Shownotes
In this episode, I’m opening up a conversation that hits close to home—how we, as grandparents and trusted adults, can help set up our grandkids for a stronger financial future.
I’ll admit something right up front: I didn’t open 529 plans for my grandchildren. At the time, I just wasn’t in a position to do it. But looking back, I wish I’d known more—and done more—to give them a solid financial head start.
That’s why I invited John Cooper, a Certified Financial Planner, to join me on the show. John breaks down how 529 plans really work (they’re more flexible than you might think!) and shares new ways these accounts can now roll over into Roth IRAs—a smart move for building long-term wealth.
But we don’t stop there. We talk about the many ways grandparents can help—whether that’s starting a savings account, talking about smart money habits, or just being open about financial ups and downs. It’s all part of teaching financial literacy in a way that sticks.
If you’ve ever wondered how to be a bigger part of your grandchildren’s financial journey—or how to talk to your own kids about it—this is the episode for you.
TAKEAWAYS:
- The recent changes in 2024 allow unused funds from a 529 plan to be transferred into a Roth IRA, providing a significant opportunity for long-term financial growth.
- Engaging young individuals in discussions about money management and investing can lay a solid foundation for their financial literacy and future success.
- Establishing a bank account with your grandchild can serve as an introductory lesson in saving and financial responsibility, fostering a deeper understanding of money management.
- Investment in stocks with grandchildren can provide a practical learning experience about the stock market, helping them understand how investments can grow over time.
LINKS:
To learn more about the Next Chapter Blueprint, email me at wendy@heyboomer.biz
Check out the Women Over 70 - Aging Reimagined podcast: womenover70.com
Learn more about Greenwood Capital or find resources at www.GreenwoodCapital.com. Boomer Banter is sponsored in part by Greenwood Capital Associates, LLC. Greenwood Capital Associates, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisory firm with offices in Greenville and Greenwood, SC. As a fiduciary firm, Greenwood Capital is obligated to disclose any potential conflicts of interest with this arrangement. The host of “Boomer Banter”, Wendy Green, is a client of Greenwood Capital, and her show “Boomer Banter” has been compensated for her testimonial through Greenwood Capital’s sponsorship. Greenwood Capital is a Legacy sponsor at the stated rate of $2,600 for the 2025 calendar year.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Hello and welcome to Boomer Banter, where we have real talk about aging. Well, I am your host, Wendy Green, and I am so glad that you're here. And I want to start today's episode with a little bit of full disclosure.
I did not open a 529 account for my grandkids when they were born. At the time, I simply wasn't in a financial position to do that. Thankfully, my parents were able to step in and help in ways that I couldn't.
And I did what I could. As I was raising my kids, I talked to them about money, about working hard to earn it, about not getting into credit card debt.
But I'll admit I wasn't well versed in investing while I was raising them. It just wasn't something I felt confident about. And honestly, my main focus was being a good mom, not really on accumulating wealth.
And now I find myself thinking I wish I knew then what I'm learning now.
As I've started to understand more about finances, mainly through all of the work I've been doing with Boomer Banter, I feel hopeful that I am better prepared. Also hopeful that I can still make a meaningful difference in my grandkids futures.
Because let's face it, young people today are facing some steep college debt, uncertain job markets, raising cost of living. But there are ways that we can help as grandparents, and one of them is in financial ways.
So today we're diving into some options many of us may not have considered or fully understood. I'm joined by John Cooper, a certified financial planner who's passionate about multi generational financial planning.
And trust me, John has a gift for explaining things in a way that's clear, empowering and possible. We'll talk about 529 plans and some new rules that could give your grandchild a head start on retirement.
We'll talk about creative ways to bring investing into your relationship with them, whether they live down the street or across the country. And because it's never too late to learn and it's never too early to plant seeds for the future, this is going to be a very helpful conversation.
Before we get started, I I want to take a quick A guess that as you plan for retirement, chances are you focused a lot on your finances, which is very critical. We all agree on that. But did you think about how you actually wanted to live in this next chapter?
