Yahoo Finance The five most valuable conversations you can have this Easter
When families get together to celebrate, they’re usually laser-focused on finding a way to make sure everyone gets along, so nobody wants to bring up tricky subjects. But your efforts to keep the peace could mean you miss a real opportunity.
Families are often so scattered now that a lot of people only see their extended family on high days and holidays. So this Easter is a chance to have some important financial conversations.
1. Care conversations
For older family members, there are some big decisions to make as they age, which will affect everyone in the family.
If they need care, who do they expect to look after them, where do they expect to live, and how will you cover the cost as a family?
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They may want to move in with one of their children, and that may or may not be possible, but it’s far better to have these conversations well in advance, so there aren’t any unexpected surprises.
2. Inheritance chat
Inheritance is another thorny area, where it can help for the wider family to be together.
If, for example, an older family member wants to use an equity release scheme on their home to generate some cash for a better quality of life, this will mean there’s less of their home to leave in their will. It’s entirely up to them what they do with their home, but it’s worth the whole family understanding the implications. In some cases, they may choose to step in, and offer to help out with income in order to protect their inheritance.
Of course, if your family is very complicated, and there are some people who will inherit and others who won’t, you may decide it’s better to have those conversations separately with specific family members, rather than blow up a family row. However, for more straightforward situations, it can help you avoid any misunderstandings.
3. Getting organised
If your older family members are less organised about money, it could be a good time to get them to consider things they should have in place — like a will, lasting power of attorney and a register of all their assets. With more family members encouraging them to take action, it could make all the difference, and could be lifechanging further down the line.
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If younger members of your family are struggling to get on top of their finances, then opening up a conversation more broadly with the wider family about how they got organised may help.
For someone who, for example, is having difficulty managing their debts, it’s could be easier for them to join a wider conversation about how their siblings manage their budgets, instead of having to answer tricky questions about their own finances.
4. Asking for help
In any family there will be ups and downs, and some will look to their family for support. This isn’t necessarily financial support. It can be a shoulder to cry on, help looking for work, or support with a tough decision.
You may be reluctant to worry your family, and you may be anxious about how this will make you look, but they will often want to be there for you when things are tough.
If you are specifically asking for financial support, then this may not be one for the wider family. It’s a difficult thing to ask for and to be asked for, and both family members may well want some privacy while they’re going through it.
5 Breaking the taboo
In some cases, there won’t be anything specific to bring up, but simply talking about money can still be valuable.
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You might want to discuss your long-term goals, or something challenging you have been through. It helps to normalise money conversations, so if there are big, difficult issues to discuss further down the line, it feels like less of a taboo subject with your family.
Of course, you know your family best. There are some family dynamics that would make this particularly difficult, and counter-productive. It’s also worth saying that you shouldn’t store up explosive discussions and land them on your family out of the blue in the middle of an Easter egg hunt.
However, if it’s a suitable conversation for the whole family, and you’re not juggling too many other tensions, this Easter could be your chance to at least start some incredibly valuable conversations.
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