The flip side of this is that at 20 something he may not have those relationships established, or may not be sure about the lawyer/banker he's chosen. There als

The flip side of this is that at 20 something he may not have those relationships established, or may not be sure about the lawyer/banker he's chosen. There also seem to be quite a few people here that have been through similar circumstances and may be able to offer advice. In my own experience in my early 20's when I suddenly came into a large sum of money I had a good financial advisor in the sense that he helped me make more money from my investments in the short term, but I had no long term strategy. When the bubble burst I lost a lot of money. I also didn't have a good tax strategy and ended up with some very large unforeseen consequences of my decisions. Then there were the people looking for handouts and investments in their "amazing ideas." I lost every penny I put into investments or loans, though I was smart enough not to expect to see any of that money again. The best advice I would give is to be quiet about how much money has been made. Find a good CPA and wealth manager. Talk about long term strategies, be sure to look at tax issues up front. People will come looking for hand outs and investments, avoid those for the most part. Make sure you trust your advisors and fully understand the decisions you are making. Don't take specific advice from somewhere like HN, try to look at patterns that may emerge from that advice however. So far it seems like everyone is advocating a conservative approach.