Financial Wellness Friday -WEEK 12: Review Your Support For The Next Generation

It is Week 12 of the year - This week you should review your support for the next generation

💭 Tony’s Take: Follow a strategy that best meets your goals. Providing financial support for your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews will help with the high costs of raising a child and getting an education.

👉 Consider what strategy is right for you along with the amount of the gift. Parents will follow a different path than grandparents, aunts, and uncles. 

2. Mindset Insight: Help the Next Generation Build Financial Confidence Supporting the next generation financially is about more than money—it’s about helping them develop confidence in managing their financial lives. Providing guidance and empowering them to make decisions will set them up for long-term success.

b. Lead with Curiosity by Derek Hagen for Meaningful Money. What if, instead of judging or assuming, we got curious? 

💭 Tony’s Take: Helping people be curious about money and learning what questions to ask is at the core of The Get Ready Movement. If people understand the right questions to ask, they will get the answers they need to make informed decisions. 

👉  Read the article. (here) 

3. Tactical Tip –Set Up an Education Savings Account

👉  If you want to support the next generation's education, consider setting up a 529 plan. A 529 plan offers tax advantages and can grow over time, making it a powerful tool for education funding. You can also use gifts or direct payment of expenses.

a. 📝 Resources: 

Get Ready Money Club Members: 

• The Get Ready Discussion Guide. Discuss what steps you are implementing to take care of the next generation. 

Get Ready Library and Toolkit members can access your resources for this week's action item (#12) from your Get Ready Library dashboard (located in Monthly Focus Area 3: Your Team):

• The Get Ready Blueprint week 12 worksheet where you’ll review financial support strategies for the next generation.
• Children and Grandchildren worksheets.
• College Savings Account and ABLE Account worksheets.

 Access Your Get Ready Resources here

4. Teach Your Kids to Be SMART About Money! On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Anthony Delauney, author and financial dadvisor about changing the way we think about money and helping kids become financially literate. 

💭 Key Takeaways:

🔹 The number one reason that people don’t achieve their goals is fear of judgment.

🔹 Help your kids form their own opinion.

🔹You can introduce concepts at an early age. 

👉  Watch or listen to the podcast (here).

How to Raise Money-Savvy Kids: Expert Advice from John Lanza and Laura Adams on the Money Girl Podcast. Impactful and comfortable ways to talk to kids about money along with a detailed look at allowances.

💭 Tony’s Take: We can set up for financial success by talking to them about money and helping them learn. There are many great resources that you can use together whether or not you feel comfortable with money. 

👉  Listen to the conversation (here). 

5. Media Spotlight – Unlocking Financial Freedom: Smart Money Strategies. I shared my thoughts about debunking common misconceptions surrounding insurance, particularly life insurance on The Note Closers Podcast with Scott Carson.

💭 Tony’s Take: Life insurance isn't an investment: While some life insurance policies have an investment component, they are primarily designed to provide risk protection, not wealth generation. (Think of it as a safety net, not a get-rich-quick scheme!)

👉  Listen here (Apple Podcasts)

6. March is Women’s History Month. It’s only been about 50 years since women have been able to establish their own credit. There is still a ways to go for equality for women and money.

a. Women, Money & Power: The Fight for Financial Independence with Barb Provost and Maggie Nielsen on the Women and Money: The Sh!t We Don’t Talk 

💭 Tony’s take: The road for financial independence for women has been long and challenging. There are some amazing women who are continuing to break barriers.

👉  Listen (here)

b. The Power of Women and Collective Action in Investing for Change by Janine Firpo for Greenmoney. Our individual actions create powerful ripple effects. Every decision we make — whether aligning our investments with our values or helping others do the same — can contribute to solving the global challenges we face.

💭 Tony’s take: Aligning our values with our money is a way that we can achieve balance with our financial lives and feel good.

👉  Read the article (here)

b. Women’s History Month: Building Community for Women in Finance with Lindsey Bell, Debbie Taylor, Jess Menton, Kate Hall, Ryan Detrick and Sonu Varghese presented by Carson Group. What advice would you give to a little girl who is interested in a career into finance?

