DEAR BRUCE: It may seem trivial to be asking this question, as there are so many people out there having such a hard time, but I do have a concern about my granddaughter. When she turns 18, her trust will expire, at which time she will be able to withdraw in excess of $1 million that was left to her by her deceased father. Obviously, my daughter doesn’t want her to have immediate access to this money and blow it; she would like to know how to invest it for her. Any suggestions? — Reader, via email

DEAR READER: Leaving this amount of money to someone at the tender age of 18 was an incredible exercise in poor judgment. Far too many times, kids who are left with excessive amounts of money when they are little grow up to be young adults who you wish could not get their hands on the money.

For example, if the money was left to them when they were 10 and they spent the next eight years hanging out with the wrong crowd, stealing, doing drugs, etc., there’s a whole list of things that could go wrong. The last thing you’d want is for kids like this to have this kind of money.
You, your daughter and your granddaughter should sit down with a trained and recommended financial adviser. You will have to trust the adviser to know where the money should go. That is the best thing for all parties. I wish you well.