Your Parents Have a Financial Advisor… But Do You Know the Plan? with Hailey Beal

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In this episode of My Parents Lied to Me, Nicole Porter sits down with financial advisor Hailey Beal to talk about the financial conversations families often avoid until a major life change, inheritance, health crisis, or loss forces them to pay attention.

They discuss why having a 401(k) or financial advisor doesn't necessarily mean your entire financial picture is covered, how often a financial strategy should be reviewed, and why adult children need to understand more about their parents' financial world before an emergency happens.

Nicole also shares her own experience inheriting financial accounts after losing both of her parents and realizing she wasn't prepared for the tax questions, inherited accounts, or money decisions that came next.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

• Why financial strategies shouldn't always be “set it and forget it”
• When adult children should start asking questions about their parents' finances
• What families may not understand about inherited accounts
• The potential cost of living longer and future long-term care needs
• How supporting parents could impact an adult child's own financial future
• The money beliefs we unknowingly inherit from our parents
• Why a financial review could uncover gaps you didn't know existed

You don't have to know everything about your parents' money.

But someone in the family should know who to call, what questions to ask, and where the gaps might be.

Have the conversation before life forces you to.

Guest: Hailey Beal
Financial Advisor
CA Insurance License #4438043
hailey.beal@rfc.com
Renaissance Financial | www.rfc.com
Direct or Text: (623) 282-9425 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to My Parents Lives Me, the podcast about navigating aging, loss, and all the midlife changes no one warned us about. I'm Nicole Porter, here with real stories and expert advice to help you face what's now and what's next. Hello and welcome to another episode of My Parents Lied to Me, where I talk to adult children and aging parents about the things that they need to know as we get a little bit older. And today I brought on my friend Haley Beal. She's a financial advisor. I haven't talked to a financial advisor yet. And, you know, when I've said to most people, hey, I can help you with your plan, they're like, I have a plan. I have a financial advisor. But I know not everybody does. So I wanted to bring Haley on here to answer some basic questions about financial advisors, why you need one, when you should get one, and the important conversations that you should have with your parents if they have a financial advisor, things like that. So welcome to the show, Haley. And I'm gonna let you go ahead and introduce yourself, what you do, and we'll go from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Perfect. Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm honored that I get to be your guest financial advisor. So I think what you're doing is great. I think that, you know, what you alluded to of just having that conversation is really so important. And to your point, a lot of people, you know, have that pushback of, oh, I have an advisor or, you know, I take care of my finances. But in reality, a financial advisor really does so much more than just picking investments. It's really looking at your overall plan. And a lot of people, you know, maybe think that they have things set in place and they probably do, but there are other things that they might be neglecting or maybe haven't been updated. I mean, you know, government is always changing, laws are always changing, different contribution limits are increasing, and there's just so many nuances of things that it's important to have someone kind of be a sounding board at the end of the day, especially if you are maybe working with a parent who has an advisor and the kid is not familiar with who that person is. So it's really making sure that everyone is involved and on the same page and ultimately getting you to your goal.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Awesome. When do you find that most people come to a financial advisor? Do they come when they're younger? Can they come when they're older? Like what does that look like? What's the typical uh client for you? What's the age range?

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. And as broad as the answer is, it's the truth. I mean, anyone can start with a financial advisor. Sometimes I do have clients who are, you know, just graduated college, they're getting their first job, they want to start a plan. But then I also have clients who are, you know, in their 50s, 60s, maybe they're about to retire or in retirement. And to what I was mentioning earlier, even though they have an advisor, I typically ask them, okay, when's the last time you had a complimentary audit of your plan from an independent firm? A lot of people have advisors with these big warehouses like Vanguard or Fidelity or Northwestern Mutual. And not to say that there's anything wrong with those companies, they're great, but they have their proprietary investments that a lot of times they're cookie-cutter plans. And so they're putting their clients in a plan. Maybe now they have to call a 1-800 number. And it's just really important that you're making sure you're meeting with someone who can actually look at your financial plan as a whole and give you some ideas.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

