Most of our clients have been with us for a long time. We now serve many of their adult children too. The 28-year-old who came in to ask about a first-job 401(k) allocation often has a parent who has been a client for twenty years. At Three Points Wealth Planners, the next generation is an important part of the household.
Multi-generational households
Long-tenured client households thinking about how the wealth gets used by the next generation, and after.
Adult children of clients (typically 20s and 30s) who want a planner of their own without the minimum-account hurdle that locks them out at most practices.
Couples raising kids who are funding 529s, choosing between renting and buying, and taking on a first mortgage.
Parents and grandparents who want to pull the next generation into the financial conversation early, while there is still time for the conversation to compound.
This service often runs alongside the parents’ Investment Management and Retirement Planning work, and it is the natural front door into the practice for the second generation when the parents eventually pass the relationship on.
No minimums for clients’ children
We do not enforce account minimums for the adult children of existing clients. That is an intentional choice, and it has been our posture for years. The reason is straightforward: if the parents are clients, the children’s financial questions are part of the same conversation, and locking the children out on a minimum threshold would break that continuity.
Frequently asked
Correct. The minimum applies to new household relationships starting from outside the practice. The adult children of existing clients are welcome at any account size, on any timeline. The work does not generate the same fee revenue as the parents’ relationship, and that is fine; the next-generation work is part of the household relationship, not a separate book.
Consider capturing the employer 401(k) match in full, choose the Roth or traditional contribution that fits the current marginal bracket (often Roth at a low starting salary), set the allocation to a sensible age-appropriate target, and consider funding a Roth IRA outside the 401(k) if cash flow allows. We work the specifics out with the next-generation client in a single first conversation.
We work through funding amounts, the parents’ versus grandparents’ ownership question, the state plan choice (California has its own considerations), and the balance between 529 funding and the parents’ retirement saving. The 529 work coordinates with the broader household plan rather than running in isolation.
Yes. Many of the practice’s most useful conversations with the next generation are about decisions that have a dollar sign attached but are not strictly portfolio decisions. Mortgage timing, lease versus buy on a car, debt prioritization, and similar questions get worked through alongside the investment side.
The same four people, the same care, and the same phone numbers. The frequency of contact is sized to the level of complexity, which is usually lower for a 26-year-old than for a household near retirement. The relationship is held to the same standard, and it will deepen as the next-generation client’s life and balances grow.
