Ask an Advisor: How do you help child-free clients plan?

Published October 2, 2026 4:10 PM

2 Min Read

Key insight: Child-free clients are often mistaken as easier to plan for than clients with children, giving advisors an opportunity to specialize and tailor their services to this demographic.
Supporting data: 62% of child-free Americans do not have a written financial plan, compared to 42% with children, according to Allianz Life.

Expert quote: "Childless clients have a freedom most people don't. ... There are no grandkids to live near and no family house to keep for anyone, so the money only has to pay for their own retirement." — Luciano Oliveira, managing partner, Oliveira Lawyers

For child-free clients, financial planning can involve a different set of decisions around spending, retirement purpose, family obligations and legacy. And despite the common assumption that these clients have fewer planning complications, one basic step can still be overlooked: ensuring a written plan is in place.

According to Allianz Life, 62% of Americans without children do not have a written financial plan, compared with 42% of those who have children. For advisors, that gap points to an opportunity to help child-free clients build plans around priorities that might otherwise be organized around children — including how they will spend down savings and who will be there to help them as they age.

Aaron Glosser of Edward Jones in Colchester, Vermont said in an email that for his child-free clients, goals often become "anchored in relationships, not children."

"For parents, children and grandchildren often anchor retirement goals and purpose," he said. "Couples without children build their goals around a different set of relationships, such as close friends, siblings, nieces and nephews."

Glosser also helps clients sort out which relationships are most meaningful so he can then "encourage investing in those connections, with time or money." Such investments have included bankrolling an annual friend meetup and funding a younger relative's education.

"In both cases, the goal was making sure the money served the people they chose to keep close," he said.

That question of purpose can be especially important when child-free clients retire.

Juan G. Hernandez-Ariano of WealthCreate in Houston has seen such clients retire only to return to work sooner than expected or take "what they think is a sabbatical and end up back at their desk," he said in an email. And purpose is key.

For this installment of Ask an Advisor, we asked, "How do you help child-free clients plan?"

Here is what they had to say:

Turn excess savings into permission to spend

Jenna Faust, Principal at CliftonLarsonAllen in Minneapolis

"The projection is the easy part. Run the plan without a legacy assumption and the answer is usually generous: Spend more, retire earlier, often both. Then the client nods at the number and goes right back to the withdrawal rate they've run for a decade. Thirty years of saving discipline doesn't switch off because a Monte Carlo says it can. That gap between capacity and behavior is where the real planning happens.

"A few things that work:

"Build the protection before you sell the permission. Clients spend freely only when the downside is covered. Estate roles should be chosen deliberately, and caregiving should be a funded line item in the plan.

"Name the money. Vague permission gets ignored, but a labeled bucket gets spent. A travel fund, a sabbatical fund, a donor-advised fund. Clients spend from a purpose.

"Front-load the go-go years. Spending capacity and health don't decline on the same schedule. Higher spending in the first decade is usually worth more than the same dollars at 85.

"Automate the withdrawal. A monthly transfer from portfolio to checking recreates the paycheck rhythm they trusted for 30 years. It's the highest-yield behavioral fix available.

"Pay yourself a 'no-kids dividend.' Take what peers spend on college and weddings and formally assign it to something. And per the above, naming it turns permission into a plan."

The freedom to retire where money goes further

Luciano Oliveira of Oliveira Lawyers, a global firm

"Retiring abroad is a big part of my practice, and childless clients are some of the best candidates for it.

"Childless clients have a freedom most people don't, and we build the plan around it. There are no grandkids to live near and no family house to keep for anyone, so the money only has to pay for their own retirement.

"For many of our clients the answer is retiring abroad. Their income goes further. Help at home, a luxury in Dallas, is a normal expense in Brazil, and as legal residents they can use the public health system. The visa bar is also lower than people expect.

"Moving changes which inheritance law applies. Portugal applies its own law to people who live there unless the will picks the law of their citizenship, and most American wills don't have that clause. Brazil doesn't offer the choice. The law of the last domicile governs, and Brazilian real estate in the client's name goes through a Brazilian inventário no matter what the U.S. trust says.

"Having no children is one of the best reasons I know to retire abroad, and for many of my clients Brazil or Portugal is simply a better place to grow old."

Build a care team before it's needed

Aaron Gaines of Gaines Capital Management in Smyrna, Georgia

"I worked with a [child-free] couple who had done an incredible job saving, but their biggest concern wasn't running out of money. It was, 'Who takes care of us if one of us can't make decisions anymore?' That changed the entire conversation.

"I focus heavily on building a team before they need one: a trusted financial advisor, estate attorney, CPA, healthcare advocate and clearly designated powers of attorney and trustees. Long-term care planning also becomes especially important. The other opportunity is legacy.

"Without children, clients get to intentionally decide what their wealth ultimately represents — family, friends, a church, charity or a cause they love.

"Retirement planning isn't just about who inherits your money. It's about who will be there when you need them."

Set expectations around family support

Faith Counio, founder of Chrysadia Financial in Newark, California

"One of the burdens that financially responsible people who do not have children (especially women) encounter is that family often expects them to financially support elderly parents or other relatives. Some may want to help family but are unsure of the extent to which they can do so while ensuring they have sufficient resources to maintain their desired retirement lifestyle.

"Clients are often pleasantly surprised to discover that working together provides them an opportunity to prioritize financial goals that allow them to enjoy their hobbies and interests in retirement, while at the same time they can proactively and objectively tackle the topic of supporting family members."

Help clients spend down with purpose

Matthew Chancey of Tax Alpha Companies in Tampa, Florida

"Clients without children are often the best savers in the room and the most reluctant spenders. The money is for an heir who was never coming.

"The idea I'd underline for anyone without children is giving while they're alive. Money left at a funeral gets thanked by people they'll never hear. Money given while they're here gets a hug. Then comes the tax piece, which is my side of the table. Without children, beneficiary forms get filled in with whoever comes to mind. Since the Secure Act, most nonspouse heirs, like nieces and nephews, must empty an inherited IRA within 10 years. A charity pays no income tax on a pretax IRA at all. So, the simple sort involves pretax dollars to charity, and Roth and appreciated assets to people, which creates the same estate but a much smaller check to the IRS.

"Remember, the goal was never the biggest number at the end. It was the best life along the way."

Encourage community and chosen family

Robert Hernandez of FinPlannerCFP in Palm Springs, California

"I emphasize building community out of the things that bring clients joy and passion, and work the financial plan around that.

"The eyes of the community will provide a support mechanism critical for couples and individuals who are alone. They will provide the watchful eye that children most often play in the life of an elder. That watchful eye usually helps to make sure their tribe member, co-worker, volunteer or fellow hobbyist doesn't fall through the cracks as they age."