I have just opened a few slots in my Next Chapter blueprint program and I want to invite you to to a live Q and A that I will be hosting about the Next Chapter Blueprint on Thursday, May 8th in the program we will work together to co create a personalized plan for what's next, personalized to your dreams and interests that will help you feel renewed energy in this stage of life. So if you're curious and want in, email me at wendyeyboomer Biz and I will send you the Zoom link to join the live Q and A. But don't wait too long.
I only have a few slots open and I would love to help you get started in planning this next chapter. So let me tell you a little bit more about John Cooper. He is a Senior Private Client Advisor with Greenwood Capital in Greenwood, South Carolina.
He earned his Bachelor's of Science with an emphasis in Economics and Finance from the University of South Carolina. He is a certified Financial Planner and John is active in his community.
He is currently Chair of the United Way for the Lakelands Board of Directors and chairs the Board of Trustees for the Self Regional Health Care Foundation.
iation where he served as the: John Cooper:Hello, Wendy. How are you?
Wendy Green:I'm good. It's so nice to have you here. Thank you.
John Cooper:My pleasure. Appreciate the invitation.
Wendy Green:Oh, of course. I'm excited about this. So I want to start with the basics. Most people might know this, but you know, you never know. Who doesn't know?
So would you explain about a 529 plan and why so many grandparents find that a good, a good tool to use?
John Cooper:Yes, I'll be glad to. I'll start with 529. 101, if you will.
Wendy Green:Okay.
John Cooper:529 is simply refers to a section of the IRS code, section 529, that outlines the ins and outs, the policies, procedures, if you will, for 529s and how they're structured and how they're able to be invested, how money is contributed or withdrawn from a 529. So it's the, that's kind of the background of what 529 means.
It's not just a random number that someone chose and decided, hey, let's call it a 529 plan. Okay. So the, the specifics around a 529, of course, it is something that is best used as a financial planning tool for college education.
I Say it's best. That doesn't mean that's its only purpose or only thing it could be used for. It does have much more varied uses than most people understand.
One of the benefits of a 529 is that the money inside that particular account is not strictly used for college. It can be used for a student before they head off to college for private school tuition, books, computer, stuff like that.
Anything that's directly related to their education.
Wendy Green:Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know that.
John Cooper:Yeah. It's not simply for college, so it can, it has broader uses. Okay.
Wendy Green:Go ahead and, and technical schools too. Will it finance that?
John Cooper:Absolutely. Higher education is the, the, the term used. So it's pretty broad in that context. How the a529 plan actually works is every state has a sponsored 529.
So if you lived in Nebraska, your state sponsored plan most likely would be different than say South Carolina.
Some companies who offer 529 plans are the state sponsored plan in several states, but it's not uniform across the US there's not one 529 sponsor that services all 50 states. So it's a, it's an individual decision made at the state level as to what company creates that 529 and the investments offered within it.
Wendy Green:Okay, so when you invest into the 529, is that tax deductible from your state income tax or your federal income tax?
John Cooper:Only state. Federal. It's not tax deductible.
So I'll use South Carolina as an example because that's obviously where I do the majority of my business in South Carolina. Any contributions made to a beneficiaries. Excuse me, beneficiaries. 529, that is the student.
So if you hear me say beneficiary and student think interchangeable, he's talking about the same person that any contributions made to that beneficiary's 529 is something that you can write off your South Carolina tax. And South Carolina, like federal tax tables, have a graduated scale.
The more income you make, the larger your percent, your taxable or marginal tax rate is the way we refer to it.
Wendy Green: me there was a rule change in: John Cooper:Absolutely, yes. Let me, I'll, I'll address that in a second. Let me kind of go back in and add a little bit more to the 529. Beauty of the 529 is.
Yes, it's tax deductible Whoever makes the contribution gets to write off the taxes. So if mom and dad make a contribution to Little Joey's 529 they write it off their taxes.
They Grandma, grandpa make contribution to little Joey's, they write it off. Aunt uncle make contribution to little Joey, they can write off the portion that they contribute.
