Estate planning conversations feel uncomfortable, but waiting too long can cost your family peace of mind. On this episode of Metcalf Money Moment, hosts Jeb, Ethan and Eric unpack a real client case study to explain why beneficiaries need more than a will to be ready. They cover retirement planning, the great wealth transfer, and the difference between inheriting a Roth IRA versus a traditional one. The trio also introduces the NOK box, a simple way to organize documents so your family always knows who to call. Whether your kids are five or fifty, this episode helps you start the conversation sooner rather than later.

What you will learn in this Episode:

✅ Why estate planning only works if your heirs actually know it exists, and how to introduce your kids to your financial advisor without oversharing dollar amounts.

✅ How inheriting a Roth IRA differs from a traditional IRA or a trust account, and why understanding those rules early can save your kids from a tax surprise.

✅ How to build a NOK box so your family has one place to find every account, policy, and password when they need it most.

Tune into the Metcalf Money Moment podcast for expert insights on wealth management and retirement planning! Join Jeb, Ethan, and Eric for practical Estate Planning strategies that you can implement to unlock financial clarity and confidence. Listen now to inspire your financial journey!

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Client case study on estate planning and beneficiaries

02:17 Why kids need to know something, not everything, about your retirement planning and accounts

05:16 Ethan explains there is no magic age to start the inheritance conversation with your children

10:47 Eric shares how to prepare families and organize digital assets before the great wealth transfer

14:42 Jeb breaks down how a Roth IRA and traditional IRA inheritance differ for tax purposes

15:46 Building a NOK box to organize documents your family needs before it's too late

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💎 There is no magic age for the money talk. What matters is your child's maturity, not their birthday, when it comes to estate planning conversations.

💎 Consolidating accounts, listing digital assets, and naming a power of attorney now prevents confusion and family conflict later during the great wealth transfer.

💎 Revisit the conversation yearly. A NOK box or trust document is only useful if it stays updated as life and accounts change.

DISCLAIMER:

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax or legal advice. We recommend discussing your particular situation with a qualified tax or legal advisor.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Metcalf Partners - Website

Jeb Graham - LinkedIn

Ethan Hutcheson - LinkedIn

Eric Wymore - LinkedIn

Metcalf Money Moment, Jeb Graham, Ethan Hutcheson, Eric Wymore, Estate Planning, Life Insurance Planning, Wealth Transfer, Retirement Planning, Wealth Management, Beneficiary Designations, Trust, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA

Now your hosts[00:00:30] [00:00:35]

Eric Wymore: Doing well, thanks. Getting

Eric Wymore: Getting through it.

Eric Wymore: Yeah.

[00:01:20] And basically she's a multi-million, you know, s- call it close to $3 million, that [00:01:25] she has saved in various different accounts. So you're talking, you know, a r- uh, TOD [00:01:30] account, Roth IRA, IRA, SEP IRA, a number of different things together. [00:01:35] And, um, you know, we were having a conversation about her retirement, and what she said was, [00:01:40] "Hey, you know, I have the same beneficiary, uh, on all, on all my [00:01:45] stuff, and I've never really talked to him about it, and when would be the right time, [00:01:50] uh, to bring, uh, my beneficiary into this conversation?"

You can save for retirement. You can create an estate planning, plan. You can [00:02:15] buy insurance. You can set up trusts. Um, but often the most [00:02:20] important part of all of that is actually having the conversation with the people that are eventually [00:02:25] gonna inherit it and make sure that they know kinda what all's going on, right?

They just need to know a few things, which is, you know, number one is who do [00:02:50] you call, right? Let's just, so if, if I pa- if, if I pass away, who do my [00:02:55] beneficiaries call? Um, and then generally, you know, it doesn't necessarily need to be numbers, [00:03:00] but, you know, what, what's out there? Is an IRA, a Roth IRA, a trust account, uh, a [00:03:05] house?

So we've had a lot of clients come in with their [00:03:30] kids, um, where we basically just have the conversation of here's, here's where everything is [00:03:35] and here's- Uh, in essence, you know, who you call if something happens, and here's what, here's what's gonna [00:03:40] transpire in those months after that, that event happens.

