At Women Advisor Summit, Carolyn McClanahan to tackle the financial challenges of aging

As clients live longer, financial advisors are increasingly being called on to help navigate challenges that extend beyond investment portfolios. 

That will be the focus of Carolyn McClanahan’s featured conversation at the upcoming Women Advisor Summit on Nov. 5, where the founder of Life Planning Partners will discuss how advisors can prepare clients for aging, cognitive decline, healthcare decisions, family dynamics and other unexpected events. 

McClanahan brings a unique perspective to the conversation. She began her career as a physician before moving into financial planning, giving her firsthand experience with the ways health concerns can affect clients’ financial lives. 

“You don’t have to be a doctor to talk about those health issues that your clients are worried about,” McClanahan said. 

That background has allowed her to address issues ranging from chronic illness and end-of-life planning to one concern that many clients have as they age: what happens if they develop dementia.  

Recognizing cognitive decline  

One of the areas McClanahan plans to address at the Summit is recognizing cognitive decline in clients.  

Financial problems can be among the first signs that something has changed. Clients may begin struggling with complicated investments, forgetting which accounts they have, making mistakes on their taxes or failing to pay their bills. 

While an isolated mistake may not be cause for concern, McClanahan said advisors should pay attention when those behaviors become a pattern. 

“Learning to recognize when a client’s behavior has changed around their finances is super important,” she said. 

Read more: How healthcare needs shape retirement and estate planning 

Advisors can also help clients simplify their financial lives as they get older, making it easier to manage accounts and income streams.  

But McClanahan said advisors should begin these conversations before a crisis occurs.  

For clients in their 50s and 60s, that can mean discussing what should happen if they begin having difficulty managing their finances or experiencing money problems.  

One step is establishing a trusted contact who an advisor can reach if they become concerned about a client. McClanahan also emphasized the importance of having estate planning documents in place, particularly a power of attorney. 

Preparing before a crisis 

The preparation extends beyond financial accounts.  

At Life Planning Partners, McClanahan said her firm holds what it calls an “aging planning meeting” with clients. The conversation covers where clients want to live as they age, whether their homes will accommodate them, who will eventually manage their finances and who will make healthcare decisions.  

The firm also discusses transportation, including what happens if a client can no longer drive. 

Family members can be an important part of those conversations as well. McClanahan encourages clients to hold family meetings and, when appropriate, involve the advisor so everyone understands the plan before a crisis occurs. 

Waiting until a crisis can make those decisions even more difficult, particularly when someone is already sick or experiencing cognitive decline.  

“The biggest mistake families make is nobody wants to talk about it and they wait until problems occur and then it’s too late,” McClanahan said. 

Bringing health into financial planning 

McClanahan said these conversations have become more prominent in the financial planning profession in recent years, in part because of increased attention to financial exploitation and vulnerable clients from regulators including the SEC and FINRA. 

Read more: How advisors build guardrails against elder financial exploitation 

She is also part of the CFP Board’s Resource Commission, which is preparing a guide for advisors on working with clients experiencing cognitive decline. 

Still, McClanahan believes advisors should be having conversations about health. Her Summit session will include an interactive Q&A focused on the intersection of health and finance. 

Ultimately, McClanahan hopes attendees leave with greater confidence in addressing difficult subjects with their clients.  

“The most important thing I hope they can take away is greater comfort in opening up the conversations with the clients,” she said.