Before the Crisis: How You and Your Relatives Can Prepare for Financial Caregiving

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4.3 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

If an illness or death befell your parents, spouse, kids, or any other close relative, would you be able to access their financial information and handle their affairs? If something happened to you, would your spouse and family know what to do and where to find everything? If the answer is no – as it is for most people – then Beth Pinsker has a roadmap for you. Beth is a Certified Financial Planner, a columnist for MarketWatch, and the author of My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving. Host Robert Brokamp and Beth discuss the documents you need and where to put them. Also in this episode:-Somber news on the employment front-Bonds are having one of their best years of the past two decades-As rates on cash decline, money market funds still offer compelling yields – and, in some cases, tax benefits-Use tax-loss harvesting to reduce your tax bill and rebalance your portfolio Host: Robert BrokampGuest: Beth PinskerEngineer: Bart Shannon Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement. We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	How to make sure you can manage your parents or other relatives' finances if necessary, and how someone could do the same for you.
0:10.9	That and more on this Saturday personal finance edition of Motley Full Money.
0:19.6	I'm Robert Brokamp, and this week I speak with certified financial planner and author
0:23.2	Beth Pinsker about the challenges of being a financial caregiver and how being prepared
0:27.9	beforehand makes a world of difference.
0:30.6	But first, let's look at some money-related headlines, starting with some somber news
0:34.5	from the employment front.
0:36.2	On November 20th, the Department of Labor released the delayed employment report for September,
0:40.6	showing that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, the highest level since 2021.
0:45.5	According to Bloomberg's Matthew Boasler, the jobs report showed that,
0:49.0	except for health care and leisure, U.S. private sector employment has declined in each of the last five months,
0:54.6	something that's never happened in the past 35 years outside of a recession.
0:59.6	Then this week, payroll processing firm ADP announced that private companies laid off 32,000
1:04.2	workers in November, the hardest hit being small businesses with 50 or fewer employees.
1:09.5	Year-over-year pay increases for those who remained
1:11.7	on the jobs also slightly declined to 4.4% from 4.5% in October. And then on Thursday,
1:18.6	consulting firm Challenger Gray and Christmas reported that employers announced plans to lay off more
1:23.3	than 70,000 employees in November. That was on top of the 150,000 cuts announced in October,
1:30.3	which was the highest total for that month in 22 years. The total number of announced
1:34.8	layoffs for 2025 is 1.17 million, which is 54% higher than the same 11-month period last
1:41.8	year in the highest level since 2020, the year of the pandemic.
1:46.6	This softness in the labor market is the biggest reason the Federal Reserve has cut rates twice this year
	...

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