ESTATE PLANNING
a good approach,” Parker says.“ The attorney can only do what the client tells them and if the attorney notices that the client is slipping, they have no good way to communicate that to anyone because they have this [ attorney-client ] privilege.”
But a financial advisor is legally free to communicate with family, Parker adds.
Retiree Wave
These are critical questions to ask— because a huge demographic wave of baby boomers is about to crash onto the shore of retirement over the next decade. And according to studies by the Alzheimer’ s Association, the estimates of those living with the disease, which it put at 6.07 million in 2020, rise to 13.85 million by 2060.
So what does an advisor do if a client( perhaps a wealthy one) suddenly can’ t remember their bank passwords or where their safe deposit box keys are or where they’ ve put their will? What if the client doesn’ t like giving up control over their finances, even if they are forgetting important things, like who they named as a beneficiary? What if a beneficiary has died? Would a stranger be getting your client’ s money?
What if your client doesn’ t accept the dementia diagnosis in the first place?“ Most of the time a diagnosis of cognitive impairment is not well-received or accepted. Sometimes it takes a few minor family interventions,” says Thomas C. West, a senior partner at Signature Estate & Investment Advisors in McLean, Va., who deals with estate and longevity issues.
What if the client is demonstrating some of the paranoia that’ s often a feature of the disease? Will they start distrusting everybody, including those who have their best interest at heart( family and advisors alike)? Have they given money to strangers? It goes without saying they are easy prey for fraudsters and scams.
You may not want to use the word“ Alzheimer’ s” around the suffering family member at all, but perhaps just mention a problem they’ ve had with forgetfulness.( Note that the family might be talking around it this way.)
The family has to figure out and accept their roles. Remember, female family members are often overburdened here:
Don’ t Overlook Healthcare
Healthcare is a sensitive issue for several reasons. First off, the client might be loyal to a longtime GP who is not the most skilled at handling geriatric care issues. The client might be going to multiple doctors who are giving him or her clashing medications— which causes its own set of new health issues that the family might overlook because the client is elderly.
Robert DiQuollo, a senior wealth advisor at Mariner Wealth, says for reasons like these many hospitals are starting geriatric units that offer caregiving lessons.
“ The rise of concierge doctors that cater to the elderly is super important,” says Lara Gatz, attorney at Reed Smith.“ What that concierge doctor does is coordinate a lot of this. … There’ s a whole cottage industry of these professionals [ including ] care coordinators whose job it is to make sure there’ s no unnecessary trips to hospitals. Another thing I’ ve seen that’ s a huge problem is overmedication. Because if you’ re doing a one-off, you go to a pulmonologist and you go to a cardiologist and you go to a primary care physician to talk about your blood pressure— each one of the doctors may be giving medication to deal with a particular issue, being unaware of the overlap with the other doctors.”
An advanced health directive will allow the client to discuss their medical treatment wishes when they can no longer take care of themselves, and whether they’ d like to stay at home or move into an assisted living facility.
60 % of caregivers to dementia patients are women, according to the Alzheimer’ s Association, and one-third are daughters.
An advisor can help come up with a plan in these unfortunate cases, with a checklist that looks like the one here. Remember, however, that it’ s a mistake to completely hijack control from the impaired client and start talking around them. It’ s likely important to them that they’ ll want to feel as much control as possible for as long as they can.
A checklist might look like this, say experts:
1. One is to get a power of attorney for the client. This might mean a general power of attorney or just one for a single financial institution, which can give you some latitude if the client has crossed state lines. You can also add a power of attorney to a bank account.
2. Just as important is to get on top of medical issues, getting a medical power of attorney or healthcare proxy and an advanced healthcare directive.( See the sidebar.)
3. Next is technology: The client needs to make sure their passwords are available and secure— and that no nefarious characters such as cyberthieves have access to them.
4. Next is handling retirement plan issues— to find out where accounts are and who is named among beneficiaries in vehicles like IRAs. Is the client making their RMD withdrawals? Does the client remember their IRA beneficiary or know if the person is even alive? Does the client have a pension from a state plan?
5. And finally, the client will want to make sure their will and estate are sorted out. Very often, these plans are outdated. Are there new grandchildren, for instance, since the last draft? They might not be in the will.
In each of those tasks, there’ s a lot to unpack.
Power Of Attorney
This allows someone to act as the client’ s agent legally. Gatz says one of the first things a family needs to do is an audit of the client’ s brokerage, savings and
50 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JUNE 2025 WWW. FA-MAG. COM