For generations, financial planning has largely followed a familiar script: build a career, get married, buy a home, have children, save for retirement, and eventually pass wealth to the next generation.

But a growing number of Americans are choosing a different path—and that shift has important implications for financial advisors.

In a recent Financial Experts Network webinar, Jay Zigmont, founder of Childfree Wealth and Childfree Trust, explored what he calls the “childfree economy” and how changing demographics could reshape financial planning, retirement, estate planning, long-term care, housing, and even the broader economy.

The numbers alone make this a population advisors cannot afford to overlook. During the webinar, Zigmont cited research estimating that approximately 21% of Americans are childfree by choice, with another roughly 4% considered childless.

In other words, roughly one-quarter of the country may not fit the family model around which many traditional financial planning strategies were built.

Childfree Clients Aren’t Simply Clients Without Children

Understanding this market begins with terminology.

Zigmont defines childfree as people who don't have children and don't plan to have them, while childless generally describes people without children for other reasons. He also cautioned advisors against relying on labels such as DINK—dual income, no kids—because “no kids” doesn't necessarily tell an advisor whether children are part of the client's future plans. 

That distinction can have enormous consequences for a financial plan.

If an advisor automatically assumes a 30- or 40-year-old client will eventually have children, the plan may include goals and assumptions that have little to do with the life that client actually wants.

The better approach is surprisingly simple: ask—and then listen to the answer.

The Traditional Definition of “Financial Success” May Not Fit

One of the most interesting themes of the webinar was how dramatically financial goals can change when leaving money to children isn't a priority.

Traditional retirement planning often focuses on accumulating enough wealth to fund retirement without exhausting the portfolio. For many clients, preserving an inheritance for children or grandchildren is part of that objective.

Childfree clients may see things very differently.

Zigmont discussed research from his organization in which 91% of respondents said they wanted to wind down their wealth rather than prioritize passing it to the next generation.

That can completely change the planning conversation.

Instead of asking, How much do you want to leave behind?, advisors may need to ask:

How do you want to use your money during your lifetime?

For some clients, that could mean traveling more, changing careers, reducing work earlier, supporting charities, helping nieces and nephews while they're young, or simply spending more freely.

It also challenges the idea that an ever-growing net worth is automatically evidence of a successful financial plan.

For a client who wants to deliberately spend down wealth, accumulating significantly more than they will ever use could actually mean the plan didn't fully accomplish their goals.

Retirement May Look Different, Too

Even the word retirement may need to be reconsidered.

Zigmont described childfree clients who aren't necessarily focused on reaching a particular age and stopping work completely. Some may prefer to gradually reduce their workload, pursue careers they enjoy, or continue working because their work provides purpose and fulfillment.

That means the familiar financial planning goal of “retire at 65” shouldn't simply be assumed.

The conversation instead becomes: What do you want your time to look like, and how can your money help you achieve it?

It's a subtle shift, but an important one. Financial independence and retirement aren't necessarily the same thing.

Does Everyone Really Need to Own a Home?

Homeownership is another traditional financial milestone that may deserve a second look.

Childfree clients can have greater flexibility to relocate because they aren't necessarily tied to school districts or children's schedules. Zigmont described a population that can be highly mobile, including clients willing to move between cities, states, or even countries for careers and lifestyle opportunities.

For someone who values that flexibility, renting may make considerably more sense than buying.

The point isn't that childfree people shouldn't own homes. It's that homeownership should be a financial and lifestyle decision—not an automatic milestone.

As the childfree population grows, those choices could eventually have implications beyond individual financial plans, including housing demand, rental markets, and the traditional role of home equity in retirement and wealth transfer.

Long-Term Care Becomes One of the Biggest Planning Questions

Perhaps the most consequential difference involves long-term care.

Many traditional plans contain an unstated assumption that a spouse or adult child will eventually help if the client becomes ill, disabled, or unable to manage daily activities.

For a childfree client—particularly someone who is single—that assumption may not exist.

And the problem is bigger than simply paying for care.

A complete plan needs to answer two separate questions:

How will you pay for care?

Who will make decisions and coordinate that care if you can't?

Zigmont's research found that only 13.3% of the childfree respondents surveyed had long-term care insurance, while many lacked a clear plan for future care.

He emphasized that long-term care planning should happen well before retirement and should include both the financial component and the human component.

That's an important distinction for advisors. A client can have enough money to pay for excellent care and still have a serious planning gap if no one has the legal authority—or responsibility—to make decisions when needed.

Estate Planning Without an Automatic Next of Kin

That brings us to another major challenge: estate planning.

In research discussed during the webinar, 70% of surveyed childfree individuals had no estate-planning documents, and fewer than 20% had a will.

Why?

One significant obstacle was surprisingly practical: some people didn't know whom to appoint.

Who should be the financial power of attorney?

Who should make medical decisions?

Who should serve as executor?

Who becomes trustee?

Who gets called during an emergency?

