On this week’s episode of Your Questions, Answered Cory Allen and Brian Leitner offer advice for parents of children with disabilities, and answer the following question:

“I have a special needs child and I want to make sure I’m able to provide for my child, but also want to be cognizant of my other financial goals. How do I make it all work?”

Do you have questions you’d like answered? Email them to [email protected], and we’ll provide answers.

Transcript:

Brian Leitner: You have questions? We have answers. Back with another quick clip Cory, the question that came in today is I have a special needs child and I want to make sure that I’m able to provide for my child, but at the same time, I want to be cognizant of my other financial goals and how do I make it all work? And it’s great to have you here today because I know that special needs planning is something that you specialize in. So, appreciate you being here and appreciate you answering this question. 

Cory Allen: My pleasure. And this is one of the first questions I get when initially working with a family, with a family member with a disability. And before we answer the question, we always have to find out more information about the individual with the disability. Their current needs, their expected needs in the future, and we just need to determine what level of support will be needed later on in life, or during the current years of life. Then we dig into the family’s general financial planning needs to get an assessment of the goals, the resources and other traditional financial planning needs. And then having this background information is key to figuring out how to strike the balance between the goal for the family member with the disability and the general financial goals for the family, because they are a conflict of interest. 

Brian: So, once you have all that information, how do you share that with the client to come up with what this game plan ultimately looks like, showing the balances between all the different goals and objectives that they have? 

Cory: Sure. We break it down by planning category. We bring the plan together piece-by-piece. Initially we’ll build a multi-generational cash flow plan, which creates a long-term stress test for the family’s resources. We also talk to our clients about estate planning and making sure that all the documents are facilitating their needs for the future. Oftentimes people come to us, and they don’t have an estate plan and we need to get that estate plan in place, so we spend a great deal of time building the estate plan. Sometimes we talk to people and the resources aren’t going to be enough for them for retirement, and they need to build resources for their individual, that loved one in the family, for beyond their lifetime. So, we’ll talk about risk mitigation and putting insurance policies in place to cover that. We also look at government benefits to make sure that they’re maximizing the support available. That they’re getting everything they should be getting from the government. These are just a few planning categories we look over. But, in all cases, we tie it together with an actionable plan. We come back together with the family, we sit down and we do the planning and make sure that all the family members’ needs are taken care of when we finish up the analysis. 

Brian: Cory, that’s really helpful. I know this area of financial planning, as I mentioned earlier, it’s highly specialized and it’s probably as unique as the person that we’re actually trying to plan for. I greatly appreciate you joining the show. Greatly, appreciate your background and willingness to share. So again, really important to work with someone who truly understands that space. So, Cory, thanks again for being here. 

Cory: Oh, again, my pleasure. Really appreciate it. 

Brian: And if you, or anyone else, has questions they would like answers to, they can go ahead and feel free to email us [email protected]. Thanks for watching. 

Learn more about our wealth management services for families with loved ones who have disabilities.