3 Ways Advisors Can Help Clients Plan for Extended Care

The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living are currently reporting a nationwide shortage of nurses staffing assisted living facilities. While trends like this are startling, they also expose a blind-spot in our understanding of long-term care.

Most caregiving is actually done at home by family rather than in facilities by professionals.

In fact, a 2022 survey from Thrivent found that more than one in five adult Americans — 21% — are providing some level of support to an elderly family member.

As professional care becomes increasingly expensive and harder to find, more and more families will be compelled to provide care to their loved ones themselves, causing that percentage to only rise over time.

When we focus on these growing challenges, we can clearly see why the need for extended care planning is more important than ever.

As we strive to help clients develop extended care plans for themselves and their families, here are three vital suggestions to keep in mind.

1. Lead proactive conversations, which are far better than reactive ones.

As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is today.

By starting the planning conversation as soon as possible, you’ll be better equipped to offer more options and deliver better outcomes to your clients.

Thrivent’s survey also found that over 60% of Americans do not have an extended care plan in place for themselves or their family.

It also revealed that 70% of Americans believe having an extended care plan for family members before they need care is very important to them.

The conclusion we can draw from this is that clients very much understand the importance of having a plan for addressing any potential extended care needs but are having difficulty creating those plans.

This is why one of the single most important things we can do as financial advisors is to have proactive conversations with them about their potential need for care and the challenges associated with that care.

Understanding the realities of caregiving is a vital part of having an effective conversation about extended care with your clients.

At Thrivent, we offer our members access to a benefit called Dari by Homethrive, which provides them with online resources and personalized advice about extended care.

Some of the questions our members have frequently asked Homethrive’s experts include “Is Mom safe living at home? How do I assess this?” or “My loved one is being discharged from a hospital stay/rehab — now what do I do?” These reveal the underlying difficulties that commonly come with caregiving.

Having answers to these types of questions before discussing extended care with a client can go a long way in helping them create a plan.

While these conversations can be difficult, it’s essential to have them early — and often.

If you’re having a conversation with a client after an extended care event has already occurred, chances are it’s already too late for them to maximize their options to fully cope with the situation.

2. Keep in mind that every extended care plan is personal.

There is no one-size-fits-all to an extended care plan.

Every client has their own specific goals and priorities that need to be considered when crafting a plan that will work for them.

Understanding how a client intends to receive care can make a big difference in how their plan is built.

This begins with understanding the specific options for receiving care.