Family Togetherness at What Cost?

Your children’s financial situation is unlikely to improve miraculously. You must first realize this before you can make progress on your estate plan. Many seniors who are fortunate enough to be able to think about their estate plans, who have not been living hand to mouth their entire lives, are in a more secure financial position than their children will ever be. Some of the opportunities that helped you reach your secure financial position have vanished in the generation since you achieved this stability. If your kids can ever afford to own a house, it will be because of you; they will either have to inherit your house, or you will have to contribute to the down payment on the house that they purchase. What your kids inherit from the remainder of your employer-provided retirement savings may be the only retirement savings they ever have. Gone are the days when family gatherings meant flying to a tourist destination and then separately returning to houses you own, when cash gifts were to be saved for grandchildren’s futures, and no one would touch the money until the grandchildren reached adulthood. Today, whether you are a source of financial support for your descendants is not a question of if but how. To find out more about getting the maximum generational wealth out of your family’s limited funds, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.

Do the Emotional Costs of a Multigenerational Household Outweigh the Financial Savings?

If you are a member of Generation X, you have probably spent your working years looking forward to a retirement where you could live life on your own terms. Even if you have limited resources, an important way of doing this is by setting boundaries with your family. The media are outspoken about the heavy emotional burden on middle-aged, working people who act as caregivers for their children and for their own parents at the same time. The burnout of elders who help support younger generations is real, too, even if we talk about it less. Before you retire and consign yourself to a fixed income, though, you should be honest with yourself about how much you can afford to give your children and grandchildren, financially and otherwise.

Then, you should be clear with your children about how much you can and cannot give. Is it easier for you to babysit your grandchildren while their parents are at work or to give your children money to help them pay for daycare? Is it easier for you if your children live with you indefinitely, or if you give them money to help them pay their rent? Your answers to these questions should be based on emotional considerations as well as financial ones.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney

An estate planning lawyer can help you decide which boundaries to set with your children and set them before you end up in a multigenerational household where everyone is broke and miserable.  Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.

Source:

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