Planning 30 years out

Verse of the Week:

“Which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?”

— Luke 14:28 (WEB)

A quick thank you to everyone who joined Thursday night. We’ll be doing another one. I’ll let you know when.

I covered a few things that night. Here’s the one I keep coming back to.

Parents of kids with long-term support needs learn to think in decades

You have to. Nobody else in your life is doing that math.

So families plan thirty years out. The trust. The trustee. Who will care for my child when I’m gone. The 529. The ABLE account. The custodial Roth. Something set aside for the siblings too.

These aren’t wrong vehicles. They’re good ones, and the families using them early are ahead of most.

However, here’s the thing.

Every one of those accounts gets funded by something. Your paycheck, this month and next month and the month after. Thirty years of contributions, all of it coming from the same place.

If that paycheck gets interrupted, most likely the thirty-year plan gets interrupted too.

The problem isn’t thinking in decades. It’s that the next thirty days are what makes the decades possible. So what’s protecting next month?

Look at what’s actually on your table

Before the diagnosis, life was already full. Career. Marriage. Children. Health. Finances. Faith. The future.

Then caregiving arrives, and none of that goes away. New responsibilities don’t replace old ones. They stack on top.

Life doesn't stop. Responsibilities multiply.

• Daily care and therapies and transportation and advocacy.

• Household cash flow and higher expenses and income decisions.

• Specialists, treatments, medications, appointments.

• Housing and employment and independence and long-term care.

• Schools, physicians, therapists, insurance, benefits.

• Decision-making, estate planning, trust planning, care instructions.

And that’s one child. Most families are carrying siblings and aging parents too.

Here’s what I notice when a family finally sees it written out: your health, your income, and your future are on that list, and they’re the ones that quietly moved to the background.

Most parents can’t articulate how much they’re holding, because nobody has ever asked them to lay it out. That’s most of what planning actually does. Not adding anything. Just getting it on paper so you can see it.

The part most families don’t see coming

Protection isn’t something you can decide to pick up later.

Individual disability income, life insurance, most long-term care solutions, these go through underwriting. How much underwriting depends on the product, but your age and health are always part of it.

And underwriting looks at where you are on the day you apply, not the day you meant to.

Your age. Your health. What’s on your record by then. All of it gets factored in, and none of it moves in your favor as time passes.

You can spend twenty years funding the vehicles built for your children’s future.

Then you sit down to plan properly, find the gaps, and discover you no longer qualify for certain strategies.

A diagnosis, an injury, a change in medication. Any of them can close a door that was open last year.

This was filmed a couple of months ago. Sharing it again in case it’s useful..

Watch the video →

Where to start

Not a product. A look.

Pull out what you already have and read it. Most families are carrying more than they remember and less than they think, and almost nobody has checked in the last three years.

What does your employer actually cover if you can’t work? Not if you die. If you’re alive and can’t work. Most people have never read that page.

Who else knows where any of this is? If you were out for a month, could anyone find it?

That’s the whole first step. Not buying anything. Looking at what’s already there.

Questions to sit with

• If your income stopped for six months, what happens to the thirty-year plan?

• When did you last read what your employer actually provides?

• Does anyone besides you know where the important documents are?

If you want to go a step further

If you want a more complete version of those questions, that’s what the Responsibility Readiness Assessment™ is. It walks through what you’re carrying and where the gaps are. Just your own picture, clearer than it was.

[Take the Assessment →]

Disclaimer: This content is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for clinical, medical, marriage, mental health, financial, insurance, tax, legal, employment, or HR advice. Please consult licensed professionals who understand your individual situation.