March 17, 2025 • 24 mins
Michael Pereira, an insurance specialist and father of a son with autism, shares critical financial planning strategies for families with special needs children. He offers insight into comprehensive insurance planning that protects dependents with special needs if something happens to their caregivers.
• Michael's strong passion is helping special needs families after his son's autism diagnosis
• Three key areas of focus: income protection, funding special needs trusts, and long-term care planning
• Financial planning gets more expensive and difficult to qualify for as you age
• Special needs trusts protect government benefits while providing for children's futures
• Building an "A-team" of professionals is essential: attorney, insurance advisor, accountant, and specialized coaches
• Different insurance carriers have different qualification requirements, offering options for varied situations
• The Autism Voyage blog provides resources for parents researching special needs topics
For more information or to connect with Michael, visit www.theautismvoyage.com where you can read blog posts, subscribe to the newsletter, or book a call with Michael or his team.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everyone and welcome to today's episode of On
the Spectrum with Sonia, wherewe discuss autism spectrum
mental health challenges andhighlight stories of anybody
who's overcome adversity.
That provides listeners feelingconnected, encouraged and
filled with hope and love in aworld that continuously wants us
(00:23):
to feel disconnected.
Hope and love in a world thatcontinuously wants us to feel
disconnected.
Today's episode is going totake a little bit of a twist
because yet we are talking aboutautism and special needs, but
from a different angle.
Many people who may belistening may have kids who have
special needs or is on theautism spectrum, is on the
(00:48):
autism spectrum, and let me askfor all of those listening who
have kids with special needs areyou covered financially in the
sense of do you have protectionin the event something happens
to you so that your kids will betaken care of, so that your
(01:10):
kids will be taken care of?
Today we have Michael Pereira,who deals with life insurance.
He's a father of a son who ison the autism spectrum.
He is based out of Florida, buthe's coming here to talk about
the main overall concepts thatpeople need to start thinking
about if you are a person whohas a special needs child.
So, michael, thank you so muchfor your time and for being here
(01:33):
today.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about you, and then we're
going to delve into topics thatyou feel that everybody needs to
know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Of course, of course, and first of all, thank you so
much for having me, sonia, it'svery, very, very excited to be
here.
I would say everything startedwhen my son was diagnosed three
years and a half ago.
He's six, he's seven next month.
Well, I was in corporateAmerica, traveling a lot and I
(02:06):
was never home.
And based upon that lifestyle,my wife and myself, we wanted to
build a family the Americandream.
So we got married, bought ahouse, christian came along, our
firstborn and around one yearold, we started to notice
several symptoms that we knewthat needed to be addressed.
(02:28):
But obviously a lot of thingshappened in our mind, from
denial, from not you know,procrastinating, and we just
decided to give it some time tosee what would happen.
Covid came by, didn't need totravel anymore, so I was able to
be present and a lot of thosesymptoms just reduced.
(02:49):
And I don't know why, if it'sagain because maybe I was here,
maybe the attention was ahundred percent to him, or
because I'm stricter than mywife, but regardless it reduced.
But when COVID uh released thatI needed to travel again, my
intensity of travel started.
(03:09):
A lot of those symptoms reduced, um, increased and increased
full force in the sense that, um, he was non-verbal at that
moment.
Well, he started hitting him,his head against the wall,
tippy-toeing, uh, aligning stuff, and even though he was, I
would say, non-verbal, slashverbal, he was starting to say a
(03:32):
couple words.
Um, you know, we startednoticing that, that type of
regression, right, going back,right.
So, um, long story short, triedto look, uh, for another
employer, or two other employers, to see if I can do the same
but travel less in order to beat home.
I did, obviously, get intoother employers, but when you go
(03:57):
into startups you do differenttype of hats and not not
necessarily the role you werecontracted for and not
necessarily the role you werecontracted for.
And along that time, I would say, I started asking myself very
deep questions around hey, okay,what's going to happen if I
pass away?
What's going to happen if mywife in her pregnancy, she got,
(04:22):
you know it was hard on herhealth.
So I started asking, hey, whatif something happens to her?
Who's going to take care of ourson, knowing that, for example,
even if it's my mom, which sheadores our children, she's an
amazing grandmother, but at theend of the day, physically it's
(04:43):
very tough to be able to for herto take care of Christian and,
for example, amanda, thatthey're so hyper.
You see him on top of the sofaand you know it's tough.
So I started asking myself allthese questions and I started
looking for my own financialadvisor and planner and
everybody just wanted to sell mesomething or recruit me.
(05:04):
At the same time, got veryfrustrated and I just decided to
you know what part ways fromthe corporate world and try to
see if I can help families likelike mine.
Obviously it, and everybodystarts somewhere.
So I started and did my ownthing until I was able to align
(05:25):
with my purpose, which is, again, helping families like mine,
because there's a lot of thingsI would say that us, as parents,
do not think about.
It's not often talked aboutabout all the unexpected issues
that can happen, and even morewhen somebody depends on you
100%.
(05:45):
So, yeah, that's how everythingstarted.
That's how I'm here, I was ableto create the Autism Voyage.
It's a blog, a blog that talksabout any type of topic any
parent would ask at, or researchat 2 am, 3 am in the morning,
like I did.
And, yeah, try to just beresourceful for this community.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Okay.
Well, that's a, you know, verybrave thing in many ways to be
able to walk away from somethingthat you once knew and go into
something different.
Able to walk away fromsomething that you once knew and
go into something different,and it seems like it.
You know work worked for youand it paid off in some ways,
and you know you gained a lot ofknowledge in that process too.
(06:36):
You know that in skills thatyou were able to from first,
your corporate job, you knowbeing able, you've learned a lot
of transferable skills that youwere able to take into the next
one and it's your next job,which you're working now is
you're in insurance and you'rehelping families like yourself.
(06:59):
So tell us a little bit now.
What are some of the key thingsthat people need to know?
You know from your line of work, what are like, what are things
that people don't think aboutand they need to start thinking
about?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I've said this in other interviews that one of the
things that even this includedme at one point that you think
you have time right.
The more and the longer youwait, the more expensive
everything is, and I think thisgoes in life in general.
The more expensive everythingis and I think this goes in life
(07:38):
in general, but from thefinancial services standpoint,
the more you wait to just have aconversation, it has a
consequence.
Why?
Because the more you age, themore expensive any type of
coverage is.
The more you age, the lessprobability you have to get
qualified for any type ofcoverage you want to look for.
(07:59):
So what I do is comprehensiveinsurance planning.
Basically, I would say I focusin three main areas, even though
, again, there's no secret sauce.
There's no secret sauce.
There's no secret product.
Sometimes social media tries toexaggerate something, but at
(08:21):
the end of the day, this is oldschool products that have been
able, that have been in themarket for years.
The only difference is it'sbeing applied to a problem
statement in our community.
So I'm going to give you threeexamples of where I focus on
when I speak to a family.
So the first one is incomeprotection strategy.
(08:42):
Basically, that's aconversation that goes around
around.
For example, if you get acondition, an illness or injury,
usually a family doesn't have acouple of years of savings just
in case, right?
So this type of coverage, whatit does is, if you are disabled
(09:04):
for two years, three years itwould replace your income,
depending on the term thatperson qualifies for.
So, for example, why this isimportant?
Because if Christian right nowI don't know how long he's going
to depend on me and I getcancer, I get a stroke, I get
into a car accident, I'm twoyears, three years out, you know
(09:28):
my income will get interruptedand if it's interrupted it will
funnel down to, obviously, thefamily.
So this is the type of coverageI would say that it's needed
for our type of communityBecause, again, if you have
somebody that depends on you100%, you need to protect that
income, right?
So that's the first one.
(09:50):
The second one is using lifeinsurance to be able to fund a
special needs trust.
There's other ways of funding atrust.
There's a special needs trust.
You can use real estate, youcan use a brokerage account,
savings account, I believe, butfor me that fluctuates, right.
(10:12):
So having a life insurancepolicy as a funding mechanism
for your special needs, trust.
For me it's predictable.
For me it's, you know, as longas you pay those premiums, you
know that that policy is goingto be there and it's going to
pay out what it says right.
So that for me is security andit's predictable.
(10:35):
And the third, I would say areawe focus on is long-term care,
more for parents.
Because going back to, forexample, christian, I don't know
until when he's going to dependon me or us as a family and I
in the elder years need helpmyself.
I need somebody to take care ofme, but he is still not
(10:59):
independent.
Nursing homes, assisting livingfacilities are becoming very
expensive.
So this is a coverage that'sstructured in a way to be able
to have either a writer with along-term care or a standalone
coverage to be able to cater tothat type of area.
So those are the three areas Ifocus on.
It's more again, comprehensiveinsurance planning.
(11:19):
There's nothing justtransactional.
You acquire the policy and wenever talk again.
