{"id":625329,"date":"2026-10-09T11:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625329\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:58:09","slug":"making-thanksgiving-money-talks-a-little-less-awkward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/625329\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Thanksgiving money talks a little less awkward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanksgiving is a natural occasion to discuss estates and wealth more generally.CSA-Printstock\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

On Monday, approximately 55 potential heirs of the world\u2019s largest frozen French fry maker were invited by e-mail to attend a virtual meeting about the ownership of the $20-billion company.<\/p>\n

As the Globe\u2019s Andrew Willis reported<\/a>, Eleanor McCain called the meeting to discuss an initial public offering that would allow heirs to cash in on their inheritances from privately owned McCain Foods Ltd. Family members were permitted to attend anonymously.<\/p>\n

Now, it may just be a coincidence that the meeting falls on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, but the holiday does lend itself to the difficult conversations families spend most of the year avoiding \u2013 even if wealth managers likely wouldn\u2019t recommend discussing family fortunes virtually and under the cloak of anonymity.<\/p>\n

In many cases, the human obstacles of laziness, discomfort and procrastination delay these conversations until it\u2019s too late. But that may be starting to change, Helen Burnett-Nichols wrote this week, as more clients initiate next-generation planning discussions before circumstances force them to. She provided these five steps for advisors<\/a> organizing such a meeting.<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving provides an appropriate occasion. There aren\u2019t the commercial distractions of Christmas and it\u2019s (often) the season to be outdoors, providing a more comfortable backdrop than sitting across from family members at a dining table. As Barbara Balfour reported in a previous article about Thanksgiving money conversations, there\u2019s nothing wrong with avoiding eye contact, so go ahead and pick up that rake or pickleball racquet.<\/a><\/p>\n

Some families also use the last long weekend of reasonably good weather to close the cottage. Introducing the next generation to the pleasures of removing a dock or winterizing a screened porch is as good a time as any to ask who wants to eventually take over this less glamorous side of ownership. Advisor Amanda Baxter recently wrote this primer on how to talk to heirs<\/a> about the family cottage.<\/p>\n

What are your tips for client families gathering over Turkey? Let me know. And enjoy the long weekend.<\/p>\n

– Mark Burgess, Globe Advisor assistant editor<\/p>\n

mburgess@globeandmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Are you reading us on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Advisor Weekly here<\/a>.Must reads<\/p>\n

More than a plan: Financial planning technology will keep improving, Kendra Thompson writes. But what matters is whether people can see themselves \u2013 their specific circumstances \u2013 in the financial plan in front of them.<\/a><\/p>\n

A home in the plan: Treating housing as a central part of retirement planning rather than an expense that will eventually take care of itself is becoming more important with expensive mortgages and some would-be buyers never entering the housing market.<\/a><\/p>\n

A structured plan: Autocallable ETFs are one of the hottest new product innovations in the United States. Now that they\u2019ve arrived in Canada, advisors may be asking if these ETFs make sense for client portfolios.<\/a><\/p>\n

More from The Globe<\/p>\n

Global view: Bank of Nova Scotia is courting the wealthiest investors with a new portfolio management tool<\/a> and access to institutional-quality advice.<\/p>\n

Retire and chill: Preaching delayed gratification to younger people as a retirement saving rule is like counselling abstinence for birth control, Rob Carrick writes<\/a>. We need guidance that accepts people as they are, not as older generations think they should be.<\/p>\n

Trade (off hours) at your own risk: As Canadian stock trading opens up beyond the traditional 6\u00bd-hour day, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization is warning investors<\/a> that buying and selling stocks outside regular market hours can come with additional risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Thanksgiving is a natural occasion to discuss estates and wealth more generally.CSA-Printstock\/iStockPhoto \/…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[40538,2571,138,246,15208,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":["post-625329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advisorweeklynewsletter","tag-appwebview","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}