Man Horrified After Learning Wife Intends to Donate Entire $1 Million Inheritance to Charity

A man on Reddit is frustrated and shocked after learning his wife has decided to donate her entire $1 million inheritance from her late father entirely to charity.

"My wife's father recently passed away, leaving behind assets worth nearly a million dollars, which we were very surprised by. He worked in middle to upper-middle management of several small companies, and was known for being personally frugal but generous to those around him, especially after his wife passed a few years earlier," the man wrote.

"My wife, as an only child, is the sole beneficiary of his estate and he did not leave any instructions for how this inheritance should be used," he continued his Reddit post.

The man explained the money would be "life-changing" for his family.

"With this amount of money we could buy a house and eliminate our biggest expense which is rent each month. We could finally upgrade our aging car to an electric vehicle, which we have wanted to do for ages partly for environmental reasons, partly also because electricity is cheaper than gas where we are so it would actually save us money long term," he shared.

"We have a small amount of student debt that we were going to pay off soon anyway, but we could pay it off immediately. We could start a college fund for our children. And even though I am under no illusions of never having to work again, it would allow us to pull back on the hours and do more of what we enjoy, spend time together, travel and see the world, etc.," the man added.

However, when his wife learned of her substantial inheritance, she told him she immediately assumed they were going to donate it all to charity.

"We have always supported charitable causes we care about and I don't object to donating a portion. However, she seemed surprised that I wanted to use it for ourselves. Her reasoning is that no one needs or should have this amount of money all at once. We didn't earn it and didn't even know it was there; we were getting along perfectly fine before, and we would still be perfectly fine without it. Sure, it could make our lives more comfortable, but the right charities could leverage this amount of money to change thousands of people's lives," he recalled.

"It turned into a nasty argument. I told her since we are married I thought I should have some say in a major financial decision like this, especially since it has implications for both of us. She said the money was left to her, so she should be able to decide what to do with her inheritance," the man concluded.

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Reactions to the man's story were mixed in the comments section of his Reddit post.

"Considering her father recently passed, she probably has a lot on her mind. This post reads as though you bombarded her with ideas ... But, why on Earth would you just donate an inheritance like that? Is she someone who volunteers every week and does a bunch of community work?" one reader questioned.

"In this housing market and current economic conditions, buying a nice, affordable home with a middle-class income is quite difficult. So I totally understand your reasoning in wanting to use at least this inheritance for that purpose. And also for your children's future ... However, I would also approach this with caution. After all, you don't want to make your wife feel like you're demanding her to make a hard choice either," another advised.

"It is your wife’s inheritance but your suggestions are certainly practical. Can you suggest a compromise? Like put it aside for a year before making any decisions? Or investing it but donating the interest to charity every year? That way you’d still have the capital in case of emergency and you’d potentially be able to donate much more to charity over your lifetimes than if you donated the whole sum now," someone else suggested.