This is more developing arelationship, understanding what
the family needs and lookoutside the box.
At the end of the day, there'sno secret product, but I think
from my point of view Iunderstand the families, I would
(11:44):
say the pain points whentalking to them around these
topics.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So how do you get this conversation started?
Let's say somebody comes to youand says you know that they
have this, or like they have a.
They're trying to figure outfinancially right how to plan
for their family or how to planfor okay, god forbid, should
(12:12):
something happen to me, how isyou know my child going to be
handled right or taken care of?
Yeah, how would you even beginthe conversation with people?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Just asking the right questions.
I think everything starts withclarity.
It's just getting, maybe eveneven starting with a budget
sheet I have one that I usuallyum use and and just to
understand where the familyneeds, to understand where they
are right now, their currentstate, and I've had instances
(12:47):
that I've talked to parents andafter they start deep diving
into what comes in and comes outof the bank account, credit
cards, they notice that they canpay a membership, a double,
because they didn't know.
You know, it's understandingwhere they are, understanding
their current state, and fromthere, after there's clarity of
(13:10):
where they are, then talk aboutthe needs.
Right, because there's noone-size-fits-all.
There's families that havemultiple family members or
children, with um neverdivergent.
If there's other families thathave for example, my case,
christian has autism, amandadoes not.
(13:30):
You know, there there's notone-size-fits-all and that
conversation needs to happen.
Right, the hard question, thehard conversations, and I would
say it's very beneficial forfamilies like ours to have an
attorney, a state estateplanning attorney, right, um,
that coincides, thisconversation coincides perfectly
(13:53):
with uh, with an attorney thatwill be creating that special
needs trust, because, again, onefinancial services obviously
reinforces estate planning andvice versa.
So, again, it's starting havingthat conversation but, at the
end of the day, understandingtheir current state versus their
(14:13):
objective state.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Sure.
And so, like, what are factorsthen that you so, let's say
somebody comes to you, you knowthey hire you, you take them on
as a client.
What are some factors you lookinto to decide what coverage
would be best?
Because I know with you know,know there is different kinds of
insurance.
There's life insurance.
(14:38):
There's different kinds.
What do you look for in orderto help people to guide their
decision?
What are certain factors youmay look at?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Of course.
So, example if they'reself-employed, if they're W-2,
we want to know if we cancomplement their current
employer benefits.
So, if they have any short-term, long-term disability within
their employer, see how we cancomplement that If they
currently have any type ofpolicies that usually that's the
case.
(15:11):
A lot of families already have,for example, a term.
Okay, that's perfect.
But now we start askingquestions around okay, does that
term that you may have possiblyacquired a couple years from um
ago, does it also consider um aportion for your guardian right
?
Because, uh, for example, if ifI pass away and my, let's say,
(15:37):
I put my mother as a guardianfor the children let's say Ellie
and I and my wife and myself wepass away and my mom is the
guardian, I need to make surethat that life insurance policy
is considering her income.
Why?
Because if she's working, let'ssay as an example, and she
needs to leave her work to nowto become a caregiver, I want to
(15:58):
make sure that, within thepossibilities of the amount I'm
selecting of that policy, it'sconsidering a possible
guardianship that may beassuming responsibility for my
child Make sense.
Yes responsibility for my childMake sense?
Yes, so that's what You'relooking at.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
W-2, whether you're self-employed or a W-2, you're
looking at.
Even if they're self-employed,you're probably you're going to
look at okay, what's the growthin that business?
Right, you're going to look ateverything.
You're going to look at what'sthe growth.
Also, I know that with certainlife insurances, or I think in
(16:39):
general with life insurance, alot of companies do this where
they, uh, they check the healthof a person as well yeah, yeah,
that's why I mentioned that.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
um, if thinking that you have time is is one of the
most dangerous things because,as I mentioned, as as you age it
becomes more difficult not asdifficult, but in the sense that
it becomes more expensivebecause of the age, you have
probability of not gettingqualified as easy as before
(17:08):
because, again, health, youmight have a pre-existing
condition and so forth.
So you're correct, underwritinggoes throughout all those
factors to see, to be able torank you and say, okay, based on
your health, your age, youroccupation, blah, blah, blah.
These are the factors.
Okay, you rank this and that'show it's basically provided and
(17:33):
so what happens?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
like, let's say, somebody comes in and let's say
they're very um, they do have apreexisting condition, but you
know, they still keep active,they're still able to hold down
a job, they're still you know,they may be a little older, you
know, maybe they're still ableto, you know, be alert and move
and be out and about, and thingslike that.
