Caring for an aging parent or a loved one with disabilities is meaningful and challenging work that impacts the entire family. Even affluent households can find themselves wondering how they’ll provide care over the long term, give their other children and loved ones the attention they need, and preserve resources to care for the next generation.

Balancing these demands on your attention and resources might be difficult, but you don’t have to manage it alone. Just as you have a team of medical professionals to address your loved one’s health care, a wealth management professional, along with their referral network, can assist you with the financial, tax and estate planning elements of caregiving. That may reduce your stress about daily expenses and your family’s financial future.

Here are some important ways your wealth advisor may help.

Plan now for eldercare costs

There are a few important cost calculations to make when planning your savings and caregiving strategies. First, estimate long-term care (LTC) costs for yourself, your partner or another loved one using tools like the protection calculators found on this webpage.¹

Next, it’s important to account for indirect costs if a family member steps away from work to provide care. These might include lost wages, reduced retirement contributions, health care coverage costs, and other out-of-pocket expenses.

Then, review your family’s financial resources for eldercare. These may include LTC insurance policies, savings and investments, government programs like VA Aid and Attendance² benefits, Medicaid self-directed services, and caregiver assistance grants. Your wealth management advisor can work with you to build an integrated care plan that reflects your family’s financial picture.

Align your caregiving and wealth management strategies

Caregiving decisions often intersect with broader financial goals. A wealth management professional can connect you with attorneys as well as tax and estate planning professionals who specialize in caregiver strategies, helping ensure all aspects of your plan work together.

For example, if you intend to pause your career to care for a parent or a child with disabilities, your wealth advisor could help you draft a plan to make catch-up contributions to your retirement accounts when you re-enter the paid workforce. And your tax advisor can help you determine if you are able to claim an aging parent as a dependent³ on your federal income tax return.

Prepare for long‑term support needs

Your wealth advisor may recommend that you look into planning tools like special needs trusts.⁴ These trusts are designed to provide resources for loved ones with mental or physical disabilities without compromising their eligibility for government benefits. They are often used by parents of children who will require some level of daily assistance and specialized care across their lifespan. This type of trust may also make it easier to preserve your family’s wealth, so your loved ones receive the best possible care — even if you’re no longer here to provide it.

Care planning for individuals with disabilities may also address the long-term well-being of siblings. “Glass children” — the brothers and sisters of children with significant medical or developmental needs — may appear self-sufficient, but they might be overlooked. Thoughtful planning for emotional, educational and financial support might help promote healthier outcomes for every child in the family.

Coordinate efforts

When managing wealth alongside eldercare or planning for a loved one with disabilities, the complexity of decisions can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to navigate it alone. Successful outcomes may result from coordinated efforts among financial advisors, estate planning attorneys and tax professionals.

Experienced professionals bring a unique lens to the table, helping families uncover opportunities, avoid costly missteps, and build well-rounded strategies that balance care and finances. A seasoned wealth advisor may help align investment plans with caregiving timelines and anticipated expenses, while an attorney works to ensure legal tools like powers of attorney, trusts or guardianship are properly structured. A tax professional plays a key role in reducing liabilities and may also help you preserve benefits, such as qualifying for Medicaid or optimizing special needs trusts.

Focus on tax-efficient solutions

Trusts, health care plans and caregiving expenses all come with tax implications, so working closely with a tax professional can be important. Regular, candid conversations about your family’s finances and caregiving needs will give your tax advisor the information they need to develop an optimal strategy for you.

For example, if you claim your loved one as a dependent, you may be able to use a tax-advantaged Health Savings Account (HSA)⁵ to pay for some of their out-of-pocket health care costs. You may also be able to deduct certain caregiving-related expenses⁶ on your federal tax returns. Because tax laws often change, ask your tax advisor to keep you up to date on how to optimize your tax strategies while meeting your caregiving goals.

Establish a legacy plan

Estate planning is a critical part of any caregiving strategy. Developing a straightforward legacy plan may provide reassurance, reduce uncertainty for heirs, and help avoid probate delays.

In addition, the discussions needed to create the plan may benefit your entire family by setting expectations to avoid surprises later. These talks can also help prepare younger family members to think about how they’ll manage your family’s intergenerational wealth transfer. If they’re not already working with a financial advisor, part of your legacy plan may be introducing them to the professionals you use.

Your plan might also make estate settlement easier for your heirs by avoiding probate court for a faster, less stressful resolution. An estate planning attorney can advise you about the trusts and other legal instruments you may need to achieve this goal.

Additionally, because family needs evolve over time, estate and caregiving plans should be reviewed regularly to stay aligned with changing circumstances.

The takeaway

Ensuring your loved ones’ financial future is an important way to provide care across generations. Balancing that long view with more immediate caregiving needs requires customized advice and guidance. An experienced wealth advisor might help you understand your future costs, structure trusts for family members, optimize your tax position, and plan your legacy.

By understanding your family’s caregiving needs and wealth management goals, RBFCU Wealth Management can help you create a coordinated approach that works for you and your family.