Mike MilliganFounder and CEO, 1.oak Financial · Founder and CEO, 1.oak Financial

Supporting Adult Children Without Ruining Your Retirement

12 Feb 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:50

In this segment of his YouTube video, financial planner Mike Milligan explains why parents who support adult children need a flexible, dynamic retirement plan. He notes that short‑term setbacks—such as relationship breakdowns or job loss—often stretch far beyond the expected timeline, turning weeks into months or years. To keep retirement security intact, Milligan advises regularly reviewing and adjusting the plan, including reallocating assets (e.g., selling a portion of Nvidia stock) to generate additional income when needed. He emphasizes that while financial levers can be tweaked, certain family obligations—like having a child—are permanent and cannot be eliminated, so the plan must account for these irreversible responsibilities.

Chapters

But man, I hear from my clients and from my friends where this happens all the time. And you know, what was supposed to be a couple weeks because of relationship difficulties turns into 6 months. What was supposed to be 6 months turns into 2 years. It's tough out there right now. Like, the job market is struggling. People, the relationship rate of failure is going up. And what you have to do is you have to have a financial plan that is dynamic, that can adjust as life adjust. See, we can't, uh, we can always sell a little bit of Nvidia stock, or we can reallocate so you can get maybe an additional $500 of income if you've done well saving in the past. What we can't do is, uh, is get rid of a kid.