Cameron Huddleston’s “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances”
Listen to the podcast on Inkandescent Radio
"Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances"
It’s well-documented that a decline in financial capabilities is an early sign of cognitive decline. However, researchers at Johns Hopkins recently found that those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias were more likely to miss bill payments six years before a diagnosis. Does that mean it would be a good idea for adult children to be monitoring their parents' finances? Author Cameron Huddleston explains.
April 2022: A Note from Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro and Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, Inkandescent Books — April is Financial Literacy Month We couldn’t find a better author to feature than Cameron Huddleston, an award-winning personal finance journalist and author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances — today’s guest on Rita’s weekly podcast and video show Margaritas with Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro.
Our topic: Caring for the elderly with love, kindness, and respect!
In our video and podcast interview, Rita talks with Cameron about these important topics: 
- It’s well-documented that a decline in financial capabilities is an early sign of cognitive decline. However, researchers at Johns Hopkins recently found that those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias were more likely to miss bill payments six years before a diagnosis. Does that mean it would be a good idea for adult children to be monitoring their parents’ finances?
- Clearly, you can’t say, “Mom and Dad, I want to monitor your finances to see if you’re missing bill payments, which might mean you have dementia.” You wrote a book about talking to parents about their finances, so what’s the right way to go about this?
- What types of details about your parents’ finances should you ask them to share with you, and what things should you be on the lookout for if you monitor your parents’ finances?
- How can you actually monitor your parents’ finances?
Be sure to check out the video and podcast above. Scroll down to learn more about Cameron and her important work!
About Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: Learn to start open, productive talks about money with your parents as they age — For children of Baby Boomers and others looking to assist aging parents with their finances, Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk is a welcome and comforting read. Although talking about money with your parents can be hard, you aren’t alone, and this book will guide you through the process of having fruitful financial conversations that lead to meaningful action.
“As your parents’ age, you may find that you want or need to broach the often-difficult subject of finances,” knows Cameron. “In Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances, you’ll learn the best ways to approach this issue, along with a wealth of financial and legal information that will help you help your parents into and through their golden years. Sometimes parents are reluctant to address money matters with their adult children, and topics such as long-term care, retirement savings (or lack thereof), and end-of-life planning can be particularly touchy.”
In this book: you’ll hear from others in your position who have successfully had “the talk” with their parents, and you’ll read about a variety of conversation strategies that can make talking about finances more comfortable and more productive.
- Learn conversation starters and strategies to open the lines of communication about your parents’ finances
- Discover the essential financial and legal information you should gather from your parents to be prepared for the future
- Gain insight from others’ stories of successfully talking money with aging parents
- Gather the courage, hope, and motivation you need to broach difficult subjects such as care facilities and end-of-life plans
- Click here to buy the book.
Cameron Huddleston’s work has appeared in publications including Forbes, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, the Chicago Tribune, MSN, Yahoo, and many more print and online publications. U.S. News & World Report named her one of the top personal finance experts to follow on Twitter, as did Daily Finance, which also named her one of the top 20 personal finance influencers. She has appeared on CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, and “Fox & Friends” and has been a guest on ABC News Radio Wall Street Journal Radio NPR, and more than 30 podcasts. Cameron has been interviewed and quoted as an expert in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, BBC.com MarketWatch, and more. She has an MA in economic journalism from American University and BA in journalism and Russian studies from Washington & Lee University. Who is Cameron? Click here to find out.
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Watch all of Rita’s episodes: MargueritaCheng.tv and check out her podcasts on MargueritaChengRadio.com (also on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio).