What is John's Legacy?

John Fulton

War Veteran and Business Owner

A decorated Vietnam War veteran, John enjoyed a long career as an oil exploration company executive. Now retired, he splits his time between working in his wood shop and volunteering for organizations serving wounded veterans. However, he’s now facing the battle of his life after recently being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. He and his wife Marci turned to Planned Financial Services to get a handle on the financial implications of the diagnosis and to begin planning for John’s healthcare needs and expenses.

John’s a realist and understands the toll a diagnosis like Alzheimer’s can take on family finances. His two greatest concerns were to:

1. Make sure he could afford to live at home for the duration of his illness and pay for the in-home care he would eventually need when Marci could no longer handle the full scope of his care herself, and
2. Ensure that adequate assets would be available to provide for Marci’s income and lifestyle needs throughout her lifetime.

At Planned Financial Services, we know that obtaining competent help in navigating the legal and financial hurdles that accompany a dementia diagnosis can go a long way toward reducing the stress and anxiety brought on by such devastating news. We encouraged John and Marci to meet with our team as early as possible. We wanted to ensure John would be involved in the decisions about his future and have a chance to express his wishes and preferences regarding future care, who would be designated as decision makers when he became incapacitated, and ensure all necessary legal and estate planning documents were in place to support his desires.

We worked with John and Marci to fully assess their financial resources, including income from various sources including his pension, Social Security, and Veteran’s benefits; investment assets; and Medicare, VA and private insurance coverage to make sure his long-term care plans and preferences were realistic and could be funded.

Our early planning allowed time for John and Marci to make thoughtful, informed decisions aligned with their wishes regarding long-term health care options and preferences and the disposition of real property (home, cars, boats). We demonstrated multiple financial scenarios, showing how different strategies could help the couple address their goal to provide John with the private in-home care he desired while protecting their lifestyle and Marci’s long-term income needs.

We worked closely with their attorney to review their estate planning documents to make sure they were up-to-date, including a will, durable Power of Attorney (POA), healthcare directives, and trust documents.

To help Marci prepare for a time when she would need to take over family financial management, we set them up on our WealthVision™ financial management system. This enabled both John and Marci to gain a consolidated view of all of their financial account balances and income sources in one place and store copies of all estate planning documents, property titles and deeds, VA paperwork, and other important documents in their own secure online vault. We also talked to Marci about Balancing Act^SM our bill management service, should she need assistance with managing day-to-day financial responsibilities down the road.

However, our most important contribution was providing John and Marci with the knowledge that they can rely on our team to walk beside them every step of the way in this difficult and uncertain journey, providing clarity and guidance in a compassionate and caring manner.