“Your adult children may be busy with their careers, raising families and carving out their own paths. However, they may also want to assist with your retirement plans.”
Here are three ways your kids can help you.
Talk about your hopes and dreams for retirement.
You may have spent much of the last three or four decades listening to your kids express their wishes. However, now it’s time for you to share yours. Let your children know what you’d like to do and be as clear and specific as you can. The more they know, the more they may be able to help you.
For one family, the discussion centered on when the parents wanted to retire, where they wanted to live during retirement and how they envisioned spending their time. Questions like what would add value to your life, and what would take away from it, are good starting points. Would you choose to live in the same area as your adult children, so you could be part of their lives and their children’s lives?
The topic of grandchildren is a frequent discussion. Do you want to be a regular part of their day-to-day activities or are a few visits a year for holidays enough for you?
Can your adult children be part of your plans?
Many retirees chose to make being of service to others a large part of their retirement. Having your adult kids or grandchildren involved in the same organization as you, albeit on a different level, might make everyone’s life more fulfilling.
Communication with adult children is sometimes a challenge. Remember that you have to keep up your part of the dialogue. If your kids are more comfortable with texts than with long phone calls, be flexible.
Have the real talk about estate planning and caregiving.
Allowing your grown children to be involved with estate planning and discussing caregiving plans for later in life, can allay a lot of general fears about aging and eventually, death. It’s not the most fun conversation you’ll ever have. However, having these conversations now, will make your later years more comfortable and less stressful for all.
Where do you want to live if you can’t live on your own? Do you want your children to take care of you or would you rather be in a care facility?
Finally, if you haven’t already had an estate plan created that includes your will, powers of attorney and medical directive, among other documents, meet with an estate planning attorney to put them in place. Consider bringing your children along to the appointment, so they know what your plans and wishes are, both during retirement and after you have passed.
Reference: Next Avenue (Aug. 21, 2018) “How Your Adult Children Can Help You Plan for Retirement”