Son inherited small fortune tucked away between the pages of dad’s books

Son inherited small fortune tucked away between the pages of dad’s books ROSEMARY COUNTER SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO Open this photo in gallery: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL. SOURCES: GETTY IMAGES COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. The Beneficiary: “Ryan” is a 32-year-old public servant who recently got married in a small, humble ceremony. “We wanted a bigger event but couldn’t justify the expense,” he says. It would have been friends rather than family for Ryan, however, as his last living family member – his father, a resident in a long-term care home in Britain – died a few months before the wedding. After the honeymoon, Ryan hopped across the pond to clean out his father’s house and settle his financial affairs. The Inheritance: Because his mother’s gone and Ryan’s an only child, his father’s wishes were simple and straightforward. “Dad always said I’d get the house and everything in it,” says Ryan. While digging through his dad’s stuff, Ryan found a number of old stock certificates hidden away – literally. “Some of them were tucked between the individual pages of old books,” he says. It turns out that since the early 90s, before Ryan was born, his dad had been buying shares and telling no one. What he learned: Firstly, a good lesson in procrastination: “I knew it was all going to be too emotional so I was inclined to box everything up for storage and deal with it later,” admits Ryan, who was initially thoroughly convinced there was little of value in the house and probably not worth the hassle of sorting through it all. A cursory Google check of the first certificate Ryan found – a few thousand shares of an oil and gas company that no longer exists – only confirmed his original hunch. They inherited $900,000 from their dad. Here’s how two siblings split it with a brother who’s bad with money Ryan’s not sure what compelled him, but boy is he glad his curiosity prompted him to ask questions on an anonymous online financial forum. There he found several people chiming in to explain that the certificates are “valuable securities and not just pieces of random paper.” Newly intrigued that maybe these old-timey certificates were legit, Ryan sent a photo to a Canadian CPA back home. His response: “You need to find a U.K. broker tomorrow and a U.K. tax lawyer yesterday.” That night, Ryan got out a calculator and…