Financial advisors could be in a good position to uncover addictions and help save clients’ assets from this drain if they learn to recognize the signs, ask the right questions and listen patiently, according to Captrust’s Catherine Seeber.
Seeber, a CFP based in Lewes, Del., assists clients impacted by addiction – their own or a family member’s – and teams with clinicians and attorneys who work in this field. She’s also the mother of a former heroin and alcohol addict. Her experience with clients helped her more readily identify her son’s addictions, she said.
According to the National Institutes of Health, living in poverty is a risk factor for abuse of opioids and other substances. But addiction doesn’t discriminate, noted Seeber, and a growing number of high-net-worth families are being afflicted by the opioid epidemic.
“Money is the angel and the devil in this case,” she said.
It’s easier for wealthy individuals to continue to access legal opioids, she said, and they’re better able to hide their addiction because it’s not as physically obvious as heroin, a less expensive substitute. Access to money can also be an obstacle in recovery, she said.
Seeber’s first client in recovery spent five years in jail for an alcohol-related incident before becoming a chef and restaurant owner. “The problem he had as a recovering alcoholic was his own success,” she said. To him, “money was evil,” she said. “He didn’t want to have money in his hands because he was afraid of what he would do with it.”
(You can meet Seeber and a mental health consultant during the “Helping Clients Fight the Financial Drain of Addiction” session at FA’s Invest in Women Conference.)
Last December, financial services firm True Link released the first study Seeber has seen that quantifies the relationship between money and a substance use disorder (SUD). Of the 341 American adults True Link surveyed, 44 percent reported having a loved one who is struggling or has struggled in the past with an SUD. Among this group, 82 percent said their loved one has experienced adverse financial effects due to their addiction.
Nearly half reported that their loved one drained savings or retirement accounts (48 percent), incurred additional medical and legal expenses (43 percent) or sold assets to gain access to cash (42 percent); 11 percent said their loved one filed for bankruptcy.
Seeber asks all her clients if they’ve ever been in a situation where their assets have been compromised or abused and provides all clients with a list of resources that includes estate-planning attorneys experienced in asset protection and money abuse.