A married couple in their early 30’s came to us with several questions.

1. They wondered about the best way to save and invest for their retirement.
   
2. They wanted to explore accumulating money to fund their 8-year old daughter’s education.
   
3. They wondered how best to handle their parents’ intention to make sizable gifts to their daughter.
   

We did a financial plan setting their goals for retirement, with targets for savings and for asset allocations in their 401(k) plans, after-tax IRA’s and taxable accounts. For their daughter, we helped the couple establish a 529 plan to pay for college.

The couple’s parents wanted to gift substantial amounts of money to their granddaughter, but neither her grandparents nor her parents wanted the girl to have access to those funds before she turned 35. We thought a children’s trust, rather than a Uniform Transfer to Minors Act account the appropriate solution, and referred the family to an experienced Trusts and Estates attorney to draft the trust documents.