Parents Should Place Limitations on Children’s Expectations

With more adult children depending on mom and dad to help them out financially, parents need to be able to distinguish between a reasonable request and an unreasonable one that will drain all their assets. Adult children are moving back home after college and need parents to help them out financially. There are bound to be limitations on how much parents can help their children though – even for wealthy families.

Financial planners struggle over this issue with clients because parents either do not want to talk about it with the planner or they disregard a planner’s advice. Planners should at least try to start discussions with clients about children and their expectations. The best situation though is where planners can work with clients while their children are still young, and be sure that the parents are encouraging responsible habits in the children and teaching them the value of money.

See Suzanne McGee, Full-Nest Syndrome, Financial Planning, Sept. 1, 2011.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this article to my attention.