The money came quickly because her name was on his bank accounts and she was listed as the beneficiary of his veteran's benefits.
Belcher responsibly paid off her college loans, then moved from Missouri to New York for a graduate program in journalism. She used what was left to support herself. Now, eight years later, the money is gone.
She blames that partly on not being savvy about spending in New York, and partly on the money not being invested optimally by a bank adviser in Missouri who first helped her.
"It's unfortunate, when people haven't thought through it and, before you know it, (the money is) gone," says Bill Benjamin, chief executive officer of U.S. Bancorp Investment Inc.
The ideal thing to do is to draw up a financial plan before you start dipping into an inheritance, he says.
While Belcher thinks she is better off than before––she is building a career as a fashion editor in New York––overall, the experience was negative.
"I couldn't appreciate the amount of money. If this would have happened at an older age, I would have had more knowledge," she says.