WMAQ-NBC 5

August 1, 2005

 

Money Minute with Terry Savage

Terry Savage, reporter

In this morning's money minute, summer may be the perfect time for you to pick up a video camera and record some precious family memories.

How can this preserve some finances? Our analyst is here to explain the money factor in this.

It's a little bit strange start to the story but an interesting one. It comes out of a survey done by Allianz Life insurance. It turns out there's about to be an intergenerational transfer of some $7 trillion in wealth from parents to baby boomers and it's not going to all the boomers to be sure.

In fact 30% of this wealth will go to 1% of the boomer generation. Many of us wonder if we will end up supporting them financially as they live longer lives. But the surprising factor is not that the money matters.

What's your legacy? 75% of those say legacy is life lessons and values, not money. Another interesting fact. 68% of boomers and 71% of their parents agree it's important to talk about financial issues, but only 31% have had the conversation and all along that survey line elders are two times more likely to want to exert some control after death through provisions in their estate plan.

So now you're asking where does the video camera tape recorder come in? Well, Dr. Ken Dychtwald, who helped organize the survey, suggests you'll get a lot further in the difficult process of making sure both adult parents have a financial estate plan if you'll start by holding that video cam and tell their history on tape instead of sitting down with an estate planning checklist. That makes perfect sense to get the process started but don't forget. Here's what you're looking for. Number one, a will, a living trust, also health care power of attorney and finally the living will, people get confused, it's called the pull the plug document, your instruction if you cannot recover.

If your family can have that conversation and record the memories and make sure that you've got all the documents organized in advance of a crisis you'll be doing a great job. I’ll have more in my Sun-Times column today.