Smart Money Secrets family values

Real Family Value

By Michael Duale, Principal of MD Wealth Management

When the Queen turned 95 on 21 April 2021, she served as a very public reminder of how much longer, as a society, we are living. In her own family, four generations are now all alive at the same time, from the Queen herself, down to her latest great-grandchild. An increasing number of families now find themselves in the same position, which has implications for financial planning.

As a nonagenarian, Her Majesty is far from alone. The number of people over 90 rose by 44% between 2008 and 2018, according to the report ‘Estimates of the very old, including centenarians, UK: 2002 to 2018’, published online by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in September 2019.

We are now witnessing a phenomenon where baby boomers – those born in the post-war era and in retirement – represent the wealthiest generation in society. However, while they enjoy the fruits of their labour, they are sandwiched between elderly parents facing the challenges of old age and children struggling with the hangover of university debts and rising house prices. For those born after the Second World War and in the 1950s, the economy of their working years was benign and kind to them, but it was less so for those born in the 1980s and 1990s – the so-called ‘millennials’ – who are finding it harder to get jobs and onto the property ladder.

While our children are struggling with their finances, our parents are living longer. This has led to an increase in the need for long-term care, which is likely to be financed from accumulated savings, selling the family home, or with support from younger generations.

A study into intergenerational wealth and retirement planning, which combined ONS data with an Opinion Research survey of 4,000 UK adults in April 2019, estimated that the number of families with multiple generations in retirement at the same time will exceed one million in the next 20 years. This means that people may need to start reassessing how they plan for the later stages of life.

Traditionally, wealth has passed from one generation to the next upon death. However, intergenerational wealth management challenges that notion and looks at how families can use their wealth more collaboratively to support each other during their lifetimes. This offers legitimate estate planning and tax mitigation opportunities, while providing the much-needed assistance to help alleviate the financial burdens of everyday life.

MD Wealth Management provides access to a range of family-oriented financial products and services, enabling families to work collaboratively to support each other across the generations. Financial support need not be in the form of a handout; it can become an integral part of generational financial planning.

To contact Michael call 01379 415511 or go to www.md-wealthmanagement.co.uk

MD Wealth Management is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James's Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the group's wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the group's website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The 'St. James's Place Partnership' and the titles 'Partner' and 'Partner Practice' are marketing terms used to describe St. James's Place representatives