When a windfall arrives , the mental accounting trap is immediate: Cash feels like "found money" rather than hard-earned principal.

This cognitive shift can give rise to ' sudden wealth syndrome ' — a distortion of financial judgment in which a sudden windfall or inheritance creates the illusion of infinite purchasing power.

From a balance sheet perspective, sudden wealth can be destructive not because of emotion, but because it can convert the windfall into permanent fixed liabilities. Many inheritors fall prey to lifestyle creep , high-risk investments and guilt-driven financial requests from friends and relatives.

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