Even a modest financial boost can change your life. It can provide a cushion for unexpected medical bills, help pay off your loans, or allow you to finally take that trip you’ve been dreaming about.
However, for many, opportunities to get such an influx are very limited, and a windfall might be their best bet.
So we decided to check out how those who have received one are reacting to it, and we found a couple of Quora threads where people shared their experiences and insights after benefiting from these sudden gains.
Their stories include everything from the most fortunate windfalls to some burdensome and truly peculiar situations.
#1
my grandfather’s grand piano. As young as I can remember, I begged him to let me have it when he was “done with it”. When he passed last year, I received the piano and with it came 28 years of memories, love, and wisdom he shared with me. It quite literally represents my relationship with him and I will cherish that forever.
Image credits: readycent
#2
I got my father’s hooked nose, beady eyes, and tiny crooked penis.
It was the strangest will reading I’ve ever attended.
Image credits: Robert Taylor
#3
My mentor left me a set of wood castanets which I kept for a long time as a reminder who he was to me for so many year
Image credits: Angela Carleton
#4
I was left,a small,dilapidated cottage, a small cross dog,and £3k
when I was 14 year old.
From a retired school teacher, who lived down the lane,from my parents.
I had avoided her,and her cottage as much as possible when she was a live,because other children told me she was a witch, and believe me,everything seemed plausible, when your 6 years old walking down dark lanes,in the winter, I was always petrified for years,I use to bolt pass her cottage.
Now her little dog,( Ruby) was a frequent unannounced visitor to our house,and I was always given the job of returning her to old ( Mrs Gillespie)
That was the only times,I reluctantly spoke to her,she use to grab my jumper sleeve and pull me into her kitchen, I was powerless,against her strength especially as I was holding Ruby by a bit of string.
The kitchen was dark,damp,out dated,and had strange odours ,and presevering jars ,full of all sorts.
Image credits: Daniel Woodbridge
#5
The very best and the one thing that is my most prized possessions, my father’s Stetson hat that he always wore. The thing that means the most happy about it was that I came out to him 2 to 3 months before his passing and he made sure I knew that he loved me no matter what and then to get the one thing that meant so much to him made me cry my eyes out. It is taken care of and means more to me than if I had got $10,000 cash. I feel so loved every time I see it and I know he is still with me. Money is gone in a heartbeat that hat will last a lifetime. I miss you dad and thank you for accepting the daughter you only found out about right before you passed on, I will always love you.
Image credits: Lisa Corbett
#6
A house. My Mom and Dad bought it for $38,000, no money down.
When Dad died he left the house to Mom.
When she died I sold it for $245,000.
Oh, yes….she also left me her two cats.
Image credits: Stan Blue
#7
I know at first this doesn’t sound bad, but really it is. My sister in law left us her dog. This dog didn’t like anyone but her. She would bite at you if she felt you looked at her in the wrong way. I was sweeping and the broom accidentally skimmed her and she attacked the broom! I was in the kitchen and I did not hear her come up behind me. I stepped back and accidentally landed on her paw.. she attacked and I had to fend her off with a chair!
Image credits: Ashley Polumbo Colon
#8
I had a friend who I met whilst we both worked in a care home we got on well and saw each other away from work visiting each other etcetera he retired and I lost my job he invited me to his for Christmas after the new year I was expecting to go home I lived in a rented flat he had a bungalow he asked me if I was willing to stay he had COPD and needed help I would bathe him take him out in a wheel chair his elderly uncle also lived there and cooked our meals after a few years my friend got shingles then he got sepsis and he stopped eating and passed away he left me and his uncle the right to live in his bungalow for the rest of our lives only bills to pay no rent it be was written in his will that until we pass away no one can contest it the uncle died a few years ago a day before he became a 100 yr old after I die the bungalow will go to his daughter both of them also left me some financial help also I feel greatful that I went from a unemployed man living in a basement flat to living in a lovely two bedroom bungalow I am so lucky to of known them as friends and they both ended up showing me that they appreciated my help and have helped me have a positive outlook on my future I didn’t inherit the bungalow but have the next best thing a nice home.
Image credits: Alan
#9
My mother before passing away gave me a coin with both side as Tail.
