Advice for cancer patients

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Boston and the Massachusetts chapter of the Financial Planning Association are set to ramp up their groundbreaking free financial-planning coaching service for cancer patients this fall. About 40 financial planners in the state are volunteering as part of the program, but the FPA hopes to add another 25, said Rick Fingerman, a certified financial planner and liaison between the FPA and the cancer institute. “We're trying to match up the patients and coaches,” he said. “The biggest problem we see with patients is debt. The institute wasn't geared up to help patients with serious problems like bankruptcy, credit counseling and estate planning, and that's where the planners come in.” Financial coaching for patients can last for one session or be continuing, said Mr. Fingerman, who is president of Financial Planning Solutions Inc. in Newton, Mass., and a former president of the state's FPA chapter. About 118 patients have been counseled since the program began last year, he said. Obtaining financial-planning services “can be out of the question for patients who are already maxed out,” said Deborah Hoffman, associate director of Dana-Farber's Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Center for Patients and Families, who is the coordinator of the program. As a result, the program was developed to “remove barriers to financial-planning assistance and help our patients to better manage their financial situations while they are battling cancer,” she said.