grandparenting Being a financial facilitator
O ur column in last fall’s issue was on being an Independence-Giver to your grandkids (See it here). In that article, we focused on the dangers of entitlement attitudes in kids and suggested some ways to help them see the world more accurately and to encourage them to save and spend wisely. We now want to focus on four additional things that we grand- parents may be able to do, particularly as our grandkids get older and as our circumstances allow, to help them (in concert and agreement with their parents) to become financially savvy and to understand the power of regular investing and compounding interest. Doing so in a care- fully conceived way can facilitate their faster movement toward their educational and life goals. Establishing a matching educational trust fund Consider, with an estate planner you trust, setting up a fund in your will that will help with grandkids' education when you are gone. Think about including some kind of “matching cri- teria” so that they have to come up with some of their tuition to trigger a match from the trust. Have it be for education generally, not university specifically. A trade school or apprenticeship should be as honored and supported as an Ivy League college. If you currently have college-age grandkids (it’s as important to help wisely while you are alive as when you are dead), work with their parents in providing some of the same kind of matching help Helping on first home purchase Another thing a lot of us would like to help with financially is the purchase of the first home for our grandchildren. Oftentimes, kids just finishing their education and starting their careers have enough income to make monthly mortgage payments on a reasonable home but lack the liquidity to make the required down payment. In fact, they may be paying a monthly rent amount that is as much as a mortgage payment would be if they were able to come up with the down payment necessary to buy a home. If parents can help with the down payment, they should be the first option, but you could be the second.
BY RICHARD AND LINDA EYRE
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31 GRANDP arenting
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