And how often do people need to review that financial plan? Because I think people get in the mindset of set it and forget it, and it just builds money over years and you don't have to ever touch it. Like, how often should a family or person look at their financial plan?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, that's a great question. And realistically, it should be at least every year. And a lot of times I think it's very beneficial anytime you're going through a life change. So maybe you're getting married or you are having a kid, you want to buy your second home, anything like that, that's always a great time to look at everything and make sure your goals are in alignment. But at least every year it should be something that you're checking in on. And I think to your point, setting and forgetting is a great idea in terms of contributing money and not worrying if the market is down one day and then it's up another day. Like in that regard, yes, absolutely set and forget. You shouldn't be looking at it every day, but you want to make sure it's just the goals are still in line.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Okay. And why would someone's goals change at that life plan? Is it just because they add a spouse or have a child or lose a spouse, I guess could be another potential outcome. But how does that change the financial plan?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Absolutely. Yeah. So exactly what you said, whether that's new people coming in, maybe unfortunately people leaving your life, that's always a time where goals might shift. But it's also maybe you had to switch careers. And so now your goals changed. Or maybe you realized a lot of people get older and they think, wow, I didn't travel as much as I wanted to, or I am really invested in pickleball or golf or whatever it is. And so then their expenses and their living style changes. And that's times where, yeah, a small shift in goals might change, or a legacy planning is huge. So maybe they have kids and they realize I'm getting older, I want to make sure that my kids are taken care of, or my grandkids. And so maybe they shift to think, okay, I don't want to spend as much money, but I want to make sure that it's not a burden when I pass this money down. Maybe I'm taking advantage of paying taxes and giving tax-free money to my kids. So there's a lot of really cool strategies like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Well, I didn't think about all of that. My parents got a financial planner later in life, and we never got involved in that. Is that something that adult children should get involved with their parents? My parents were in their 60s. You know, should I have like asked them more questions about their financial plans at that point? Or like at what age should you be concerned with your parents' financial plan and strategy?

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Absolutely. It's a great question. And I mean, I really think as soon as you can, I know that there's that level of emotional maybe your parents don't want to share. And so it does get a little bit tricky. I think what I do with my clients, I always ask them, so say I had your parents, for example. I would say, okay, do you have adult children? They would say yes. And I would say, are they familiar with what you're doing? How are they set up for when they inherit the money that you want to pass down to them? So I would try to get them involved as much as I can on the front end so that you're not having that awkward conversation. But ultimately the kids should be involved as soon as possible because you know, you might be in the position where you have to take care of them. And what if they didn't have a will or a trust? And so then that's another unnecessary burden. And so a lot of it is making sure, okay, you express that you want XYZ to be your power of attorney. Does that reflect on all of your accounts? Does that reflect in your trust? So it's just that extra level of protection and making sure you're helping your parents do that due diligence.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah, that reminds me kind of like an estate planning attorney, you know, if relationships change, sometimes they don't want the children, certain children to have more money or less money or all of the things. So I mean, that would be another reason that they should see their financial planner, like if those things have changed, because I know since we weren't involved with the financial planner, but my parents did have us as beneficiaries on the accounts. So we inherited the accounts pretty easily. So thankfully they did have the financial planner, but I did not have a plan with my inherited funds, and I didn't understand some of the ramifications that came along with inherited accounts versus this account versus some of the money just is kind of like gifted and other money is taxed. And another thing I didn't think to ask like, what does that look like when children inherit accounts? Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