(17:55):
What would be alternatives topeople who may not qualify for,
let's say, life insurance?
What could other alternativeslook like for those people?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
It depends because there's so many carriers.
You know that at the end of theday, this is a tailored
approach.
At the end of the day, this isa tailored approach.
They may not be qualified forsome carriers but from others,
maybe the risk appetite forthose other carriers are more
(18:27):
flexible.
Obviously, that's going to bedetermined in the price, but you
know there's other ways.
Not necessarily because you getrejected from one carrier, it
means that you're not eligiblefor any other, but the plan may
change right.
The customization of that typeof strategy that you're trying
to develop may change a littlebit, maybe in the price, maybe
(18:50):
in the amount you get approved,and, if not, that there's other
ways.
You know, in the sense thatI've heard that if there's any
assets and all that I've heardand in my case I only do
insurance planning I can referthem to another, for example,
another department or team thatI have, that if there's any
assets in place, maybe they canwork with the wealth management
(19:13):
team to be able to createstrategies around having any
type of investments as anotherstrategy, right Alternative to
that.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
And so that would include the more like prime
brokerage accounts.
That would include perhaps, youknow, maybe a plan where you
know annuities would be involved, right, so you've mentioned
before special needs trust.
How do you explain that topeople who may not fully
(19:45):
understand what that is?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, that's more obviously for an attorney to
address that.
But the way I see it is morethat it helps, I would say, the
child not to jeopardize anybenefits that they do have.
If they receive any type ofincome, for example, it protects
them.
So if my son inherits a bulk ofmoney, assets, it might affect
(20:17):
his eligibility of the benefitsbecause he may be considered
high income earner, for example,but having it in a special
needs trust it's not.
It waives that.
So there is I, and obviouslyI'm just putting as a reference
as my son, he's seven, he cannotinherit that because he's not
older.
Just putting as a reference.
(20:38):
That's my son, he's seven.
He cannot inherit dad becausehe's not older.
But just as a rule of thumb,it's really suggested to have a
special needs trust if you haveany assets or want to leave him
a plan, because in that trustyou're going to put all the
language you want and theinstructions you want if you
pass away.
If you pass away.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And how often do you work with like do you meet with
the state planning attorneys inyour field?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, a lot, a lot, Because again it's due to the
fact that it's comprehensivewhat I'm trying to do with
insurance planning Want to makesure that, for example, the
beneficiary in the lifeinsurance is the trust.
We want to make sure that we'rein those conversations so the
family feels that they're, youknow, being supported.
(21:26):
And it's a plan that involvesthe A-team, right?
The same thing with therapy.
I would say it's the same thingwith financial aspect.
When we have, for example, the,a theme for therapy.
We have the bcea, we have therbt, we have all these
therapists and everybody workstogether for a, for a main goal,
for a primary goal.
(21:49):
The same thing, I would say,happens in the financial aspect.
You need to have a very goodspecial needs attorney.
You need to have a very goodinsurance planning advisor, an
accountant.
I've seen even families thateven incorporate, if they can,
an IEP coach.
You want to build that A-teamthat you know that can just help
(22:13):
you brainstorm, help you thinkoutside the box, just because
the main goal is to protecteither what you have now, if you
pass away, or not.
So those conversations are veryimportant.
So selecting a team is, I wouldsay, essential.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, that's a very valuable piece of information
that I think everybody listeningcould benefit from, and I'm
pretty sure they're.
You know, what you said isgoing to leave people thinking
about their own situation.
Start thinking about, oh mygoodness you.
What are we doing right?
(22:55):
For you know, our familiesright.
So I think that what you hadsaid, you know makes a lot of
sense.
It's very educational.
Now, if people wanted to cometo go and find you or reach out
to you, where can people reachfor?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
you, of course, so they can go to the website
website, wwwtheautismvoyagecom.
You're going to see a lot ofblog posts from different type
of, I would say, categories.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
you have there the newsletter, so if you want, you
can subscribe or you can book acall from there so you can talk
to me or or the team and michael, it was such a pleasure to have
you on here today and thank youso much for imparting this
wisdom and helping people youknow understand the basics of
(23:46):
what's out there and to get themto start thinking about what
are we doing.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, of course.
No, it's been a pleasure.
At the end of the day, I thinkthat us, as parents, we're
always in survival mode andbeing and we're day to day not
being able to have time toreflect, but it's something that
we need to do regardless if wewant to have that care for for,
for our children.
