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V O L . X X X N O. X V ยง 2 J U LY 8 , 2 0 2 4 12 A dults in their 40s and 50s are increasingly becoming known as the sandwich gen- eration as they are often trapped in between aging elderly parents and raising their own children. Some- times this population even becomes responsible for their grandchildren, meaning that their financial decisions revolve around multiple generations. Estate planning is essential for members of the sandwich generation whether they are helping their aging parents create wills or determining their own financial futures and decisions. Brian Bernatchez founded the Waterville-based firm, Golden Pond Wealth Management, where he serves as managing director and chief invest- ment officer. While end-of-life dis- cussions are always hard, Bernatchez encourages loved ones to have estate planning conversations in advance while people are healthy. "e time to talk about it is when your parents are healthy and you're healthy," he says. "e goal is for the family to understand, if something hap- pens, 'What do we need to do?' 'What are my loved ones' wishes?' People don't want to talk about those things usu- ally. Having the fortitude to put it on the table during periods of time when there is no stress makes it much eas- ier when the hard times do arrive." Caring for children and parents e predicament of the sandwich gen- eration is unique because of the pres- sure they feel from multiple generations. ey are aging themselves while try- ing to navigate a tumultuous economy and build their own financial stability. "One of the great challenges for the sandwich generation is not to work themselves to the bone providing emotional and physical care to all two or three generations. In many cases they also provide financial assistance," says Bernatchez. "Unfortunately, as much as we all try to convince fami- lies that they should talk about money and finances and end-of-life care deci- sions, it's a thing that many people do not talk about. erefore, there's no expectations set on it. We encour- age all our clients to basically write Estate planning for the 'sandwich generation' The time to talk is while parents are still healthy B y S l o a n e M . P e r r o n