So great point. And it really depends on what account they inherit. So a lot of times if they're inheriting a IRA from their parents, you have a 10-year window where that account has to be depleted. So that's something that you should be working with an advisor because, okay, that's where the advisor will help you look at it from a tax perspective and whatever your goals are. Okay, you have 10 years to fully deplete the account. Does it make more sense to maybe heavily withdraw in the first few years and then slowly drain it out? Or is that something that you're, you know, kind of equally distributing? So it really is a lot of that planning that comes into it. So that's one thing. Sometimes we do Roth conversions. And so that's where if a parent wanted to pay the taxes while they're still alive, and then they would ultimately give their money tax-free to their children. So if you inherit an account that had already been converted, then you don't have to pay taxes on that. So it's it really just depends on what you're actually inheriting from your parents. But again, that's where the financial advisor can help figure out, okay, what exactly do you have to do and what's going to make the most sense?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Right. Yeah, because I don't think most families think about that. They are just like, here's the money. This is how we've held it in accounts in the IRA or in the whatever accounts. I don't think they think about the child having ramifications from inheriting the money.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Exactly. No, exactly right. And if the person is passing away and they have grandkids and they want to leave money to their grandkids, okay, are you just gonna give them a lump sum or do you want to put it towards a college account or some other tax-advantaged account? There's also life insurance products. There's so many different strategies that I think people just think, well, I I saved all this money, I'm gonna pass it along. Is that really the most effective that you could be doing? Maybe not. So it's more of just figuring out the best strategy.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Do you feel like your older clients, the older adults, have any idea what care actually costs and some of these life changes that come with aging? Because I know I've talked to independent living and assisted living and caretakers and things like that. And I mean, it can range up to, I mean, I know one person was like, my parents' care home was $120,000 a year. And I don't think families really understand the true costs associated with living a longer life and not living in your home and having to have any sort of care or any sort of community really. I don't want to call it care because some people move out of their house just to have an easier lifestyle and live more in community versus having the weight of a house and all the things that come along with owning a home. So is there a certain time where you might try to bring families in to be like, hey, have you thought about your future and what those costs are? And do people know, like in their mind, do they really understand the true cost of things?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

I think they do not. I really, as sad as it is, people do not know. I think nobody likes to think about it, to be fair. And and I completely understand it's it's emotional. You don't want to think about getting old and having to be in that situation, but people are not aware of how expensive it is. And I don't think they understand the burden that it's gonna cause on them and their loved ones because it's hard, it's expensive, it's like your point, it's it's very time consuming. There's so many factors. So I don't think people are aware. And that's something that in every meeting we talk about life insurance and we talk about long-term care because regardless, people have different needs. It's more of a need for some than others, but it is always something that we bring up because I think that you should always be thinking and planning for that. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And how many adult children or midlife adults do you have come in that go, I don't think my parents saved enough money. And I need to include that in my financial plan to take care of my parents if something was to happen. Because I know that's kind of where I was at. I needed to build this wealth, I needed to be financially free, and I needed to be able to take care of my parents. But I wasn't even to the point where I had the financial advisor. Like in my head, I was like, when this happens, then I will. And it didn't happen. My parents went way before I had that opportunity. But how many adult children do you kind of have to coach on how much more they need to save if they plan on taking care of their parents?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yeah, that's a great question. So every time that we meet with someone who is that age where, okay, their parents are getting a little bit older, the first thing we ask is, are you going to be financially responsible for your parents? Is there anything you're gonna have to take care of? Based on that answer, we incorporate that into whatever their plan is. So it's hard to say a tangible number or what that recommendation is, but we always ask that because it genuinely is important. So we're always asking that. And then something that this might be going off on a tangent, but I'll bring it up because one of the insurance policies that we really talk about and we like to introduce is a long-term care policy with the carrier Minnesota Life. And the reason that we work with them is they offer long-term care benefits on a cash indemnity basis. So what that means is that if you qualify for needing long-term care, but say you want to age in place in your home or whatever it is, you can request the money that, you know, for the benefit that you have. Again, this is keeping it very high level, but instead of a reimbursement like typical insurance companies, they'll give you the funds on the front end. And that money can go towards paying your kids to help you, paying for home renovations if you're gonna stay in your home, paying for groceries. Maybe you have a garden outside and your kids gonna come take care of that while you're so you can look at something nice, whatever it is. So that's something that we always talk about because yeah, a lot of people don't want to think about going into an assisted living home. They want it, they don't want to leave their home. They think that their kids are gonna take care of them, but they're not really understanding that their kids are feeling the emotional weight of that. And so that at least provides a little bit of ease of mind.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

So, what does a plan like that cost out of pocket versus an adult child having to come up with that cash? Mom and dad need renovations. I need to give them $30,000. What does that long-term care package cost out of pocket and what's the benefit?