So thank you so much for theopportunity.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Thank you and everyone.
Thank you for tuning into this.
If you enjoyed this episode,please remember to subscribe,
rate and review.
Also, I wrote a book, droppedin a Maze, which is available
online on Amazon Barnes, nobleand Strand Books Barnes and
(24:35):
Nobles and Strand books andlooking forward to having you
all tune in for the next episode.
So thank you all and have agreat day.
Hello everyone and welcome to today's episode of On
the Spectrum with Sonia, wherewe discuss autism spectrum
mental health challenges andhighlight stories of anybody
who's overcome adversity.
That provides listeners feelingconnected, encouraged and
filled with hope and love in aworld that continuously wants us
(00:23):
to feel disconnected.
Hope and love in a world thatcontinuously wants us to feel
disconnected.
Today's episode is going totake a little bit of a twist
because yet we are talking aboutautism and special needs, but
from a different angle.
Many people who may belistening may have kids who have
special needs or is on theautism spectrum, is on the
(00:48):
autism spectrum, and let me askfor all of those listening who
have kids with special needs areyou covered financially in the
sense of do you have protectionin the event something happens
to you so that your kids will betaken care of, so that your
(01:10):
kids will be taken care of?
Today we have Michael Pereira,who deals with life insurance.
He's a father of a son who ison the autism spectrum.
He is based out of Florida, buthe's coming here to talk about
the main overall concepts thatpeople need to start thinking
about if you are a person whohas a special needs child.
So, michael, thank you so muchfor your time and for being here
(01:33):
today.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about you, and then we're
going to delve into topics thatyou feel that everybody needs to
know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Of course, of course, and first of all, thank you so
much for having me, sonia, it'svery, very, very excited to be
here.
I would say everything startedwhen my son was diagnosed three
years and a half ago.
He's six, he's seven next month.
Well, I was in corporateAmerica, traveling a lot and I
(02:06):
was never home.
And based upon that lifestyle,my wife and myself, we wanted to
build a family the Americandream.
So we got married, bought ahouse, christian came along, our
firstborn and around one yearold, we started to notice
several symptoms that we knewthat needed to be addressed.
(02:28):
But obviously a lot of thingshappened in our mind, from
denial, from not you know,procrastinating, and we just
decided to give it some time tosee what would happen.
Covid came by, didn't need totravel anymore, so I was able to
be present and a lot of thosesymptoms just reduced.
(02:49):
And I don't know why, if it'sagain because maybe I was here,
maybe the attention was ahundred percent to him, or
because I'm stricter than mywife, but regardless it reduced.
But when COVID uh released thatI needed to travel again, my
intensity of travel started.
(03:09):
A lot of those symptoms reduced, um, increased and increased
full force in the sense that, um, he was non-verbal at that
moment.
Well, he started hitting him,his head against the wall,
tippy-toeing, uh, aligning stuff, and even though he was, I
would say, non-verbal, slashverbal, he was starting to say a
(03:32):
couple words.
Um, you know, we startednoticing that, that type of
regression, right, going back,right.
So, um, long story short, triedto look, uh, for another
employer, or two other employers, to see if I can do the same
but travel less in order to beat home.
I did, obviously, get intoother employers, but when you go
(03:57):
into startups you do differenttype of hats and not not
necessarily the role you werecontracted for and not
necessarily the role you werecontracted for.
And along that time, I would say, I started asking myself very
deep questions around hey, okay,what's going to happen if I
pass away?
What's going to happen if mywife in her pregnancy, she got,
(04:22):
you know it was hard on herhealth.
So I started asking, hey, whatif something happens to her?
Who's going to take care of ourson, knowing that, for example,
even if it's my mom, which sheadores our children, she's an
amazing grandmother, but at theend of the day, physically it's
(04:43):
very tough to be able to for herto take care of Christian and,
for example, amanda, thatthey're so hyper.
You see him on top of the sofaand you know it's tough.
So I started asking myself allthese questions and I started
looking for my own financialadvisor and planner and
everybody just wanted to sell mesomething or recruit me.
(05:04):
At the same time, got veryfrustrated and I just decided to
you know what part ways fromthe corporate world and try to
see if I can help families likelike mine.
Obviously it, and everybodystarts somewhere.
So I started and did my ownthing until I was able to align
(05:25):
with my purpose, which is, again, helping families like mine,
because there's a lot of thingsI would say that us, as parents,
do not think about.
