Children who are born with disabilities need special assistance along with regular treatments. Hence, advisors can play a crucial role in helping the family build a corpus for future healthcare expenses of such kids
We spoke to a few advisors to understand how they deal with families with special needs
Jitendra Solanki, JS Financial Advisors, Ghaziabad
In 2014, a couple approached me after reading my article about financial planning for families with a special child. Their son was detected with a vision disability a few months ago.
After learning the couple’s background, I understood that they did not have much knowledge about the disability and hence ended up spending over Rs.40,000 every month on his treatment.
I scheduled two rounds of meetings with them. In the first round, I introduced them to the disability expert who explained to them the future of disability along with the possible expenses. With the help of an expert, the couple got to know that they were overspending on some therapies that were not required. This helped them evaluate the different courses of medical treatment and cut down on some of the unnecessary expenditure by Rs.20,000.
In the second meeting, I advised low-risk assets for the first couple of months to secure capital. Initially, for the first few years, the client invested Rs.20,000 per month which after few years increased to Rs.80,000 with the increase in income. Gradually I increased exposure to equity and stabilized investment towards hybrid and sector funds for high returns.
Today, the couple have a corpus of over Rs.30 lakh to provide for their son’s future.
Mukund Seshadri, MS Ventures, Mumbai
When it comes to dealing with families of a special child, I have a different approach to advisory compared to other clients.
Firstly, I understand a child’s financial requirements for the next few decades.
Secondly, such children mostly require special assistance in their daily routine. Additional therapies and treatments substantially increase the cost of upbringing of such children. So my main focus is to build a contingency fund for the client. For families with a special child, I prepare emergency funds covering 8-12 months of expenses.
Later I realign their overall expenses in a way that they can save more for the long term.
Further, I ensure that the proper other family members of the child have adequate medical insurance to protect their overall savings.
