It is a treasure story that the author of Treasure IslandRobert Louis Stevenson, would not have disdained.
Daniel* started telling us about it by email at the beginning of the year.
“Here is the completely true story: my wife just lost her 76-year-old father,” he wrote. During his lifetime, the gentleman claimed to be wary of financial institutions. So much so that he practically never used credit: cash house, cash cars, etc. When he died, large sums of cash were found in his “hiding places”. »
The prize pool totals nearly $200,000.
“This amount comes from his many jobs paid under the table and a life spent saving,” Daniel added.
“The question now is how to manage this sum. For now, the treasure is sleeping in a hidden chest while waiting to find out how to help his widow use it wisely. »
Make hiding places
“He died very quickly,” Daniel said in a subsequent telephone conversation. “All his life he accumulated money and spent very little. »
After his death, his widow, Thérèse*, and his children found notes that he had hidden “and also money that he had taken out of his hiding places and that he wanted [la famille] find “.
In fact, her husband had hidden things from her: “My mother-in-law had no idea of the existence of all this money. »
Shortly before his death, he placed nearly $40,000 in cash in the dryer.
“He went to hide a wad of $1,000 in his truck so his wife would find it,” says his son-in-law. “It’s like in the movies, but it happened for real! »
The deceased had never taken out a loan and had no credit history.
“He loved collecting money. He had $1,000 bills that are no longer in circulation, very old $100 bills that date from the 1940s, and which are each worth maybe $200 or $300,” Daniel continues.
“We don’t even know today the value of all that. What we know is that if we take the money as such, it’s around $200,000 in cash. »
A heavy treasure
What to do with all these tickets?
“For now, what has been decided is to put all this money in a safety deposit box and think about it,” says Daniel.
A non-bank box, let us point out, which adds to the aura of a treasure.
A bulky treasure.
“What do we do with this?” Is this money that can be deposited in a bank account? Is my mother-in-law going to get eaten up by taxes? »
The family worked out different scenarios. One of them wanted each year, a sum of $10,000 to be discreetly given to each of the three children, until the total transfer of $200,000.
“These are children who take very good care of their mother, and no one is in a difficult financial situation,” explains Daniel.
Aged 76, Thérèse has $30,000 in a tax-free savings account (TFSA) and approximately $100,000 in unregistered savings. The family home, paid for $25,000 in cash 40 years ago, is now worth nearly $300,000.
“Her advisor at the bank advised her to pay cash for whatever she could,” her son-in-law said. Is this good advice? »
She also recommended that the widow deposit part of the amount in her TFSA.
“How can we manage this money as best as possible? At the moment, no one really needs it, neither the children nor my mother-in-law,” explains Daniel.
“It’s especially the cash part that concerns us. How to quickly get this off your face? We don’t like having a large amount of $1000 bills. »
* Although the case highlighted in this section is real, the first names used are fictitious.