Parents may eventually appoint adult children to some of these roles. Childfree clients often need to create a different support structure involving trusted friends, relatives, professionals, or professional fiduciaries.

Without those arrangements, incapacity can potentially lead to court involvement and the appointment of a guardian or conservator.

For these clients, estate planning isn't primarily about what happens to money after death.

It's about making sure someone can step in during life.

And there may be another very important beneficiary to consider: pets. Zigmont reported that 76.9% of the childfree individuals surveyed had pets, which can make planning for their future care an effective entry point into the broader estate-planning conversation.

Rethinking Insurance Priorities

Insurance needs can also look different.

Life insurance is generally intended to protect people who financially depend on the insured person's income. For a single childfree client without dependents, that need may be limited.

But that doesn't mean protection planning becomes less important.

In fact, Zigmont argued that disability insurance can become particularly important for single childfree individuals because there may be no second household income to fall back on if the client can no longer work.

Long-term care coverage or another clearly defined funding strategy may also take on greater importance.

The lesson for advisors isn't that childfree clients need less insurance. It's that their risks may be different—and their coverage should reflect those risks.

The Childfree Economy Could Affect Everyone

Zigmont also widened the lens beyond individual financial plans.

Declining fertility rates eventually mean fewer young people entering schools, colleges, and ultimately the workforce. Over time, that can affect economic growth, housing, government programs, labor markets, and the ratio of workers to retirees.

During the webinar, he cited research projecting that current demographic trends could contribute to a 4% decrease in GDP over a 20-year period.

He also pointed to falling college enrollment as one place where demographic changes are already becoming visible. Smaller groups of 18-year-olds can create significant challenges for institutions built around expectations of continued enrollment growth.

For financial advisors, the important point isn't predicting exactly what fertility rates will do to GDP or markets decades from now.

It's recognizing that demographics matter.

The assumptions behind Social Security, housing demand, economic growth, labor availability, retirement, and investment markets are all influenced by the size and age of the population.

The Advisor Opportunity: Stop Assuming and Start Asking

Perhaps the most practical takeaway from the entire webinar was also the simplest.

Childfree clients don't necessarily need an entirely different financial planning profession.

They need advisors willing to remove assumptions from the existing one.

Zigmont encouraged advisors to allow clients to self-identify and cautioned against asking why someone doesn't have children. The answer may be intensely personal, and it generally isn't necessary to create the financial plan.

Instead, advisors can ask questions that actually affect the planning:

What does financial independence mean to you?

What do you want retirement—or later life—to look like?

Do you want to leave an inheritance?

Would you rather give money away during your lifetime?

Who would make medical and financial decisions if you couldn't?

How would you pay for long-term care?

Who would coordinate that care?

Who are the important people—or pets—in your life?

Those questions aren't exclusively for childfree clients.

In fact, they may simply be better financial planning questions for everyone.

Five Questions About Financial Planning for Childfree Clients

1. Do childfree clients need less financial planning because they don't have children?

No. Their plans may actually require greater intentionality in certain areas. Without children as automatic beneficiaries, caregivers, executors, trustees, or decision-makers, advisors need to help clients deliberately address estate planning, incapacity, long-term care, and legacy goals.

2. Should an advisor ask a childfree client why they don't want children?

Generally, no. Zigmont recommends allowing clients to self-identify and accepting what they tell you. If a client says they don't have children and don't plan to, the advisor can build the financial plan accordingly. The personal reason behind that decision isn't necessarily relevant to the planning process.

3. What may be the biggest financial planning concern for a single childfree client?

Long-term care and incapacity planning are major concerns. It's not enough to determine how care will be paid for. The client also needs to identify who will make financial and medical decisions and coordinate care if they're unable to do so themselves.

4. Do childfree clients still need estate plans if they aren't concerned about leaving an inheritance?

Absolutely. Estate planning isn't only about transferring wealth at death. Powers of attorney, health care directives, executors, trustees, and other arrangements can determine who acts on someone's behalf during incapacity and who manages their affairs at death. The absence of obvious heirs can make this planning even more important.

5. How should advisors think differently about legacy for childfree clients?

Start by asking the client what legacy means to them. It may have nothing to do with leaving a large inheritance. A client might want to support nieces and nephews during life, give to charity, care for pets, mentor others, travel, pursue meaningful work, or deliberately spend down wealth. The goal isn't to impose a traditional definition of legacy—it's to help the client fund their own.

A Different Life Path Deserves a Different Conversation

The rise of the childfree population doesn't mean financial planning needs to throw out its existing tools. It does mean advisors may need to reconsider some of the assumptions behind them.

Marriage, children, homeownership, retirement at 65, leaving an inheritance—none of these should automatically be treated as universal financial goals.

The most effective planning starts somewhere else: What does this client actually want their life to look like?

For the growing childfree population, answering that question may produce a financial plan that looks very different from the traditional model. And as Jay Zigmont's presentation demonstrated, understanding those differences may become increasingly important—not only for serving individual clients, but for understanding the changing economy around them.