Resources For You

Hi everyone, my name is Aaron Osterberg and I will be kicking off our new monthly series where we share a tip from our top 10 special needs planning tips.

Tip number 1: Connect with other families facing similar challenges, both locally and nationally. Building a support network can make a huge difference. Look for organizations and nonprofits, join social media groups, and participate in community events. These connections can provide valuable insights and support.

Stay tuned for tip #2 coming next month. If you want to learn more, feel free to contact us – we’re here to help! Thank you.

Welcome to tip #2 of our Top 10 Special Needs Planning Tips series. I’m Randi Gillespie, here to share the next tip.

Tip #2 is to register for all the services and benefits you are entitled to receive. There are plenty of different programs out there that an individual may be eligible for, and we recommend working with an expert, or an organization, to uncover all the possible opportunities available to our loved ones. There are programs that provide income, healthcare, food, housing and individual support – and all of these programs are incredibly valuable.

Please contact us to learn more about our Top 10 Special Needs Financial Planning Tips and stay tuned for tip #3 coming next month. Thank you so much!

Hi, I’m Mike Walther, the founder and president of Oak Wealth Advisors, here to share Tip #3 of our Top 10 Special Needs Financial Planning Tips series. Tip #3: We want all families to avoid the most common mistakes that are made when their loved one applies for means-tested benefits such as Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid. Approximately two-thirds of all initial applications for these benefits are denied! To avoid the denial of benefits, you need to ensure that the individual has less than $2,000.00 of assets in their name, you should NOT embellish the individual’s abilities when asked about their skills, and you need to remember that it is the individual, and not your family, who is applying for benefits. As such, when asked how many people are in the individual’s household, the answer is ONE even if they’re living with parents and siblings. These are three of the most common mistakes we have seen people make when applying for means-tested benefits. We want your family to be successful when applying for these benefits and encourage you to visit our website for more information about means-tested benefits. Thank you for listening, and we look forward to sharing Tip #4 next month.

Hi, I’m Neil Mahoney, a Senior Consultant and the Chief Operating Officer at Oak Wealth Advisors. And I’m excited to bring you Tip #4 of our Top 10 Special Needs Financial Planning Tips.

Thanks for tuning in and look Tip #4 is to use Special Needs Trusts to supplement government benefits and protect the individual with a disability.

A Special Needs Trust is a cornerstone of effective special needs financial planning.

Having a trust in place, even if it doesn’t have any money in it yet, can help ensure that government benefits are not jeopardized by parents’ money ending up directly in the name of their son or daughter with special needs.

For more information and resources on Special Needs Trusts and their importance in special needs financial planning, visit our website.

Tip #5 coming next month!

Hi, I’m Mickey Cohen, an associate consultant at Oak Wealth Advisors. Today, I’m excited to share tip number 5 of our Top 10 Special Needs Financial Planning Tips.

Tip #5 is to surround your family and loved one with advocates and fiduciaries. Working with fiduciaries who are committed to acting in your family’s best interest is a crucial step in protecting your family. Additionally, having strong and determined advocates who will continue to support your loved one’s needs can make a great difference.

We encourage you to visit our website and explore our resources for more ways to plan and protect your loved one with a disability. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for tip #6 coming in November.

Hi, I’m Neil Mahoney, Senior Consultant at Oak Wealth Advisors and I’m excited to share tip #7 of our Top 10 Special Needs Financial Planning Tips. (Slide Change) Tip number #7 is to establish an ABLE Savings Account to benefit an individual with a disability. Established in 2014, ABLE Savings Accounts are an essential part of a successful special needs plan because the money in the account, at least the first $100,000, is not counted as a resource to qualify for government benefits like Social Security and Medicaid. ABLE Accounts are a tax-free savings vehicle and can be used for MANY expenses to support the individual’s quality of life. (Slide Change) For more information on ABLE accounts, please visit our array of resources on our website and YouTube channel. Thanks for watching….and look out for tip #8 in February!

