I’m 71 with $2M in the bank. How do I make sure my grandkids are set for life?
Mar 31, 2026
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Even a comfortable nest egg can shrink without a clear plan. Consider hiring a vetted financial advisor who can help connect the dots across taxes, investments and estate planning.
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Tangible assets may help offset inflation and currency devaluation. A gold IRA, for instance, lets you hold physical gold while keeping the tax advantages of a retirement account.
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Real estate is another potential inflation hedge. With the Fundrise Flagship Fund, you can access a $1B private real estate portfolio — without the hands-on work of being a landlord.
With $2 million in the bank and your mortgage paid off, money isn’t supposed to be your problem at 71.
The bigger challenge is protecting what you’ve built, helping it grow and making sure it benefits the next generation, because even a comfortable nest egg can evaporate without careful planning.
That concern isn’t just theoretical. According to the National Council on Aging, more than two-thirds of Americans age 70 and older will experience a major financial shock — such as a sudden drop in net wealth — over a nine-year period.
In the current economy, having money alone isn't enough to secure a legacy. Here are four ways to help ensure your grandkids are set for life.
You can’t DIY a $2M legacy
When your net worth reaches $1 million to $2 million, the game changes. The risk is no longer whether you’ll have enough: it’s whether your wealth survives taxes, market missteps and poor estate planning.
At this level, doing everything yourself can be costly.
For instance, taking just a few thousand dollars too much from your IRA can trigger what’s commonly known as a “tax torpedo."
This is a brutal chain reaction where one extra withdrawal accidentally pushes you into a higher bracket and triples the taxes on your Social Security at the same time.
Without a financial expert to help you map out which bucket to dip into first, you could end up handing nearly half of your retirement income to the IRS, simply because you took your own money out in the wrong order.
Hiring a fiduciary advisor — who is legally obligated to act in your best interest — helps ensure nothing slips through the cracks. They don’t just pick investments, they also coordinate strategy across taxes, asset allocation and estate planning.
Platforms like Advisor.com connect you with experienced financial advisors in your area who can provide personalized guidance.
Just indicate what you need help with — like tax optimization, retirement planning, or estate planning — answer a few quick questions through their online form and the platform will match you with a vetted financial advisor in 5 minutes.
You can set up a free, no-obligation-to-hire call to see how they can help you create an actionable plan and whether their approach and pricing model make sense for you.
Hedge against the ‘silent killer’
One of the greatest threats to long-term wealth isn’t a market crash — it’s inflation. Often called the “silent killer,” inflation quietly erodes your purchasing power year after year.
For example, cumulative inflation from 2014 to 2025 was roughly 38% to 40%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means you would need about $2.8 million today to match the purchasing power of $2 million a decade ago.
The most effective defense is diversification into hard assets with intrinsic value that tend to hold their value as prices rise.
Real estate
Beyond just being a physical asset you own, real estate can bring in rental income that often act as a built-in hedge against rising prices.
But here’s the part most people don’t realize: it’s still possible to build a real estate portfolio without having to play landlord or putting down a large down payment.
The Fundrise Flagship Fund¹ is a $1 billion private real estate fund that lets you invest in an expertly crafted strategy without needing hundreds of thousands of dollars. You don’t need to be an accredited investor, and you can get started with as little as $10.
With 4,700+ single-family homes and 2,500+ residential units owned by the Fundrise Flagship Fund, you get exposure to institutional-style scale and diversification.
Industrial
215 Interchange
Las Vegas, NV
Build-for-rent
Pine Ridge
Fountain Inn, SC
Build-for-rent
Omnia
Richmond Hill, GA
These are a few examples of properties powering the Fundrise Flagship Fund. For a full list of the Fundrise Flagship Fund's portfolio properties, see the Flagship Fund website.
After you place your first investment, the Fundrise Flagship Fund will work to find and add new assets to your portfolio over time and send you transparent updates along the way.
It only takes a few minutes to sign up now and become a real estate investor today.
If you’re an accredited investor with at least $100,000 of capital to deploy, you could consider investing with Lightstone DIRECT, a new investing platform from the Lightstone Group, one of the largest private real estate companies in the country with over 25,000 multifamily units in its portfolio.
Since they eliminate intermediaries — brokers and crowdfunding middlemen — you can gain direct access to institutional-quality multifamily opportunities. This streamlined model can help reduce fees while enhancing transparency and control.
Featured
Residential
Columbus, OH
Featured
Industrial
Tobyhanna, PA
Featured
Residential
Beverly Hills, MI
These are a few examples of past properties or acquisitions from Lightstone. Explore more investment opportunities when you register with Lightstone DIRECT.
And with Lightstone DIRECT, you invest in single-asset multifamily deals alongside Lightstone — a true partner — as Lightstone puts at least 20% of its own capital into every offering. All of Lightstone’s investment opportunities undergo a rigorous, multi-stage review before being approved by Lightstone’s Principals, including Founder David Lichtenstein.
