Hello, I (24M) and my wife (24F) just had our first son via C-Section a few days ago. Once she was discharged and we got settled in a family member invited me to lunch and informed me that he and his wife had decided to gift us a very large sum of money (10s of thousands) in the form of an investment portfolio donated via gift tax exclusion over the next several years. I am not someone who is usually comfortable taking money from others even when offered or gifted. I attempted to refuse, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

My wife and I do not make much money, but live comfortably. We have very little debt just a 3-4 thousand in student debt and car loans. I work full time in a very high stress and technical job making roughly 50k a year. My wife quit her job 2 months ago to stay at home full time with our son. We have a decent living situation renting a very small apartment in a fairly low cost of living state. With my income we are able to afford all our necessities, put back some for retirement and misc. savings, and a few small luxuries on rare occasion (going out for dinner, seeing a movie, ect.).

I know I shouldn’t, but I feel guilty accepting this money. The family members in question have already done so much for me in my life I could never even begin to repay them. I have already spoken with my wife about it, and seeing as we can’t refuse the money. We are thinking we should continue living/spending as if this money does not exist. Just letting the portfolio grow and start making deposits into the account if and when we can afford to.

I guess my question for you all is how should we move forward to show our appreciation and make the most of this gift? Any ideas for investment vehicles, should we pay off the remainder of our debts, or just keep paying them as we are now, look into purchasing a home as a store of value, ect.

Any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.