Question: We want to treat our adult children and grandchildren to a 10-day cruise to Greece, where I’m from. Our daughter said yes, but our son’s career is at a peak and he can’t escape. I want to make things fair, but I can’t reschedule. Should I send him a check?
Answer: It’s not a given that you’ll have more wiggle room in your budget in retirement than during your working years. But if you built a large nest egg and have modest expenses, you may have the ability to cover the cost of shared family experiences, including travel with your grown kids and grandchildren.
Plus, if you have retirement accounts that are subject to required minimum distributions, there’s perhaps no better way to make good use of those forced withdrawals than to treat your extended family to an amazing trip. That could mean embarking on a 10-day cruise to your home country of Greece, where you can introduce your loved one to the sites and culture you grew up with.
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Multi-generational trips are becoming more popular these days, with 71% of grandparents having taken one recently and 57% of grandparents anticipating one in the future, according to a joint study published by NYU. And while they do need to be carefully planned, they can also be extremely rewarding — more so than traveling with just a spouse or partner.
But what if your generous offer to take your adult children and grandchildren on a 10-day cruise to Greece doesn’t work for everyone? It may be that your daughter has a flexible schedule, but your son is too busy at work to get away for that long.
In an effort to make things fair, you may be inclined to send your son a check to make up for the fact that he can’t attend. But your efforts to even things out may end up causing more problems than intended.
You’re better off doing something more meaningful
As a parent, it’s natural to want to treat your kids equally. Often, family conflict arises when one sibling feels the other is favored in terms of time, love, or money.
If you’re treating one of your children and their kids to a 10-day cruise, there’s an obvious cost involved. And you may feel that the
My Daughter is Joining Our All-Expenses-Paid Cruise, But My Son is Too Busy. Should I Send Him a Check Instead?
