The 5 worst mistakes grandparents can make with money

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO: There are a number of things to consider when creating a will, especially if you have several grandchildren, says Liz Krebs, a certified financial planner in Chicago.

For example, “if you have grandchildren who span a lot of different ages, you might want to think about how an older grandchild gets treated versus one who is much younger, she says. If your

grandchildren are around the same age and in similar financial shape, you could set up your will so that they each inherit equal shares of your estate, says Kristen M. Lynn, an estate

planning attorney with Green & Sklarz, a law firm in New Haven, Connecticut. However, if you have a grandkid with a disability, or one who is struggling financially and needs more

support than the others, you could take that into account when determining your distributions, Lynn says. If you leave a larger inheritance to one grandchild, she suggests including a letter

to your family in your estate plan that explains your decision, to mitigate any misunderstandings or hard feelings. 3. SETTING UP A 529 WITHOUT DISCUSSING IT WITH YOUR KIDS If you plan to

open 529 college savings accounts for your grandchildren, communication with your children is key. For one thing, your kids may already have a 529 fund set up for your grandchild, and they

might prefer you contribute to it rather than opening a new account. Even if that's not the case, it's important to be open about your plans, Krebs says. "Grandparents will

set up a 529 for their grandchild, but they don’t talk about how much they’ll contribute to their kids, and their kids will think the grandparent is funding the [whole] 529,” she says. She

recalls a client who discovered that their college-bound teenager only had $15,000 saved in the 529 that the grandparents set up — not nothing, but far from enough to fund a college

education. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO: Talk to your kids to see if they have a preference for how they'd like you to contribute to your grandchild’s college fund. Be transparent about how often

you plan to contribute, and how much. “In general, people don’t like having money conversations, but if you’re going to set up a 529 for your grandchildren, this is one you have to have,”

Krebs says. And be aware that any contributions you make to a 529 plan will be considered a gift from you to the beneficiary in the eyes of the IRS. Annual gifts up to $18,000 ($19,000 in

2025), are not subject to the gift tax, so you may want to limit your yearly contributions, Raftopoulos says.