Is your family ready for future transitions?
Nathan and Sarah have completed enough financial planning to know they would both feel "fine" if something were to happen to one of them.
But Nathan feels less settled about the future than Sarah.
For one, much of their wealth is tied to real estate holdings.
Sarah's career as a real estate agent means she could easily manage selling those assets, but Nathan doesn't have her expertise.
And the couple hasn't talked about their planning in a meaningful way with Nathan's adult children from his first marriage.
"I know there's enough in place to get through a crisis," he said to Sarah one day over breakfast.
"But I don't have as much peace of mind about it as you do." Nathan explained that he worries the complexities of their portfolio would make it hard on their blended family if he were gone.
"Okay, what should we do?" asked Sarah.
They then agreed on taking a few small steps.
On their own, they would complete some outstanding documentation, outline a plan for how they would liquidate their properties, and create a continuing agenda of topics that felt important to discuss with the family.
They would then meet with his kids to share details about their planning and seek their views on the family's priorities.
Insights from The Transition Ready Family study illustrate why Nathan was feeling unsettled.
Families with high transition readiness are four times more likely to have high peace of mind than those with lower transition readiness.
What's more, those with high transition readiness also have significantly higher confidence in their planning, including up to five times more confidence around estate planning.
Just because one spouse feels ready and confident doesn't mean that the family transition will be smooth.
Start a conversation The conversation: What could we be doing to become more ready for life transitions?
How to start: Invite everyone to look at your preparation through the lens of readiness so you can identify ways to create more peace of mind and confidence.
Questions for talking about readiness: Transition readiness is an ongoing process of transparent conversations and making your financial life accessible.
Nathan and Sarah understood that their individual backgrounds and perspectives meant they had different views on what transition readiness looks like.
By understanding those differences, they could talk about what each of them felt needed to be done-and what involving the family could look like.
Sharing sentiments about future transitions-people's feeling and thinking-is a door into conversations that can increase readiness.
Get started Focus on exploring each other's feeling and thinking about different life transitions-and your planning readiness-without moving into solutions or decisions.
Senior generation Start a conversation about readiness by exploring how much peace of mind your spouse/partner and children have about your planning for the future.
Next generation Share with your parents what might give you peace of mind about the future and what being "ready" for future life transitions looks like to you.