By coinnews 
00:00 Speaker A
Financial consultants predict that older Americans will pass on $124 trillion in assets to their heirs over the next two decades. But let’s face it. Talking about money can be uncomfortable. That’s why we’ve got a few tips to help make those conversations a little easier. Joining me now, we’ve got Tom Deans, author of the Happy Inheritor. Tom, great to have you here with us. Let’s let’s just start there. How can families begin the conversation about inheritance and wealth transfer without creating tension or discomfort?
00:46 Tom Deans
Well, Brad, it’s a great place to dive into a complex subject. I mean, we got, uh, I mean, you quoted that number there. It’s roughly three hun- I mean, $300 billion dollars a day. I mean, it’s a staggering amount of wealth that is transitioning between the generations. Most of it chaotically. We have a, you know, we have 137 million American adults without a will. I mean, the most important document in an estate plan is missing, roughly in half of all American adults. It’s not good. Brad, um, so we know what. Um, it’s an it is an uncomfortable subject. It’s awkward. Culturally, parents don’t really want to talk to their children about, you know, what they’re going to inherit, the what the kids are going to inherit because that kind of feels like, I don’t know, they’re setting their kids up to receive a windfall and they don’t want to take away their drive and ambition. And of course, kids don’t know how to, you know, children know how to start this conversation with their parents. It feels awkward or like they’re clamoring for stuff. So often, the result is silence, right? Parents and children find this kind of awkward ambivalence around this important subject called money. So my my advice is really straightforward. It’s, first of all, I I think, I think when children can actually get their own, and when I say children, anyone over 18 needs a will. Uh, nothing says we die in order. So I I say to young adults all the time, if your parents aren’t talking about this stuff, you can get your own will done and give your own will to your parents. You can maybe say, listen, I’m going to I’m going to be on a on a flight. I’m going to be traveling. Uh, nothing says we die in order. You should have my estate planning documents. Most parents will think, well, that’s kind of weird, but, you know, you’re kind of parenting us. When children parent their parents on an awkward subject like estate planning, many parents will reciprocate. There’s that kind of reciprocity, and they may that may be the trigger that that causes them to kind of, you know, pass on their documents and start a family conversation. Uh, it’s really, really important. Alternatively, um, Brad, I I would suggest that parents can say, listen, we’d like to talk about our long-term care. Right. So before we talk about who gets what, you know, in our estate, we also like to talk about our long-term care and who in the family is going to oversee our care. The two subjects are really intertwined. Yeah.
05:18 Speaker A
So at what age should you have the wealth transfer talk with your kids? And and I like the strategy that you mentioned up in upfront, which is, you know, say your kids are old enough to have their own planning and, you know, put that in front of their parents. But, you know, what if your kids are not old enough to have that planning started up? So you’re trying to figure out now as a parent when you begin kind of the familial conversation with your younger kids.
06:01 Tom Deans
Well, well this answer may shock you, Brad, but I think the age is five. Five at five years old, children are capable of understanding basic money concepts. They are not going to understand anything in detail, but they will they can be introduced to the idea of wealth and how it’s earned versus gifting. General concepts, basic concepts. And as those children get older and older and older, then the level of detail that is shared can be comprehended slowly and absorbed. I think people want to go from zero to 100 miles an hour when it comes to money and teach everyone all in one moment in time. The reality is that moment rarely comes. And most adult children are left in the dark. It’s why most wills in this country are revealed when someone dies, which is way too late. Way too late to teach people about, you know, the, you know, the power of compounding interest and the importance of saving early on and investing early on. All of these concepts can be taught at a young age, as young as five.
08:20 Speaker A
So what are some things that parents should make sure to discuss with their children when it does come to transferring their wealth?
08:32 Tom Deans
Well, I I think first of all, um, you you absolutely need to, and this again is counterintuitive, but it is this idea of sharing your estate planning documents is absolutely crucial. Um, you know, 137 million Americans without an without a will, there is no estate plan. And to leave that conversation, um, right to the very end when someone dies, it’s not just people learning about what they get. It’s finding the backup documents that go, you know, the the title, the deeds to land, to real estate, insurance policies. It it is staggering the amount of questions that start getting fired when when someone dies. Of course, it’s too late. Those conversations are irretrievable. So it’s not just enough to do estate planning. It’s important to get your family to participate in those conversations before you draft those documents. In other words, draft the documents with their input, and then go one step further and share those documents, so that the people who are named as beneficiaries will will be prepared. I mean, really my book, the Happy Inheritor, is really about preparing heirs for the smooth, calm transition of of wealth. Um, it’s a it’s an enormously complex subject that requires time and effort.