SPEAKER_01 15:03

So it depends on underwriting. So for the insurance process, you go through underwriting based on their health rating. That's what, you know, and some other factors, that's what determines the cost of your premium. And then because it's a variable policy with a long-term care rider attached to it, you do get a little bit of flexibility in how much you want to fund per year and how much death benefit you want to have. So it depends on how many assets you have and what you want to protect, the actual death benefit you want, maybe the amount of coverage you don't need that much. Maybe you don't need that much long-term care, maybe you want a lot. So there is that flexibility, which is really nice, but it just depends on your rating. So there's not really a flat fee, but it is something that if you have a general idea, we can build a plan around that.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Do you feel like there are a lot of older adults that are running out of money because they didn't plan properly? I do. I do feel that.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

I think they're running out of money and they're just not being the most efficient with their money, I think is what I really see. There are people who maybe don't have enough, but I think there are a lot where it's not too late to make a change, and it's important to actually analyze everything and figure out okay, are you being the most smart with your money in terms of taxes and gifting and saving it and investing it and all of these things? And I feel like people are not taking advantage of the cool strategies because they are just not aware of it. So that's ultimately where I think a financial advisor provides value because we're able to say, okay, here's everything you have in your world, here's what we would recommend. Here's how this compares to what you're doing, like our recommendations versus what you're doing. And so that's what I love. I mean, we're in an age where technology and the software that we have is incredible. We use a software called e-Money where it projects out the most a thousand different scenarios and you can model out okay, what happens if I lost all my money? What happens if I inherit all this money? What happens if I do this, this, and this? And so it's really providing peace of mind to see all this.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

What if I live to 100? I actually read a stats that financial planners back in the day, you would plan to retire at 65 and you would plan out 20 years of life because the average age life expectancy is in the 70s. It's, I think it's 77 for men and 79 for women or something. But people were running out of money because now they're living till 90 and 100 because they're just adopting a healthier lifestyle and living a little bit longer. So they're running out of money because of longevity. Right. And really, I think it's really great that you need to take into account the cost it actually is to live longer. I mean, look at inflation, look at our food supply, supplements, medicine, like all the things. I don't think people put all of that into perspective until something happens.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Exactly. You're 100% correct. And I think people hear these buzzwords of like, okay, I have a 401k, so I'm set. Okay, yeah, you might have your retirement, but what about everything else, like your day-to-day expenses? What about your long-term care, your insurance, all of these things? And so I think people get hooked on what they think is right, and but they're not looking at the whole picture. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Well, and I think that's why we would make great partners, is because a lot of the my clients, I feel I will go into conversations and ask them about that financial plan, and they're gonna have one thing in their mind, this is the way it's always gone. And I think just being able to ask the right questions, like, well, where do you really see this going? What if there was an emergency? What if you were bedbound? What if you don't take it that long? Like, would you live differently? Would you spend differently? And I can go into the home, I can talk to the family, and I can be more involved on that side because I understand you work with families and everything, but how much of your work do you actually do outside of the office? Like, do most clients have to come to you or you're just following up with your current clients? I know you're always looking for clients and things like that, but like how involved do you get with the family dynamics where someone like me can go in and deal, be more direct and honest with them? Um, I because I think that you have certain criteria and rules and regulations from your position that you can only get so involved. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, definitely. That's correct. And I I think you're a hundred percent right, where that would be great to have someone like you who you're in with the family and you're encouraging them. Hey, I've had this personal situation. Here's what I wish I knew, and here's what you should be doing. Because at the end of the day, I can say, yeah, I think I should meet with your parents or your kids, depending on who I'm talking to, but there's only so much. If they say no, there's nothing I can as much as I can say, okay, I really think you should reconsider that. I don't want to push or overstep boundaries. So I think you having those emotional conversations, I think you really see the value in that.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Yeah, because I'm not trying to be the financial professional. I want to be able to lean on people like you to give them real information. I just want to be able to ask more questions of the family to get them thinking more about the future. I want them to think more about their health. I want them to think more about their longevity because I think that's where I don't want to say I fell short. I'd ask my parents about their health, but not in the way that I know how now. And I would have started some conversations earlier. You know, my parents passed pretty quickly and close together. So I didn't have to have a lot of these longevity conversations. But that's what I'm seeing in other families that I talk to is their parents are still alive and their parents are still healthy, just like mine were. And they have an opportunity to potentially change the future and change their own financial future as well as their parents' financial future and and not become a burden because they avoided the conversations and put it off too long.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I literally couldn't have said it better myself.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

So it's been great talking to you today. And I know there's so much more we could keep talking about. Is there something that my audience needs to know that is so urgent that would be so helpful, that could change their whole family's financial trajectory? Is there something that you would like to share?

