Stock markets, inheritance, i don't understand

Some of the criticisms of OP's husband are coming from people who seem to know less than OP, frankly.

You've been given some dreadful advice here (along with a few nuggets of good advice). Obviously it would have been better if you had agreed and discussed all this in advance. But money in NS&I has been losing real value for years- it's only recently that there has been any return at all. Having some money in equities- even for retired people- is generally a good idea.

Your DH has been unfortunate in having moved the money so shortly before the current crash, but it doesn't mean that he's done anything crazy or that you would be liable to your siblings if there ends up being a loss. (You haven't said what he is invested in so I'm assuming some sort of normal tracker or managed equity fund, not something souped-up and ultra high risk.) He should have agreed an approach with you, sure, and you should have taken a more active interest rather just playing dumb, but that doesn't mean this is a disaster. Until you sell, there is no loss. Like many people, I'll be putting my money into my S&S ISA on Monday, in full knowledge that it may have further to drop but with confidence that it will come back up and more.

Stay calm. By the time you're in a position to sell or transfer the holdings, there's every chance they'll be in a much better position.

Another voice of reason.

There is no need to sell the investments. Just divvy them up equally between the three siblings and then wait it out. Things will recover eventually and then you will be glad that you didn't panic sell.

Executor or not, nobody should sue you. If you divvy it up equally then they will get their share. They just have to have the good sense to wait for market recovery.

No one has “lost” anything unless they sell. Which would be stupid.

Husband is correct to invest more aggressively on behalf of non-elderly people.

I really meant their presumably joint assets to make up the difference. It’s her poa. Perhaps it could be found that she was reasonable in trusting her dh, even though he grossly misrepresented his competency, and he legally had no obligations since he isn’t a financial advisor (would probably be different if he were, could report him to his firm for breach of ethics)

Correct, for purposes of IHT the value used is the value of the stocks on the day of death, not at the time the probate form / IHT400 is filled in.

So if there is tax to pay, you could end up paying a higher tax ammount than seems correct if the stock value has gone down from where it was.

Agree. Much if the ‘advice’ on this thread is incorrect. The investments cannot be sold until probate has been granted and only the executors/solicitor can do this. The POA ends with the death of the father. The value of the investments at date of death needs to be noted, but nothing else can be done at this stage so advice to sell/not sell is irrelevant at this time.

@Vlinty @Codlingmoths Do you realise my siblings could sue me and you for breaching our poa? and actually it is not OUR poa it is MY poa. why the hell did she let her dh touch it when it was absolutely nothing to do with him???

If your husbands a lawyer in finance he should have known better. I would say to him you aren’t taking this seriously. Do you realise my siblings could sue me and you for breaching our poa? A poa gives me a legal duty to act in the persons best interest, and it is manifestly obvious to anyone in financial advice that stable low risk is the portfolio for my parents.

that said, he should definitely not sell now. That would be making bad worse. But he may not have a choice, since it’s not his money, what a dick. He must have been pretending he knew a lot more than he did, he clearly doesn’t know fn

@Letsgflyakite yes it is but if quoted shares and sold within 12 months there is a relief . Look up post postmortem relief

Don’t panic; but do learn about these things and even find another expert who can go through it with you. I think you possibly don’t trust your DH; in which case I think another set of eyes would be beneficial…

If your siblings want their money then your husband should make the shortfall.

Op is not in a position to sell the investments.

they belonged to her father. He died.

you have to fill in a very long form to tell the investment company this. They want the death certificate, details of the will/solicitors acting on behalf of the estate etc. you then have to fill in whether you want the investment sold for cash and transferred to the solicitors/executors account.

op did not hold power of attorney. Only the executor and/or the solicitor acting for the executors can issue instructions to sell the investments for cash.

op therefore cannot do anything unless she is executor.

btw trackers are generally considered medium to low risk. Op’s dh hasn’t put any money in high risk investments if it’s in trackers.

stop panicking. Get informed (not from Mumsnet).

True. About 90% of stock is owned by 8% of americas wealthy. He’s taking from the super wealthy to help the middle classes.

Trump is playing a ridiculously dangerous game but he seems to be ahead.