Once the funds are inside that 529 it grows tax free during the entire time that it's inside that particular plan. Earlier you mentioned that you wish you would have started something when your grandchildren were born as that.
Yes, a lot of people, I hear that from a lot of people.
But so in, in your particular instance, if you had started it at the say the day they were born, it could grow without paying any taxes on the growth of that money for 18 plus years.
Wendy Green:Yeah, until 18 is awesome.
John Cooper:Yeah.
If the, if the funds are used for qualified educational expenses and that that list is somewhat broad, you can't necessarily use it to go buy them new car or anything it does have somehow related to educational expenses. But if it's used for those qualified educational expenses, then the money when it's withdrawn, there's no taxes paid on it. Yeah, that's it.
Wendy Green:So which is a beautiful thing.
John Cooper: nal question, what changed in: ecure Act. Secure act came in:One of the improvements we'll say and Secure Act 2.0 was the ability to use money that's inside a 529 after the beneficiary ie student has completed whatever studies they were doing paying for whatever cost they had. Or maybe they didn't chose not to go to college or maybe they had scholarships and didn't need the money in the 529.
So there's many different ways that there could be money left over in a 529 after the student was completed with, with their education. The, the big part of this Secure Act 2.0 is they have allowed excess funds in a 529 to be rolled out into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary.
Now there's some guidelines around it, but it's a wonderful opportunity to have some excess funds that a young college graduate, we'll say a 22 year old college graduate could very well be able to roll that money out into their own Roth ira, which I can explain some of the benefits and the policies around Roth IRA here in a moment. But they could roll that money out into a Roth ira, then have it grow for who knows how many years.
Wendy Green:Right. Another 40, 50 years. Yeah.
John Cooper:So it could be an extremely impactful way to plan for college and after.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
John Cooper:Think of it from a potential retirement plan option for a newborn thanks to the power of that, that, that could hold for 60 years.
Wendy Green:Yeah, yeah.
So if they don't use all of the money that you've put into that 529, then at the end of their either college career or they don't go to college or whatever, they can roll that money over into a Roth IRA that can then just build.
John Cooper:And yes, up to, there is a stipulation. They can roll up to $35,000 into a Roth. So let's just say there's a hundred thousand left in that 529. They couldn't roll all 100,000 into a Roth.
It's currently limited to 35,000, which still.
Wendy Green:I mean, by the cost of college these days, you'd be happy to have 35,000 left over.
John Cooper:Amen. Yes. So some math behind that.
Just if you think of it from a retirement planning standpoint, if you are able to roll out 35,000, if you look at a hypothetical rate of return of about 7%, which is not uncommon, if, if someone were investing in stocks, I. E. The stock market, a 40 year rate of return at 7% from $35,000 is over $400,000.
Wendy Green:I love that. Yeah, I love that.
John Cooper:So, yeah, it takes a while to get there. Yeah, well, sure. Yeah. But it can really exponentially grow and become a, a very impactful amount of money.
Wendy Green:And there are, there are stipulations that they can't take it out without certain stipulations.
John Cooper:Isn't that right within the 529, within.
Wendy Green:The Roth, once you put it into the Roth for them?
John Cooper:Yes, there are stipulations. Any, the, any withdrawal from a Roth if it's in retirement. If you're over age 59 and a half, any withdrawal, withdrawals from that come out tax free.
So you have this long period of tax free growth while it's inside the Roth. If you use it in retirement, it comes out without any taxes at that time.
If you use it prior to that, then prior to age 59 and a half, there would be a 10% early withdrawal penalty.
Wendy Green:Okay.
John Cooper:That same 10% early withdrawal penalty applies to withdrawals made from an individual retirement account. I e an IRA or a 401k that's not uncommon to all retirement plans.
Wendy Green:And it's important information to share with the grandkids. If you're opening up this Roth like this isn't just a savings account, this.
John Cooper:Is a retirement account and it can be invested. There's, there's a myriad of investment options.
Obviously once they're roll it over into a Roth IRA, the investment options within the 529 are more limited. South Carolina for example, the state sponsored plan for South Carolina is called Future Scholar.
