is it tacky to spend your inheritance on a big house?

The Bay Area used to be nice, it is way too crowded now. Quit your job and move to the mountains, buy a nice place for 1-2M, invest the rest and live comfortably and enjoy your life.

Inspector Norse wrote:

I do OK, money-wise (I grossed 350k last year) - but I'm in the Bay Area where 350k means middle class.

What does your supermodel wife think you should do?

Inspector Norse wrote:I'm thinking of making a buying a $6 million house in Palo Alto near work. However, it would be unfortunate to only have $5 million left from the overall inheritance (only $3.5 million of which is cash - the rest is in securities, land and physical assets like gold, etc.

Am I being unwise with my newly found wealth? Are there any other formerly poor/working-class posters who received large sums of family money that can advise how to handle the situation?

One of the problems with a $6M house is the amount of property tax you have to pay each year.

Working Stiff wrote:

How is this related to training? Mods, get on this

Oh, it's related. He can do sprints up and down the mondo track he has installed next to the driveway.

The problem with a great big expensive house is the upkeep and taxes on a great big expensive house. Your annual property tax bill will be close to $40,000 a year on a $6.5 million dollar house in Santa Clara County. You'd be better off in your current house and then buy an income producing property (like a farm or ranch).

I’m not outright saying this is fake, but it is quite rare to have a male with no children amass that net worth. Of course there are *always* exceptions. But generally family (wife and kids) are what motivates men to take risks and push hard in their careers to get ahead. Statistically, the highest net worth men in the world are almost always married with children

Joe jackpot wrote:

I’m not outright saying this is fake, but it is quite rare to have a male with no children amass that net worth. Of course there are *always* exceptions. But generally family (wife and kids) are what motivates men to take risks and push hard in their careers to get ahead. Statistically, the highest net worth men in the world are almost always married with children

They amassed it via an inheritance... why is this odd?

It is your money, spend it how you like. That said, the biggest indicator of someone about to blow a big inheritance or lottery win is when they spend 50%+ of it on a house. You better be damn sure this is the one stupid financial decision you are making and have the rest of your financial game locked down otherwise you are going to find yourself in a world of hurt in a few years and questioning how you could have been handed the world and ended up broke.

While I don't question the crazy reality of Silicon Valley real estate (my sis lives out there -- her house is nice, but not necessarily worth the ~$4M she paid for it in my view), I do think you should think hard about the future of work before you sink that much of your new net worth into a new house, especially if the primary reason is to be closer to your job. As with a lot of folks, my job has been full remote for the past ~7 months, and in general it has gone really well. We are now actively planning for our post-pandemic work state, and we are looking at no more than 50% on-site (and probably more like 70% remote) for most of our staff (we had an almost completely in-person office pre-pandemic). We are not going to renew leases on probably 2 of our 4 main offices in the region -- it will just be totally different. My wife's situation is looking pretty similar. During the pandemic, we've temporarily relocated to our vacation home, which has been fantastic. Post-pandemic, I'm thinking/hoping that we'll continue to have a much more flexible lifestyle in general, and I expect we'll continue to utilize our vacation home a lot more than we have in the past (previously mostly used on winter weekends for skiing). We're probably still tied to our "real" house in the 'burbs during the school year, but I'm thinking summers in particular will look a lot different for us. If I were you, I'd wait until this all shakes out before you make a decision, but all things equal I'd rather buy a $2M house on Lake Tahoe than a $6M house in Palo Alto.

White people problems...

So wrong. Try about $6250 monthly for taxes

If you have $11m, get the hell out of CA. A 13% state tax, high property tax, sales tax, gas tax, and Federal give you a near 70% marginal tax rate-a a socialist dream that you are living for real right now.

It is shocking that the recent commercial tax amendment didn't pass and that the everyday Californians (not the politicians) recognized that they would pay a share of these new commercial tax increases. Don't forget there is a movement to put the top rate to 16%. Add to this the looming state pension debts, and it just isn't a good place unless you got $100m. They spend and they have to come after you to pay for all this. When move, avoid NY, NJ, and IL too since you are getting the same economic schemes with poorer weather.

$11M is a lot of money but it’s not a crazy outlier either for someone who makes good money and saves, invests wisely.

$6M on a house is a really big number. The market gets really thin, although maybe a bit less so in the Bay Area. Still, taxes, insurance and maintenance would eat away at a big portion of you $350K gross. A new roof could be $150K.

If I received $11M, I would pay off my house and buy a ~$1-2M vacation home out West. Spend summers in somewhere like Jackson, WY or Park City, UT and winters in FL.

Or just retire right now. That's an absurd amount of money and anyone can easily retire on it if they aren't an idiot.

This would be a better thread if you just said,

"What would you do if you inherited $11M, or if you won $11M in a lottery."

Pretending it really happened makes it lame.

Oh, if I had $11M, I would invest them all in real estate. It is the best method of investing and you can have a good passive income for years. I saw on https://www.playarealestategroup.com some marvelous hotels for selling in a perfect place on the beach line. I even thought that it could be the best investment because you get a working business and at the same moment you live there and enjoy your life. Indeed, I'll do all my best to get one of these places. I dreamed all my life to live near the sea. I will do my best to win it.