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Giving your adult children or grandchildren a massive cash gift can sabotage the financial independence you hope to build. Here is how to restructure your legacy with incentive trusts.
Helping them out is cool, but the best gift is teaching them how to manage money, be realistic about their standard of living and learn to stand on their own.
In this panel conversation, Kiplinger editors talk to experts about the Great Wealth Transfer and answer questions on how to discuss inheritance with your family.
Although equal splits look fair on paper, they can ignore lifetime gifts, different needs, or hard-to-divide assets and leave siblings fighting long after you’re gone.
Advisors discussed how they guide clients through the competing priorities of saving for their own retirements versus their children's college educations.
Long-term care costs can reduce the inheritance you leave your children. Learn how to prepare for care while protecting your retirement and estate plans.
Before leaving your home to your children, ask these questions about costs, taxes, sibling dynamics and what your children actually want.
Planning for death (and taxes) isn't fun, but it is necessary. And leaving investments to your children in a tax-efficient way is a good thing.
The Great Wealth Transfer starts with a conversation. Here's how to prepare heirs, reduce future conflict and create a lasting legacy.
The era of "raise them until 18 then they're on their own" is long gone. Childhoods are lengthening and so is the scope of parents' financial involvement. Where parents of the past might have seen the...
You can help your kids without hurting yourself.
I wrote this post because I needed a kick in the pants. I was finishing my fifth straight day of seven to nine hours of nonstop childcare, plus three posts and a newsletter, and I still had four more ...
From heirloom china to your old golf clubs, here is what your grown kids secretly wish you'd unload — just not on them.
If a basic will isn't enough to protect your family's assets, you have two trust options: revocable vs. irrevocable. But only one is right for you.
Intentional lifetime giving creates far greater impact than lump‑sum inheritances by reducing stress, building responsibility, and passing down values along with wealth.
These steps can help you ensure that the wealth your children or grandchildren inherit is a catalyst for opportunity rather than a source of conflict.
While legal and tax strategies are essential for transferring wealth, the more critical step is ensuring your family knows what's coming, how and why.
I am 68 and my wife is 72. We have no children. We have a few nieces and nephews but have not seen any of them in several years. Our net worth is about $1.8M with a paid off home worth about $425K. We...
I write before my kids wake up and after they go to sleep. That's the arrangement. It means I'm free during summer, winter, and spring breaks, along with weekends, which is the whole point of building...
Some parents may feel obligated to help their adult children – but that support may be doing more harm than good.
My husband and I have found ourselves just a few years from retirement and realizing our adult children are not yet financially independent and struggling in today's economy. Can any of you relate to ...
I’ve tried to come up with all the pros and cons but maybe I’ve not thought of everything? My husband just retired and I have one or two more years left. We live up north near children and grandchildr...
Learn what families need to be aware of when following the FIRE movement.
Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs) can keep capital gains taxes at bay when your children inherit your property. But you need to handle them smartly.
Wisdom can be a far greater gift than money. After all, what good is an inheritance if children don't know the values behind it or have the skills to handle it?
Supporting your adult kids shouldn’t mean risking your retirement. Our Wealth Wise columnist explains how to help them when times are tough.
Between Trump accounts and child-friendly investment platforms, it has become much easier for parents to invest for their children’s future.
This past Father's Day, June 21, 2026, I had a choice to make. I could play pickleball from 9am to 12noon at an indoor club called Flyte, a 30-minute drive north. Or I could take my kids 30 minutes so...
Your kids are already inheriting your financial habits, whether you know it or not. Here's why, and how you can be more intentional about it. The post If Your Kids Inherited Only Your Financial Habits...
Before giving your kids money in retirement, ask these 3 questions to protect your nest egg and their financial future.
I'm considering retirement or surviving after being retired. 1 and 3 kids move back home to make it. I have friends who retired and have to provide some sort of assistance for their children or grandc...
Kids who grow up with savings accounts are more likely to learn the basics of managing and investing — and more likely to attend college.
The teenage years are tricky for kids and parents, but they're the right time to start talking openly about money and what you'd do in a medical emergency.
Anyone else in a similar situation? We currently live in the Midwest and I'm not a fan of the 6 month long winters. We could probably do the snow bird thing for a while, but at some point we'd have to...
Don't put off money conversations with your heirs. Financial education needs to start early, with hands-on opportunities to learn and make mistakes.
When tuition stops, it frees up $30,000 to $80,000 a year. Most households don't have a plan for that money. Here’s how to put it to work. The post What to Do With Money After Kids Graduate appeared f...
I recently received a great comment on my post, Why All Rich People I Know Still Have Life Insurance. It was the last line that stood out. Here's what Marc had to say. I had life insurance ($1M) throu...
Want to give your kids a home down payment? Want to help cover daycare expenses? Instead of writing them a check, transfer appreciated stock into their account.
Teaching kids financial literacy doesn’t have to be complicated. Summer can be the perfect time to teach children and teens real-world money skills through allowances, chores, summer jobs, grocery sho...
Millions of those in the sandwich generation need to care for kids and aging parents while saving for retirement. These tips can help make it less of a struggle.
A lesser-known SECURE Act exemption can help families with a child or grandchild who needs support but doesn't qualify for SSI or SSDI save significantly on taxes.
The Bank of Mom and Dad can be challenging — financially and emotionally. These tips pave the way.
My daughter has a significant disability but has been self-supporting and living independently for 15 years. She has suffered some setbacks in this economy. I also feel that she makes what I think are...
Growing up, my dad would grab a quick breakfast with us before vanishing into the workforce. He'd resurface after 6pm, visibly depleted. The highlight reel of my childhood memories: throwing a ball ar...
After publishing my piece on the shocking cost of eldercare, a question kept nagging at me that I couldn't shake: when money is finite and the people you love are not, how do you decide who to help or...
We asked estate planners how to protect his one-year-old dog when his heirs aren't up to the task.
We are 68 and retired with $6.8 million. I just want to help our adult kids pay for daycare and camp for our grandchildren. Should I stop?
Hi readers, it’s been a while since we’ve done a reader case, so here goes! This one is a doozy, and I knew it as soon as I saw the headline in my inbox “FIRE with 7 kids”. If you have a big family, i...
Instead of seeing retirement planning as a game of optimizing returns, try to view it as building a plan that keeps your family steady when life punches first.
Since 2009, I've been writing about all the ups and downs of my financial independence journey, the good and the bad. What I can clearly say is that who you partner with in life is one of the most imp...