Podcast 112: Conversations People Should Be Having (But Don’t)

As a family, have you been putting off important discussions about finances, estate planning, and long-term care? Many of us know we should be having these critical conversations, but they can feel uncomfortable and awkward.The truth is, avoiding these tough talks can put your family’s future at risk. Without open dialogue, you may be unaware of aging parents’ retirement readiness, unprepared for healthcare costs, or leaving a confusing mess of assets and responsibilities for your loved ones.

In this podcast, “Conversations People Should Be Having (But Don’t),” financial advisor Gregory Ricks shares practical guidance for initiating these family meetings.

You’ll learn:

• Why it’s crucial to have open dialogues about estate planning, retirement, and wealth transfer – even when it feels difficult
• Tips for managing potential awkwardness and setting the right tone for these conversations
• How to ensure your loved ones are prepared for the future, whether you’re concerned about aging parents or want to get your own kids on the path to financial literacy
• Resources and next steps to facilitate the tough talks that can make all the difference

Don’t let fear or discomfort stand in the way of protecting your family’s wellbeing!

Get your complimentary guide to go with this episode:

By submitting your contact information, you consent to be contacted regarding retirement income strategies that utilize investments and insurance products.

Investment advisory products and services made available through AE Wealth Management, LLC (AEWM), a Registered Investment Advisor. Neither the firm nor its agents or representatives may give tax or legal advice. Individuals should consult with a qualified professional for guidance before making any purchasing decisions. 02822143 – 1/25

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Christmas Dinner, Family Gathering, Financial Education, Teenagers’ Finances, Emergency Money, Retirement Plans, Compounding Wealth, Inheritance Planning, Estate Planning, Social Security, Long-Term Care, Healthcare Costs, Financial Advisor, Retirement Income, Financial Conversations

