- Susan von Seggern used a $10,000 inheritance to buy a convertible and start saving for a home.
- She turned her initial inheritance into significant wealth, investing in property and a brokerage.
- Last year, she received another inheritance of $100,000, which she’s used mainly to fix up her home.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Susan von Seggern, a 56-year-old publicist and CFO in Los Angeles. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My grandmother indirectly helped me become financially smart by leaving me $10,000 when she died in 1993.
While on her deathbed, she couldn’t satiate her four grandchildren with sumptuous meals anymore, so she literally brought some fortune into our lives in her last bittersweet days.
I was 25 but wise enough not to waste the money on something that would only gratify me for the short term.
Instead, I…