There's a website that you can very easily go find more information on. So I will exhaust your listeners.
Wendy Green:People are all over the world listening, so, so I want to move on from just the college savings and talk about other smart ways that grandparents can help set their grandkids up financially. So what are some ideas that you typically would consider?
John Cooper:One of the easiest things to do is set up a bank account with them on the benefit as the beneficiary on the bank account they do not have to sign any paperwork. So you or I could go to our local bank and say, hey, I want to start a savings account for little Joey or little Mary.
And they would just want to know a little bit of information about the beneficiary, name, date of birth, Social Security number, those kind of basic things. But then once you have the account established, of course you could make contributions to it at any time, make deposits.
There's no limit as to how much you can contribute. Now there are some limits on 529s, how much you can contribute to a 529, but with a bank account it's unlimited. So that's a good first step.
Wendy Green:And I remember, I remember growing up that my, my parents did that for us and we got a little bank book, you know, and we could write in like if we earned money babysitting or something like that, and we could go to the bank and deposit it and see the money grow and yeah, so that was kind of fun as a little person.
John Cooper:Yeah, it is, it, it's a great introduction to the world of saving, of thinking further than the next day or two or week or month or whatever.
It's a great opportunity for the grandparent to have that kind of introductory conversation with someone who is, who knows, five, 10 years old, may not be fully developed around what all things financial are concerned with, but it's a great way to kind of give them thinking.
Wendy Green:So what do you think would be a good aid to introduce them to the stock market and maybe like Work with them to pick a stock and watch that.
John Cooper:What I'll say, historically, what I see being the most impactful is when they're in their early teens. You know, most teenagers already know a lot more than we do. Yeah. Or at least think they do. So they may be willing to. To listen and be able to.
To grasp some of the complexities of investing in the stock market. It's not like putting money into a bank account. There's a more. There's more things to consider when it comes to investing.
But a teenager by that time has. Has some basic understanding of money, Right.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
John Cooper:And how it's used. And maybe they've taken some classes in school. I hope they have.
Wendy Green:Well, yeah, that's questionable.
John Cooper:Yeah, that's that and that's. Don't. Don't get me on that soapbox. But that's something that could, I believe, could. Could be improved in schools.
Wendy Green:For sure. There should be some financial discussions, but there's not typically. So I never did this. I never thought about this.
But if you were to buy a stock with your grandchild, do you put it in your name and their name? Do you put it in their name with you as a coast? I mean, how does that work?
John Cooper:It could work either of those ways. There's several ways it could work. Okay. One is that you could have a joint account with the grandchild.
Wendy Green:Okay.
John Cooper:You open an investment account, you put a thousand dollars in, you talk with them. They're a teenager, you say, hey, what companies are you aware of which? Who would you like to invest in? Let's say maybe it's Disney.
A lot of younger people are fully aware of Disney and all the things they do. And so maybe you want to buy some Disney stock. So you could put that in a joint account with the two of you. You could open up a. A.
It's called a UGMA Account Uniform Gift to Minors Act Account. Ugma. It's also referred to as a UT MA Uniform Transfer to Minors Act Account.
That is an account that's established for a minor, someone who is age of minority. Right. Once. Once they hit certain age, they become age of majority. So there's no longer a minor account. That. That age varies between states.
Most in the US most states is 18, but in some states as high as 21.
So if you were to establish the UGMA account for them, then you're the custodian, you're the caretaker of those funds until they reach that magical age. Then it becomes their money.
Wendy Green:Okay.
John Cooper:That's. That's an option, you could set it up in a trust that's a little more formal.
That's where you would have a, an attorney involved to create the trust documents. Now you do want to be aware of how that asset is or could impact financial aid for a student.
Wendy Green:Oh.
John Cooper:Because college will. Will ask the parents to provide a FAFSA form that's common across all universities that essentially says what are the assets of the parent?
What assets do the child may have and how could those. How are they counted or accounted for when it comes to the potential of receiving grants?
Wendy Green:How much money they.
