Facilitate Family Financial Conversations Across Generations

Now that you're approaching retirement, your kids are most likely all grown, with financial plans and pressures of their own. This might make you reluctant to burden them with more information and decisions. But now is the time to talk with them about your financial values and goals for retirement, including how they might inherit some of your wealth and the implications around this. Feeling some anxiety around these topics and conversations is completely normal. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Start the Discussion Now

For many people, financial conversations with family can be tricky. Your family might feel unclear about your financial situation as you move toward retirement because you haven't shared the details with them. You, on the other hand, may feel you don't have the information or expertise to properly explain all the financial and legal aspects. And you may feel uncertain about specific decisions you've yet to make.

So while nearing retirement can bring feelings of freedom and possibility, the prospect of talking to family about finances can also cause anxiety.

This is why many people either delay having the sensitive family talk about finances, or never have it at all. Although understandable, this isn't a positive, healthy, or useful strategy. While avoidance may save you some stress in the moment, it can create a build-up of problems in the mid- to long-term. Changing your thinking about this — and forming a strategy for financial conversations across generations — can help.

It's important to realize you don't need to know everything. Take that unrealistic burden off your own shoulders. You also don't have to address and resolve every issue all at once. Consider this the beginning of many conversations, involving different people at different times.

Talk with Everyone Involved — Inside and Outside the Family

At this stage, it's important to discuss family finances across generations with everyone concerned, and to form a strategy that works for you. Your strategy may include legal, financial, or even medical considerations, so it's also worth bringing these discussions to professionals who can offer expertise for your specific situation. Involving your family in some conversations with your ancillary professionals can help facilitate open communication and better understanding.

Our conversations, for instance, are an important part of your overall planning process. When you invite family members into certain conversations we have, you might notice several additional benefits, such as:

• Your family will know who to call if something unexpected happens.
• It can ease some of the strain on you to have a trusted, outside voice explain your plans and strategies and provide knowledgeable guidance.
• Your adult children can have the opportunity to ask questions and receive knowledgeable responses.
• Through open, mediated communication, you may uncover issues and solutions that none of your family — including you — had thought about before.
• You can meet wherever is most comfortable, whether that's your home or our office.

What Do You Want to Share with Your Family About Financial Goals and Values?

Many families don't discuss the larger, intergenerational aspects of their financial situations. They often try to feel their way through the financial maze and end up making risky or incorrect assumptions. For example, you or members of your family may have varying degrees of understanding — or misunderstanding — about retirement plans, estates, inheritance, property, taxes, savings, investments, insurance, and long-term care, often formed without an open, intentional discussion.

Sharing the facts of your financial situation with your adult children can help you manage your own finances well and help set them up for the future. The attitude that "it's your business, not theirs" generally isn't helpful, and often isn't entirely accurate. Your decisions now and throughout retirement may have financial implications for other generations in your family — from how you choose to spend and pass on your wealth, to the plans you make for long-term and end-of-life care.

Letting your family know that you have a retirement plan and plans for the future — and inviting them into these conversations — is a meaningful way to demonstrate your values and leadership, providing structure and confidence for a future they'll one day face without you. Equally important are the conversations you may need to have with your own parents, to understand their needs and wishes and how their decisions may affect you down the road.

As you think through the conversations you want to have, it may help to consider three phases many people experience in retirement:

• Go-Go Years — the first years of retirement (at whatever age), up to around age 70.
• Slow-Go Years — roughly ages 70 to 80.
• No-Go Years — around age 80 and beyond.

Each phase is likely to involve a different set of financial issues.

Those in their Go-Go Years may want the freedom to spend more generously, since they're free from work but still have plenty of energy and free time — for travel, dining out, spending time with grandchildren, and social events. Even so, they may still face pressures such as paying off a mortgage or managing healthcare costs.

The Slow-Go Years are often marked by a change in the pace of life. Travel and leisure activities may become less frequent, and healthcare needs may increase. Adjustments to living arrangements, accessibility accommodations, or supportive services may be needed. Despite a slower pace, financial demands can remain significant, making careful planning and resource management especially important.

Retirees in the No-Go Years may need to spend more time and money on themselves, particularly if health and independence decline. Adjustments to living arrangements or supportive services are often necessary. Planning ahead for healthcare expenses, living expenses, end-of-life care, and up-to-date estate planning becomes essential at this stage.

Talking through these different stages together can bring everyone involved greater clarity and confidence for the future.

Schedule a meeting, and let's discuss how to begin having these important financial discussions across the generations in your family.

^{This material was developed and prepared by a third party for use by your Registered Representative. The opinions expressed and material provided are for general information and should not be considered a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. The content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information.}

^{For a comprehensive review of your personal situation, always consult with a tax or legal advisor. Neither Cetera nor any of its representatives may give legal or tax advice.}