By Allen Giese, ChFC®, CLU®
When our son was diagnosed with a serious mental illness and our family life was turned upside down, we had no thoughts or ideas about how, in the long run, it would impact us financially.
To be honest, early on, the ramifications to our financial plan weren’t even on the radar. My wife and I were focused on getting our son into the right treatment programs, taking him to doctors and therapists, and just managing our lives in this new world we found ourselves in.
But one day it hit me. I was doing my job as a financial advisor, sitting in my office working on a financial plan for a client and focusing on their retirement plan. And something about their plan made me shift my thinking to my own plan, and I suddenly realized that it was no longer just about the retirement plan my wife and I were building for ourselves.
“Are we also going to need to make sure our child has financial support for the rest of his life too?” I thought. “And what about our estate planning? What changes should we be making to that?”
Those questions prompted me to start thinking about all the financial aspects being impacted by this illness. And I wondered if our experiences and concerns were typical of what others were experiencing.
Before I wrote the book When Mental Illness Strikes: Crisis Intervention for the Financial Plan, I wanted to know what the biggest concerns and challenges were for families that had been stricken by a mental illness. I really wanted to know if what my family was experiencing was any different from the experiences of other families dealing with a serious mental illness.
I wanted to see if I could gain more insight and confirm or maybe refute some suspicions I had. For example, does the stigma that so often surrounds mental illness affect a family’s financial planning as much as we know it does when they are seeking treatment? And does the impact of the stigma change across different levels of affluence?
I wanted to see, as a financial planner, how these families felt that an advisor could have made a difference in their lives.
So I conducted a study to find out. I met with many individuals who had direct experience, and I conducted in-depth interviews with them. I asked them what their most pressing concerns were, what the issues and problems they faced as parents were. I also asked leaders of mental health organizations to share their perspectives on the most pressing issues families face.
I wanted to know what kept people up at night. I wanted to know what major challenges they faced and, specifically, from a financial perspective. I wanted to drill down as deeply as I could into their financial fears.
I asked them if they thought people were generally successful at managing the financial challenges and why or why not? I asked them if they believed an empathetic financial planner would have been helpful for them, particularly early in the process. If they had met with someone who clearly understood what they were going through, would it have benefited them?
Here’s what I found out:
Without a doubt, the number one concern of the people I talked to was this: “Who’s going to take care of my kid after I’m gone?” This is a tough question, and it’s a complex one. There are usually no simple answers, so it’s not surprising to find out that many parents had delayed or were delaying answering that question for as long as possible.
The question encompasses more than who pays the bills and makes sure their child takes their meds. It is about advocacy, care, and all the little things. I talk about this in great depth in the book.
Another issue I heard from every parent was a concern about law enforcement and the safety of their son or daughter. They were concerned that their kid would one day be seriously hurt if they had a run-in with an officer who hadn’t received Crisis Intervention Team training.
I can tell you firsthand that the experiences we’ve had with officers who had received this special training made all the difference.
Not surprisingly, when I delved into their biggest financial challenges, I found that in almost every case, the mental illness had blindsided the family and had stressed their financial plans to the limit. In some cases, it broke those plans.
Families were worried about future health care costs and accessibility. They worried about how they were going to pay for care and treatment. And one of their biggest worries was whether they would somehow jeopardize their child’s eligibility for government programs—benefits their son or daughter would need not just for the monthly income they provide but more importantly, for access to treatment.
People wanted to know what tools or programs were available that could help them. They wanted to know more about ABLE accounts, special needs trusts, and any other smart financial planning tools they should know about.
They also wanted to know how to connect with the right kinds of professionals, people who understood their concerns. They wanted attorneys and planners who really grasped the depth of their situation.
And when I asked how successful they felt they’d been in dealing with the financial aspects of mental illness, I found that the responses varied widely. But one thing was common: You have to be proactive. If you sit back and do nothing, the outcomes are not good.
If you have a family member with special needs, these are the concerns we focus on in our financial planning practice when we work with families like yours every day. It’s about finding the best solutions for your particular family. It’s about finding out what your deepest, most important concerns and challenges are and making sure your financial plan reflects those concerns and challenges.
If you’d like to talk more about your situation, I hope you’ll feel free to give us a call so we can start that conversation.