John Cooper:Yeah, yeah. Financial aid. You know, if. So if a. Let's just say you're a grandchild, you sat down with them, age 13, bought stock in Apple, say a thousand in.
And here it is five, six, seven years later and it's worth a hundred thousand dollars. Just throwing a number out there that unfortunately could impact their ability to receive financial aid.
Even though, all things considered, they may be a perfect candidate for financial aid. You may, you know.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
John Cooper:Have the sort of income that typically disqualifies someone from.
Wendy Green:Yeah. So lots of things to think about when you do it.
But you know, if you do it in a small amount and you want to do it as a way to show them how interest can accumulate and you know, all of that, that. Yeah.
John Cooper:It would probably have very little impact on, in a small amount, financial aid. Yes.
Wendy Green:So because I have you and this is my time to ask a question. I want to ask you a question about my grandson.
So he's going to be graduating from high school in a couple of weeks and you know, as I said, my parents put a 529 plan for him, so we're good with that. But would it make sense as a graduation gift to purchase some stock in his name or even open a Roth IRA in his name as a graduation gift?
John Cooper:I think that's a great idea.
Of course, I'm somewhat biased being a financial planner and working in the investment world, but it is a wonderful pathway to success, financial success. Starting early. I was having an 18 year old pretty pretty much in tune with their surrounding. Maybe not as much as you and I, but.
Wendy Green:But don't tell him that.
John Cooper:Yeah, I think they would greatly. He would greatly appreciate that.
And, and it would cause that connection, another connection between the two of you to have conversations and just check ins. How's your stock doing? Hey, I'm thinking about putting some more money in your account.
What would you do a little research and what would you like to buy once the money's in your account. I think that would make for interesting conversations.
Wendy Green:Yeah, it could. And I think maybe what. So what you're leaning towards more is the stock than actually a Roth for him?
John Cooper:Well, a Roth, I use the illustration. A Roth ira. Any sort of investment account is really not much different than, I'll say your pocketbook is your pocketbook.
You can put any, anything in your pocketbook. Right. You can put your sunglasses, your keys, your change. You can put a sandwich, you can put, I don't know, shoelaces.
Whatever you want to put in your pocketbook, you can put in there. Right. So it's not within reason. Right. You can't put a. Well, some people can put a kitchen sink in their pocket. That's for. That's.
That's a different topic. Right?
Wendy Green:That's right.
John Cooper:So a Roth ira, you can put any type of. Almost any type of investment inside a Roth. So it can be stopped. It could be something more conservative than stocks. Doesn't fluctuate as much.
Bonds, that's. That's an option.
Wendy Green:Interesting.
John Cooper:Yep.
Wendy Green:Okay.
John Cooper:All, you know, mutual funds, there's many things that you could put inside Roth. So you can, when I say stocks, you could really put. Buy stocks and put them in Roth ira, traditional ira, just a regular investment account.
Wendy Green:Okay. I want to take a quick break to talk about our sponsor, which is Greenwood Capital, which happens to be where our esteemed guest is from, too.
But I think it is so important to work with a trusted financial advisor to have someone who can give you specific personal guidance that actually matches your goals and your lifestyle.
I have such a relationship with my advisor at Greenwood Capital, and it doesn't, it's not John, John's not my advisor, but I have a wonderful advisor, Melissa. And as an independent registered advisory firm, Greenwood Capital is a fiduciary meaning must place your interests above their own.
I do need to share that as a sponsor. Greenwood Capital has compensated my business for this testimonial.
And for more information about how they can help you make a financial plan, go to greenwoodcapital.com all right, let's get back to John and all of this great discussion. Since we're talking about grandkids, I do want to talk about multi generational families. I know that you work on that a lot.
So why is it so important to include the next generation in financial conversations now and not just wait until later?
John Cooper:What better time to learn than the present, is what I would say. We all carry various levels of financial acumen. I'll say, some more so than others.
And the best time to share that type of information and insight and experience is as soon as you believe the, the net that next generation is in a spot where they could understand the context of the conversation. You know, some things you're not going to talk over with a five year old or whatever.
