Much of this wealth will pass from parents to children, but it's also possible to inherit from other loved ones. Let's pretend, for example, that Leah is 72 and retired, but her sister Paige passed away and left her $40,000. However, Schuiteboer and other experts also warned that Leah's first focus must be understanding the tax implications and technical requirements of the inheritance. "The biggest error I see is that someone receives an inheritance and assumes it should stay invested the way it was before," Talley told Moneywise. With most assets you can sell, reinvest around your own plan, and incur basically no tax penalty because of that step-up."