Breaking The Barrier Of Silence; Discussing Money With Your Aging Parents
Many of us are in the Sandwich Generation. We belong to the wonderful group of families that are still in the process of raising children and we have the added responsibility of caring for elderly parents. Most of the time this is not an issue until the subject of money or health care comes up. Usually when money comes into the conversation it is due to a financial disaster or a health crisis that will force us to delve into our parents checkbooks in an attempt to sort situations out.
Do you really want to wait for such a crisis to develop before initiating the conversation of money? Or would you rather wait until your parent is mentally incompetent to discuss financial strategies. Most of us would answer with a big, healthy, No! However, starting a conversation about money with a parent can be frustrating at best. Most of the time parents think they are helping by not burdening you with their problems. Frequently, when I approached my folks about money their comments were; Dont worry about us. Were fine, kid. We got it all handled, you just worry about your own family. Stuff like that. It...