Hi, I’m Randi Gillespie, Director of Special Needs Services at Oak Wealth Advisors, here today to share tip #9 of our Top 10 Special Needs Financial Planning Tips.

Tip number 9 is to prepare a guide for the care of your loved one with special needs, as we like to call it, the Ultimate Care Guide.

This document, which can be either a Word document or completed electronically, is one of the most important documents that families can complete to ensure that their loved one is taken care of when current caregivers are gone. As difficult and challenging as it may be to think about the future, it’s extremely important that when the parents are no longer able to support the individual, the next person won’t skip a beat in caring for the individual based on their personalized needs, likes, and dislikes.

We encourage you all to check out various resources we have on our website and our YouTube page about the Ultimate Care Guide. Thank you so much for watching and look out for tip number 10 coming next month.

Tip #11 – Create a Safety Plan that focuses on the challenges your family member with special needs may face in the event of an emergency.

Hi, I’m Mike Walther with the Oak Wealth Advisors Special Needs Financial Planning Tip #11.

This tip actually isn’t a financial planning tip at all, but rather a safety tip, which we hope all of you will consider implementing with your families. And that tip is to create a special needs safety plan around your loved one’s abilities and challenges in the time of an emergency. This could be everything from a disaster incurring in the environment, whether that’s a flood or hurricane or a fire. It would impact your family and rush them out of their home.

What are those emergency items your loved one would need to keep them happy and safe and comfortable? Is it medications? Is it something that’s a comfort item for them?
Plan in advance for what that emergency might look like and what they need to access very quickly if you had to evacuate your home. In addition, plan for what would happen if first responders have to react to an emergency at your house. Maybe it’s a smoke alarm going off causing, you know, them to respond at the fire department. Well, oftentimes when they come in, if they’re expecting smoke and fire in a house, they’ll have their oxygen gear on, which can be very intimidating for someone who’s not used to seeing that. And if your loved one tends to hide, if they’re afraid, maybe that loud shrieking alarm is going to cause them to hide in the back of a closet behind their clothes.

Well, if the first responders are aware of that and know your loved one tends to hide in the back corner of a closet, they can go look there first. And saving valuable seconds to keep your loved one healthy and safe is incredibly important, alternatively. Maybe it’s some kind of an alarm is triggered for a burglar in the house. And if your first responding police officers don’t know what your loved one looks like and they see someone maybe dressed up cause he’s playing a video game and has a fake gun in his hand and doesn’t react the way they would expect someone to react when a police officer shows up, bad things can happen. We can avoid those things with proper planning. Have your loved one go and see a police officer and what a fireman wears when he comes to your house. So that in that time of an emergency, it’s not as surprising and doesn’t cause a reaction. It’s going to be unfavorable for your loved one. In addition, if you’ve got to be evacuated due to a medical emergency and they come with the ambulance and they’re taking you out and you can’t communicate, are they going to know that your loved one’s got to go with you to the hospital and have a social worker looking after them while you receive treatment? Or will they just assume that other people in the house can be fine left to their own? So those are the kinds of things you want to have planned for in advance.

The best approach to that is to work with your local community. In most areas, there’s what’s known as a special needs registry that you can sign up and be included upon, which is to have a picture of your loved one and to have information about them. How might they react in an emergency? What’s unique about their challenges? What do the first responders need to know to keep your loved ones safe? All that’s documented in advance. So if something gets triggered at your home, they can quickly access that information and respond most effectively. If you’re trying to find that in your community, not everyone has it, but most communities do. You can go to onlinepolicingsolutions.com/SNR for special needs registry and look for the community nearest where you live. Get added to that and hopefully that’ll keep you and your loved ones safe in the event of an emergency. If you have any questions, please reach out to your advisor at Oak Wealth Advisors. We’re hay to help you find solutions and keep your loved ones safe.