Wendy Green:Right, right.
John Cooper:But, but that's not to say that you can't have a, a simple conversation with a five year old about saving a nickel or a dime or a quarter or picking, picking up a nickel off the street and putting that in your bank account or something, you know, but, but having those conversations, the sooner the better because you start building on conversations as well.
Wendy Green:Yeah. And at some point, you know, we all, the whole money conversation is difficult in families.
Typically you don't want to talk to your kids about how much money you have or how much money they have or any of that. So at some point though, they need to know. Your adult children need to know where your money is and who to contact.
And so do you do, I mean, I guess you would bring in your financial advisors and your attorneys and your CPAs and I mean, how do you handle that?
John Cooper:I serve as a financial quarterback for my clients, meaning I don't claim to know all there is to know about all things investments or legal documents or insurance or, you know, whatever the topic may be. But I do know people who are experts in those particular segments of a financial, well, well designed financial life.
So I refer my clients to some trusted professionals in other lines of business.
The benefit to having the conversation with that next generation is you can tell them and provide a lot more color on your situation while you're alive than any will or trust document could ever do or when you pass. So the time to have that conversation is when you can sit down eyeball to eyeball, talk with them, you know, share as much as you care to.
Some of my clients are full disclosure with their, their kids. Some of them are like, I'll tell them where I have my bank account.
I'm not going to tell them how much I have in my banking account because I don't want them to come knocking on my door, you know, if they wanted to buy some toy or something. Yeah. And it's, and everyone, you know, people know their children pretty well, so they, they tend to try to navigate those waters as best they can.
But a more open discussion, if you feel comfortable doing that, is a great way to, to bridge that experience to the next generation.
Create a, a legacy, a family legacy of, of understanding finance because it's a big Part of what we do, we all operate our own, if you think about it, kind of operate our own small business just by managing our inflows and outflows, you know, how you choose to spend your money, those type things. So there's a lot of information and experience that you can share with that next generation to help pave the road for them.
Wendy Green:Yeah.
So I, I know that in an earlier conversation, John, that you and I had, you talked about being a financial advisor as much about psychology as it is about math.
John Cooper:Yes.
Wendy Green:And with some of the, I know this last week, the stock market has started going up again, but it's been an emotional roller coaster. You know, I think I mentioned to you, I called my advisor, Melissa, and I was like, oh, my God, we've got to get out.
So what do you do to someone who's panicking during a downturn? How do you handle that?
John Cooper:Well, I really try to get in front of those kind of conversations. How do I, how do I do that? I, I like to have these kind, these kind of conversations, some what if conversations before something like that happens.
It's not a matter of if, but it's a matter of when. That's just the nature of the beast. Just this. How the stock market operates always has, always will.
Fear and greed, they say, drives the stock market. So whenever you, you put either one of those two feelings to the forefront, some, some out of the ordinary things happen. Right.
So, so I have those conversations with my client when the seas are calm and we're just sitting on our metaphorical yacht, you know, enjoying a sunrise or a sunset, and say, what, how, you know, how do you, how would you approach a scenario where Your portfolio's down 10%, 15% in a few weeks?
And let's talk about it now, because the seas are calm, but when this, this starts getting, the water starts getting choppy, that's when we can revisit that conversation and provide some, hopefully, some more calm discussions during the heat of a, a market fluctuation or downturn.
Wendy Green:Hey, do you stay calm? Do you feel it in your gut sometimes when the market's doing the crazy things, or do you, are you able to stay calm after all this time?
John Cooper:I'm a pretty calm guy and I've been doing this for quite some time. So I, I, I've lived through the dot bubble.
Wendy Green:Oh, gosh.
John Cooper: or during the do. Com bubble.:Whatever was out there that's caused market turbulence since the, the late 90s. I've been there. So to say that I'm, I totally disregard it. No, I understand.
Money is psychologically important and volatile to people and I don't want to discount that at all. But I, I do tend to.
Wendy Green:And I think as we talked once, it is scarier when you're out of the earning phase. Right. You talked about the wealth accumulation and now, now we're taking out. So it's a little scarier distribution.