SPEAKERS

Gregory Ricks

Gregory Ricks  00:02

Gregory, hey, welcome. I’m your host. Gregory Ricks a financial advisor here to answer your questions and help you win with your money. But I’ve already started working on preparation for my Christmas dinner. It’s kind of a repeat of Thanksgiving, because we always enjoy that. We do that on Christmas Day. Gonna bake a turkey. Have a ham, some vegetables, some fun food. I’m looking forward to that. I’m like, maybe, maybe I’ll have some of my favorite chocolate pie, but I got to do it on a day like that where there’s other people to eat it, because I don’t need you know what to happen if it doesn’t get eaten on that day, and it goes in my fridge and open the door and I’m like, Oh my gosh, I can just Have a little piece, and then it lasts for days. And I can’t do that, but it’d be fun to have a slice of it with others. So I think, I think I’m gonna do that chocolate pie. What do y’all think? Yeah, it’s a fun food. So my might splurge on Christmas Day for that as well, but I also like me some baked turkey as well. So that’ll be fun. What are you doing for Thanksgiving Day? What it’s got to be a family gathering? And that’s kind of what I enjoy about it, and that’s what I enjoy about Thanksgiving, as well as getting together with family. And this is that time of year. You know, if you’re raising kids, and you’ve still got kids that just say where they may not understand finance, credit cards and checkbook balances and saving money. I don’t think there’s a age too young to start teaching those concepts, and especially if you’ve got teenagers. You know how teenagers are. They think they know everything, but yet they don’t know anything. I’m not being mean with that, but they don’t know what they don’t know. But it’s also a time to start having those conversations about how things go, and you might share what’s going on in your world so that they understand what are the tough things, what’s difficult on the finance side, what should they learn? And how should they be thinking about that? Because it’s going to be a rude awakening when they get out of school and go on to their own and all of a sudden are impacted by those things, and what we don’t want to have happen is they make mistakes, take out a credit card and not make payments on it, or buy a car and overpay or fall behind and and mess up their credit from that standpoint, and, and I think it’s a good time to start teaching the young people about that. And at the core of having emergency money, and when you get a job, oh, there’s going to be some withholding, you know, you might get a job and they and your deal is they gonna pay you 40,000 annually, but that’s not what you’re bringing home. So they might need to have some understanding of the impact of that, and then that they need to really take advantage of those 401(k)s, the retirement plans, the IRAs, the Roths, if you got a business, you should hire your kid so they can be paid and get some money into a Roth account. If you’ve got a business, oh my gosh. Make that happen for your kids and start teaching them so that they get that compounding. I’ll tell you a couple magic points and saving and accumulating money, and get them to understand, you know, having emergency money and and then long term money. And long term means decades of compounding. And what’s the first block of money? That’s difficult, it’s that first $10,000 and then it’s the next 10,000 so at first 10,000 is kind of a milestone. And people, you get there, and. Then, okay, now I want more. I want to save more. I want to accumulate more. And just, you know how I like to use the 7.2% because that’s the number where your money will double every 10 years. It makes the math easier, even though you may not necessarily average that rate of return, it’ll probably a little bit less. But just understand conceptually that if you could double money every 10 years, that 10,000 goes to 20,000 20,000 in 10 more years goes to 40,000 in 30 years, it goes to 80,000 but that that’s not going to get it done for retirement, but you keep accumulating and putting money in, and then the wealth builder moment is when you get to $100,000 because in 10 years, At 7.2% that 100,000 goes to 200,000 in 10 more years, 200,000 goes to 400,000 you see there you’ve got compounding wealth, and the young people are going to work probably longer than you. They should live longer, healthier and and maybe they create ridiculous wealth by the time they’re in their 60s, and they do don’t want to do the job anymore, but from a business standpoint, or enjoying work and continue accumulating money is they’re probably going to work well into their 70s, is what that future is like. And not think of what 65 being a retirement age, but we want them to have that wealth, and you have to think of it that way, wherever you are along that path of create that compounding, and we can teach others. And a part of teaching others is you probably may well leave wealth behind. And that might not be millions, but it might be tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. And one of the things when I’ve sat with families that are inheriting money, and I always kind of refer to it, you know, as different money than what you’ve worked and accumulated for, because when money’s left to you, wealth is left to you, real estate, somebody’s home is left to you, but their retirement accounts and CDs and stuff that they leave behind to you, I think of as special money, and I always kind of talk in in a way that what we want to do is do good by them, be prudent. It doesn’t mean that you have to sit on it, but we don’t want to be wasteful. I don’t want to go buy a depreciating asset. I’d rather buy an appreciating asset with it or keep it working. But with that said, it doesn’t mean you can’t go and pay off debt and write your financial household. Those are prudent things to do that that empowers that money for good things, and we want to make good decisions with it, not burn through it or have it gone, but make life better and and think about it in a way that they would be proud of what you did with that. And if you’re in a situation that you could keep it compounding, you inherit 100,000 or $200,000 you know. And let’s say you’re in your 50s when you inherit that from your folks, you know, you’re probably going to live to your 90s, so you need that, and it may really help your financial situation, and write your situation for retirement and have that money compounding, because if you inherit that money, just think what it can be in 10 years and 20 years out, and we want to teach that to the next generation as well, because if you’ve done a good job accumulated money, you’re