It's not often talked aboutabout all the unexpected issues
that can happen, and even morewhen somebody depends on you
100%.
(05:45):
So, yeah, that's how everythingstarted.
That's how I'm here, I was ableto create the Autism Voyage.
It's a blog, a blog that talksabout any type of topic any
parent would ask at, or researchat 2 am, 3 am in the morning,
like I did.
And, yeah, try to just beresourceful for this community.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Okay.
Well, that's a, you know, verybrave thing in many ways to be
able to walk away from somethingthat you once knew and go into
something different.
Able to walk away fromsomething that you once knew and
go into something different,and it seems like it.
You know work worked for youand it paid off in some ways,
and you know you gained a lot ofknowledge in that process too.
(06:36):
You know that in skills thatyou were able to from first,
your corporate job, you knowbeing able, you've learned a lot
of transferable skills that youwere able to take into the next
one and it's your next job,which you're working now is
you're in insurance and you'rehelping families like yourself.
(06:59):
So tell us a little bit now.
What are some of the key thingsthat people need to know?
You know from your line of work, what are like, what are things
that people don't think aboutand they need to start thinking
about?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I've said this in other interviews that one of the
things that even this includedme at one point that you think
you have time right.
The more and the longer youwait, the more expensive
everything is, and I think thisgoes in life in general.
The more expensive everythingis and I think this goes in life
(07:38):
in general, but from thefinancial services standpoint,
the more you wait to just have aconversation, it has a
consequence.
Why?
Because the more you age, themore expensive any type of
coverage is.
The more you age, the lessprobability you have to get
qualified for any type ofcoverage you want to look for.
(07:59):
So what I do is comprehensiveinsurance planning.
Basically, I would say I focusin three main areas, even though
, again, there's no secret sauce.
There's no secret sauce.
There's no secret product.
Sometimes social media tries toexaggerate something, but at
(08:21):
the end of the day, this is oldschool products that have been
able, that have been in themarket for years.
The only difference is it'sbeing applied to a problem
statement in our community.
So I'm going to give you threeexamples of where I focus on
when I speak to a family.
So the first one is incomeprotection strategy.
(08:42):
Basically, that's aconversation that goes around
around.
For example, if you get acondition, an illness or injury,
usually a family doesn't have acouple of years of savings just
in case, right?
So this type of coverage, whatit does is, if you are disabled
(09:04):
for two years, three years itwould replace your income,
depending on the term thatperson qualifies for.
So, for example, why this isimportant?
Because if Christian right nowI don't know how long he's going
to depend on me and I getcancer, I get a stroke, I get
into a car accident, I'm twoyears, three years out, you know
(09:28):
my income will get interruptedand if it's interrupted it will
funnel down to, obviously, thefamily.
So this is the type of coverageI would say that it's needed
for our type of communityBecause, again, if you have
somebody that depends on you100%, you need to protect that
income, right?
So that's the first one.
(09:50):
The second one is using lifeinsurance to be able to fund a
special needs trust.
There's other ways of funding atrust.
There's a special needs trust.
You can use real estate, youcan use a brokerage account,
savings account, I believe, butfor me that fluctuates, right.
(10:12):
So having a life insurancepolicy as a funding mechanism
for your special needs, trust.
For me it's predictable.
For me it's, you know, as longas you pay those premiums, you
know that that policy is goingto be there and it's going to
pay out what it says right.
So that for me is security andit's predictable.
(10:35):
And the third, I would say areawe focus on is long-term care,
more for parents.
Because going back to, forexample, christian, I don't know
until when he's going to dependon me or us as a family and I
in the elder years need helpmyself.
I need somebody to take care ofme, but he is still not
(10:59):
independent.
Nursing homes, assisting livingfacilities are becoming very
expensive.
So this is a coverage that'sstructured in a way to be able
to have either a writer with along-term care or a standalone
coverage to be able to cater tothat type of area.
So those are the three areas Ifocus on.
It's more again, comprehensiveinsurance planning.
(11:19):
There's nothing justtransactional.
You acquire the policy and wenever talk again.
This is more developing arelationship, understanding what
the family needs and lookoutside the box.
At the end of the day, there'sno secret product, but I think
from my point of view Iunderstand the families, I would
(11:44):
say the pain points whentalking to them around these
topics.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So how do you get this conversation started?
Let's say somebody comes to youand says you know that they
have this, or like they have a.
They're trying to figure outfinancially right how to plan
for their family or how to planfor okay, god forbid, should
(12:12):
something happen to me, how isyou know my child going to be
handled right or taken care of?
