SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: ENABLE SPECIAL NEEDS PLANNING

BY PHILLIP CLARK, CHARTERED SPECIAL NEEDS CONSULTANT (CHSNC)

When I was four years old my sister, Sarah, was born. Like so many other families, my parents didn’t hear “CONGRATULATIONS!” from her doctors. Instead, they heard, “I’m sorry—I think your daughter has Down syndrome.”

Sarah’s early years were filled with professionals warning my parents about negative issues to expect:

• Heart problems…

• Thyroid problems…

• Learning disabilities…

We lived about two hours from Indianapolis, IN, and her therapies and doctors’ appointments were located there. I often joke that we lived in a minivan—with all of Sarah’s appointments. At each appointment, the list of limited expectations grew.

Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to describe how my parents felt at first. I remember so many emotional conversations, filled with tears and fears about Sarah’s future.

Some time passed, and, honestly, Sarah was thriving compared to the limited expectations that my parents had worried about. Life was challenging, but Sarah was defying the odds and doing better than anticipated.

However, as we grew up, the emotional conversations continued. Now these conversations were about Sarah’s future – and how to get prepared for whatever lay ahead.

Honestly, during these conversations my parents seemed even more afraid than during the earlier discussions of open-heart surgeries. With these family discussions about Sarah’s future—there were never any answers.

My parents were proactive. I remember babysitters watching us while they attended planning seminars. But these events never gave them the answers they sought or provided a sense of relief from their fears about Sarah’s future.

Eventually, they were told they needed a ‘special needs plan.’ So, they found an attorney who drafted a Special Needs Trust. And they met with a local insurance agent to talk about how to fund Sarah’s trust in the future.

As a teenager, I thought, “It’s over. Finally, my parents won’t be so stressed all the time.”

However, I can’t say my parents ever really seemed at peace. Sure, they’d done what they were told to do and set up a ‘special needs plan’ for Sarah’s future. But not only did questions about Sarah’s future still come up frequently, now my parents were asking things like, “Did we do the right thing?” “How would we know?” and “Is there more we should be doing to plan for Sarah’s future?”

When I was deciding what I wanted to do and how I wanted to make a difference, it always came back to Sarah and my parents’ experience trying to give her the best possible future.

I knew there had to be a better way to do ‘special needs planning’ than what my parents had experienced.

There had to be a process that provided a real sense of security and peace of mind – two things my parents lacked even after completing their ‘special needs planning’ journey.

I began my career in the financial planning industry trying to help families, much like ours, prepare for the future. I joined a firm that said they did special needs planning. And I was so excited!

However, I quickly discovered a couple problems with the firm’s overall approach to planning:

I realized that the conversations, the solutions, and the strategies they offered were the same with every family we talked to. It was a cookie-cutter, one size-fits-all approach to planning for every individual with special needs.

An even bigger problem was that ‘special needs planning’ was only focused on when my parents—and other parents—passed away.

I’m not saying that what happens to Sarah when my parents die wasn’t something that we worried about. Just like I’m sure it’s something you worry about.

But as a proud big brother, I looked at that traditional approach to planning and said, “No. I believe that special needs planning should allow my sister—and your child—to live a happy, fulfilling, and purposeful life TODAY, and every day in the future. And this plan has to work no matter what life throws at us.”

After working with three different planning firms that all claimed to do ‘special needs planning’ but didn’t offer custom plans and only focused on what happens when the parents are gone, I realized I needed to make a big change.

I wanted to help families create unique plans—tailored to THEIR child’s specific needs and goals—that would ultimately give the entire family a sense of security and peace of mind.

The sense of security and peace of mind that I desperately wished my parents had had years ago.

That’s when I founded my organization: ENABLE Special Needs Planning.

THE PROBLEM

If you’ve started your special needs planning journey more than likely you’ve been exposed to what I like to call the ‘traditional planning process.’

A Special Needs Trust gives you a vehicle to put money into so that your son or daughter doesn’t lose government benefits. And that is an important part of the planning journey—not losing those essential resources and services.

Unfortunately, your trust won’t come pre-loaded with money in it. It’s just an empty shell of an agreement.

Most families don’t have millions of dollars lying around to deposit into their child’s trust.

