Caring for a Parent – Proactive Planning: Ten Wise Considerations
Most of us have heard about the Sandwich Generation: those who are caring for children and parents at the same time. Longevity has made it increasingly possible that at some point in life you will be involved in the planning or direct care of a parent – if you have not or are not caring for a parent in some capacity already. Buttonwood Financial Group has significant expertise in this area having consulted several multi-generational families, as well as participating in our own family’s planning and decision making. Here is a list of ten wise considerations for proactive planning from our families’ many experiences:
- Safety – It goes without saying that we all should make safety a high priority. However, with an aging parent safety takes on new meaning. Taking away the car keys will become necessary at some point. Early communication and garnering the support of family members and the family physician or eye doctor helps make this difficult task more palatable. Other items like basic security, fire safety, slip-and-fall prevention, and pet management all take on greater importance when these potentially become a threat to a peaceful lifestyle for all concerned. For example, pets are great and they can help keep blood pressure low, but when the pet becomes a slip-and-fall hazard, a bite or scratch liability, or a source of illness, tough and wise adult decisions must be made. For 50 practical safety tips for seniors see – http://www.parentgiving.com/elder-care/50-safety-tips-for-seniors/.
- Health – Regular dentist and doctor visits are certainly a priority. Early detection of common dental and health issues can certainly improve quality of life outcomes and minimize health care cost. Understanding Medicare and whether or not supplemental Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan is right for your parent requires knowledge and expertise. Taking the time to educate yourself and your parent may be more than you can handle. Seek a qualified professional that puts your family’s best interest first. Dental and doctor visits may require you to become a taxi service for your parent. Uber helps a lot in this regard, but may be difficult for your parent to manage alone unless they are smartphone savvy. Hiring a driver may become a necessity, or perhaps use of a service like RideKC Freedom On-Demand will help – http://ridekc.org/mobility-services/ridekc-freedom-ondemand.
- Food – Is your parent a picky eater? You might be surprised how incredibly important food is to a senior citizen. Most likely you are not going to change the eating habits of your parent, and it is probably foolish to try. Work with your parent as best you can to strike a good balance between food they like, food that is good for them, and sufficient variety to keep them interested in maintaining good nutrition. For many seniors this is a big area of concern and complaint, especially if they are at the mercy of a retirement home where the food does not meet their standards. Compromise in this area is difficult for most seniors – they like what they like to eat. Accommodate as best you can under the circumstances you have available to work with. There are no easy answers. Best wishes if you decide to take on this ‘chef’ duty as a caregiver, although this may be your highest quality and least expensive option.
- Shelter – Next to taking away the car keys, where your parent lives-out their golden or platinum years is perhaps the next toughest discussion and decision making you will face with a parent. It is hard to recognize a parent’s diminishing capacity and their inability to maintain a home. Discuss options and keep an open mind. Plan for the level of care needed today, and what lies ahead. Quality of care and cost is the balancing point – perhaps they can receive care-in-place with a few house modifications. Lifewise Renovations is one group that specializes in aging-in-place construction for seniors – lifewiserenovations.com.
- Activity – Specialized senior activities are available in most communities, but these activities may not be what your parent enjoys. Helping them come up with ideas that work for them takes some thought and time. Bingo or Bridge may not be your idea of a good time, but it may just be the right activity for your parent. Look for resources in your community like the Kansas City, MO Parks and Recreation senior programs – http://kcparks.org/about-recreation/seniors-programs/ for helpful ideas.
- Purpose – If it is possible for your parent to serve a greater purpose in their community through volunteer work or a part-time job they find fulfilling, all the better for them and all of us. Our experience here at Buttonwood is that those who continue to work or volunteer well into retirement tend to stay sharper and live longer. Purpose gives them a reason to get up in the morning and carry on through their week – http://khn.org/news/soul-purpose-seniors-with-strong-reasons-to-live-often-live-stronger/.
- Faith – Just as your taste in food might be different, your faith, religion, beliefs and politics may be entirely different than your parent’s at this stage in your lives. Just about every emotional button you have ever had with your parent may be pushed or tested at some point. Find a way to decompress when this happens, and it will, then love your parent for their differences anyway. After all, they probably did the same for you through your teenage years. Keep your faith and find new ways to cope and diffuse stressful situations so that your family finds balance and strength in the diversity of family thought and opinion. While coexist may be a term that is overused, compromise is certainly in order where strong opinions differ in family settings.
- Community – Help your parent stay mentally and physically connected to their community through church, a senior center, home owner’s association, election commission (voting), etc. This is not only good for your parent’s wellbeing, but for the community at large.
