A former financial advisor is starting a university research and educational program focusing on people with special needs, an underserved client segment estimated to include more than 60 million U.S. adults.
Eastern Michigan University’s interdisciplinary Special Needs Planning & Policy Center will study topics relating to wealth management while seeking to connect people with disabilities to industry resources and guidance, says marking professor and co-founder Lewis Hershey. The university’s colleges of business and health and human services aim to launch it later this year.
Experts describe special needs planning as a complex area often untapped by advisors and the industry. The collaboration among the two academic fields and targeting of clients with special needs make the center the first of its kind, according to Hershey, who has
People with disabilities and their loved ones are “exhausted, they are preoccupied with today,” Hershey says. “The more we can educate the stakeholders who have a need for disability planning in our community, the more likely they are to engage with professionals.”
Hershey and co-founder Annemarie Kelly, an assistant professor of health sciences, had anticipated starting the center in the fall before delays due to the coronavirus. More than 25% of adults in the U.S. have a disability that affects their daily lives,
Since there are “more people than any of us can help” in the special needs population, the new center is “really needed” as a source of research and education, says Andrew Komarow, founder of Planning Across the Spectrum. The company provides advice and services to clients with special needs and disabilities, including autism.
Komarow, a CFP who is autistic, stresses the need for the center to include members of the special needs community directly in leadership and programming. He says it can be hard to find information on the relevant planning questions, which go far beyond tax strategies.
“It's really complicated and hard and not that profitable,” Komarow says. “We do a lot that's not good for the bottom line, but in the long run that makes me part of the community.”
Hershey and Kelly’s plans for the new center include working with area residents around the university’s location in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he says there is a higher-than-average concentration of people with disabilities. Hershey first became interested in special needs planning because he has a daughter with cerebral palsy, he says.
“People with disabilities get ripped off all the time,” Hershey says. “We're trying to figure out ways to make sure that whatever the level of disability, that person has the ability to live the most rich life they possibly can. Sadly, we'll never run out of topics.”
After it launches either this semester or by the summer, the center could also help advisors, other industry professionals and philanthropic organizations learn more about the market segment, Hershey says. He points out that aging boomers will push up the share of clients who either are people with disabilities or supporting loved ones with special needs.
“We think that information might even change the nature of the product mix,” Hershey says. “By informing people and making them more aware of choices and how those choices balance out, we will increase participation of the special needs market in the planning business. And we think that's a good thing.”
