Retire Secure for Parents of a Child with a Disability

The Ultimate Resource for Parents of a Child with a Disability

Combining warmth and compassion with functional hard-headed advice, the dream team of Jim Lange, Deborah McFadden, and Julieanne Steinbacher have provided families of children with disabilities with the guidance they need to achieve financial security.”―Burton G. Malkiel, Professor of Economics, Princeton University and Author, A Random Walk Down Wall Street, 13th ed., 2023 (from the Foreword).

This book combines the authoritative strategies of three experts in their respective fields all working to make transformational improvements for families with a child who has a disability. No other resource provides such comprehensive long-term planning strategies in one place for parents of children with disabilities.

While the ideas in the book build on and reinforce each other, each chapter can be read on its own. In fact, the recommended approach to this book is to preview the Table of Contents and start reading the topics that are of interest to you. We urge you to use this book to become the most informed advocate for your child and to take action to realize the enormous benefits optimal planning can bring to your family. Here is a taste of what you will learn.

Successfully Applying for Government Support Services Including SSI and SSDI

The starting point for optimizing the finances of your child with a disability is getting your child approved for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Getting approval for SSI or SSDI is “the golden ticket” for you and your child. Approval opens the door for monthly cash benefits, qualifying for Medicare and other health-care benefits, tuition, and vocational training benefits―just to name a few. It is also critical for your child to be approved for SSI or SSDI before you die so your child can enjoy an enormous estate planning benefit—the ability to stretch payments from an Inherited IRA or Roth IRA over your child’s lifetime versus 10 years if you child doesn’t qualify for SSI or SSDI. This estate planning advantage alone can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to your child.

But the process of getting approved is neither transparent nor straightforward: you must learn to speak the language of SSI and SSDI. If you don’t speak the language, you may fail to get these critical benefits to which you and your family are entitled.

Special Needs Trusts and Legal Considerations

Getting your estate planning right is also mission critical. Appropriately drafted Special Needs Trusts can allow your child to receive benefits from your estate without jeopardizing their eligibility for government benefit programs. In addition, the trust must meet four technical conditions to qualify for the “stretch IRA” which is critical for your child’s finances after you are gone.

Tax-Savvy Optimization for You Is Critical

The area that few parents know is the benefits of Roth IRA conversions for both them and their child. It isn’t a matter of opinion—it is a matter of math. We “run the numbers” and present you with the results as well as the reasoning based on our peer reviewed methodology.

We also cover other important but frequently overlooked tax strategies including establishing ABLE accounts. Plus, for the right family we cover lesser-known strategies that have the potential to save families tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. A few examples include:

• Who Gets What, i.e., leaving beneficiaries in different tax brackets and financial situations different assets to obtain tax-saving results.
• Plan to have your child, or a trust for their benefit, convert an Inherited 401(k) or 403(b) to a Roth after you die. (Most CPAs and financial advisors don’t know about this, but it could be huge for your child.)
• Convert after-tax dollars inside your IRA or retirement plan for free.

About James Lange, CPA, Attorney, and Financial Advisor

Jim’s estate and tax planning strategies have been endorsed by The Wall Street Journal (36 times), Newsweek, Money,
Smart Money, Reader’s Digest, Bottom Line, and Kiplinger’s and most recently, Forbes magazine. Jim has authored five peer-reviewed
articles in Trusts & Estates. Jim is a regular columnist for Forbes.com, and his expertise on Roth IRA conversions was
solicited for an article in the February 2019 issue of Forbes magazine.

With 35 years of retirement and estate planning experience, James Lange and his team have drafted 2,631 wills and trusts, as well
as sophisticated beneficiary designations for IRAs and other retirement plans using Lange’s Cascading Beneficiary Plan. They
have also administered hundreds of estates whose families have benefitted from these plans.

Mr. Lange is the author of six best-selling books, including three editions of Retire Secure!, endorsed by Charles Schwab, Larry King, Ed Slott, Jane Bryant Quinn, and Roger Ibbotson and 50 other experts; The Roth Revolution, endorsed by Ed Slott, Natalie Choate, and Bob Keebler; The Ultimate Retirement and Estate Plan for Your Million-Dollar IRA, endorsed by Bill Flanagan, Paul Merriman, and Burton Malkiel; and The $214,000 Mistake, How to Double Your Social Security and Maximize Your IRAs endorsed by Larry Kotlikoff, Jonathan Clements, Paul Merriman, and Elaine Floyd.

Jim created The Roth IRA Institute—offering professionals in the industry advice and recommendations. His proof of the tax and estate planning advantages of Roth IRA conversions has been peer-reviewed by the top tax journal of the American Institute of CPAs. Further, all 15 IRA experts interviewed on his radio show have indicated that most taxpayers, at some point, will benefit from a Roth IRA conversion—and that was before today’s favorable new tax brackets made Roth IRAs even more advantageous.

Deborah was appointed by President George H.W. Bush as U.S. Commissioner of Disabilities, a position she held from 1989-1993. Deborah works with individuals and with parents of children with disabilities to help them secure SSI, SSDI, and other crucial resources. She is also the mother of two USA Paralympic athletes. Tatyana McFadden is one of, if not the most honored and recognized track and marathon athletes with a disability in the world. Hannah McFadden has been ranked third in the world in rock climbing.

Julieanne E. Steinbacher, Esq., CELA, LLM in Estate and Elder Law is the founding shareholder of Steinbacher, Goodall & Yurchak, which has a specialty in special needs planning. As a former social worker, she has seen the devastating effects the lack of planning for long-term care can have on a family. As an attorney, her goal is to educate her clients and the community and empower them to make planning decisions. Julieanne is also the founder and president of Estate & Long-Term Care Planning, an organization that educates estate attorneys from across the nation in areas of law and best practices. She has over 20 years of experience drafting special needs planning documents for families and administering estates.