Stock markets, inheritance, i don't understand

[Vlinty]

My mother died in 2024 and father this March. Years before they had made me power of attorney (because my husband works in finance he is a lawyer, so could help me. I am clueless and they knew this.)

After mum died, my DH took over, because my dad had dementia.

He changed a lot of their funds over to higher risk , their financial advisor told me they had always wanted low risk.

We sold the house and dh got me to invest with another fund manager. Take the money out of ns&I as well.

So some money with new advisor, some with old advisor but all higher risk than my parents had it

Now this morning he has told me that everything is down 25%.... obviously because the markets have plummeted following trump's tariffs.

I am so distraught, I have 2 siblings who will want their share of the money. I'm really angry with dh and he now won't talk to mr because I'm panicking and he won't help me - just says I won't listen. When it is him who will not answer a straight question.

Please help me calm down.

On another note, you pay less inheritance tax if value of shares has fallen.

If this is true then I don't think your DH should have been dicking around with someone else's investments as they got close to end of their life.

I was under the impression that in the last few years you move investments to somewhere very stable.

You need to take back control. Insist your DH tells you who is dealing with the investments and contact them yourself.
speak to your siblings and agree what level of risk you are happy with (not high risk surely given the circumstances) and ensure all the investments are at this level of risk.
The current Trump induced storm will pass but you cannot be passive about this. You must be in control, not DH.

Please don’t panic OP. I work in financial markets. I was sat on a bank trading floor for 9/11, the financial crisis, during Covid and yesterday. Yesterday was without doubt, one of the worst sell offs I’ve seen during my 25 year career, it was complete carnage. I take a very low risk approach to my personal investments, probably because I’ve seen so many crashes it makes me wary - I ‘lost’ about £20k overnight in my share portfolio. I daren’t check my pension fund as that will be worse.

But it’s a paper loss only, I don’t need the money right now so I am happy to sit on them and ride it out. Markets will recover, we just don’t know how long it will take. Whilst I’m sat on those shares, I’m still earning dividends, some of them pay quite well.

Your DH has, in my view, over stepped the mark, although I’m sure he was only trying to get a better return. There’s not much that can be done right now, it’s a damage limitation exercise. If you don’t need to cash anything in right now, all you can do is speak with your siblings. Find out if they are happy to take ownership of the shares instead of selling them and taking a lower amount of cash. They may be happy to have the shares, take the dividend income and also wait for things to recover.

The FTSE 100 today (8054.98) is higher than it was on November 12, 2024 (8025.77) and higher than it was this time last year (7911.16).

The FTSE 100 today (8054.98) is still 17% higher than it was after the disastrous Liz Truss budget (6858.79) and is almost 50% higher than it was this time 5 years ago.

There is no guarantee that it has hit 'rock bottom' and it won't fall further.

You can't sell anything until you've got probate and that will take some time to come through, by which time the stock market may have recovered.

She can’t ride this out. The money at some point before Trumps term has finished will need to be divided and given to the siblings.

It shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise to anyone who isn’t a gambler that the American stock market would crash and that would in turn take down the worlds markets.

Know someone who was in very low risk stock and didn’t sell in time and lost around 5%. But they are young and are just going to ride it out

I agree.

The DF has now died though, so the date of his death is the value of probate I think?

Elderly people don't need high risk investments. When my dad died in 2020, I helped my mum with the probate and we moved everything to cash. She was 80, all the investments were emotional at that stage with no real foundation for holding them. And it was a good job we did this because she died in 2023.

When you have poa you are responsible for doing what is best for the individual, not what you think is a great investment.

DH has behaved appallingly as has the financial advisor here.

you should have insisted he move it to low risk and refused to take no for an answer

What’s your definition of high risk? My portfolio and that of my son’s isn’t high risk …. Lots of blue chips, banks, usual stocks. It’s lost thousands over the past week, thanks to idiot Trump. The markets are down everywhere; this applies to more conservative funds too. The market also was up when Trump got elected,

Whatever you do, do not panic and insist your DH sell. Unless the cash is needed this very minute, ride it out. Hell, I’ve just bought more US funds for my DS, as they’re cheaper right now. They will recover. My US stocks like Coca-Cola pay very nice dividends, which makes up for the loss - on paper - in value.

Bonkers that you let DH put the cash in high risk when you had financial adviser saying it’s not what your parents wanted

If they are due to pay any.

Well I'm not sure I'd want financial advice from someone like your DH - maybe split investments between high and low risk? But best not panic - many people are in the same position because of Trump (Truss did a lot of damage too).
And find someone who can explain things to you if DH can't.

Surely you've not lost 25% at this point though? I've lost about 10% in my mixed portfolio.

If the value of your late father’s estate has gone down there will be less IHT to pay which is a good thing. Your DH should not have been moving investments into high risk at all and as you had POA you must take responsible for allowing it to happen. As already stated you need to sit tight and wait for the prices to rise at the moment only a paper loss. Also with share prices dropping they will be cheaper to buy.
I would wonder what your DH is doing with your joint finances though what exactly is his job?

Vlinty
Does your dh gamble?

What you have to realise is that for all your dh’s so called intelligence he lacks basic understanding of consequences

It wasn’t a secret that Trump was going to bring in these tariffs

Although judging by a lot of Americans cheering this on you do wonder if they realise they are cheering on the biggest “tax” hike they are going to be paying for

This. I used to work on the floor; my DH still does. Remember that the stocks held (assuming stocks held individually or within funds) will still be paying dividends and thus generating income.

Why didn't they give him the poa then?

I'm sure you know, but the OP may not, that not all stocks pay dividends. We have no idea if the stocks the OP now holds pay any dividends.

It's really scary - my pension dropped by £14K yesterday. Also the value of the company I work for dropped by $1 billion. I've had two massive projects I was working on paused because overnight the tariffs have caused so much uncertainty.

I am just sitting tight to see what happens for now because I don't really know what else to do.

Your DH is an arse. As executor YOU should have taken the time to understand investing.. If your siblings want their inheritance it is only fair they get what they should have received and you take the hit on these appalling investment decisions. On paper my pension just went through the floor, thanks to the orange idiot, I just have to hope the market rallies before I need to draw on it. My decision, my consequence. Your decision your consequence.

This is why choosing an executor should be more considered. When given access to funds they have not have to work for some people become blinded to their own incompetence.

Every cloud...

It may have gone down yesterday but that is recoverable and you also need to consider how much it has gone up by prior to that before you know if your husband has done anything wrong. It could still be a net increase.
the stocks only need to be sold if you/your siblings choose that. You can also leave them in the stock market for longer.

This isn’t correct. The IHT will be calculated on the value of the shares on the date of death.

Well that doesn’t help as the dad is already dead.