probably going to leave some behind, even if your goal is to die broke, I don’t think it’s realistic, because I don’t want to die broke. What? What if I went broke before I died. You know, how do you work that out? I, I realistically look to leave behind assets. I I’m not gonna like take it to my grave. I expect to leave hard assets behind. I believe I will leave real estate behind, and I’ll do so in a way that’s easy for them to deal with. I’m also going to leave investments and retirement accounts behind. I’ve got beneficiaries, I’ve got an estate plan a will to leave behind, and that’s how I look at it. From what I do now look being host, of winning at life, doing this for 14 years, giving guidance, I you’d probably disappointed, and I said, well, I’m not leaving anything behind. I’m not saving money, I’m not accumulating assets. I don’t want to grow in wealth. Yeah, you know I do, because I talk about this all the time, but I want you to do so as well. And we need to pass that these assets to younger people, but we also need to teach them so that they do good. So also on this holidays is if you’ve got parents and older family members that you get to spend time with, talk to them about how things are going now, if they get, you know, this weird adjustment in their chair, like my grandmother did years back, when I asked her about her Social Security, I was like, Oh my gosh. I don’t know if I should have asked about that, but, you know, think about this from a standpoint of working with the financial firm, working with the financial advisor. Some people you know, and I’ll refer to say, do it yourselfers that manage it themselves. There’s probably resources you’re not aware of that you could be taken advantage of. That would help you be more tax efficient. That would get you better return. That would also reduce downside exposure. And from our standpoint, I would say maybe you should collaborate with us. We don’t have to take over control, but it’s more like working together. And think of maybe delegate some to us, but to have the resources the sounding board there, and if you’re doing it yourself, and you die without having somebody to collaborate with and or delegate some of this to. What is your spouse going to do? Are you teaching them? Are they going to handle it? Because I know I hear this phrase a lot of the time, oh, it’s, it’s not, it’s not their thing. I handle it well when you die, is it going to be their thing? And novice or or that selection process, look for somebody to work with, to collaborate with, Delegate with. I’m biased towards my firm, Gregory Ricks & Associates The Total Wealth Authority, Advisors and Retirement Strategies and reach out to the office and start a conversation. (504) 832-9200, and set up a visit. Come in and have a discussion. You’re not going to be pressured or expect to do anything if you ask, yeah, I’m interested in going forward. Okay, that’ll be fine, but that’s not expected on a first meeting. Doesn’t have to on a second meeting, but it’s a process where you start having communication, looking to collaborate, helping you move forward with accumulating wealth and making better decisions, creating tax efficiency, turning what you have into wealth, if you don’t want to go forward, and we’re not a fit, that’s quite all right. It’s not a problem. And if you need to think about it a while, that’s okay too. Our objective is to find a way to help, and if you don’t want the help, that’s okay too. And the website’s gregoryricks.com go out there and check the news blog, lot of articles we put. Up there. Our process is on the website as well. So keep checking back. I believe in a I’m not sure about the timing, but I hope the new version of the website goes up in about a week. We’re close, really close to getting that up. And be on the lookout. We’ll give you stations and times for the Winning at Life® TV show that’s rolling out in 2025 so you have a heads up of when to catch some of those episodes. I’m pretty excited about that. And of course, we’re going to do some neat things with Winning at Life®. The radio show in 2025 as well that I think you’ll appreciate and enjoy, and you’re probably should expect more podcasts in 2025 as well the Ask Gregory podcast. So we’re excited about a lot of things that we’re working on for 2025 at the core, is to help you make better financial decisions. Help you create wealth. All right, when I went to break one of the things I was talking about is the family time together. And you know, one of the big times we just had was Thanksgiving, but I think Christmas is a big family time, and then New Years, I just kind of look at those as gathering times. And I look at Christmas very similar to Thanksgiving as family gathering time. It’s for our families. It’s kind of those are the two big times of the year of getting together. And some people think of it as the on Christmas, as the ritual of exchanging gifts with those that you care about and so forth. Yeah, we do that. But you know what? I really enjoy it. It’s the time around the dinner table, because we kind of have a festive dinner on Christmas afternoon as as well, and get the family together us. I just really enjoy that. And that’s what’s always fun about Thanksgiving as well. New Year’s. I don’t know, I don’t mind getting together, but I, I’m, I’m not going to be partying, and I, I just don’t do that. We don’t just do go and and celebrate the coming new year. I’m always excited about the new year, but it to me, it’s kind of like a quiet day, day off New Year’s Day. That’s kind of how I see that it’s not something, and we don’t mind getting together and hanging out with family and all, but we don’t create some thing where everybody gets together for that. I do that once again, Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it it’s a it’s a great time. Both times are great for and for being thankful and also sharing. And with Christmas, it’s kind of exchanging, but what I’m getting at it’s, it’s, it’s a good time to have some discussions, or some subtle discussions, or circle back to maybe what you started at Thanksgiving there. And it sometimes can be an uncomfortable conversation, but it’s also an important one. Why is it important to discuss financial issues as a family? The sooner you have these difficult conversations, the better. Waiting until a health or financial emergency to discuss family finances is too late and can cost you more with everyone gathered in person around the holidays, it provides a great opportunity to talk about important financial decisions as a family. Sometimes it just can be and then can it be a little bit repetitive, until they done, like, how’s that estate plan coming? Have you