Danielle Miura never expected to become a caregiver. But when her grandmother took a fall two years ago on a tile floor, her own life changed dramatically.
Miura, a certified financial planner and a small business owner, took on increasing responsibilities for her grandmother and other aging relatives. It seemed like routine family duties at first, but those grew, until Miura realized she had joined the ranks of an estimated 53 million Americans who are caregivers.
“I was doing more caregiving than I was actually working or taking care of myself,” Miura said in an interview. “I was starting to burn out.”
Read more: Caregiving can sap retirement savings. Here’s how advisors can help
Financial advisors’ clients, who tend to be older and in their mid-60s, are all likely to be impacted by caregiving: either as current or future recipients, or as caregivers themselves. Twenty-one percent of Americans are caregivers, AARP said in a 2020 report — and those numbers are expected to grow. Knowledgeable financial advisors can help clients navigate caregiving challenges, emotional as well as financial.
Miura, who is the founder of Ripon, California-based registered investment advisor Spark Financials, has since become a family caregiver specialist who focuses her practice on helping families with the complicated questions around caregiving planning.
“When I started researching family caregiving, how it impacts people financially … what disappointed me was that a lot of the research is very basic,” she said. “And that’s when I thought to myself, why aren’t more financial advisors paying attention to this topic?”
An advisor who invests in some education here can not only help a family plan for their loved one’s later life in a dignified and compassionate way, but also preserve clients’ wealth for future generations — and increase their own chances of keeping the heirs as clients.
Financial Planning spoke with experts from across the industry on how to plan for unique challenges of caregiving with their clients. Below are five tips they shared.