A Surprise Inheritance of $20,000 Allowed Me to Travel

My father’s sister Helen died unexpectedly in the fall of 2021. I’d known my aunt was ill and had made plans to fly from my home in New Orleans to Dallas to visit her, but she was closer to the end than we realized. I had loved Helen and written to her while she was sick, but we hadn’t been especially close, so I was surprised and grateful to find that she’d left me $20,000 in her will.

Because the money was in Helen’s IRA, I received it as an inherited IRA, which has certain tax implications: In short, the money had to be taxed, but not until it had been withdrawn, and I had 10 years after the first January 1 after her death to withdraw it. I set up a schedule of disbursements with my aunt’s financial manager, allowing the money to be gradually withdrawn, taxed, and deposited into my existing investment account.

I decided to use the inheritance on travel

Suddenly, I had what I’d wanted for years: a growing travel fund. I’d been the kind of kid who played with the atlas and grew into an adult who set up cheap flight alerts, but since I was working in nonprofit publishing, my hopes always far outstripped my budget. If I wanted to go to Vienna, I had to settle for eating the namesake canned sausage while listening to “The Blue Danube Waltz.”

Within the next three years, I’d taken three big trips. I had been saving for years to go to Nepal, where Red Panda Network, a nonprofit I used to volunteer for, led trips to look for wild red pandas in the area where RPN works to preserve and rehabilitate their habitat. I got a discount on the trip as an “alumnus,” but I still needed to swing a pricey international flight and buy some trekking gear.

Not only could I now go, but I also could treat myself to an upgrade on the leg of my flight from Doha to Kathmandu, quaffing complimentary Tom Collinses and watching Joan Crawford movies with an ocean of legroom. I saw five red pandas and spent my 39th birthday making sweet homemade butter at our farmstay, using cream from cows I could hear lowing on the hillside.

I went to Europe for the first time to watch the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest with my friends and fellow fans. We flew into Ljubljana, whose downtown looked just like my American fantasies of Europe, and rented a car to explore Slovenia and Croatia.

I had the best meal of my life, fresh grilled fish and asparagus risotto, looking out over the Adriatic, and the presence of three Americans at a public watch Eurovision party in downtown Zagreb was so noteworthy that we were interviewed by the news. Sharing the cost of the Airbnb and car rental, along with eating in a fair amount, kept this trip budget-friendly while leaving room for all the major activities we wanted to do.

My trip to Argentina changed my life, and now, I live there

The most life-changing of the trips, though, was to Argentina. I visited a friend who had moved to Buenos Aires, and I was so smitten by the city and the quality of life it offered that I moved there in summer 2024. Over a year in, I’m having the happiest time of my life, exploring the city while eyeing more adventures across South America.

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I’ve toasted Helen’s generosity and memory with rhododendron cordial in the foothills of the Himalayas, with malbec over an Argentine asado, and with pear liqueur bought in a Slovenian castle. And since I have a little over half of the original amount left, I’m not done: I’ll thank her when I land in Paraguay later this month.

Her kindness in remembering me in her estate meant that I could build the life I’d always wanted — and it’s changed how I feel about estate planning. My (more modest) estate is mostly earmarked for nonprofits, but next time I review it, I’m going to organize an adventure fund to bequeath to someone I love who needs one.