got that will done? Have you set up a trust? Have you thought about it from your own standpoint, How do things look and from a standpoint of asking your parents or elders, how things are going, and part of that is checking in, even if it’s a family member that’s approaching retirement, kind of like, how does that look for them? Are you open to sharing a little bit from that? If they’re not, don’t. For us some, but you also kind of some of the times I get this discussion where they’ll say, well, you know, that’s kind of awkward. My wife has shared that, and other people that through our meetings in the firm, and sometimes when people are coming in for first meetings, we talk about this and how they’re communicating with family. And that’s that phrase I hear, Oh, it’s, it’s kind of awkward. Awkward for who you might not be awkward for them. They might be happy to talk about it, but they also don’t want to burden you. So it’s not a burden. Let’s talk about it. And it turns out that it’s not really awkward. You’re you’re just thinking it was but it wasn’t. They might be very open to talk about it. Here’s what they might not want to talk about, is their health. But I think that should be talked about as well as, how is your health? I hope you having a gathering like we are getting around the dinner table, having great conversation, spending time together, slow down abit and enjoy and show family how awesome they are. So when we gather around some of the issues to talk about, we have already talked about, why is it important to discuss financial issues as a family? It can be a learning thing, but it’s also a check in. I’ll tell you it is actual caring, because I don’t mind having discussions, because I’ll ask about the health. How’s health going? Hey, if they’re a bit overweight, I’ll probably talk about the glucose revolution. I like when they ask, Well, how’d you lose the weight? Gregory, okay, I don’t mind talking about the book and eating with purpose. But I also want to check in on health. I also want to check in on finances, on how things are going. So the sooner you have these difficult conversations, the better. So one of them is estate planning, to communicate about communicate what’s included in your will and estate plan or consider creating one if you haven’t already, that’s something to share with what you’re planning from that standpoint, because remember, the question I’ve been asking you lately is, what if you died today? How would things look? How would things go? If, if you’re wanting to talk with a older family member about that, say, a parent or older sibling, how would that look? Remember, an estate plan is the legal direction for what happens to your assets and responsibilities after you pass away? Those assets are going somewhere, and so are your responsibilities. Somebody else is picking all that up and running with it. So how difficult is that going to be? You don’t need to be wealthy, to have an estate plan. Whether you’re a millionaire, multi millionaire, or a child whose parents set up an account in your name, you have an estate might be small, but you have one self will to communicate if someone plays a role in your estate plan. Also, for example, are your parents listed as the guardians of your children? Have you given someone the power of attorney? Is your will located somewhere where your family can easily find it after you pass away? You know, I don’t want you putting that will in a safety deposit box at the bank that people have to use an attorney to get to that. That’s not the proper way to handle that. Well, I’m worried about somehow, what get a fireproof box at the house, but also make sure somebody knows where to go and find that that they don’t have to be searching. If you’ve got insurance documents and such as that life insurance and so forth, where is that located? Heck, I’ve had situations where the spouse doesn’t even know where those documents. That car and what all is had. There’s situation where gentlemen passed a number of years back and they had trouble finding the money, because he would have CDs of deposit. He lived in South Louisiana, but he had accounts spread all over, even in Texas like so that was a little bit of a difficult should have at least put together a list of of what’s where, what’s important. Should be a part of a will, itemized list, or part of an estate plan or revocable trust, and have those discussions about, you know, if, what’s going to be done with this land and so forth, if they’ve got multiple properties or their house, is there a mortgage on it? How are things going retire? So from an estate plan standpoint, remember, it’s important ask about it. Do they have one? Because this is the kind of mess now, if they don’t, who’s the attorney that they’ve worked with. You know if, if health becomes an issue, do they have documents for that that dictates that, or who’s in charge, who’s going to be named as executor of the estate? Here’s the easier one, maybe retirement. If your parents are nearing retirement, check in on them, on their progress. Find out. How does that look? How’s their income going to look when they transition? It’s a discussion, because I I’d like to know ahead of of a problem happening, like, are you going to be good on income? Do you have a plan for income? When are you turning on Social Security? What does that look like? You can see their comfort level on discussing it there. But what you want is, is it to go well, if they’re not, and if they’re already in retirement, talk about how it’s going, and how does it look the next 10 or 20 years out, they’re going to run out of money in 10 years, and they look like they’re going to live 20 to 30. When would you like to know that? I’d kind of like to know that today. But don’t react, overreact. Just don’t. Don’t adjust in your chair. Just say, Oh, that’s interesting. Just take it in. Don’t try to coach or criticize. You’re just looking for information for future conversations from that standpoint. So if your parents are nearing retirement, check in with them on their progress. Are they on track to retire when they want do they need to increase their contributions, or are there debts they need to pay off sooner rather than later? The average retiree spends around $4000 a month on expenses. A financial professional, a financial advisor, can help determine how much money they’ll need throughout retirement. You know, they might need help with creating an income plan, and what that outlook is might even suggest to them. Hey, listen to Gregory show on Saturdays Winning at Life® on iHeart Radio, or check out the podcast, or suggest they call our office to start a conversation there. You know you can trust, trust