KNOW: U.S. housing prices will decline another 10% this year before leveling off and increasing at a modest pace of one or two percent annually for the next decade, predicts John K. McIlwain with the Urban Land Institute in a new study. Younger Boomers will lose their enthusiasm for buying second homes, and Millennials will lose their enthusiasm for buying any kind of home.

DO: Soured on real estate as an investment, Americans increasingly see their houses as a form of consumption. Prepare for a sea-change in attitudes toward building wealth. It’s up to you to make the case for investing in financial products.

KNOW: It’s those clients in their 30′s adapting technology faster and more frequently than younger people when it comes to buying insurance and managing their finances, according to a new study from Wells Fargo.

DO: Make sure your products and offers are available for Gen X clients to learn about online, if not purchase. They will want to research it on their own, so help them do it, don’t impede them.

KNOW: College education has gotten so expensive that some degrees put recipients in a financial hole. Thirty-seven percent of students attending a public university would face “unmanageable debt” if they took a teaching or social-work job in Montana, finds a study based on United States Public Interest Research Group research.

DO: A trusted advisor will inform Boomer and Generation X clients of the trade-offs associated with the financing of their children’s college education. Not all college degrees offer financial payback for the time and money invested.

KNOW: With the jobless rate stuck at 10%, not including discouraged and underemployed workers, there’s a very good chance that some of your clients are unemployed Boomers.

DO: Don’t ignore your unemployed clients. Use this opportunity to build trust. Send them a copy of MetLife’s tough-love manual for out-of-work Boomers, “Buddy, Can You Spare a Job?” Then help them shape an unemployment survival plan.

KNOW: Seniors and their caregivers are only dimly aware of the options for assisting seniors when they can no longer care for themselves. They also lowball or highball the alternatives for assisting seniors when they can no longer care for themselves. They also lowball or highball the cost of the alternatives by wide margins, according to new research market research by Home Instead Senior Care.

DO: Few Americans know where to go to find reliable information about long-term assistance when seniors need sustained non-medical care. Financial advisors can win trust of clients by filling the information void.

KNOW: Committed to aging in place, Boomers are less likely to move to a new house than younger generations are. According to new Mintel International market research, two out of five say that their home will consume most of their investment dollars in the next few years.

DO: If you get wind that Boomer clients are thinking of “investing” in their houses, explore their reasoning. If they’re looking for a safe place to put their money, explain that there may better ways to protect themselves from market volatility — plus generate an income stream they can’t get from their houses.

KNOW: Getting closer to age 65 triggers a range of new behaviors among Baby Boomers, including saving more money and being more conservative financially, according to new market research by Mintel International.

DO: When pitching older Boomers on the need to create a financial plan, be sensitive to their “mortality mentality.” Their financial objectives may be very different than they were when they were younger.

KNOW: At the start of this decade it is clear than Boomer attitudes have changed from being blindly optimistic about the future to being cautiously pragmatic, especially when it comes to their money.

DO: Help Boomers re-balance their current financial situation and focus them on building strong foundations for their future finanical needs. Advisors that help them manage the next five to ten years will be their advisors for life.

KNOW: Americans are paying down debt and saving more, according to the latest government statistics. But they still have a long way to go before they return to the thriftiness that prevailed before the 1980s.

DO: Every percentage-point increase in the savings rate is equivalent to $120 billion. If Americans continue to increase their savings, financial advisors should see a flood of money to handle in the years ahead.

KNOW: Six out of ten Canadian Baby Boomers provide financial support to adult children, and the subsidies average nearly $3,700 a year, according to a new poll. Two thirds say they are bothered by the continued dependency.

DO: In cases like these, trusted advisors need to go into family counselor mode and urge parents to cut the apron strings — for the benefit of child and parent alike.