Yeah, how would you even beginthe conversation with people?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Just asking the right questions.
I think everything starts withclarity.
It's just getting, maybe eveneven starting with a budget
sheet I have one that I usuallyum use and and just to
understand where the familyneeds, to understand where they
are right now, their currentstate, and I've had instances
(12:47):
that I've talked to parents andafter they start deep diving
into what comes in and comes outof the bank account, credit
cards, they notice that they canpay a membership, a double,
because they didn't know.
You know, it's understandingwhere they are, understanding
their current state, and fromthere, after there's clarity of
(13:10):
where they are, then talk aboutthe needs.
Right, because there's noone-size-fits-all.
There's families that havemultiple family members or
children, with um neverdivergent.
If there's other families thathave for example, my case,
christian has autism, amandadoes not.
(13:30):
You know, there there's notone-size-fits-all and that
conversation needs to happen.
Right, the hard question, thehard conversations, and I would
say it's very beneficial forfamilies like ours to have an
attorney, a state estateplanning attorney, right, um,
that coincides, thisconversation coincides perfectly
(13:53):
with uh, with an attorney thatwill be creating that special
needs trust, because, again, onefinancial services obviously
reinforces estate planning andvice versa.
So, again, it's starting havingthat conversation but, at the
end of the day, understandingtheir current state versus their
(14:13):
objective state.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Sure.
And so, like, what are factorsthen that you so, let's say
somebody comes to you, you knowthey hire you, you take them on
as a client.
What are some factors you lookinto to decide what coverage
would be best?
Because I know with you know,know there is different kinds of
insurance.
There's life insurance.
(14:38):
There's different kinds.
What do you look for in orderto help people to guide their
decision?
What are certain factors youmay look at?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Of course.
So, example if they'reself-employed, if they're W-2,
we want to know if we cancomplement their current
employer benefits.
So, if they have any short-term, long-term disability within
their employer, see how we cancomplement that If they
currently have any type ofpolicies that usually that's the
case.
(15:11):
A lot of families already have,for example, a term.
Okay, that's perfect.
But now we start askingquestions around okay, does that
term that you may have possiblyacquired a couple years from um
ago, does it also consider um aportion for your guardian right
?
Because, uh, for example, if ifI pass away and my, let's say,
(15:37):
I put my mother as a guardianfor the children let's say Ellie
and I and my wife and myself wepass away and my mom is the
guardian, I need to make surethat that life insurance policy
is considering her income.
Why?
Because if she's working, let'ssay as an example, and she
needs to leave her work to nowto become a caregiver, I want to
(15:58):
make sure that, within thepossibilities of the amount I'm
selecting of that policy, it'sconsidering a possible
guardianship that may beassuming responsibility for my
child Make sense.
Yes responsibility for my childMake sense?
Yes, so that's what You'relooking at.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
W-2, whether you're self-employed or a W-2, you're
looking at.
Even if they're self-employed,you're probably you're going to
look at okay, what's the growthin that business?
Right, you're going to look ateverything.
You're going to look at what'sthe growth.
Also, I know that with certainlife insurances, or I think in
(16:39):
general with life insurance, alot of companies do this where
they, uh, they check the healthof a person as well yeah, yeah,
that's why I mentioned that.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
um, if thinking that you have time is is one of the
most dangerous things because,as I mentioned, as as you age it
becomes more difficult not asdifficult, but in the sense that
it becomes more expensivebecause of the age, you have
probability of not gettingqualified as easy as before
(17:08):
because, again, health, youmight have a pre-existing
condition and so forth.
So you're correct, underwritinggoes throughout all those
factors to see, to be able torank you and say, okay, based on
your health, your age, youroccupation, blah, blah, blah.
These are the factors.
Okay, you rank this and that'show it's basically provided and
(17:33):
so what happens?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
like, let's say, somebody comes in and let's say
they're very um, they do have apreexisting condition, but you
know, they still keep active,they're still able to hold down
a job, they're still you know,they may be a little older, you
know, maybe they're still ableto, you know, be alert and move
and be out and about, and thingslike that.
(17:55):
What would be alternatives topeople who may not qualify for,
let's say, life insurance?
What could other alternativeslook like for those people?
Speaker 2 (18:06):
It depends because there's so many carriers.
You know that at the end of theday, this is a tailored
approach.
At the end of the day, this isa tailored approach.
They may not be qualified forsome carriers but from others,
maybe the risk appetite forthose other carriers are more
(18:27):
flexible.
