Question 1

1. How do I know if my parents are financially prepared for long-term care?

Accepted Answer

Start with the paperwork: do they have a durable power of attorney and healthcare directive in place, and does someone you trust actually know where their accounts and important documents are? From there, look at whether their income and assets could reasonably cover a period of in-home care or a care facility, since costs can run well into six figures over a multi-year period. If there’s a meaningful gap, that’s worth addressing while there’s still time to plan around it, rather than reacting during a crisis.

Question 2

2. What’s the best way to help pay for a grandchild’s college education?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your goals and your own financial picture. A 529 plan offers tax-free growth for education expenses and, in many states, a state tax deduction for contributions, but the funds are somewhat restricted in how they can be used. Direct tuition payments made straight to a school don’t count against your annual gift tax exclusion at all, which can be a useful tool for grandparents specifically. The right approach often involves a mix of both, depending on how much you want to contribute and how much flexibility you want to retain.

Question 3

3. How often should our family review our estate planning documents?

Accepted Answer

As a general guideline, every three to five years, or immediately after a major life event: a marriage, divorce, birth, death, or a significant change in assets. Documents that haven’t been reviewed in over a decade are one of the most common gaps we see, even among families who are otherwise financially well organized.

Question 4

4. What’s an annual gifting program, and is it worth setting one up?

Accepted Answer

It’s a strategy of giving a set amount to family members each year, up to the IRS’s annual gift tax exclusion, without it counting against your lifetime estate and gift tax exemption. For families with an estate large enough that estate tax could eventually be a concern, consistent annual gifting can meaningfully reduce that exposure over time while also letting you see your family benefit from the gift during your lifetime, rather than only after you’re gone.

Question 5

5. How do we keep track of finances across multiple generations without things falling through the cracks?

Accepted Answer

Most families end up with accounts scattered across different institutions, held by different family members, with no one person seeing the full picture. We typically help build a consolidated view across the family (where appropriate and with everyone’s consent), which makes it much easier to spot gaps, whether that’s a missing beneficiary designation, an outdated document, or an account nobody’s looked at in years.

Question 6

6. How do we bring up financial planning with aging parents without it feeling intrusive?

Accepted Answer

It helps to frame it around their wishes rather than their numbers, starting with questions like who they’d want making decisions if they couldn’t, rather than opening with “how much do you have saved.” Involving a neutral third party, like an advisor, can also take some of the emotional charge out of the conversation, since it’s no longer just family members questioning each other.

Stewarding Wealth
Across Generations

Financial Planning for Intergenerational Families

Wealth With More Than One
Generation in Mind

Your family’s financial priorities may be changing in several directions at once.

SUPPORTING THE GENERATION AHEAD

You may be helping parents or other loved ones think through retirement income, healthcare, long-term care, investments, or the financial decisions they may need others to make on their behalf.

SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATION

You may want to help children or grandchildren with education, a home purchase, business ventures, or other opportunities while considering how those gifts fit within your own financial goals.

PRESERVING WHAT YOU’VE BUILT

You are thinking more intentionally about estate planning, gifting, charitable giving, and the eventual transfer of your wealth, and want those decisions to reflect both your financial objectives and your values.

The Decisions That Shape Family Wealth

Estate & Legacy Planning

Estate documents, beneficiary designations, trusts, charitable intentions, and other planning decisions should reflect your current wishes and work together as part of a broader strategy.

Education & Family Support

Funding education or providing other financial support can be an important expression of family values. We consider the available strategies alongside your own retirement, tax, and wealth-preservation goals.

Gifting & Wealth Transfer

Giving during your lifetime can provide meaningful opportunities for the people you care about. We help evaluate the financial and tax considerations of gifting while keeping your own long-term objectives in view.

Investment & Tax Strategy

Financial decisions made for one generation can have implications for another. We integrate investment management and tax planning into the broader family strategy so the pieces work together.

Supporting Aging Family Members

Helping parents prepare for changing financial and care needs can involve decisions around income, investments, insurance, long-term care, and who will be able to step in when needed.

Family Continuity

As wealth passes between generations, keeping the details coordinated becomes increasingly valuable. We help families establish a clear financial picture and coordinate with the attorneys, CPAs, and other professionals involved in the family’s affairs.

Based in Marin County, We Serve Clients Throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Nationwide

A Clear Path Forward

Understand

Understand the family structure, financial relationships, assets, obligations, goals, and priorities across generations.

Develop

Build a coordinated strategy for investments, taxes, retirement, gifting, estate considerations, and other decisions affecting the family’s wealth.

Refine

Families change. Parents age, children become adults, grandchildren arrive, assets change, and priorities evolve. We revisit the strategy as circumstances change.

FAQs

How do I know if my parents are financially prepared for long-term care?

What’s the best way to help pay for a grandchild’s college education?

How often should our family review our estate planning documents?

What’s an annual gifting program, and is it worth setting one up?

How do we keep track of finances across multiple generations without things falling through the cracks?

How do we bring up financial planning with aging parents without it feeling intrusive?

Build a Lasting Strategy for Your Family’s Wealth

Stewarding Wealth Across Generations