[tri-med] Re: might be of some interest to some

Holly, this is so funny, I had just cut the article out of our WSJ and was
going to post here because I thought it might be useful.  You just beat me
to the punch.  Great minds think alike, right??

Take care.
Ceci, mom to angel Anna, T-18

-----Original Message-----
From: "Holly McCormick" <hmmmcormick@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I got this from another list I am on:


Financial Firms Focus On Parents of Disabled

   By CHRISTOPHER OSTER
   Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
   August 26, 2004; Page D2


   As more families confront the fact that disabled children will
outlive
   them, insurance and brokerage houses are setting up units
specializing
   in financial planning for such situations.

   It used to be that parents expected to outlive their disabled
   children. Since that time, life expectancies for some disabilities
   have doubled; a person with Down syndrome, for example, wasn't
   expected to live past 25 in 1983, but now has a life expectancy of
50
   years. That shift is prompting families to adopt complex financial
   plans in order to maintain their child's standard of living after
   parents die or become too infirm to help.

   Merrill Lynch & Co. has set up a program that focuses on financial
   planning for special-needs families and is training brokers to
handle
   such services as establishing trusts for disabled children. The firm
   also has a referral service to help families find attorneys to set
up
   trusts.

   FILLING A NEED

    Look at five groups that specialize in assisting parents in
planning
   for the futures of their children with special needs.

   At the same time, MetLife Inc. has created a special-needs unit to
   help families design financial plans and to refer people to groups
   that can help direct families to government benefits and services.
   MetLife estimates that 10% of American families have a member with a
   disability severe enough to benefit from specialized financial
   planning. The insurer has 300 agents trained to give advice to
   special-needs families, up from 170 a year ago.

   MassMutual Financial Group this year launched its own group, called
   SpecialCare, dedicated to special-needs financial planning. In order
   to be a part of the program, MassMutual agents are required to take
a
   weeklong course on special-needs planning. MassMutual also works
with
   a Houston company called LifeCare Planning Inc. that specializes in
   estimating what the cost of care, equipment and other items will be
   over a person's lifetime.

   Assisting Families

   The federal government also is looking for ways to assist such
   families. The President's Committee for People With Intellectual
   Disabilities has drafted a plan to create a special vehicle -- akin
to
   the so-called 529 plans that help families save for college -- that
   allows money to be saved in tax-advantaged accounts for disabled
   children. The panel expects to present the plan to the president in
   the next two months, although it is far from certain if it will
   survive the legislative process and become a part of the tax code.

   With millions of baby boomers near retirement age, there is "going
to
   be an enormous number of people coming to the reality that they need
   this kind of help," says James Cotto, director of investments at
Cotto
   & Padovani, a Mt. Kisco, N.Y., financial advisory firm affiliated
with
   Wachovia Corp.

   Planning for the financial future of a disabled child can be tricky
   since people with disabilities can't qualify for Social Security or
   Medicaid benefits if they have more than $2,000 in assets. Wages
   earned by disabled people also affect their benefits. And parents
   often sacrifice their own retirement to set aside money for their
   special-needs children.

   Financial planners say some brokers and insurance agents focus on
   selling products that may not be best suited to families facing
these
   issues, when what families need is a more detailed financial plan.
   "People don't necessarily need to buy a new product," says John
   Nadworny, a Waltham, Mass., financial adviser. "They might just need
   to reorganize things and get their thought processes together."

   Common Mistake

   One common mistake is placing money in a Uniform Gift to Minors
   Account, which some advisers suggest as a way to pass along assets
to
   children without incurring big tax hits. But the money is held in
the
   child's name and can disqualify her or him from government
assistance
   at the age of 22, when benefits become harder to come by.

   There are no one-size-fits-all plans, but financial advisers say
there
   are a few basics families should keep in mind. The first is that
   government assistance is available if you know where to look for it,
   and families should attempt to share as much of the burden as
   possible. Another is to plan for both the parents' needs and the
   child's, particularly since many parents provide some care to their
   children well into their own retirement. And that includes
   coordinating life-insurance policies so one parent isn't left with
   insufficient resources should the other die. Finally, advisers
suggest
   investing more money in safer investments such as bonds and
lower-risk
   mutual funds, to ensure money will be left for the child.

   Chris Sullivan, who heads up Merrill Lynch's Special Needs Financial
   Group, which started in 1999, says that families' knee-jerk reaction
   to the financial question is to set aside more money for their
   disabled child, Mr. Sullivan says. "If the child can't work they
give
   him or her a supplement to make sure they have enough to maintain
the
   quality of life they're accustomed to," he says. But in many cases
   that's precisely the wrong thing to do because it can jeopardize
   benefits.

