If you had a son or a daughter in law telling you what to do with your money - would you get upset?
Say you are an elder
And you have an old 401k and you are near 70 and trying to figure out what to do with hit.
You tell this to son/daughter in law and they state:
Pay off your mortgage, your car, and that vacation loan
Then take the rest and put it in fidelity - and they will cut you a check for the RMD's and invest in something safe like laddering cd's and treasuries
Would you get mad if young kids meddle in your business?
For some reason, you want to keep your debt
(whatever your strong desire for this, these kids must respect it right?)
At what point do you get mad - is a kid mentioning this more than once too much?
Would an older person ever want financial advise from a kid?
My real question: Is it Tabu in some families to talk about money
With my dad is open. He knows ever line of my finances and I know his
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Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The answer to you 'real question' is it depends. Each family is different. At age 70 and age 40-50ish the family members have the best feel for this.
In general, family or not, there is no reason to take financial advise from a lawyer unless they practice law in a related field. They aren't financial planners by their nature.
When people get to be 70 years old, they stop wanting to take risk. They want to see the money and the want to know that they can get it if they need it.
It's not always a good idea to pay off mortgages, etc and leave a senior cash poor. At 70 1/2 they have to take mandatory distribution out of that 401K, so if it is earning decent money, leave it alone and use the distribution towards mortgage principal payments.
Laddering CD's at their age is not always wise, and the interest earned in totally insignificant. Even on 5 year CD's the interest is minimal and liquidity could be a problem should they need some immediate cash for something. You could lose money by pulling them out of whatever they are invested in now.
Elders tend to stay with what they know. The kids have to know when to back off.
You tell this to son/daughter in law and they state:
Since he brought up the subject then he will get suggestions that he may not like. It's best not to discuss finances as people will look to find out how much a person has, owns etc. His best bet is to talk with a financial adviser about minimal risk investments.
Nothing wrong with discussing finances but expect others to suggest what they think is best.
It is always good to take advice, but people near 70 know more about life than you do. Whatever they want to do or will do, is pretty much written in stone. If they ask you for advice, then that is another.
TELLING me: Yes.
Giving advice: No.
I may not accept their advice, but I would accept that they were trying to help.
Note: Your question states that YOU told them you were trying to figure out what to do with the money. In that case, their answer is NOT meddling. You asked. They gave advice. If you don't take their advice, and they press the issue, then you have something to address.