Taking out a life insurance policy is often a strategy used to fund the trust in the future. This is an effective and efficient way to make sure there will be enough money for your child no matter what happens.

So, this is the Traditional Planning Process: A Special Needs Trust coupled with a life insurance policy.

I’m not saying that these two things shouldn’t be part of your family’s special needs plan. As I mentioned earlier, my parents are using both strategies in Sarah’s plan. But let me ask you a few questions...

• Does a Special Needs Trust and a life insurance policy solve all your problems?

• Does this type of plan answer all your questions about what your child’s future is going to be like?

• Does this version of special needs planning provide you with a sense of security today and peace of mind about the future?

As I already told you, my parents never really stopped worrying about Sarah’s future... even after they had this portion of her plan in place.

Going a step further... If we think about this as a standalone plan—a Special Needs Trust and a life insurance policy—what has to happen to YOU for this plan to go into effect? You have to die. Is that really the only thing you want to plan for?

Don’t get me wrong. Planning for the ‘What Ifs...’ in life is essential. We need to prevent any future assets or inheritance from disrupting your child’s government benefits.

But to me, for my family, for my sister, special needs planning needed to be so much more than that.

So, if you’re currently feeling uneasy about your son or daughter’s special needs plan AND you’ve approached planning in this traditional way, that’s likely the reason you still have questions, doubts, and fears. From my experience growing up with Sarah—I get it.

THE SOLUTION

Special Needs Planning must be better. Planning needs to be centered on making sure your entire family, including your child, has a secure future.

Your family’s planning journey should give you peace of mind because you’ve created an abundant future for your loved one—and an abundant future for your entire family.

Every family needs a plan tailored to them. The specific strategies that make up your family’s special needs plan must be unique to you, your unique goals, and your unique challenges.

There are, however, 4 KEY components that every family’s plan must address. And our team has developed a collaborative planning process that helps families easily and efficiently create a plan that addresses these components.

Vision: The most important part of every plan is determining WHY you’re planning in the first place. You need to clarify what success looks like for yourself, for your family, for all your kids, and most importantly for your child with special needs.

Financial: With a clear vision, you can begin enacting strategies that fit your family. Most of your biggest goals (retirement, a new home, college, funding your Special Needs Trust) will take intentional financial planning to accomplish.

Legal: A properly structured estate plan protects your entire family from things that are out of your control. Along with creating wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and a Special Needs Trusts, naming your child’s future care team (e.g., guardians, trustees, care givers) is essential.

Communication: Your future care team needs to know what their roles are TODAY... and what their responsibilities could be in the future. Communicating your plan in an easy-tounderstand way is an essential step in your planning journey.

While the specific details and strategies that make up your family’s special needs plan must be tailored to YOU, every family needs to intentionally plan in these four areas. Families who partner with our team and follow our collaborative planning process sleep better at night because they no longer wonder what would happen to their child if something happened to them.

This allows them to focus their time and energy on enabling their child to live the best possible life every day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For the past 15 years, Philip Clark, Chartered Special Needs Consultant (ChSNC), has been helping families across America plan so their children can live purposeful, impactful lives. In 2017, he and his wife, Chelsea Clark, PhD, cofounded ENABLE Special Needs Planning.

Phil is frequently invited to present at national conferences with the National Down Syndrome Congress, National Down Syndrome Society, National Association for Down Syndrome, Autism Society of America, and Milestones.

He served as a founding board member for Gigi’s Playhouse Indianapolis and Same As U. Currently, he serves in the special needs ministry at Mercy Road Church, in Carmel, IN.

The Clarks reside in Westfield, IN, with their three-year-old daughter, Emma. They enjoy going to indoor and outdoor playgrounds and splash pads and taking family beach vacations in Florida.

“At ENABLE, we love how SNL magazine makes an impact by connecting families, caregivers, and individuals with special needs...It provides [the community] with the valuable information and essential resources they need to enable their loved ones to thrive every day. This aligns with ENABLE’s core belief that ‘Everyone has the ability to be impactful.’”

– CHELSEA CLARK

BUSINESS CONTACT

INFORMATION

Web: enablesnp.com

Email: info@ENABLEsnp.com

Social: @ENABLEsnp

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