She told me; my eldest brother (born on 15 August, Named as Aazad) died in her lap because the hospital denied service for just this 1 rupee.
Image credits: Keshri
#10
My Grandfather left me his fathers drafting tools from the early 1900s. A full wood boxed set of ink based tools for drafting. He was a civil engineer I am an architect so I know how to use them. I think they were a college graduation present to him in 1904.
Image credits: Matt Anderson
#11
One of my uncles left me a cheap watch;-). I got this official notice and showed it to everyone. However, it didn’t say what I was getting. I can’t say how much I appreciated that he even thought of me as we’d only seen each other a few times in about 50 years.
Image credits: Harold Anderson
#12
To put it in a word, the lifestyle.
I’m born into a middle class family and then moved up and down through the phases of life. We were upper middle class for some time and then lower middle class sometime and there was an year(Feb 6th 2000 to Feb 6th 2001) when we were so close to the Poor, I should say we were poor.
It’s true that because of being born into a middle class family, we’re forced to the ideology and thinking of a not-much-aspiring life, getting a job and working for someone is all we mostly dream about but then the middle class life teaches a lot more things if you’re ready to learn.
Financial management becomes your inbuilt nature, you will teach time management yourself, you understand the importance and difficulties of comprising, you’ll learn the validity of the relations, relatives and friends, you’ll learn the greatness of believing in yourself and a lot more. We don’t do them consciously but they all become the ingredients of the life style.
So, the greatest inheritance I got from my parents is the lifestyle, the poverty.
Image credits: Santhosh Namballa
#13
I have inherited no things, no objects of any value whatsoever. My family had no material wealth.
However, from my mother I have inherited two qualities that have been invaluable to me throughout my life. My mother was a saleswoman. In the early days, she sold a variety of things – plastic products, cosmetics door-to-door, the toughest kind of selling there is. Eventually she graduated to b-to-b, and after that, insurance sales, primarily annuities to teachers. She was always successful. People trusted her – because she was trustworthy.
She taught me, first, that whether you like it or not, people will always judge you by how you are dressed, therefore be mindful of that fact; and second, that determination is more often than not, what determines.
These two lessons, which she taught by words, but more truly by actions throughout her life, have marked me indelibly, and I have inherited them.
Most days, I dress well, and indeed, it has been my experience that it affects how I am perceived and welcomed into the world, both publicly and privately. And I am focused and resolute in anything I commence. This has rescued me from many distractions over the years and kept me on track. Still does.
Thanks, Mom.
And thank you, Stephen, for the compliment of the A2A.
Image credits: Michelle Gaugy
#14
My grandfather’s 1961 acoustic Gibson guitar. It’s amazing. It may not be worth millions but it’s more sentimental to me than the money I’d get for selling it.
#15
I had an admin (aka: Secretary) who’s grand mother told her that she was going to inherit all three of grand mom’s time shares. This woman understood that the time shares were a horrible financial burden even if they were free, as she’d seen her grand mother have to pay the annual maintenance fees and try to trade her weeks at this “less than” locations with others. These were huge wastes of cash that this woman didn’t have. She tried to talk her grandmother out of it, and came to me scared that she’d be forced to take these properties and not be able to get rid of them.
I explained to her that she really needed to talk to an attorney, but it was my understanding that people listed in a will didn’t necessarily have to accept the things left to them, and these three timeshares were something she didn’t want.
Image credits: Rick Ferrara
#16
I inherited, from my grandmother, a pickelhaube helmet. Judging by the date imprinted on it, it was constructed, or issued in 1914, to a man named C.E. Juncker. Or maybe that is the company that constructed it? I really wouldn’t know, all I know is that it was bought in a thrift store by my great-grandmother in the 1950s. I also know that my grandmother, while she was in high school, wore it as she cycled around on a tricycle at a house party.
My Pickelhaube looks near identical to this, except the Eagle is the same color/material as the spike and mine is just a tad more run down. Other than that, its probably the coolest thing I’ve ever inherited, especially because I am a military helmet collector.
Image credits: Jack Montgomery
#17
My grandfather left his kids & grandchildren a very important legacy. It’s not the precious vase from N-th century, and it’s not the painting worth some 8 figures. It’s more important than all that:
He left us his integrity.
