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PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING

People may not realize it can be beneficial for financial advisers. “I think
people are always worried about uncomfortable
how many options conversations, but think about how much worse it
gets if people don’t have plans in place,” said Brian I.
Gordon, president of senior housing advisers Senior
they have when it Living Experts and president of Gordon Associates
Long Term Care Planning, an insurance firm special-
izing in long-term-care planning, in Bannockburn,
comes to financing Ill. “I know people who have transferred substantial
wealth away from financial advisers because of the
experiences their parents had later in life.”
long-term care. financial adviser who was managing almost $50
As an example, he cited a family who fired a
million of their assets after the adviser failed to
prepare for the parents’ long-term-care needs, which
ultimately cost about $3 million. “The family was
long-term care are available today. “Long-term care angry the adviser didn’t have the conversation and
can mean everything from occasional in-home visits just assumed with the type of wealth they had that
from a nurse to an extended hospital stay to assisted they would self-fund,” he explained.
living to full-time residence in a nursing home,” Some clients will bring up long-term care as a
explained Donna Wood, CPA/PFS, the CEO of concern on their own, said Weber, but it’s a topic
Wood Smith Advisors in Franklin, Tenn. every client and financial planner should discuss. “We
Though clients might find all the options bring it up as part of our ongoing services when we
bewildering at first, discussing them can also help review financial plans with clients,” she said.
clients see that they have more choices than they
might have realized. “People used to react emotion- Acknowledge the difficulty
ally about the idea of sitting in a nursing home and Planning for long-term care can lead to difficult
staring at the wall,” said Colleen Weber, CPA, a conversations, Long said. Build empathy by
fee-only financial adviser from Chanhassen, Minn. acknowledging that long-term-care planning can be
But the options have made discussions on the topic frustrating due to the unknowns, she said. “Resist
a bit more palatable for clients, she said. the urge to share a horror story of a client or family
Discussing long-term care with clients begins member who didn’t prepare, and instead start by
with honest conversations. Here are some ideas on asking motivational questions to help them start to
how to start the conversation and what to discuss as take action on their own.”
part of a solid financial plan. Long-term care may feel like a more difficult
conversation than planning for college funds and re-
Introduce the subject tirement, but it’s not all that different. “It’s like any
It’s not necessary to wait for clients to bring up financial planning we do. We take our best assump-
the topic of long-term-care planning on their own. tions and the information we have, and we do our
Though broaching the subject presents a challenge, best, Weber said. Plus, with more people entering

IN BRIEF sudden health care event. hard one to discuss.
■ Clients may even find the long-term- ■ Tailor advice to clients’ specific
■ Long-term care can be an emotional care discussion reassuring and realize concerns, wishes, and fears.
topic that clients avoid discussing, they have more options than they ■ Have clients put their intentions in
but it’s an important subject for CPA thought they had. writing and ensure they have the
financial planners to address. If clients ■ Be proactive and bring up the subject proper estate planning documents in
plan for long-term care, there’s less of long-term care even if clients don’t. place.
chance they’ll be caught off-guard by a ■ Acknowledge that the topic can be a
To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Courtney Vien at Courtney.Vien@aicpa-cima.com.

16 | Journal of Accountancy February 2023