Survey reveals generation gap over family financial planning

BOSTON Thanksgiving could be an opportune time to talk turkey about family finances.

Survey results released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments found sharply conflicting expectations between older parents and their adult children.

They were frequently at odds when asked privately about such hard-to-discuss topics as elder care, retirement security and inheritance.

Key findings include:

-- Twenty-four percent of the adult children surveyed expected they will have to help their parents financially at some point. Yet 97 percent of the parents don't expect to need help.

-- Nearly all the older parents and their grown children -- 97 percent -- disagreed on whether a child will take care of the parents if they become ill.

-- Adult children underestimate the value of their parents' estate by more than $100,000 on average.