In a world now where virtually no CEO or Chairperson or statesperson can get to the top without playing dirty at least marginally (at least in the region where I live), it’s a legacy that my family and I treasure the most. The ways in which we’ve all obtained our respective successes have been through personal perseverance, determination, and family support. Considering the scale of influence we very well could swing the country, instead we use them to develop communities by means of empowerment.
I have a passion for volunteering, raising awareness about the importance of the environment, and to help with the development of sideways economics, where a certain amount of money largely moves within the community instead of trickling upwards.
We’ve been accused of being arrogant, by not playing along even in the smallest bit in political fields, or being “too good for anyone”. I don’t much care.
RIP Grandpa
Image credits: anon
#18
It’s not mine yet, but my grandma has a sword my grandpa brought back from Japan. It even still has the imperial chrysanthemum stamped onto the blade. She says it’s mine someday because my interest in history.
#19
I did receive an inheritance from Mom and Dad. However, I was awfully young when I met a very old lady, who was a relative of mine, from New York.
I can not remember her name, as I am sixty nine years old now, and I was less than ten years old, back then. I do recall she was handing out small trinkets and tokens to me, my brother, and my sisters.
My sisters each received a ring, or a necklace. My brother received a tie clasp, and cuff links. I received an old watch.
The watch wasn’t working. It was broken. I’m certain I had no appreciation for that gift, at the time. It took me some years to understand, these few trinkets were all she had to offer to us, for an inheritance.
It’s an old wrist watch. It is still broken. Yet, this old lady boarded a plane…in the 1950’s…and made the arduous trek across these United States…just to give to us children, that what she had to offer.
I will never know her name. I believe she was on my paternal side of the family, as I received the watch in the home of my paternal grandfather. But, I treasure that old watch.
It was given to me by someone I didn’t know. It was given to me by someone I would never meet, again. I THINK she was my Great Aunt Etta, but I am not too sure. However, I am touched, an old lady who I had never met, wanted to give to me, something I could never use. It was her thoughtfulness for a young relative she had never met, that made this inheritance so meaningful.
Image credits: James T. Bawden
#20
I inherited two of my grandfather’s (Charles Brackett) four Academy Awards. One is for best screenplay for The Lost Weekend, and the other is for his service to the Academy as its president. The other two Oscars are with my sister and my cousin. They are for Sunset Boulevard and Titanic (the 1950s version).
Image credits: Jim Moore
#21
My great aunt (and godmother) left me a small amount while I was in college, maybe $2000 or so. It was greatly appreciated.
Many years later, my father died (my mom was already gone) and my brother and I received equal halves of his estate. He had had a good long life and missed my mom, so he was ready to go. I was the executor of his estate, and it’s was pretty cut and dried except for having to sell his house and that dragged on awhile.
Two years ago, my brother died very unexpectedly and I was his executor and sole heir. Again, I had to sell a house, this time five states away. And I miss him every day. I wish I could trade that inheritance for having him back.
Image credits: Xena Lee
#22
I inherited a bit of a problem that I will likely never be able to bring myself to get rid of.
My dad was a HUGE runner. He ran dozens of races a year and always tried to do at least 12 marathons a year. Though he never did better than 8.
When he was in the hospital before he died, my brother and I mentioned to a nurse that his best Marathon time was 3 hours and 21 minutes. Dad indignantly corrected us to say his best time was 3 hours and 20 minutes.
In his office at HCC, he had an entire wall covered with his medals and plaques from the various races he ran.
So, after he died, his wife boxed up all his medals and plaques and gave them to me. They have been in a box in my hall closet ever since. I have no idea what to do with them.
Just to give everyone an idea of what I am talking about. Turns out about 7 of them are recognition from Dad’s last job or his job in Saudi Arabia. But there are also age group first place for Marathons back in the 1990’s.
I talked to his wife and she said that he basically stopped picking up medals and trophies after his races. All he really cared about was his time So this is just a fraction of the races he won.
Image credits: Enrique Cerdo
#23
World War 1 trench knife. Been in the family for generations.
#24
My grandfather gave me a German Iron Cross from WW1 that was brought home by his uncle.