How it works is simple: Just sign up with your email, and you can schedule a call with a capital formation expert to assess your investment opportunities. From here, you just need to verify your details to begin investing.
Founded in 1986, Lightstone has a proven track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns across market cycles with a 27.6% historical net IRR and 2.54x historical net equity multiple on realized investments since 2004. All told, Lightstone has $12 billion in assets under management — including in industrial and commercial real estate.
As such, even if multifamily rentals don’t appeal to you, Lightstone could still serve you well as an investment vehicle for other real estate verticals.
Get started today with Lightstone DIRECT and invest alongside experienced professionals with skin in the game.
Gold
Gold plays a different but equally important role in diversifying your portfolio and protecting your wealth.
It doesn’t generate income, but it has historically served as a store of value during periods of inflation and stock market uncertainty.
For a high-net-worth investor, the goal isn't just to buy gold, it’s to hold it efficiently. If you already have a significant portion of your wealth in a traditional IRA or 401(k), you are likely heavily exposed to the fluctuations of the stock market.
By diversifying a portion of your existing retirement holdings into a Gold IRA — which allows yout to gold physical bars or coins — you can combine the protective benefits of gold with the tax perks you already enjoy within an IRA.
Priority Gold can help you transition a portion of your portfolio into physical assets.
They offer a 100% free rollover process for existing IRAs, plus free shipping and storage for up to five years. For those making a qualifying purchase, you could also receive up to $10,000 in free silver.
To learn more about how Priority Gold can help shield your hard-earned savings from inflation or economic volatility, download their free 2026 gold investor bundle.
Lock in institutional-grade growth
While your own portfolio may prioritize stability, a portion of your estate could capture growth opportunities that can give your grandkids a head start in the innovation economy.
At your net worth, diversification is also about accessing asset classes that were once reserved for the ultra-wealthy.
Fine art is a prime example of an alternative asset class that can add a sophisticated layer of diversification to a $2M portfolio.
According to a 2025 UBS survey, high-net-worth collectors allocate an average of 20% of their wealth to art. This is because blue-chip art has historically shown a low correlation to the stock market, acting as a potential buffer when traditional markets are volatile.
With Masterworks, you no longer need to bid millions at an auction house to own a piece of famous art.
The platform allows you to buy fractional shares in multimillion-dollar works by icons like Picasso and Banksy. While art can be illiquid and typically requires a long-term hold, it offers unique portfolio diversification.
Sold
Joan Mitchell
17.8% annualized net return
Sold
Yayoi Kusama
17.6% annualized net return
Sold
George Condo
21.5% annualized net return
These are a few examples of sold artworks from Masterworks. For a full list of currently available art, visit Masterworks' Price Database.
Masterworks has sold 25 artworks so far, yielding net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.
Even better, if you’re interested in art, you can skip the waitlist and go straight to investing.
Note that past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd
By treating art as a financial asset, you can pass down shares in a diversified portfolio of physical masterpieces to your grandchildren.
Protect your legacy
At the $1 million to $2 million level, the greatest risk to your estate often isn’t market volatility — it’s what happens after you’re gone. And probate is often one of the biggest issues.
Without proper planning, even well-managed wealth can get tied up in court, exposed to public scrutiny, and slowly chipped away by legal fees and delays. Probate can take 12 to 18 months, sometimes longer, during which your assets are frozen, and your family is left waiting.
A will is an important starting point, but on its own, it’s not enough for an estate of this size. This is where a living trust matters. It’s a powerful estate-planning tool that gives you control over how your assets are managed both during your lifetime and after your death.
A revocable living trust provides the legal armor your legacy needs. Assets held in a trust bypass probate entirely, allowing your home, investments, and hard assets to transfer to your heirs efficiently and privately.
A trust also preserves privacy. Probate filings make asset values, beneficiaries, and family details accessible to the public. By contrast, assets held in a trust transfer quietly and efficiently, keeping control where it belongs: within the family.
However, getting the whole process started can feel overwhelming. That’s probably why more than 72% of Americans lack a valid will, according to Planned Giving.
With Ethos Will & Trust, you can create both a will and a living trust online from the comfort of your own home in as little as 20 minutes. All documents created on the platform are vetted by experienced estate-planning attorneys — giving you complete peace of mind.
You can also make unlimited updates forever as your life changes, helping you protect your family without the price of an attorney.
You can create a will starting at just $149 and a living trust starting at just $349. And if you're not happy with the results, you’re covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
¹Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fundrise Flagship Fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus. Read them carefully before investing. This marketing was vetted by the Moneywise team and sponsored by the Fundrise Flagship Fund.
Phil is a writer at Moneywise, bringing a strong background in public relations, financial communications and copywriting. Educated in Cambridge, U.K., he has created content for several blue-chip companies, combining clarity with strategic insight.
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