So we have a bunch [00:04:00] of baby boomers and even older, uh, that have a lot of money that, uh, according [00:04:05] to Cerulli Associates, they estimated appro- uh, they estimate that [00:04:10] approximately $124 trillion are gonna transfer [00:04:15] from one generation to the next through 2048, through the year 2048. [00:04:20] Approximately 105 trillion of that is expected to go to heirs, and then 18 trillion to [00:04:25] charity, and nearly 100 trillion of that wealth is expected to [00:04:30] come from the baby boomers and older generations.

Uh, a lot of [00:04:55] it's about making sure that the people that are getting ready to inherit it are prepared for what's about to happen [00:05:00] and know kinda how, how to deal, uh, wi- with where things are. So [00:05:05] Um, I think maybe we can just talk a little bit about, and Ethan, uh, having the money [00:05:10] conversation with your kids, when should you start?

Ethan Hutcheson: Yeah. Yeah, it's a delicate conversation, so we'll start off by saying there's [00:05:20] no right or wrong answer, or there's no magic age. Um, I joked with Jeb and Eric [00:05:25] yesterday, my oldest is five years old, and we're still working on putting the dishes in the sink.

So [00:05:55] just don't be hard on yourself. There's no magic age, and we think maturity is more important than [00:06:00] the actual age to have those conversations. We've seen the conversations happen with a 25-year-old. We've [00:06:05] seen the conversations happen with a 55-year-old. Um, so it never really... There's no, [00:06:10] there's no right, right or wrong answer there.

Rather than, "Hey, you're gonna inherit $15, $20 million when you're when you're [00:06:40] 55 years old." If you tell a 23-year-old who just graduated college that [00:06:45] he's gonna inherit, he or she's gonna inherit $25 million when they become, you know, 45, 50 years old, [00:06:50] that could play a big role on that child's productivity through life.

We're gonna show them dollar figures. [00:07:20] Do you feel comfortable with this and this and this?" And they might say yes and no, and we kind of evolve that conversation [00:07:25] around, uh, our, our client's particular wishes It's a really fun conversation to have, [00:07:30] um, because you kind of see the, over time, the hard work that the, the [00:07:35] family's put into this financial plan, and then getting to see it passed down to the children and, and seeing [00:07:40] them and what they're gonna do with their, with that money and stuff, too.

Who's the trustee? Who's got power of attorney? If, if something happens [00:08:05] to me and I'm in the hospital, which one of my kids or my spouse, uh, is gonna be the health, [00:08:10] healthcare decision maker? Um, you want to have those conversations. Those are non-financial [00:08:15] conversations that y- you can have, you know, early on.

It outlines everything you want it to, to do, but do your kids know where that document is? [00:08:45] Does your financial advisor have a copy of that document? Has it been updated and amended since the [00:08:50] last changes that you need? Are your beneficiaries updated, et cetera? So again, you might have [00:08:55] the best trust ever, but no one knows about it.

Um, what do mom and dad actually want? So that's where the trust comes into play, [00:09:20] and you can kind of sit down and say, "Okay, you know, uh, child one's, you're gonna get this. Child two, [00:09:25] you're gonna get this, and child three, this is how, this is how your, your portion's gonna be." And it might be divvied up [00:09:30] based on roles within the trust, et cetera.

So there's a lot of, of things you want to do ahead of time because when you find [00:09:55] out after the fact, there can be a lot of resentment towards your siblings. We've seen ... I don't know about you guys, [00:10:00] but I've seen cases where families can get broken up because these conversations don't happen [00:10:05] early enough, or there might be surprises in the trust, and one [00:10:10] brother might not like the sister anymore because they got the house and they wanted the house.

So again, there's [00:10:30] no right or wrong answer to it. Think about maturity. Think about when you want to have those [00:10:35] granular conversations. You can start early by easing into the conversation and then get more detailed [00:10:40] down the line. So, um, I, I guess, you know, Eric, how would you prepare those [00:10:45] families for, for,

Eric Wymore: for those conversations?