#25
I found out my Great Grandmother left me almost $30,000 in cash she’d been putting into a bank account since I was born.
Unfortunately, she put my Mom’s name on the account so that money was gone before I even knew about it. I found about it when I was 25 when my Grandfather asked what I’d done with the money.
But hey, my Mom got to lease a new car and buy a decorative fishtank so it all worked out in the end.
#26
Not mine personally, but my family has been passing down the same bible since 1886. It has a ton of cool things in it like a report card from the 1890s, original newspaper clippings from when WWI was declared, ads from the early 1920s, etc.
#27
A lump sum of almost $11,000 (USD). My small share from selling a family farm.
#28
Alcoholism
#29
My dad left me $150,000 worth of krugerrands and I blew it all in short order. I’m extremely ashamed.
#30
Not me, but my brother. He’s a musician and band director, and has been playing piano since he was 8. He knows that he will eventually inherit the piano he learned on, which is still in our Mom’s living room. When our grandmother died, he got the piano from her house, intending it for his daughter, who had just been born. When he went to move it, he found the bill of sale tucked in an envelope on the back of the piano. The date on the receipt showed that it was originally purchased exactly 40 years to the day before his daughter was born. She learned to play on it, and now has a Masters Degree in Music Education and teaches at a local high school. That piano is in her house.
#31
My grandpa’s shotgun.
Legend has it that he once chased a TV repairman with it after the repairman tried to make a move on my grandma.
#32
Two dressers that are both over 150 years old. No screws or nails and marble-topped.
#33
My dad’s huge sense of humor
#34
My dad’s smith and wesson 4516. The gun is older than me and it’s never failed. All stainless steel and easy to take a part. I’ll never part with it.
#35
My mum, last week, gave me a silver pocket watch which my grandfather left to me, engraved inside is a retirement message to my great great great grandfather from his employer dated 1849. Pretty cool.
#36
A walnut.
My grandfather, who died long before I was born, carried it round in his pocket so he had something to fidget with. It was never explicitly admitted but the inference is he had stress issues after the double whammy of being at the Somme in the first world war, and an air raid patrol warden during the second. It’s nearly black and worn smooth, more like a pebble now. If I’m doing something important I put it in my pocket for luck.
#37
A couple of weeks ago some of us Neeners were discussing family members who’d been in WWI.
My grandfather was part of the expeditionary force sent to Europe in 1917. He was assigned to a machine gun crew. His entire squad was gassed by the Germans during the war. He recovered but could only speak softly.
I received his dog tags and a pocket knife. I was the youngest grandchild, still in short pants when he died. I like to think I inherited his love of animals and sense of humor. Both of these are less tangible than perhaps money but of more value than Swiss Francs.
#38
My friend left me his cats. I take very good care of them. I hope he is in heaven looking down and he’s happy.
#39
Patience. My father was a wonderful person who didn’t say much at home but had hundreds of friends outside of the house. When he died all of us were shocked by the number of mourners who came to his funeral to pay their respects. I then remembered his words to me when I would ask why he never interfered with my mother’s constant demeaning talks to me and he had replied, “You must learn to turn the other cheek and pick the proper time to react. Patience is not easy but it is golden and helps you to grow into a man.”
#40
I never received – money, a car, a house, land, or any form of physical property from my parents but I happily and most gratefully received this three most treasured heritage from my parents:
FIRM SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION
QUALITY EDUCATION and
GOOD NAME
Personally, experience has shown that the aforementioned three inheritance are the most valuable and treasured that have ultimately bestowed upon me a life of PEACE, CONTENTMENT and FUNFILMENT.
#41
We had to chastise my aunt (my dad’s sister) for taking the old microwave off the kitchen counter and pushing it up by hand to the top shelf of the hall closet, by herself.
She was 95.
My dad? 90, lives on his own at home, does all his own driving,shopping, cleaning, cooking, and gardening- oh, robust he is, yes.
I’m glad I look like him… I’m hoping I got the construction DNA plans for longevity and functionality from his side! He was stingy with the blue-eyes Gene, but hopefully, that was a one-off.
#42
A gilded concert pedal harp.
It was left to me by a friend of our family who was a professional harpist
#43
A ranch