Stock markets, inheritance, i don't understand

I think the best thing would be for you to pay for some independent financial advice. As an attorney you claim for the expense for this from the estate. (the full estate, not your share of it)

You need to take back control and understand what happened with your DHs choices and what is the best way forward now.

You also need to be able to explain the situation to your siblings

My advice is that you haven't lost 25% of the estate untill you cash in the investments. Explore ways of transferring ownership of the investments as they stand, to yourself and your siblings

your dh has acted inappropriately. A high risk profile is completely unsuitable when managing the funds of an elderly person with dementia. Additionally you had power of attorney and should not have delegated this power to your husband if you didn’t understand what he was doing.

That’s only true if you plan to use it. Given he died with more than he needed, high risk is a perfectly viable strategy. The kids can keep it invested in a similar portfolio and over time it should recover in value.

But my low risk portfolio is also 6% down at the moment.

Sadly OP this is on you. If you can understand what your DH has done is ‘wrong’ now then you were capable of understanding it at the time your DH was making the decisions and should’ve spoken up then.

Then they can inherit the stocks and shares as they are, they don't have to liquidise them either.

This. No need for panic. Everyone with investments is in the same boat atm.

Probate can take months and often years.

Still no need to panic. The markets may bounce back a bit in the coming weeks, no one knows.

OP needs a grown up conversation with the person she is trusting with her family money not randoms on the internet.

If she still has doubts then she needs separate legal and financial advice.

You have only lost money if you sell now.

It being down currently is absolutely fine if you sit tight.

People panicking and cashing out is the biggest mistake. Now is actually a good time to be buying.

Hold your horses, wait until it stabilises and goes back up, then move to a low risk. It shouldn't be in a high risk when your siblings have an interest in the money short term.

The markets are a long term investment. People who are nervous and panicky are not good investors in this format.

Her father has died and her siblings will be expecting their share of the inheritance...

You don't need to liquidate stocks and shares to split the inheritance, you can transfer ownership. They will come back up in value as long as you and your siblings sit tight for a bit.

Eek, it was not up to your DH to gamble with yours and your siblings inheritance. Before it has been divided between the siblings it doesn’t belong to you. You will both need to sit down with your siblings and explain what you have done. The value of the stocks and shares would have gone down with the low risk option too but you will need to try and calculate the difference I guess and perhaps look at compensate your siblings using your share. That seems to be the only fair option. That, and telling your DH he’s a pompous dick. If he works in finance he should know not to gamble with money he doesn’t have.

There is no time. The father has now passed away and they need to sort probate and then pay out the inheritance to siblings. They can't wait.

You don’t need a decade. This crash is similar to the covid one which took about 3 years to recover.

Actually you’re right - missed that. In which case I’d be absolutely furious with your dh. And if I were your sibling, with you as well.

?

The mother has died, the father has dementia and OP is supposedly looking after his finances.

Everything has gone down. Don't panic. Unless you need to liquidise the assets right now, there's no real effect, everything will be back up again in a decade. Sit tight.

But as other have said, if you can afford to, sit tight and wait this out. I have a stocks and shares ISA invested in medium to high risk but this is long term savings so I am not looking right now. Money I need in the short term (ie home improvements, holidays etc..) is in a cash ISA for that reason.

If your DH was doing this on your and your siblings behalf he should have sat down and discussed your risk appetite before making decisions about investments.

Like others have said, sit tight.
I have a family member who panicked when the markets crashed at the start of COVID and sold everything as it hit bottom, losing tens of thousands. If she’d held on, she’d have made it all back again. She even had a stockbroker, but wouldn’t listen to him. Absolute idiocy!

I agree about misusing your power of attorney.

im confused though. If your dad has only just died then how have you sold the house already?

I assume you discussed this with your siblings before just gambling with their inheritance? As others have said it would have been likely ok if you were thinking long term but you must have known that your siblings will want their inheritance as soon as the will is sorted .

If you don’t understand you need to learn it instead of relying on someone else. You have been really stupid here. It’s not good for anyone, especially women, to witter ‘oh I’m clueless’ (tinkly laugh) and not do anything about it. That’s how women get taken advantage of and end up in very vulnerable financial positions. It’s infuriating seeing women do this over and over again.

As their attorney, you're supposed to act in their best interests. And follow any specific instructions they provided in the POA document. Did they specify their attitude to risk of their investments in their paperwork? Did they leave any specific instructions or preferences? If not and you did the best you could at the time you made the decisions, that's absolutely correct.

Low risk investments, are low return investments, their money could have been loosing value due to inflation where it previously was. Higher risk investments are generally always worth it when the money can be left long term (over 10 years) It could be argued that leaving the money where it was, when you had access to good financial knowledge (your DH) would be negligent on your behalf.

Don't panic. Leave the money where it is. Everyone has lost in the short term, but historically the stock market recovers.