   Investment Options

   Last year Merrill instituted a certification program for brokers to
   become a member of its special-needs program. The firm also has
   created an online calculator (http://askmerrill.ml.com/snc) for
   families to determine how much they'll need to save for their
disabled
   children. Once a family determines how much they'll need to save,
   Merrill will suggest an array of investment options, including
stocks,
   bonds and mutual funds, to build up the needed nest egg.

   In addition, Merrill's program works with a referral network of
trust
   attorneys who can form so-called special-need trusts. Such trusts
are
   mainly funded by parents' life-insurance policies, the payouts of
   which are deposited in the trust after both parents die.

   Special-needs trusts form the centerpiece of most financial plans
for
   these families. The trusts, which aren't counted as assets in
   eligibility for government programs, typically are set up by parents
   who designate trustees to use the money for the child's
supplementary
   care, such as payments to costly group homes.

   Under the proposed 529-like savings plan, parents would be able to
   contribute as much as $11,000 to the accounts. Contributions
wouldn't
   be tax-deductible, but the assets would grow tax-free and
withdrawals
   wouldn't be taxed. Distributions could be made from the account at
any
   time, but only to providers of services such as van transportation
or
   eye care, which some states have cut back. If the child dies, the
   remaining balance would be paid, after taxes, to a beneficiary.

   In many cases, neither the parent nor the financial planner will
know
   what to expect in terms of future expenses needed to support a
   disabled person.

   MetLife last year formed relationships with advocacy groups for
   autism, mental retardation and Down syndrome, among others, as part
of
   its MetLife Division of Estate Planning for Special Kids, or
MetDesk,
   program. MetLife will pass along the groups' information, such as
   government services available for specific conditions, to customers,
   while at the same time offering services -- and insurance policies
--
   to group members.

   Nadine Vogel, a MetLife vice president who has two special-needs
   children of her own, formed MetDesk in 1998. Ms. Vogel says
MetLife's
   services are free and there is no requirement to buy insurance or
   MetLife financial products.

   Jerry Hegarty, a Woburn, Mass., father of a disabled child, says he
   has dealt with financial advisers before, but none had any expertise
   in dealing with special-needs children. "All they did is take a
   spreadsheet and project our needs into the future," says Mr.
Hegarty,
   whose six-year-old daughter, Camilla, is autistic and suffers from
   epilepsy and mental retardation. "It was important for us to find
   someone who had been through experiences like ours."

   This summer, he found Mr. Nadworny, the financial adviser. The more
   Mr. Hegarty learned from Mr. Nadworny, "the more we realize we have
   more to learn."

   Knowing the Costs

   Mr. Nadworny, who has a son with Down syndrome, says sitting down
with
   experts in a particular condition is one of the best ways to
approach
   such planning. His firm will often bring in some of the same people
   who run state-sponsored programs to ensure parents know their
options
   and the costs.

   Mr. Nadworny, who helped draft the savings-plan proposal, says
parents
   are sometimes best served by a combination of life-insurance
policies
   that changes as they age. He and his wife hold both term and whole
   life policies that would assist the surviving spouse if either one
   died. When their son, James, turns 24 in 11 years, Mr. Nadworny
plans
   to cash in his wife's whole life policy and buy a second-to-die life
   insurance policy, which will pay after both parents have died.

   But the policies aren't appropriate for everyone. If the sole wage
   earner dies first, the family will need money to replace lost
income.
   And if the deceased spouse is the designated caretaker, that may
mean
   the family will need to hire help.

   Write to Christopher Oster at chris.oster@xxxxxxx

   Filling a Need

   Five groups that specialize in assisting parents in planning for the
   futures of their children with special needs.

   ORGANIZATION SERVICES WEB SITE

   MetLIfe Division of Estate Planning for Special Kids
    Assists with financial planning; helps draft "letter of intent" for
   future caregivers
    metlife.com/desk

   Merrill Lynch Special Needs Financial Services
    Constructs financial plans; offers online savings calculator
    askmerrill.ml.com/

   National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
    Offers information on government services
    www.nichcy.org/

   Genetic Alliance
    Offers information on support groups and specific diseases
    geneticalliance.org

    Special Needs Advocate for Parents
    Provides advice to parents; referrals to trust attorneys
    snapinfo.org



"If I were someone's baby an 11% chance [to live] would be enough."
Will Smith,  I, Robot

--- Holly, wife of Mike, mom of Morgan (7 yrs.) unbalanced translocation
t18q+ and 9p-,  & IS, mommy to Bonnie (border collie, spaniel mix)
    Des Moines, IA
    http://www.geocities.com/hmmmcormick



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