“On average, same-sex couples have higher incomes and less unemployment than the average population, so they are just the people financial planners want to have as clients,” he adds.
Financial planners need to understand who needs alternative planning and in what areas they need it, Parish says.
“Domestic partners, including heterosexual partners who are not married, need more financial planning,” says Suzanne M. Antonelli, senior portfolio manager at Sigma Investment Counselors in Southfield, Mich., who holds the ADPA designation. “They are a vastly underserved population. If you hold the accreditation, you know how to unravel the complexities.”
“The law is still in flux and the fact that states have different rules makes it more complex,” she says. Michigan is one of the states that prohibits same-sex marriages.
An advisor has to have certain other credentials, such as CFP, Chfc, or JD, before he or she can earn the ADPA designation.
The Domestic Partnership course covers wealth transfer for domestic partners, federal taxation issues, retirement planning and relationship issues, and planning for financial, medical and end-of-life needs.
Parish sends out periodic memos to all those who have earned the ADPA designation and to those studying for it to keep them up to date on the changes in the laws or to show them how to do their own research on the issues. Things are changing so fast now that he has sent four memos out in the last nine months. The course material also is updated regularly.
“If every state allowed same-sex marriages, and the federal government recognized it across the board, same-sex couples would need advising just like any other couple,” says Parish, “but that is not going to happen any time soon.”