Crashing the market will push cash into treasuries, which will force the Feds to slash interest rates in May and ultimately refinance trillions of debt at much lower rates.

If you can just hold tight the markets will recover by the end of summer. Also if you have spare cash, now is a fantastic time to buy.

What on earth were you in that went down 45%?

And @Vlinty OP how would you have lost 25%?

Sure, markets had a sell off but they were down around 10%. When your parents money was invested in low risk what that means is that it would have been a mix of bonds and equity, higher risk is 100% equity. 100% equity is completely normal for anyone with a long time horizon on the cash. If your dad wasn’t going to spend it immediately then it is not stupid to put into 100% equity because you’re younger.

You say it’s with a fund manager, there’s no way a fund manager would have invested these type of assets in anything more than a diversified equity fund … meaning I’m really sorry but I don’t see how you could have lost 25%.

And if you did, it will come back. It’s only a paper loss until you cash out the investments. And if you do that now then you’re really showing your inexperience. It will come back, it might take a few months or more but quite honestly the probate could be at least 12-18 months so it’s not like you’d have got the money tomorrow.

i think you need to calm down, stop panicking and take a bit more responsibility for educating yourself.

Unless you can tell me that your DH invested in single stocks, weird derivatives, or crypto…. I think you’re overreacting, which is understandable given the emotions you’re going through but unhelpful.

My parents actively wanted my husband to do it, as they didn't think I could do it, nor my siblings sadly.

The parents wanted the husband to take over, it seems. So it could be said that, morally he didn’t do anything wrong? He did what was asked for him.

I am finding the jokes and comments re the OP’s parents being dead, quite disrespectful. I know it’s directed at the many posters who didn’t read the OP properly, but I wonder if it’s hurtful to the OP to be reading stuff about her dad being ‘six feet under’ etc? Just a thought.

but it may have gone up 20-25% prior to crashing that’s the question you need to be asking.

I suspect you may have just lost what was in effect the gain anyway, just leave it in the high risk they will bounce back in the next few years. In fact if I had some cash right now I’d invest in high risk.

Assuming that the investments also increased before they went down things might not be as bad as you think. If you can just sit tight and as in previous times the investments will recover. As PPs have said you and your siblings should have a better understanding of this rather than relying on your DH

I’m just watching CNN who are saying that far fewer Americans than that own share unfortunately. They are saying that only 20 percent of Americans are directly affected and so a massive majority don’t really care.

If over the weekend an all our trade war can be avoided then there may some small recovery of stock. As world and business leaders take stock of the new financial landscape stocks will recover, some more than others.

The aim of Trump long term is to restore the US industrial base which will take time. There maybe US manufacturing stock just waiting to soar as foreign competition is restricted. New trade patterns in the world will emerge and if you are thinking really long term there are probably many Chinese companies eager to benefit from this.

personally I think Trumps domestic poll ratings will plummet as 60% of Americans own stocks and shares. Over time with congressional elections favouring Democrats as the party of economic sense Trump may have to start negotiating tariffs down. It all just takes time.

Everyone saying that you will pay less inheritance is actually incorrect.
The tax value is at date of death.

That’s not correct - the tax value crystallises at date of death.

He didn’t put it high risk though, he said it was higher risk: low/medium and we don’t know the net impact yet.
selling the house may have been for practical reasons, having a house sitting there empty with ongoing costs is not really great.

Because it isn’t his money to risk. It was his father in laws and after his death his wife might be in for a 1/3rd of that money but the other 2/3rds never belonged to him

Everything is down at the moment even the low risk investments

All stocks are wildly down due to Trump. They will go up again in time. This drop could work to your advantage if you are over the inheritance tax threshold. Get the stocks valued asap for probate purposes while they are low. Assuming they are sold at a point in the future at a higher price then you will be liable for capital gains tax but that will be 18% if you are a basic rate tax payer and 24% for a higher tax payer ie considerably less than paying 40% IHT now.

Until a month ago the father was alive. The husband had no right to play silly buggers with his father in laws money.

Since the father died his estate should have been protected. Again his Son in law shouldn’t have been playing silly buggers with it.