- Family – Share the caregiving load. Leverage family skills and abilities for assistance. While one family member may have to take the overall lead, let each member provide as much or as little as they can. Even if it is simply a weekly telephone call, this regular occurrence is extremely important and beneficial to a parent.
- Financial – Getting sound advice that is in your family’s best interest works well when planning is in advance of the need. Seek the advice you need with your trusted advisors as part of a well-rounded, holistic financial planning approach. These advisors are typically a Financial Planner and/or Financial Advisor, an Estate Planning or Elder-Law Attorney, and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or highly qualified accountant.
Lastly, remember to take care of yourself. Get enough rest and relaxation, and stay involved with your friends and interests. Keep lines of communication open with your spouse, parents, children, and siblings. This may be especially important for the smooth running of your multi-generation family, resulting in a workable and healthy home environment. For additional information, resources, or to contact us, visit the Buttonwood Financial Group website – https://buttonwoodfg.com/.
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Tax season has a way of arriving faster than expected. And for 2026, there’s more worth paying attention to than usual—the IRS has updated key figures for tax year 2025, and enforcement around complex returns has intensified. But before you hand everything off to your CPA, a brief pause to review the right details can make the process smoother—and occasionally surfaces something worth acting on. The questions below are starting points for reflection and conversation, not tax guidance. 1. Did anything significant change last year? Life moves fast, and the tax code tries to keep up. A new job, a growing family, a home purchase, a business change, or even a large one-time expense can shift your tax situation in ways that deserve attention. This is also worth thinking about through the lens of your broader advisor team—changes that affect your investments, estate plan, or business interests often have tax consequences that only surface when everyone is looking at the full picture together. If it felt significant, it’s probably worth mentioning. 2. Have you collected all your income documents? Before anything else, make sure the full picture is on the table. W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, Social Security statements, and brokerage summaries should all be accounted for—and reviewed for accuracy, not just collected. A number that looks wrong is worth questioning before your return is filed. One timing note worth flagging: if you hold interests in partnerships, LLCs, private equity funds, or real estate partnerships, K-1s often don’t arrive until mid-March. If your CPA isn’t expecting them, there’s a real risk of filing prematurely without crucial income information 3. Is your paperwork actually ready to hand off? There’s a difference between having your documents and having them organized. A simple folder—digital or physical—sorted by category saves time, reduces back-and-forth with your CPA, and lowers the chance something gets missed in the shuffle. Five minutes of organizing now can prevent a week of delays later. This matters especially if you work with multiple advisors: your wealth manager, CPA, estate attorney, and business attorney each hold pieces of the puzzle. Information that stays siloed between professionals is one of the most common sources of unnecessary complications at filing time. 4. Are your charitable contributions documented? Good intentions don’t substitute for good records. Whether you gave cash, wrote checks, or donated property, make sure you have acknowledgment letters, receipts, or bank records to back it up. For larger contributions, the bar is higher: cash gifts over $250 require written acknowledgment from the charity, non-cash contributions over $500 require Form 8283, and those over $5,000 typically require a qualified appraisal. If you donated appreciated stock or gave through a donor-advised fund, your CPA will also need cost basis information and confirmation of fair market value on the donation date—details that may require coordination with your investment advisor. Timing matters too—gifts need to have been completed by December 31 to count for the prior tax year. 5. Do you have a clear picture of your investment activity? It’s easy to forget about trades made months ago, but we haven't. Sales, exchanges, dividend reinvestments, and distributions can all carry tax consequences. It’s also worth confirming whether any tax-loss harvesting was done on your behalf during the year—those transactions affect your overall gain and loss picture and your CPA should understand them in context. Similarly, if you exercised stock options, received vested restricted stock, or completed a Roth conversion, those activities need to be clearly communicated. Reviewing your year-end statements before you meet with your CPA helps ensure nothing catches anyone off guard. 6. Did your retirement contributions land where you intended? Confirm that what you planned to contribute actually went in—and in the right accounts. If you came up short on IRA contributions, you may still have time to make it right before the filing deadline. If you own a business or have self-employment income, it’s also worth verifying that any retirement plan contributions made through your business are properly coordinated with your personal return. It’s also worth asking whether your current savings rate still fits your retirement timeline. 7. Are your benefit and healthcare accounts squared away? HSAs, FSAs, and similar accounts have their own rules and reporting requirements that are easy to overlook. An HSA withdrawal used for a non-qualified expense, for instance, can trigger a penalty. Pull together your account statements and any related documents so your CPA has the full picture. If you own a business, it’s also worth confirming that health insurance premiums paid through your company are being handled correctly on both your business and personal returns—this is an area where coordination between your bookkeeper and CPA matters more than people expect. 