I plan on being discrete about my finances for a long while. I'm in the USAF currently, and I like what I do. My hopes are to retire from the military (either in the USAF or the US Army as a Warrant Officer), and lead a simple life.
It's probably more constructive to keep studying, keep promoting, get that college degree, and get a commission. (Oh, and keep saving all those pay increases for the TSP.) Then when the inheritance unexpectedly drops on your head (hopefully many many years from now) you can also have the option of choosing to donate it to charity or to dump it on your own kid's heads.
We've been ER'd for long enough to know that we don't need no stinkin' inheritances, let alone want them. If it happens-- and we hope that it doesn't happen-- then we're going to have to do some serious estate planning. I don't want to just give it away and then years or decades later watch a grandchild or great-grandchild have some serious health problem requiring lifetime care/expenses.
In general you probably want the life-affirming personal satisfaction of earning your own fortune rather than the suspense & frustration (and emotional blackmail) of waiting for one to come your way.
Spouse was stationed with a naval officer who was a hot-shot career-gungy future flag officer. She was so intense & driven that, on travel, her shipmates drew up a watchbill to sit with her. She was single and had no life outside her IN box... until the day her parents passed away and left her in charge of what turned out to be the family foundation. Literally overnight she submitted her retirement request and disappeared, resurfacing through occasional sightings as she traveled the world (on foundation business) in search of suitable places to dispense grants. She's still single and has no life, and now she's paranoid that everyone is out to get their hands on her money. She'd've been better off without it.
I know that a large sum of money will be coming my way. From what I have been told much of it will be cash, a life insurance policy, thier house, and investments. I'm going home later this year and they want to sit down and talk to me about everything
You'll have to let us know how it goes. Here's another scenario for you to worry about: after all these years they probably figure that you're old enough for them to tell you the truth-- they lost it all eight years ago when they were day-trading, and your old college fund was 100% in Enron! Oh, and could you loan them a few thousand dollars to get them through the home-equity loan payment due next month?
We plan to have a similar open-book meeting (except for the day-trading and Enron parts) with our kid when she turns 18 and becomes our executrix as well as our heiress. We plan to show her what we're going to be spending as aggressively as we can before we give the rest (if any) to charity... our intent is to reassure her that she won't have to pay for our long-term care. We think the key part of that meeting is making sure she knows how to find all the paperwork and account passwords, but we could be wrong. You'll have to let us know what you wish you've been told.
We've been told for years that spouse's parents have a will with perforations around the names of the beneficiaries. No phone call in a month? Rrrrrripppp... out of the will. The first decade of our marriage I thought spouse was joking, but in the last decade I've realized that the joke isn't very funny. She feels a strong sense of parental obligation that is in no way reciprocated, let alone fulfilling, and the undercurrents of resentment can really eat away at your soul. Now we're relieved that we no longer care whether she's in the will. I asked her the other day what she'd do if they asked for money to pay for their health insurance, their mortgage, their long-term care, or their groceries and she said "I'd write them a check and count my blessings...and say 'Bye-bye!'"
It sucks to think about it, but it is going to happen. How do you not feel guilty about this?
You remember them and honor their legacy.
In addition, if you're in Hawaii, you buy a late-model pickup or SUV, preferably on a jacked-up suspension with big knobby 4WD beach tires, and put a huge tint decal on the rear window announcing to the entire world "In Loving Memory Of Tutu..."
We tell our kid that our ambition is to leave her just enough to do the same with an adhesive sticker on a second-hand longboard.
In addition to all the rest of the reading recommendations you might want to try a library copy of "Navigating the Dark Side of Wealth" by Thayer Cheatham Willis, the Georgia-Pacific heiress. It's been out for a while and she exquisitely & thoroughly covers all these issues.
Thayer Willis