💭 Tony’s Take: This is an insightful conversation with real life stories from women in financial services. 

👉  Check out the recording on LinkedIn (here)

c. Gender pay gap in U.S. has narrowed slightly over 2 decades by Richard Fry and Carolina Aragao for the Pew Research Center. In 2024, women earned an average of 85% of what men earned.

💭 Tony’s Take: While it’s good news that the gender pay gap is narrowing, there’s no reason why it can’t be closed now. Any easy solution is for every CEO to ensure that men and women in the same job are paid the same amount. 

👉  Check out the research (here).

7. Divorce & College Planning Workshop For Parents and Divorce Professionals presented by College Financial Prep and Vicki Vollweiler (virtual and free on April 6, 2025 at 4pm ET). If you're separated, divorced, or remarried and preparing for your child’s college education, navigating the financial aspects can feel overwhelming. 

💭 Tony’s Take: College planning has different considerations for kids whose parents are divorced, separated or remarried. 

👉  Register (here)

8. There are many dimensions to a financial plan beyond investing, these include insurance, estate planning, aging plan and more. 

a.  Is a ‘Springing’ Power of Attorney Worth It? By Cathy Sikorski for ReThinking65. A look at the whys and why nots, and how to rein in the powers granted by various types of POAs. 

💭 Tony’s Take: POA’s are an important part of planning. It’s important to understand how they work. Be sure to talk with your agent about the POA and your wishes. 

👉  Read the article (here). 

b. Rethinking Retirement: Financial and Life Planning with Christine Benz and Lawrence Sprung on the Mitlin Money Mindset Podcast. The importance of planning beyond just finances, including visualizing your retirement lifestyle and finding purpose.

💭 Tony’s Take: I think of retirement as financial independence. And, it looks different for each of us. Our plans need to reflect what our later years will look like. 

👉  Watch it on YouTube (here)

c. The Truth about Living at Home with Dementia. The answers you need before you need them. Free Guidance from Dementia Experts: Pam Ostrowski and Paige Fairbanks-Gunn sponsored by Koelsch Senior Communities on Zoom. Tuesday, March 25 at 4pmPT/7pmET. 

💭 Tony’s Take: Creating an aging strategy helps everyone get on the same page. A solid plan should be realistic and envision the roles that various family members will play.

👉  Register (here).

d. Trust & Will 2025 Estate Planning Report. Redefining Legacy: How Americans Are Preparing for the Future, Navigating Technology, and Embracing Change

💭 Tony’s Take: Estate Planning is evolving to include our values, technology and philanthropic wishes. 

👉  Check out the report (here)

9. Kitces Report On How Financial Planners Actually Do Financial Planning. How financial planners actually structure their teams, spend their time, use technology, become more productive and develop, deliver & maintain financial plans

💭 Tony’s take: Michael Kitces is the go to source for well researched information on what’s going on with financial planners. This report takes a look at the actual issues, rather than 

👉  Check out the report (here)

10) A friend asked me what newsletters I read, so thought I would share the list - they are a combination of money and news.

a. Money & Economics:

👉  A word from the wise by Robin Taub (here)

👉  Bloomberg (here)

👉  Bobbi Rebell (here)

👉  Coverager from Shefi Ben-Hutta (here)

👉  Laurence Kotlikoff (here)

👉  Money-Smart Mondays from John Lanza (here)

👉  Nerd’s Eye View  from Michael Kitces (here)

👉  Noahpinion from Noah Smith (here)

👉  The Money Stack Newsletter from Laura Adams (here)

👉  Wall Street Journal (here)

b. News & opinion

👉  Axios (here)

👉  Letter from an American by Heather Cox Richardson (here)

👉  So, What from Chris Cilizza (here)

👉  Nextdraft from Dave Pell (here) 

👉  The Free Press from Bari Weiss (here)

Thank you for being part of the Get Ready Money Club. Please hit reply to share your thoughts.

Let’s Change The Way We Think About Money!

Tony