Episode Summary:
In this week’s episode, we talk about helping your parents with financial and legal stuff. First, we share advice for why and how to initiate the discussion. Then, we then dig into tactical advice for what to discuss, such as life insurance, medical insurance, social security, withdrawal strategies and required minimum distributions, naming beneficiaries, estate planning and wills, estate taxes, passwords, avoiding scams, and general financial and legal organization.
Episode Notes:
As human beings, we all have one thing in common: we have parents! They may not be alive anymore, or we might not like or have a challenging relationship with them, but we all came from someone. And there are things we can proactively do to help our parents and ensure they have their finances and other affairs in order.
We discuss several specific things you should consider doing to help your parents.
Top 3 takeaways:
- It is important to have these discussions with your parents.
- Start thoughtfully and early, as we’ve advised with all financial discussions.
- Help get them organized, at the very least, even if you don’t do anything to change or tweak their setup.
Show References:
- Get your shit together checklist
- Friends on FIRE episode #040 – Estate Planning with Elaine Levine
- Friends on FIRE episode #101 – Friends don’t talk about money, but they should
- Friends on FIRE episode #109 – Talking to your partner about money
- Friends on FIRE episode #165 – How to recognize and avoid investment scams
- Fidelity Aging Well Guide
- Article: Smart ways to gift money to children
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