The thought of a series of discussions can be overwhelming to parents who feel ill prepared for the questions their children will have.

“Talking about something sensitive always requires conversations about related sensitive topics,” said John A. Davis, senior lecturer in the family enterprise programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. “If you don’t feel you have answers to questions that might come up, or solutions to behaviors you don’t want to see, you will kick this can down the road.”

Advisers suggest starting when children are young but keeping the conversation age appropriate. Talking in stages will produce less anxiety than trying to reveal everything all at once.

“Talking about money in a family doesn’t actually mean you have to talk about investment holdings and strategies,” Mr. Liersch said. “It could be talking about the purposes and goals and the meaning of wealth. That’s often more productive than the key details.”

You Don’t Know Because No One Ever Had the Talk With You

Sometimes, parents avoid the discussion because they do not know the answers or even how much money they have.

Melissa, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy, was part of the Merrill study. She said she and her husband had started talking to their four children about their wealth eight years ago but could have started much earlier if she had known how much money they had.

They were living comfortably, but so was everyone else in their suburb outside New York. What she did not know was how the value of her husband’s part of a business had increased over the years or about the success he had in other ventures.