SPEAKER_01 21:57

That's a great question. I mean, I I think it all comes down to have the conversation. So I love in my first meetings with clients and you know, potential clients. I just want to sit down. I want to hear them out. I give them the space to tell me everything that they currently have, what their goals are, what they struggle with. I mean, finances, it's emotional. Nobody feels super overjoyed to talk about it. It's very close to the chest. And so I just I love to let them talk about whatever they want. And then that's where I get the opportunity to say, here's what I would recommend. Really focus on that education. So ultimately, our process is at those first two meetings, we're hearing from you, and then you're hearing from me. And if you want to work with me, great. If not, hopefully you learned something. But really, I think the biggest takeaway is have the conversation, have that audit of your plan. Make sure that you're doing everything. When's the last time you looked at your accounts, your taxes, your investments, your retirement, all of these things? Just do a once-over. And I think that's the most important. And have someone like me or another advisor just have that outside look.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Yeah. I totally agree because looking back now and all the personal work that I've done on myself, my parents definitely gave me a lot of money mindset conditioning that I didn't realize came from them. We grow up hearing, I don't we don't talk about money, money is this, money is that, and we have a lot of limiting beliefs around money. And we don't realize that they're still kind of lingering until we get to our age and we're like, oh my gosh, what am I thinking? You know, like I didn't buy, I was I'm in real estate, right? So, but when I moved here in 2007, I didn't buy a house or a condo because my parents were like, what if you don't want to live there forever? Why would you buy something? You know, and looking back, you're like, man, I can't believe I listened to my parents on real estate and during the downturn of the economy, where I could I could have quadrupled my real estate investments. I think a lot of us adult children inherit the money beliefs from our parents as well. So that's why I like to get the professionals involved. That's why I like to start these conversations to at least spark some curiosity and get them to have a conversation with somebody like you so they can make their own choices and decisions on how they want to plan for their future.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Exactly. And I think you're a hundred percent doing the right thing of yeah, encouraging the proactive steps and the conversations that might be difficult. And that's ultimately what it is because it's never too late to start. And so you don't want to let all that time pass.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Well, thank you so much for joining me and getting some out there for everybody so they can start thinking about their financial future and you know, hopefully taking steps forward so that an aging parent or their own personal finances do not become a burden on their future because they did have a conversation and thought and planned ahead. So, Haley, just tell everybody again who you work for, how to get a hold of you, all of the things. I will put everything in the show notes just to let them know too, but tell them the best way to contact you and all of the good stuff.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Perfect. Yeah. So again, I'm Haley Beale. I am a financial advisor with Renaissance Financial. We're an independent firm and you can reach me through my email or my phone number. And then again, we offer complimentary audits. So I'd love to schedule, you know, a 30 to 60 minute phone call and just walk through everything and hopefully help help out.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

That's awesome. That's a huge value. Somebody better take you up on that complimentary.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

So I know.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Hey, we're to have more information.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

So exactly. And again, yeah, my goal is just to hope that you walk away knowing one more thing that you didn't when you came in.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

So awesome. Well, thanks for joining me, Haley. Everybody else, thanks for tuning in. I hope that you got some nuggets, some gold nuggets today that you can take back to your family and have some conversations and plan a better future. So, again, my name's Nicole Porter. My business is your parent porter, and you're listening to my parents lie to me. These are things that they didn't tell you, especially about money. So thanks again, and we'll talk to you all again soon. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to My Parents Lives Meet, where we face the realities of aging, family change, and midlife reinvention with a little grit and a lot of heart. If today's conversation helps you feel less alone, I would love for you to like it, share it with a friend, and hit follow so you don't miss the next story or tell that might help you navigate with that. Because even if our parents didn't tell us everything, we're figuring it out one chapter at a time.