us with them, and then we also don’t want to forget to include Social Security benefits and pensions and take into account debts and expenses when calculating their retirement needs. But yeah, ask them how Social Security looking? When do they plan to turn that on, kind of see what’s going on, on the thought process, or if they’ve already one way to start a conversation. By the way, when did you turn on Social Security? What was the reason you turned it on at that time? See, it’s just real easy to come up with a discussion. But most everybody has Social Security benefits they’re either utilizing in retirement or they are going to so it makes for easy conversation. This might be a little more difficult, but it’s something you really want to know, and that’s Long Term Care Health. How is health going to be handled? When? When did they turn on or sign up for Medicare? What? How is their supplement being covered? Are they using Medicare Advantage, or do they have another program that they’re utilizing. How often do they see their doctor? So planning for future medical care is a concern for the entire family, not just the individual. Look, somebody’s probably going to help them on the back end of life, you want, you’d kind of like to know kind of what, what does that look like? And you don’t have to dig in too deep, but you start getting information, it’s going to give you an idea of what’s going on. According to recent study, more than 1 in 10 Americans are caregivers sourced from AARP, it’s no surprise, many people are becoming caretakers. The cost of healthcare continues to rise. Somebody in the family is going to be helping somebody else. The average cost of a room and board of an assisted living facility is nearly $5000 per month according to senior living, it’s important to discuss options as a family long term care insurance can cover costs of nursing home care and home health care later in life. It also can help families pay for chronic medical conditions. I was thinking about a conversation I had with a family one time, and they were in about how to protect the assets that’s going to be left behind because the mother was is needing more care, and they see that expense. And I said, you just so you know that money is for her care, so you need to prepare yourself for some of that to be spent. See, people can look at different ways. They look at it as money for their care, or they look like, oh my gosh, that’s my inheritance getting spent away. First and foremost, it’s their money. So make sure the time is right. Find a calm, comfortable place, maybe a private space to start the conversation. Be transparent, set boundaries, have clear expectations. And part of that is, what if they don’t want to share? What if they don’t want to talk at that time? Well, don’t press. Just circle back at another time. Just say hey, yeah, I can see you’re not ready right now, but I’d like to talk to you soon about that. Let your family members know this talk is coming from a place of concern, not judgment, and don’t get upset or scold if they’ve not done a good job, do not blame guilt or shame somebody for having financial issues. Understand it may take more than one meeting. Bringing a financial advisor, planner, professional into the conversation might be beneficial, and it might be simple if they’re not one discuss, ask them if they’re working with somebody, or have they considered that? And I think that gives you some steps in the right direction, but hopefully this also helps you look inside yourself to make that and what we want to do is do this out of love, out of concern, and be able to help them going forward. And it can be for younger people. Can be a teaching moment for those that are older, and it’s sometimes it’s maybe getting them help and they just didn’t know what to do. And sometimes people don’t do stuff because they think they’re disorganized. I don’t know where all my papers are, or they don’t know who to talk to, and this might help them with that. And that’s one reason people will cancel appointment because they haven’t got everything together. We’ll help you with organization. If you don’t have it all pulled together, you. Just get started, is what’s really important from that standpoint. So hopefully this information helps you during the holidays. But if you don’t do it at Christmas or at New Year’s, do it when you see them in January or March or some other time in the year have this conversation. We don’t have to do it during the holidays, but we do need to start having these conversations on both directions with our elderly, and elderly needs to have it with the young people. If you have question or need more help with this, reach out to my office. gregoryricks.com the phone number is (504) 832-9200, as well. Call or help. We have help for you at that standpoint. If you’ve got questions about Social Security, you need a document to help. Some guidance there how some of this works. If you’re not aware, go to gregoryricks.com/socialsecurity. It’s a decisions guide that can help you with these conversation that and how about the roadmap beyond retirement, a document of start putting this together. Go to gregoryricks.com/roadmap. This is a great document to start putting things in order and making notes and have an orderly plan, whether you’re talking with elderly family or the elderly families getting ready to put this together and have a discussion with other family members, and it’s another discussion, like with the kids. If you’re not sure what you’re going to do with your country property or your second home or your present home, you’ve got a blended family. And if somebody might not like how you’re going to lay this out, I think that’s a reason to have the discussion as well. So this does go better when you pass on also. So once again, you’ve got some questions, or they have some questions, reach out to my office. (504) 832-9200, the website is gregoryricks.com we’re here to help. I work in the world of helping people with their money, helping them with their investments. We use institutional guidance and the Invest 50/50 Philosophy. But it’s not just about managing the money. I think part of what’s important that we are. Are a sounding board where people feel comfortable reaching out saying, Hey, I’ve got this. I was thinking about doing this. What do you think? Gregory, that’s what we are for our clients, and our clients see us that way. For their friends, family, colleagues, they know place where you can like I need some help on this. I’ve got questions about this. I need to talk about this. (504) 832-9200 there’s only one number to call, no matter where you want to be. (504) 832-9200 or go to gregoryricks.com

