(3 Minute Read)
As a financial advisor, you’re consistently involved with your clients’ lives. Their plans for the future almost always include you because those plans usually involve saving. Like when they’re considering their child’s future, their own retirement, and even their senior parents. Here are a few options that you may not have known are available to your clients as they begin to plan for the future.
Planning for Children
These days, it’s a given that most students will go on to receive a college education. Unfortunately, college isn’t cheap. As your clients plan for their children’s future, be sure to bring up college funding opportunities. The 529 plan is a good place to start for parents. A 529 plan is a college savings fund operated by a state or educational institution that typically awards certain tax benefits for parents. There are a lot of college saving plans out there, but a 529 makes it easier and beneficial for parents looking to get a good head start.
Planning for Retirement
Retirement plans are always on your mind as an advisor, but your clients may not put it first. Planning for a full retirement starts at a young age. For your younger adult clients, make sure that they are making decisions and planning for their retirement as early as possible, and help them evaluate their desires for retirement. In many cases, the amount of money they’re putting into their 401(k) simply won’t be enough to carry them through to a fulfilling retirement—but they won’t know that. There are dozens of plans that work; don’t corral yourself into one specific option!
Senior Parents
Unfortunately, not every senior can live off of their retirement alone. In this case, it might fall onto your younger clients to help make their parents more comfortable in their retirement. Medical bills, costs of living, and other costs can easily become more than they planned for. Fortunately, there are some ways you can help your clients as they get ready to help their parent’s through retirement. For example, a life settlement might be the right option. In a life settlement, a policy holder sells a life insurance policy into the secondary market for more than the policy’s surrender value. Life settlements are often the right option for seniors who find that their retirement funds aren’t enough and need to bridge that gap.
If any of your clients have parents who rely on them financially, have a conversation to see if a life settlement may be an option. You can use our qualification calculator to see if it’s a good fit.