John Cooper:Yes. You don't have that inflow money going into your various accounts, bank accounts, retirement accounts, whatever, in, in retirement.
And you're doing that drawdown. So you're transitioned, you've had a, an entire work career.
Most people had an entire work career to, to come become accustomed to the wealth accumulation phase where they're putting money into a retirement account, putting make deposits into savings accounts, so forth. So you people have 30, 40 years or more to become accustomed to that. Then suddenly all of a sudden you get the gold watch.
They say, hey, go enjoy your retirement. And this flip is you flip this switch. Right? You're assumed that to automatically have all this understood the wealth distribution.
How much do I get each month? How long will it last? How will a market downturn affect the longevity of my money?
Wendy Green:Yeah, scary questions, scary questions.
And that's when I decided I really needed a financial planner because, you know, I mean, I'm not drawing down yet, but still, there's so much to know. So much to know. So.
John Cooper:Yeah, so yeah, and, and the stakes are high. And you, you, you don't want to screw up late in the game, so you don't want to stumble right as you're heading down the home stretch, so to speak.
Wendy Green:You're right. You're right. So we've covered a lot of stuff, John, but we started with the grandkids.
So I want to come back to that and say, if you had one tip to offer to grandparents who want to start helping their grandkids financially, what would that be?
John Cooper:Share your wisdom. A lifetime of learning could save a young person a world of missed opportunities, potential mistakes, and heading down the wrong path.
So your listeners have world of knowledge and this gleamed over a lifetime of trial and error in a lot of places. Study. A lifetime of studying all these different topics, reading books, whatever.
And the best thing you can do is share that information with that generation to give them some real world illustrations and examples of how things work. As I said earlier, teenagers, they already pretty much know it all, or at least they think they do. Right.
Well, this is one area where you could really impart some wisdom. That's highly unlikely. They're going to know much.
Wendy Green:Yeah. And I think, I think that's great advice.
, that really hurt me and the:So just even that kind of conversation I think could be helpful. John, this has been very enlightening. I picked up ideas about the transferring for the 529 to a Roth IRA.
If you have extra money left, the ways to invest an account with a younger person, like a ugma, I think you called it, or co ownership. But also look at how that could impact your financial aid. John is willing to respond to emails.
If you have questions, you can reach out to him@jcoopereenwoodcapital.com and thank you so much. I appreciate that.
And if this episode sparks something in you listener, if you if it gets you thinking about your own finances and your grandkids, I'd be so grateful if you'd share it with a friend, leave a quick review or hit the follow button or do all of that. It helps more than you know.
And if you are enjoying a boomer banter, I think you will also enjoy the Ladies on women over 70 aging reimagined with Catherine Marino and Gail Zalitsky. Their stories are from Diverse Women ages 70 to 110 and they shatter myths and change the conversation about women aging.
Look for it wherever you get your podcasts on their website womenover70.com as well as on YouTube. So I have really enjoyed listening to their show.
And don't forget about our Q and A on Thursday to get all of your questions answered about the next chapter blueprint and get your life planned now that you got your finances planned for this next chapter. If you want to join us, email me at wendyeyboomer Biz and I will send you the link to the Zoom meeting.
And before you go, sneak peek about next week's episode. We're going to continue on this topic of financial literacy, but we're going to look at it in a new way.
I'll be joined by a woman named Sarah Newcomb. She is a behavioral economist who brings a fresh perspective to our relationship with money.
Not just the numbers, but the stories we tell ourselves that shape our financial decisions. We'll talk about our money mindset.
We'll talk about self sabotage and how examining our stories can help us shift from feeling stuck to feeling empowered.
So if you've ever found yourself thinking I wish I understood finances better or would like to reduce your anxiety when you question if you're going to outlive your money, this is the conversation you don't want to miss. It's practical, personal, and just might change the way you think about your financial future. So thanks for tuning in.
Thank you so much, John, for all of the good information you shared with us. My pleasure, and I hope to see you all next week. Bye.
