，你不应该立即辞职或者出售房屋，因为任何人都不想在匆忙之间做出无法挽回的决定。
二、清点数目
在你决定怎样处置这笔钱之前，你需要弄清楚这笔钱的确切数目。列文指出，通常意外之财的数目并不像它给人感觉上的那么多。
比如说，如果你有幸继承了一笔遗产，你可能会因为缴纳不动产税而损失一部份钱。如果遗产中包含退休金账户，那么还要缴纳所欠的个人所得税。同样，在缴纳各种税费后，你从雇主手里拿到的钱也会大幅缩水。
仍然觉得兴奋不已吗？在你辞职不干之前，先好好想想这笔飞来横财到底能带来多少收益，以及你是否真能靠这笔钱颐养天年。人们不仅倾向于低估他们每年的花销，而且往往会高估投资组合能够带来的收益。
正如我以前在专栏文章中所指出的，根据一般经验，每存入10万美元，那么每年你能提取的税前收益就是5,000美元。这听上去可能太少了，特别是考虑到你如果购买债券的话收益率远远高于5%。
但是，别忘了，你一定希望自己的收入随著时间变化而增长，以此来抵消通货膨胀的影响。为了实现这一目标，你需要每年将收益中的一部份进行再投资，让投资组合能够继续增长。相应地，投资组合的增长也将使你每年可支取的金额增加。
三、安全管理
你还面临著把新近得来的财富挥霍掉的危险，或者是因为花钱大手大脚，或者是因为进行了失败的投资，又或者让这笔钱落入了一个莽撞的投资顾问之手。
记住一点：从侧重于明智的低风险策略起步。比如说，考虑用这笔一次付清的款项偿还信用卡上的债务、汽车贷款、甚至抵押贷款等。
减少债务将会改善你的财务状况，而不会招致投资成本和亏蚀的风险。如果你以后又发现自己手头缺乏现金了，你可以再度用房屋进行抵押贷款。
如果你获得的是法律赔偿金，或者是雇主支付的买断费用，那么你可能面临著选择：接受一次性付款还是定期领取年金。很多人本能地会选择一次性付清款额，但我认为应该认真考虑年金的支付形式。为什么呢？因为选择每月领取付款，你可以规避不得不进行巨额投资的风险。
四、求助财务顾问
但是在你选择年金的支付形式前，你应该购买一些财务咨询服务。我并不打算受雇于某家券商或者金融咨询机构，我敢说那些地方的人肯定会劝你接受一次性付款，因为他们想管理这笔钱并从中捞取管理费和佣金。
相反，我建议你看看能否雇佣一位按小时收费的财务顾问。让财务顾问帮助你进行“当前价值”的衡量，以确定年金和一次性付款的支付形式究竟哪个更划算。
同时，你还要让顾问告诉你不同选择的税费情况，让他帮你核查支付年金的那家公司的财务实力。你可以登陆以下网址
www.garrettplanningnetwork.com查找按小时收费的财务顾问的名单。
即使你无法选择年金的支付形式，从财务顾问那里买几个小时的咨询服务也物有所值。
你的目标是：就如何投资你得到的一次性款项而寻求几点意见。这样，即便你以后决定选择全天候金融服务时，你也能做好更充份的准备来评估未来的咨询师所提供给你的策略。
五、利用基金公司
如果不雇佣顾问，你也可以选择自己来投资。当然，你可能无法确保自己的投资表现一定是优异的。
但是，如果你想让自己成功的机率大增，不妨试著选择一个表现优异的低成本共同基金公司，然后把自己的投资限定在这家公司的基金范围内。
在这方面，我首推的3个选择是：巴尔的摩的T. Rowe Price Associates (
www.troweprice.com)、纽约的TIAA-CREF (
www.tiaa-cref.org)以及宾夕法尼亚州马尔文的Vanguard Group (
www.vanguard.com)。
Vanguard提供最低投资成本的服务，有一系列追踪市场指数的基金令人印象深刻。TIAA-CREF也以低成本著称，旗下许多基金颇有吸引力，其中部份基金把追踪指数和积极选择股票结合起来。另外，T. Rowe Price的成本可能要高一些，但这也说明它在进行投资管理的时候采用了更积极的策略。
如果你有足够的钱和足够的时间，你可以在以上这些基金公司中的任何一家进行投资。不过，你要是在每家公司的基金中都广泛选择，并能耐心等待，你一定不会犯太大的错误。
