'Pretend like you don't have it': 23-year-old New Yorker asks Dave Ramsey what not to do with sudden $450K inheritance

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When 23-year-old Jackson from New York called into The Ramsey Show , he wasn't asking how to spend his inheritance — he was asking what not to do with it.

A few months earlier, he and his brothers had sold their parents' home, leaving him with about $450,000. He had no debt, had just graduated from college, earned about $75,000 a year and was renting with his brother while planning a future move from Long Island to New York City.

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Yet instead of feeling empowered, he felt stuck.

"I'm just wondering what to do with it," Jackson told host Dave Ramsey and cohost Ken Coleman (1). "I have all of that money … just sitting in a CD right now."

It's an understandable reaction. Sudden wealth — especially at a young age — can create decision paralysis.

And large inheritances at a young age are both rare and risky. Without experience managing six-figure sums, many people either spend recklessly or worry about making the "wrong" move, resulting in no move at all, which, too, can come with opportunity costs.

Parking the money in a certificate of deposit allowed Jackson to avoid impulsive purchases and was something Ramsey praised as preventing him from doing "something stupid with it."

He even said Jackson was "wise beyond his years" for not tapping that $450,000.

But Ramsey also warned that letting the money sit for too long comes at a cost. Freezing can be just as damaging as rushing, especially when inflation and missed investment years are at play.

Inflation erodes purchasing power and time — especially starting in your early 20s — is one of the most powerful drivers of long-term wealth.

Ramsey pointed out that if the inheritance were invested at long-term market rates, "it would double in about seven years." He contrasted that with the low yield of a CD, saying the money "should have made five times as much" if invested instead.

This matters because young adults don't just have money working for them; they have time working for them. According to the latest Federal Reserve data, the median net worth of Americans under 35 is just $39,000, compared with more than $364,000 for those aged 55 to 64 (2).