Financial Planning After You Inherit

 

Calm, coordinated guidance during a difficult time.

If you’ve received an inheritance or are settling a loved one’s estate, you don’t have to figure it out alone. We’ll help you take stock, set priorities, and make tax-smart choices—at a pace that respects what you’re going through.

 

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What You're Navigating Right Now

Receiving money in the midst of loss is complicated. There’s grief, paperwork, and a long list of “what now?”—locating accounts, updating beneficiaries, deciding what to keep or sell. If you’re in Massachusetts, you may also be wondering how the state estate tax fits in. We bring structure and clarity so you can move one step at a time and feel confident about the choices you’re making.

  • Taking stock and access: a clear inventory of accounts, titles, beneficiaries, online logins, and who can act (executor, trustee, POA).

  • Cash flow and taxes: setting aside funds for near-term expenses, choosing which accounts to use first, and planning for withholdings or estimates.

  • Inherited IRAs and retirement accounts: understanding your options and timing (including the 10-year rule) so withdrawals are on schedule and penalty-free.

  • Step-up in basis and sell/hold choices: what receives a new cost basis—and how that guides decisions about investments and inherited property.

  • Real estate and estate administration: probate checklists, keeping/selling the home, and coordinating tasks with your attorney and family.

  • Massachusetts considerations: if you’re in MA, how the state estate tax may apply and what to do now to plan for liquidity and paperwork. When probate, titling, trust provisions, or estate-tax questions come up, we coordinate directly with your estate planning attorney, keeping you in the loop the whole time.

 

What Success Looks Like With the Right Plan

  • You feel steady and organized, with a simple roadmap and someone you trust to help carry it out.

  • You know where today’s cash comes from and how the rest supports your longer-term goals—without tax surprises.

  • You stay ahead of rules and deadlines, so inherited accounts and paperwork move quietly in the background.

  • You make calm keep/sell decisions, understanding the tradeoffs and how they fit your risk, taxes, and priorities.

  • Your family stays connected, bills get paid, documents live in one place, and your attorney is looped in when needed.

  • Your own plan is current, with beneficiaries, titling, and insurance updated—and a clear path for what’s next.

Success here isn’t about moving fast; it’s about moving purposefully. With structure around the details, you have the space to grieve, remember, and move forward with confidence.

Financial Planning for an inheritance
 

A Guide to Adjusting Your Plans After Losing a Spouse

The death of a spouse forces you to revise the roadmap you had planned to follow for the rest of your life. Thinking about everything that’s going to go into that process might be completely overwhelming while you’re grieving your loss. Know that you don’t have to deal with everything all at once, and you don’t have to do it alone.

Our wealth management advisors can help you make sure that all your financial plans reflect your new reality. 

GUIDE: AFTER LOSING A SPOUSE
Planning after losing a spouse Sachetta

What to Expect

 

A Structured Relationship

Onboarding is a 4–6 week process where you share your priorities, we review your income and expenses, tax returns, and accounts, design a coordinated plan across investments, taxes, income, estate, and insurance, and implement it together—with your attorney or insurance partners as needed.

Ongoing, we use real-time modeling for the “what-ifs” in life, so decisions are paced and thoughtful—not rushed or reactive. Our seasonal meeting schedule allows us to focus deeply on one area of the plan at a time, while also being ready to adapt when life changes.

Spring

Tax return delivery and forward-looking projections

Summer

Risk management — a review of your insurance and estate plan

Fall

Investment performance, what-ifs, and next year's planning

Transparent Fees. No Commissions. No Surprises.

We are a fee-only fiduciary firm, which means we don’t take commissions and we’re legally obligated to act in your best interest. No clock-watching. You’ll know your fee before we begin.

 

One Team for Your Full Financial Picture

At Sachetta, your advisor holds credentials in both financial planning and tax. That means your investment decisions, compensation, tax strategy, and risk management all happen in sync—not in silos.

We offer full-service financial guidance that includes:

Financial planning

tailored to your assets, income, and goals

Investment management

designed around your risk tolerance and to reduce tax drag and risk

Tax strategy and return preparation

by professionals who know your full picture

Risk management

through coordinated estate planning and insurance planning

 

When People Reach Out to Us

Some families call when they’re named executor or an inherited IRA lands and the rules feel murky. Others reach out after a life-insurance or brokerage payout and want a plan instead of guesses.

Sometimes it’s the house that needs a decision—or a Massachusetts estate tax question. And sometimes it’s simply the sense that the details are piling up and you don’t want to carry it alone.

 
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Making calm decisions about inheritance Sachetta

Planning in Practice


Behind every financial plan is a real life—full of major events, family goals, and important decisions. These stories reflect the kinds of challenges our clients bring to us, and how we build calm, clear strategies in response. While stories are fiction, the strategies are true to life.

Click the cards below to read the stories:

Boston professional executor financial planning 43

When Daniel became executor after his dad passed, we turned a swirl of accounts and questions into a calm plan that kept his mom’s care seamless and the next steps clear.

Read the full story

TBD

Read the full story

TBD

Read the full story

Whatever brings you here, you don’t need to untangle it alone.


Let’s talk through what’s going on, what’s ahead, and what coordinated planning could do for your peace of mind.

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Last updated September 16, 2025.