Disclosure  38:22

Products and services are made available through AE Wealth Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Insurance products are offered through the insurance business Gregory Ricks and Associates, Inc. Ae wealth management does not offer insurance products. The insurance products offered by Gregory Ricks and Associates Inc, are not subject to investment advisor requirements. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principle, any references to protection, safety or lifetime income, generally referred to fixed insurance products, never securities or investments. Insurance guarantees are backed by the financial strengths and claims of the paying ability of the issuing Carrier. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be used as a sole basis for financial decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the particular needs of an individual situation. Gregory Ricks and Associates is not permitted to offer and no statement made during the show shall constitute tax or legal advice. Our firm is not affiliated with nor endorsed by the US government or any other governmental agency. The Information and opinions contained here and provided by third parties have been attained by sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed by Gregory Ricks and Associates. Please remember that converting an employer plan account to a Roth IRA is a taxable event. Increase in taxable income from the Roth IRA conversion may have several consequences, including, but not limited to a need for additional tax withholdings or estimated tax payments, the loss of certain tax deductions and credits and higher taxes on Social Security benefits and higher Medicare premiums, be sure to consult with a qualified tax advisor before making any decisions with your IRA. Neither a wealth management or advisors providing investment advisory services through AE Wealth Management recommend or facilitate the buying or selling of cryptocurrencies. Third parties and guests of the show are not affiliated with nor do their opinions reflect those of Gregory. Ricks and associates or AE wealth management. Ae Wealth Management provides services without regard to political affiliation and the views of individual advisors do not necessarily reflect the views of AE wealth management. We are ask Gregory you.