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.

Well they couldn’t be sold a few weeks ago, nothing can happen with them right now

But we don’t even know that there has been a net loss. The op hasn’t given that info

If they've reinvested the money away from safe investment like gilts it will have lost money over last week. My pension is down ££4k in 3 days.

OP’s father may not have been living in the property that’s been sold, he may have been living in a care home.

Yes, as I said on an earlier post. But it's still only relevant if they're due to pay any anyway. Only 6% of estates are liable for IHT, but 99% of people seem to think the will pay it!

But it might have increased before it decreased.

Over the last month investment has gone down.

You can still take it uncrystallised, wait for market recovery, then cash up / pay off mortgage. Your DH has been very cavalier- far too common an attitude amongst amateur investors when ego is involved. My sister decimated the money bequested by Mum to her (sister's) sons b/cos she fancied herself a day trader.

And before that

Not sold. I mean the value frozen

Found this on a solicitor website

You value them for inheritance tax purposes on the date of death but the value of the shares continues to change. They are on a quoted market.

OP I hope you’ve told your siblings as in the short and possibly medium term it only going to get worse.

They can't be frozen. You can quote what the value was on the date of death but the markets don't freeze. They continue to go up or down and so will the value of the shares.

I am coming round to this view as well.
Initially OP didn't say that her parents had asked her DH to manage the investments.
Nobody should take an inheritance for granted. Everyone knows that investments can go up or down.
Everyone has lost in the current crash. OP's DH can't be blamed for that. OP's parents asked him to manage their investments and OP and siblings didn't educate themselves or take an interest. He made some high risk investments that might still come good, or they might not. I doubt he deliberately set out to lose money.
They just need to get together all the documents and speak to an independent financial advisor.

Your brothers can take the cash if they want to. You transfer their portion of the shares and they can cash them in whenever they wish.

Fully agree, she also later clarified that they weren’t high risk just higher risk but still low/medium.

Several of us are saying this. It is good sense.

OP doesn't seem to be listening, or isn't acknowledging that her panic was ill informed and wrong. Others (equally ill informed and clueless) are suggesting that the siblings might be as poor as church mice and so investments should be sold now with OP's DH paying compensation for the losses.

Now is not the time to sell. Now is the time to sit tight, ride it out and buy more at the cheaper rates if you possibly can.

A decade oh God I hope it doesn’t take that long!

Think about the poor buggers who are just about to retire and all their pension investments are being cashed in!

My husband died years ago. One thing i never got round to was cashing in some shares. I didn't realise they were there until a couple of years later. Not loads. Not enough to make a difference. I eventually contacted the trading company and they told me the value on the day he died which is what I'd get if i cashed them in. It's not a lot of money and I've just never got round to it.

Why on earth would your husband change the investments of the elderly from low risk to high. High risk investments are for people with long term investing timeframes not short term. You always go closer to low risk investment vehicles as you age. Sounds like your husband was investing as if it was his money. Can you siblings hold out for a few years as the markets will stabilise, they always do.

They have misinformed you. The value does not remain static.

Exactly this. They should transfer ownership of the shares and then hold until the value increases again.

Thanks
I might just dig the forms out on the back of this.