Skip to main content

Case Studies

Amy, 52

-Married with 3 children, ages 19, 17, 11
  • Family ‘breadwinner’ and head of household finances
  • Sr VP, pharmaceutical industry
  • Household income:   $800K-$1MM
  • Investable Assets:   $3MM
  • Power of Attorney over her mom’s finances.  Amy has no siblings and her mom is a widow with moderately advanced dementia.
Mom lives a mile away, so care has been manageable to this point. Search for skilled care facility is always at the back of Amy’s mind. Estimates that she spends 6-12 hours/week caring for her mom. Between her demanding job and 3 children, Amy is constantly depleted and overwhelmed.
Stated Concerns
Retirement feels very far away.  Family’s substantial income and savings provide little peace of mind that she and her husband are on solid ground.
  • Ability to retire, despite substantial savings. Concerned that all of her energy goes towards her mom, her job, and her family. Feels that her finances are being ignored
  • Unnerved by high costs of her mother’s care, fearful of future health care costs for her and her husband
  • Constant uncertainty of caregiving
  • What is the plan if her mom runs out of money?
-How much could her future care cost?
  • How can we plan for our future if I’m the only person my mother has to look after her?
  • We’ve never had a financial advisor.  Is it possible for somebody to understand this difficulty and help me navigate all this?
Process
  • Thorough review of her family’s finances and her mother’s, independently.
  • Developed system to keep the two completely separate.
  • Deep discussions to understand Amy’s method of recordkeeping.
  • Develop contingency plans for various scenarios around her mom’s care
    • Home health care vs nursing home
    • Slow, prolonged decline vs quick and accelerated decline .
  • Identify action plan for areas of her finances that have been neglected of late
  • During the discovery process, we were able to identify the annual cost of three local home health care agencies and skilled-care senior living communities.
  • We did a comprehensive review of her mom’s income, assets, insurance, and recent tax returns.
  • We built a “worst-case scenario” contingencies from a financial standpoint.  How long would her mom’s savings last if 12 hours/day of home health care was required?  How long would it last if her mom were to start living at a skilled care senior living community?
  • Once we came up with that estimate, Amy, her husband and I had multiple meetings to brainstorm an acceptable amount of their own savings that they were both willing to mentally allocate for her mom’s care. As unpleasant as these conversations can be, at least having a set of plans in place addressed the various scenarios that could play out with her mom’s care

This is a hypothetical situation based on real life examples. Names and circumstances have been changed. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investments or strategies may be appropriate for you, consult your advisor prior to investing.