It Pays to Talk: How to Have the Essential Conversations with Your Family About Money and Investing

Does your family talk about money? Do your kids understand your money values? Do you and your mate agree on how you spend and invest your money? Do you know if your parents are financially secure? These are the questions that Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and her father, Charles Schwab, ask at the beginning of this invaluable family financial primer. The authors acknowledge that these are difficult questions but stress that families must grapple with them and come up with answers.

The goal of this father-daughter collaboration is to break through the traditional taboos surrounding money and to bring solid financial advice into the context of the family, where it can be explored, understood, and implemented to the benefit of everyone. They begin by covering the fundamental principles that every investor needs to understand, and then they move on to cover joining forces in marriage, building your family's wealth regardless of market conditions, investing for your children's future and raising money-wise kids, retirement planning, estate planning, and dealing with the unexpected. Along the way, the authors offer advice about how to start the often difficult conversations that lead to smart decision-making, as well as how to talk gently, intelligently, and respectfully about the many issues that define and shape our attitudes about money.