8. What do you want to be more intentional about this year? Tax season is one of the few times most people take a genuine look at their finances. Use that momentum. Beyond filing, consider asking your CPA what your estimated tax payments should look like for 2026, whether any positions on this return carry higher audit risk, and what planning opportunities exist based on what they’re seeing in your return. The IRS has meaningfully intensified enforcement around high-income filers in recent years—particularly around partnership interests, digital asset transactions, and international holdings—so this isn’t a moment to treat compliance as a formality. Whether it’s adjusting your withholding, revisiting your giving strategy, or thinking through a major financial decision ahead, the earlier a conversation starts, the more options you typically have. A Note on 2025 Figures The IRS adjusted several key thresholds for tax year 2025. The standard deduction increased to $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married filing jointly, with an additional enhanced deduction of up to $6,000 per qualifying individual age 65 or older ($12,000 for married couples where both spouses qualify). Notably, legislation temporarily increased the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions to up to $40,000 for tax years 2025 through 2029 for certain taxpayers who itemize. This expanded cap is subject to income‑based limitations and may phase down for higher‑income filers, meaning the benefit varies significantly based on overall income and deduction profile. As always, whether itemizing or taking the standard deduction makes sense depends on your specific situation and should be reviewed with your CPA. Estate and gift tax exemptions also saw inflationary adjustments for 2025, which may be relevant if wealth‑transfer planning was part of your year. How we can help? We work alongside your CPA—not in place of them. Our role is to help you stay organized, think through priorities, and make sure your financial decisions are working together toward a bigger goal. In our experience, the families who navigate tax season most efficiently are those who proactively connect the pieces across their professional team, rather than assuming the information flows automatically. If it would be helpful to talk through what’s on your plate before you sit down with your tax advisor, we’re glad to do that. Thank you for your continued trust and for allowing us to provide solutions-not just plans. This information is provided for general educational purposes only and should not be considered tax advice. Please consult your tax professional regarding your specific situation
As we closed out 2025, our Investment Policy Committee (IPC) continued its work to refine strategies that balance risk, liquidity, and long-term growth. In our previous update , we shared how the inflation shock of 2022 reshaped our approach to fixed income and led to a more nimble, systematic positioning of bond assets. That proactive discipline remains a cornerstone of our investment process. As we wrapped up 2025, our Investment Policy Committee (IPC) continues efforts to refine strategies that balance risk, liquidity, and long-term growth. With the Fed reducing overnight lending rates for the third time, recent IPC discussions have turned to another critical focus area: cash management. Why Cash Strategy Matters Now With interest rates still elevated and market uncertainty persisting, many investors hold larger-than-usual cash positions. While cash provides stability, it also introduces opportunity cost if left idle. One of our IPC objectives is to ensure that excess cash works harder for you, without compromising liquidity for emergencies or near-term cash needs. Refining Our Cash Allocation Policy For our clients with larger cash needs (generally more than 5% or $50k of liquid assets in cash or money market funds), we are shifting to a proactive T-Bill management strategy, or other suitable investments based on goals and circumstances. For our clients holding less than $50k in cash or money market, we have retained money market for liquidity, but we have made a switch to the default money market fund we are using. Risk and Tax Aware Money Market Selection While yields are similar across money markets today, the underlying investments in each money market fund vary quite a bit. For example, Schwab Prime Money Market (ticker SWVXX) offers a slightly higher yield but invests in asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP), introducing a modest credit risk. In contrast, Schwab Government Money Market (ticker SNVXX), invests primarily in U.S. Treasuries and government-backed securities, making it virtually risk-free and often state income tax-advantaged. With lower risk and only about 10/100’s of 1% yield difference, our IPC has proactively transitioned clients from SWVXX to SNVXX, to prioritize safety and tax efficiency over a marginal yield difference. Connecting Back to Our Broader Strategy These cash management refinements build on the fixed income strategy we recently outlined. By reducing exposure to inflation-sensitive bonds and implementing a more systematic approach, we are positioning portfolios to be more resilient across potentially weaker or higher-rate environments. Optimizing cash allocations and minimizing credit risk within money markets reinforces the same core principle—protecting downside risk while prudently capturing incremental return opportunities. Looking Ahead As we enter 2026, our investment approach remains focused and disciplined. We continue to prioritize liquidity for cash needs, thoughtful risk management, and systematic investment strategies designed to adapt to evolving market and economic conditions. This proactive framework supports long-term portfolio resilience while remaining aligned with your financial objectives. If you have questions about how these updates may impact your investments, cash management, or overall financial plan, we encourage you to connect with your financial advisor at Buttonwood. Our team is committed to delivering personalized wealth management and asset allocation strategies—regardless of market or economic uncertainty. Thank you for your continued trust and for allowing us to coordinate your asset management as part of our Family CFO services.
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