Obviously, that's going to bedetermined in the price, but you
know there's other ways.
Not necessarily because you getrejected from one carrier, it
means that you're not eligiblefor any other, but the plan may
change right.
The customization of that typeof strategy that you're trying
to develop may change a littlebit, maybe in the price, maybe
(18:50):
in the amount you get approved,and, if not, that there's other
ways.
You know, in the sense thatI've heard that if there's any
assets and all that I've heardand in my case I only do
insurance planning I can referthem to another, for example,
another department or team thatI have, that if there's any
assets in place, maybe they canwork with the wealth management
(19:13):
team to be able to createstrategies around having any
type of investments as anotherstrategy, right Alternative to
that.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
And so that would include the more like prime
brokerage accounts.
That would include perhaps, youknow, maybe a plan where you
know annuities would be involved, right, so you've mentioned
before special needs trust.
How do you explain that topeople who may not fully
(19:45):
understand what that is?
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, that's more obviously for an attorney to
address that.
But the way I see it is morethat it helps, I would say, the
child not to jeopardize anybenefits that they do have.
If they receive any type ofincome, for example, it protects
them.
So if my son inherits a bulk ofmoney, assets, it might affect
(20:17):
his eligibility of the benefitsbecause he may be considered
high income earner, for example,but having it in a special
needs trust it's not.
It waives that.
So there is I, and obviouslyI'm just putting as a reference
as my son, he's seven, he cannotinherit that because he's not
older.
Just putting as a reference.
(20:38):
That's my son, he's seven.
He cannot inherit dad becausehe's not older.
But just as a rule of thumb,it's really suggested to have a
special needs trust if you haveany assets or want to leave him
a plan, because in that trustyou're going to put all the
language you want and theinstructions you want if you
pass away.
If you pass away.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
And how often do you work with like do you meet with
the state planning attorneys inyour field?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, a lot, a lot, Because again it's due to the
fact that it's comprehensivewhat I'm trying to do with
insurance planning Want to makesure that, for example, the
beneficiary in the lifeinsurance is the trust.
We want to make sure that we'rein those conversations so the
family feels that they're, youknow, being supported.
(21:26):
And it's a plan that involvesthe A-team, right?
The same thing with therapy.
I would say it's the same thingwith financial aspect.
When we have, for example, the,a theme for therapy.
We have the bcea, we have therbt, we have all these
therapists and everybody workstogether for a, for a main goal,
for a primary goal.
(21:49):
The same thing, I would say,happens in the financial aspect.
You need to have a very goodspecial needs attorney.
You need to have a very goodinsurance planning advisor, an
accountant.
I've seen even families thateven incorporate, if they can,
an IEP coach.
You want to build that A-teamthat you know that can just help
(22:13):
you brainstorm, help you thinkoutside the box, just because
the main goal is to protecteither what you have now, if you
pass away, or not.
So those conversations are veryimportant.
So selecting a team is, I wouldsay, essential.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, that's a very valuable piece of information
that I think everybody listeningcould benefit from, and I'm
pretty sure they're.
You know, what you said isgoing to leave people thinking
about their own situation.
Start thinking about, oh mygoodness you.
What are we doing right?
(22:55):
For you know, our familiesright.
So I think that what you hadsaid, you know makes a lot of
sense.
It's very educational.
Now, if people wanted to cometo go and find you or reach out
to you, where can people reachfor?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
you, of course, so they can go to the website
website, wwwtheautismvoyagecom.
You're going to see a lot ofblog posts from different type
of, I would say, categories.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
you have there the newsletter, so if you want, you
can subscribe or you can book acall from there so you can talk
to me or or the team and michael, it was such a pleasure to have
you on here today and thank youso much for imparting this
wisdom and helping people youknow understand the basics of
(23:46):
what's out there and to get themto start thinking about what
are we doing.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, of course.
No, it's been a pleasure.
At the end of the day, I thinkthat us, as parents, we're
always in survival mode andbeing and we're day to day not
being able to have time toreflect, but it's something that
we need to do regardless if wewant to have that care for for,
for our children.
So thank you so much for theopportunity.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Thank you and everyone.
Thank you for tuning into this.
If you enjoyed this episode,please remember to subscribe,
rate and review.
Also, I wrote a book, droppedin a Maze, which is available
online on Amazon Barnes, nobleand Strand Books Barnes and
(24:35):
Nobles and Strand books andlooking forward to having you
all tune in for the next episode.
So thank you all and have agreat day.
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