Maybe it's [00:11:05] where are you gonna get it if you're the, if you're the kid, right? If you're kind of in that sandwich generation [00:11:10] that, yeah, maybe you've got some older kids that, you know, older kids, but then also maybe [00:11:15] you're getting ready for your parents to, you know, for this to happen to your parents. But, you know, think about [00:11:20] utility bills, cell phone bills, credit card, subscriptions, um, you [00:11:25] know, clubs and membership.

Um, a lot of times, you know, even [00:11:50] more and more digital assets are popular. Um, every once in a while people will invest in [00:11:55] crypto, and those accounts are held off-site. You need to have access to those and get in, [00:12:00] you know, access to those accounts. Um, but I think you also talked about it, like, how [00:12:05] do you prepare, right?

Make... You know, they need to understand what's the difference basic [00:12:30] investing. You know, what's the difference between a stock and a bond? What about risk? [00:12:35] Um, a lot of kids still, you know, a lot of individuals, young adults, have this [00:12:40] massive capacity for risk. Maybe it should be there, maybe it shouldn't. [00:12:45] You know, having those conversations with a professional, um, because it [00:12:50] matters, right?

All of that stuff can be, [00:13:10] you know, you can teach your kids, teach your children, um, along the [00:13:15] way. You know, introduce your kids, as you mentioned earlier, introduce them to your financial advisors. [00:13:20] Bring them along to a meeting. You don't have to get specific about amounts, just [00:13:25] generalities. Um, introduce them to your accountant or to your trust attorneys or your state [00:13:30] attorney.

You know, does it make sense to have four bank accounts at one bank? Uh, you know, you can start making those, [00:14:00] some of those consolidations. Um, another example that we've, you know, [00:14:05] that having these conversations have, has uncovered, we've had situations where [00:14:10] people have found out that they, that, uh, mom and dad own land.

And Jeb, you're gonna explain a little bit more how, [00:14:40] how you can get things organized.

So [00:15:00] there's intricacies there of like, you know, one of them you have to drain over 10 years, and you're gonna [00:15:05] have to pay taxes on it. One of them you're gonna drain over 10 years, and you're not gonna have to pay taxes. One of them you don't have to [00:15:10] pay any tax, and you get a step up in basis. There's all those kind of intricacies that some of those educational [00:15:15] points, uh, I think, number one, it's gonna help your kid understand it better for [00:15:20] themselves later down the road.

Kind of a bummer, but it's, but there's, there's planning that can happen to, [00:15:40] to hopefully mitigate some of that for people. So last, and I think the last thing I want to talk [00:15:45] about is just an organizational piece. One of the things that we do with a lot of clients is we, uh, help them [00:15:50] set up what are, what's called a NOK box, which is, uh, a next of kin box, so [00:15:55] N-O-K, NOK box.

You know, if you [00:16:35] have one of those set up and you're properly documenting everything, they're gonna have one place to go [00:16:40] that they can access, uh, and, and basically know who they need to call, what they need to figure [00:16:45] out, and basically start problem solving, uh, from there. It's a heck of a lot easier to do it that way [00:16:50] than to have to Seek out the documents before they ever even get to [00:16:55] start kind of putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

So, [00:17:30] um, but anyway, th- this has been a, a productive conversation. Any, any, uh, [00:17:35] final thoughts?

Jeb Graham: That's right. Don't shoot the ball. Open up the lines of [00:17:55] communication.

Eric Wymore: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeb Graham: Yeah.

So ha- have the conversations early when [00:18:15] everyone can kind of focus on the conversation. I think that's really important.

Voiceover: Thanks for tuning in to [00:18:30] Metcalfe Money Moment, the podcast. We hope today's episode provided valuable insights to [00:18:35] help you unlock financial clarity, confidence, and peace of mind. For more [00:18:40] expert advice and resources, visit metcalfepartners.com. Until next time, [00:18:45] make every money moment count[00:18:50]

The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific [00:19:10] advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified [00:19:15] professional prior to making a decision.