Grandparenting lessons
Parenting is the hardest job I’ve ever attempted. Though my kids are grown and successful, I still don’t know if I did it right … “it” being parenting. But the reward for not eating those little monsters, as I now know, is having grandchildren. Coats baby number four came into this world on Labor Day. He was three weeks early, so I can tell already he’s going to have his Bebe’s gift of patience. Ahem.
After the initial pictures were taken and shared, and after the first bath and appropriate ooh-ing and aah-ing were complete, my first stop – as a financial advisor and a grandmother – was to purchase life insurance for our new bundle of joy. Why would I rush to do this? Our baby boy was born blessedly healthy and I pray, of course, that he remains in such health for the next hundred years… but what if he doesn’t? Insuring him now, while he’s hale and hearty, will guarantee HIM the ability to further insure himself in later years, when he has his own family to protect. (I added a guaranteed insurability rider to ensure that he can increase his coverage as he grows.) I also chose to complete the purchase of this life insurance over a 10-year period, thus putting more money into the cash value and creating an optional fund for him to access when he’s grown. And because I try to be wise with my money, I have to remind you that life insurance will never, ever be less expensive for him than when his age is “zero” years!
Some might argue that buying life insurance for a baby is the parents’ job. OK. Sure it is. But it’s a grandparent’s gift, not only to the child, but also to those parents who have a great many changes to deal with at the moment. It’s a much better use of money than toys or clothes or trinkets, it’s longer lasting, and its effects can carry on for generations.
Don’t want to benefit from the (heaven forbid) death of your grandchild? Name the parents as beneficiaries. As the owner of the policy, the grandparent makes that choice.
So what’s the next purchase? It’s a 529 college savings plan for Christmas. I have two to open this year, having had two 2016 grandbabies. Again, it’s a gift that will last much longer than any toy they’ll forget about in five minutes anyway.
Grandparents are fun. We let the kids do the things their parents don’t let them do. We teach them cute tricks like saying “no-no” behind their parents’ backs. (Maybe that’s just me.) We let them stay up late, have cake for breakfast, stay in their pajamas all day, and generally just about any other not-harmful thing they want to do. And we also offer wisdom. When my babies are grown, they’ll know I cared enough about their futures to prepare for those futures when they, themselves, couldn’t. What a gift to give. Christmas is coming … I encourage all you grandparents to consider doing the same.