Avoiding Family Distrust
Richard is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
Financial affairs of elderly parents is quite often the cause of siblings distrust. Many brothers and sisters consider their relationship as being "close" only to find resentment and distrust when their parents financial affairs need to be handled. Accusations of stealing or misuse of their parent's monies are quite often directed at one person and siblings are pitted against one another. This is why it very important for elderly parents to talk to their adult children about their financial affairs. So many parents keep their adult children in financial darkness saying its none of their business. Then as time passes and Mom and Dad age and it becomes apparent that they need help with their financial affairs. More often than not, parents are oblivious to the sibling rivalry since no one wants to bring it up to them. Parents can avoid these sometime heated accusation of finger pointing by having periodic family meetings to discuss who is responsible for what, go over the status of current financial matters and positions, and finally discuss some "what if scenarios". This is a simple solution for many families who currently find themselves in the financial darkness of parent secrecy.
I was an Investment Adviver for 23 years and retired in 2006. My goal is not to speak directly about stocks but to help investors become smarter when it comes to money matters.
