Category: In The Media-Articles

The following is my reflection on the journey we have been on at Oak Wealth Advisors since our inception ten years ago.  Thank you for helping us get where we are today. Over the last ten years, it has been a story of doing what people thought could not be done.  The experts in the financial services industry were sure that having a focus on families with members with special needs would be a disaster.  “Too much work,” “they are too needy,” “they have no money,” “the laws are different for them.”  I heard it all.  The experts are wrong.  The reality is that the past decade has been the most personally satisfying ten years of my nearly thirty-year professional care ...

'SET HIGH GOALS' About 11 years ago, financial planner Mike Walther enjoyed a good lifestyle, working for an advisory firm with a $5 million minimum. His wife asked him what he would find most rewarding in life going forward, and he realized he wanted to help families with special needs make better decisions and become more financially literate. Mr. Walther's younger brother had been formally diagnosed during his 30s with autism. “In the 1970s, my parents had trouble finding the right resources for him,” he said. “Still, he obtained a high school diploma and now has a satisfying job in a public library and participates in social activities. Now I want to set high goals for all t ...

We were honored to be asked by Make It Better Magazine to provide advice about special needs financial planning. As nice as the opportunity was to share our knowledge, we were even more grateful to read about how our clients, who are featured in the article, feel we have improved their lives ...

Financial firm focuses on future of those with special needs …Walther compares himself to a pilot for the families. "Ninety percent of flights are not on course but over 99 percent land safely", he said.  "People have retirement goals, and we can't forget about their needs.  Maybe your goal is for all your kids to go to college, or maybe it's that you want your child with special needs to have safe housing and oversight and opportunities for employment.  These are not mutually exclusive. " At her desk down the hall, director of Special Needs Planning Randi Gillespie works with Walther's clients to navigate everything except their financial needs.  She connects families with social ...

Featured on Inside Information Written by Bob Veres Approximately ten percent of all American families in America have one or more members who qualify as "special-needs" for financial planning purposes," Mike Walther, of Oak Wealth Advisors, LLC, in Deerfield, IL, is telling me over breakfast at the AICPA PFP Conference in Las Vegas. "I'm shocked," he adds, "at our profession's lack of attention to the unique planning needs of this group. Walther at this moment is picking through a modest breakfast that he has selected from what may be the world's longest, largest buffet, a 50-yard-long array that includes many kinds of prepared eggs, sausages and bacons, pancakes, pastries, speci ...