Family Sustainability in a Time of Uncertainty

In law school, my professors used casebooks filled with cases dating from the 19th and early 20th century. If you closed your eyes and opened your imagination, it was possible to picture the subjects of these cases: blacksmiths, cobblers, horse-drawn carriage coachmen, Pullman porters, and whalers.

Not a growth career in the bunch, at least from my mid-1990’s perspective. Of course, some of the career paths of 30 years ago seem as outdated and antiquated as a steam pipe fitter.

What all of this means is that the expectation of a familiar career path for your adult child, which leads to financial stability, may be a pipe dream.   

The reality of our disruptive times is that our children will require a level of financial and emotional support that goes beyond what previous generations provided. Estate planning with lump sum distributions set for a later event does not address the current needs of a post-graduate student or entry-level, underemployed adult child. Income streams that pay for rent, healthcare, food, and other living expenses have to be considered in a parent’s estate plan.

Principal assets can continue to grow while the income flows out in smaller, but useful streams for your children’s bills. Educational and housing costs have accelerated beyond anything we have seen in our lifetimes, and this includes the stagflation of the late 70s and the short-lived, super high interest rates of the early 80s.  

If you want to call this “pragmatism planning,” go ahead. With employers navigating a still-evolving AI landscape and shifting hiring priorities, a young person’s career path – at the outset – is foggy, to say the least. Add in educational loans, and the financial pressure on your children is immense.

A parent’s influence on a child’s career path is a topic worth discussing. Children exposed to a parent’s professional workplace may move them either toward that profession or away. Having a parent already established in a child’s chosen profession is a definite advantage. They can impart specific wisdom and push certain levers to remove barriers that other candidates have to face. If a parent owns a professional practice, a family business, or is engaged in a lucrative hobby with growth potential, there are planning steps that could carve out a space for your child as an employment landing spot.

Business succession planning is one way to provide additional security for your child if they do choose to stay with you professionally. Even if your child’s skillsets and interests diverge from the usual core competencies of your business, there may be a fit in other areas of the company.

Growing up, we heard the “school of hard knocks” stories and they stuck. Building a career brick by brick is something to cherish and deserves all of the respect that path is afforded. But successful families realize you can mix hard work and determination with a concentrated level of support that only a family can provide.

Estate planning should not be a wave goodbye. It should be a step stool – the lift your child needs to get to that place just a bit out of reach.

Alan D. Feller, Esq., is managing partner of The Feller Group, located at 572 Route 6, Suite 103, Mahopac. He can be reached at alandfeller@thefellergroup.com.