There are many entitled characters in shows and movies, but our favorite might be Veruca Salt from “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Unlike the patient and good-hearted Charlie Bucket, Salt wants a lot and she wants it now, and for today’s family-run business owners thinking about the future, that attitude is a concern. (Cue the Oompa-Loompas.)

Thirty years ago, business owners were most concerned about competition, regulation and labor, according to research published at the time by the Family Business Consulting Group. A new study from the organization finds the top concerns are now about preparing the family for the future, especially preventing a sense of entitlement from taking root.

“The question for family businesses is no longer only if the business can withstand external pressures,” said Kristi Daeda, president and CEO of the FBCG. “It is increasingly, ‘Are we preparing the family to own this responsibly and with purpose?’”

Advisors working with business owners said that preparation for the next generation requires serious coordination and planning. Education, clear expectations and meaningful responsibility are how families build engaged stewards of wealth.

Silver Spoons

“When kids grow up with a luxury life or know their family has significant wealth, it can alter their perception of reality,” said Noah Damsky, principal at Marina Wealth Advisors. “Unfortunately, it’s challenging to instill this sense of urgency after they’ve grown accustomed to an entitled lifestyle.”

The fix? Lower their expectations. “Swap the [Mercedes] S-Class for a Civic,” Damsky said. “Eliminate the safety net to inspire them to achieve. Even better, start when they’re kids. Don’t lead them to believe your luxuries will automatically extend to them.”

Parents often struggle to facilitate honest conversations about money or business succession, said Brian Abatemarco, CEO of CedarStream Wealth.

“The financial education phase should start as early as possible and result in more responsibility for the children as they get older,” he said. “Money is an emotional subject that hinges on a family’s values. It needs to be responsibly disseminated to the next generation.”

Founders who earned wealth the hard way want their children to understand the effort, not just enjoy its rewards. That’s perfectly reasonable as a belief, but it’s not a strategy for inspiring the next generation, and entitlement grows in silence, advisors said.

Some values-building strategies advisors shared include:

• Asking heirs to work elsewhere and earn a promotion, before joining the family business.
• Giving together via donor-advised funds, where kids research and recommend grants to develop decision-making skills.
• Crafting (and frequently discussing) a family mission statement that turns unspoken values into shared guidance.

High Hopes. Despite their challenges, family business owners remain optimistic. Ninety-five percent of respondents to the FBCG survey expect revenue growth over the next five years, and the same percentage expect their businesses to remain under family control.

It’s almost always easier to use the front door, but in some cases it pays to go around the back.

But advisors working with retirement savers know about backdoor Roth strategies. Clients make a traditional IRA or 401(k) contribution and quickly follow it up with a Roth conversion, circumventing income limits for funding Roth accounts directly. But there’s a supercharged version of the strategy available to clients who own a solo 401(k). Betterment is making the “mega backdoor Roth” technique available for financial advisors using its Advisor Solutions, sparking renewed discussion about the strategy’s pros and cons.

“This is welcome news,” said Michael Hollis, principal at TapestryFP, who doesn’t work with Betterment but said he is intrigued. “When I’ve looked into adding this feature to a solo 401(k), it has seemed overly complicated, having to get both a [third-party administrator] and custodian involved. Anything that simplifies the setup and management for a small business client is a huge value add.”

Enter Through the Back

For 2026, married couples can make Roth contributions directly if their combined income is under $242,000, with reduced contributions available for those making up to $252,000. For single filers or heads of households, those numbers are $153,000 and $168,000, respectively. Many clients who earn more still want to enjoy the benefits of Roth accounts, which aren’t subject to required minimum distributions or federal inheritance taxes. Roth withdrawals likewise do not inflate retirees’ marginal tax brackets, trigger Medicare surcharges or increase the taxation of Social Security benefits.

Solo 401(k)s are attractive in this context because the account owner can contribute as both an employee and an employer:

• Employee contributions are capped at $24,500 for 2026, just like a standard 401(k), with higher catch-up contributions available to older savers.
• Employer contributions are capped at roughly 20% of net self-employment income if the client is a sole proprietor, or 25% of compensation if they’re an Scorp or Ccorp.

Adding in voluntary after-tax contributions, clients can put up to $72,000 into a Roth 401(k) each year (double that for married couples) — even more if they’re older savers eligible for catch-up contributions.

“Solo 401(k)s can be an extremely powerful tool for solo business owners,” said Brian Abatemarco, CEO at CedarStream Wealth. “The income deferral and ability to get money into an after-tax bucket can be extremely compelling.”

Complexity Corner. Ensuring ease of use was a major goal for Betterment as it crafted the new offering, said Edward Gottfried, the company’s vice president of product. But there’s no denying that backdoor Roth funding strategies still bring complexity. “It is a complicated planning device,” he said. “There’s a really nice role for advisors to play here and help their entrepreneurial clients make the most of this strategy.”

We all get by with a little help from our friends. Or increasingly, our family.

More than 32 million adults in the US are financial caregivers for someone age 65 or older. And according to a recent Edward Jones study of 3,000 of them, eight in 10 are willing to put their own financial security aside to support the person they’re caring for. As people live longer, funds for important goals like the caregiver’s own retirement are often used for caregiving. Only about a third of respondents said their caregiving responsibilities were discussed ahead of time.

As stressful as that may be, it offers an opportunity for financial advisors. Half of the financial caregivers said they work with an advisor for their own finances, and 44% of those first engaged with an advisor because of their caregiving responsibilities.

“People are looking for someone who can help them walk through this stage of life and navigate the often complicated and stressful financial work that comes with it,” says Julia Bartak, a financial advisor with Edward Jones. “We have an important opportunity to provide families with greater confidence and help them care for the people who matter most without sacrificing the financial future they’ve worked so hard to build.”

Tough Conversations

Clients have been talking more about caregiving, but conversations rarely start with that word, said Kevin Coombs, senior financial planner at Donaldson Capital Management. Instead, it’s spurred by small changes: an adult child begins checking in on a parent more often, trading notes with siblings and noticing subtle shifts in memory or behavior.

Both the older and younger generations fear the parent becoming a burden to their child, which makes having the initial conversations scary. But advisors can help:

• That can start with paperwork, like a signed power of attorney naming someone the parent trusts. “The paperwork is usually the easy part,” Coombs said. “The conversation is the hard part, and the documents give it a place to start.”
• Clients typically aren’t looking for a product or more information; they’re looking for clarity, said Ranie Verby, director of practice management at Plancorp. “They want help understanding their unique situation and its related options,” she said. “They want help to evaluate tradeoffs, determine who will take on different responsibilities and make thoughtful decisions before a crisis forces their hand.”

Putting Yourself First. Part of the role of an advisor is helping clients see that protecting their own retirement isn’t selfish, said Eileen Olson of Emerald Wealth. “It keeps their children from becoming the next caregivers.”