As an overarching principle, we believe that your entire family should be Connected to your wealth.

It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a generational wealth gap in the UK. Generally speaking, the economy has been kind to those born in the years immediately after the Second World War, and in the 1950s, but less so to other generations, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s, many of whom find it harder to get jobs and to gain a footing on the property ladder. Consequently, many parents are having to support their children financially well into their adult lives. While our children may be struggling with their finances, our parents are typically living longer. This has led to an increase in the need for residential and nursing care, which is likely to be financed from accumulated savings, the sale of property, or with support from close relatives. These pressures mean that financial planning is becoming a family business. Instead of each generation making their own arrangements, families are starting to consider how to use their combined resources in the best, most tax-efficient way to benefit all members. With the right advice, transferring wealth to others in your family can be extremely rewarding, offering simple ways to reduce or eliminate a future Inheritance Tax liability. 

At Connected Financial Planning, we provide the expert advice and the solutions that enable families to work collaboratively to support each other across the generations. Whether you would like to help your children on to the housing ladder, contribute to a grandchild’s education or wedding, or help your parents with later-life planning, careful consideration can ensure your wealth works harder for all your family without putting your own security and retirement at risk.

Younger generations are technologically savvy and their lives tend to be dominated by social media - but this is not necessarily a place where they want to make life decisions. Instead, many see their parents as the primary source of advice on financial planning. Consequently, as older generations discuss transferring wealth to children and grandchildren, they might also want to pass on virtues about managing money, equipping them to make sound financial decisions long before they have to do so themselves. As families continue to grow and diverge, we believe it is ever more important to reach out to all members so that they can understand and be actively engaged in wealth management decisions made on their behalf. But there is another good reason for involving all family members – intergenerational planning is not, ultimately, a one-way street. Even as you support your children, the understanding is that the wealth may be returned in some form in the future, perhaps to support your own care needs. Connected Financial Planning offers young adults and their parents, both individually and collectively, advice and support that takes into account both the family’s near-term objectives and its long-term vision – and offers help for parents who want to involve their children in all aspects of wealth management.