April is Financial Literacy Awareness Month. If you've ever felt like that phrase was aimed at someone else — a college student opening their first checking account, or a young professional figuring out how credit scores work — you're not alone. For families who have spent decades building wealth, and for employers who offer retirement benefits to their teams, financial literacy takes on a different meaning entirely.

It isn't just about knowing the basics. It's about making sure the right conversations are happening across generations, across the dinner table, and across the workplace.

Why financial literacy matters more as wealth grows

There's a common assumption that financial literacy becomes less important once someone has "figured it out." In reality, the stakes get higher. A family with significant assets to protect and transfer faces a different set of decisions than someone just starting out, and the cost of a misstep is proportionally larger.

More importantly, wealth doesn't automatically come with wisdom. The knowledge, values, and habits that helped build a financial legacy don't transfer on their own. They have to be taught, modeled, and discussed.

What does financial literacy look like across generations?

For families, financial literacy shows up in moments that are easy to let pass. A grandchild heading off to college. An adult child navigating their first major job change. A family member expecting an inheritance they aren't sure how to talk about. A parent whose estate plan may be out of date, or nonexistent.

These inflection points are where financial literacy becomes less theoretical and more urgent. Some questions worth sitting with:

• Do your children or grandchildren understand how to manage a windfall, or would an unexpected inheritance create more stress than security?
• Are the people you're planning to leave assets to equipped to make good decisions with them?
• Do your own parents have a plan in place, and does anyone in the family know where to find it?

The last question is one families consistently put off, often because it feels uncomfortable to raise. But it's one of the most important conversations to have while there's still time to plan thoughtfully.

How do you actually start these conversations?

This is where most families get stuck. The topic feels too big, too charged, or too easy to defer. A few starting points that tend to open the door without forcing it:

For children and grandchildren:

• Start with values, not numbers. Before talking about what you have, talk about what money means to your family — what it's for, what it isn't for, and what you hope it makes possible for the next generation. That context matters more than any specific dollar figure.
• Introduce the concept of compound growth early. You don't need to hand someone a spreadsheet. A simple conversation about how money grows over time and why starting early matters can plant a seed that shapes decisions for decades. Even a small contribution to a Roth IRA for a working grandchild is both a financial gift and a financial education.
• Talk about what inheritance really involves. Many heirs have no idea what receiving an inheritance looks like in practice — the tax implications, the decisions they'll need to make, the timeline. Walking a loved one through the basics before it happens is one of the most practical things you can do.
• Normalize asking for help. Many people assume financial advisors are only for those who've already accumulated significant wealth, but that's not the case. If your loved ones ever have questions or want a starting point, we're always happy to be a resource for your family.

For aging parents:

• Ask about the plan, not the assets. A conversation that starts with "do you have a will?" lands very differently than one that starts with "have you thought about what you'd want if something happened?" Lead with care, not logistics.
• Find out who knows what. Even families with excellent estate plans can create unintentional chaos if no one knows where the documents are, who the advisors are, or what the intentions behind the plan are. Make sure at least one trusted family member has that information.
• Don't wait for a crisis. The best time to have this conversation is before anyone needs to. A calm, unhurried discussion is almost always more productive than one prompted by a health event or family emergency.

Starting those conversations doesn't have to mean sitting everyone down for a formal meeting. It can be as simple as sharing what you're thinking about, asking a question over dinner, or inviting a loved one to sit in on one of your meetings with our team.

How does financial literacy connect to the workplace?

For employers who sponsor retirement plans, financial literacy takes on a different dimension. Your employees are making financial decisions every day — whether to enroll in the plan, how much to contribute, how to invest — and most of them are making those decisions without much guidance.

The results are predictable. Participation rates stay lower than they could be. Employees leave employer matches on the table. And workers who are stressed about money bring that stress to work with them, which affects productivity, engagement, and retention in ways that show up on the bottom line whether or not they show up in a report.

Here's one way to frame it for your team: people who begin saving for retirement in their 20s are 66% more likely to be on track to retire by age 60¹. Time is the most powerful force in retirement savings. The earlier employees understand that, the better positioned they will be.

Simple plan features like automatic enrollment, contribution escalation, and clear communication around employer match thresholds can meaningfully move the needle on participation without adding significant administrative burden. Pairing those features with intentional employee education turns a good plan into a genuinely valuable benefit.

So where do you start?

Financial literacy isn't a one-time conversation. It's an ongoing practice that looks different depending on whether you're thinking about your family, your employees, or both.

If you're wondering whether the people you care about have the tools they need, we're glad to be part of that conversation.

¹ Source: John Hancock