Transamerica wants to help financial advisors and their clients walk as painlessly through life after a cancer diagnosis as possible.
To reach that goal, the financial services giant has created a step-by-step guide that addresses both the health and wealth aspects of living with and surviving cancer.
The guide, “Planning to Outsmart Cancer,” is addressed to laymen and financial professionals, and is part of Transamerica’s “Wealth+Health” initiative.
“This is a field guide to addressing the immediate and the long-term needs of someone confronted with a cancer diagnosis,” said Dr. Bill Lloyd, Transamerica health director and author of the guide. “We all have enormous exposure to cancer, and intelligent adults need to plan for the possibility.
“Medicine has made enormous strides in diagnosing and treating cancer,” he said. “Seventy percent of those diagnosed with cancer in 2018 will be alive five years from now, which is the definition of cured.”
Financial advisors can help clients regain a normal life once they are cured, he added.
The guide provides questions that people should ask once they have a diagnosis, or that financial advisors should encourage them to ask of their health-care professionals. It points out support organizations and gives an extensive list of resources for education and planning.
“Financial advisors who have a holistic relationship with their clients will reach out to the client after a cancer diagnosis, just as they would after any life change,” Lloyd said. “They can use the tools from Transamerica to help the client understand what is happening and what needs to be done. A diagnosis is a paralyzing event, but once you take the first positive step,” it is empowering.
The guide includes checklists—for tasks such as aggregating family assets—to make finances and health issues less complicated. It lists key decisions that have to be made and issues that have to be considered, such as selecting a cancer care team, asking for a second opinion, and notifying the people whom you want to share the diagnosis with. The guide also includes key questions to answer involving insurance, sources of income, costs of care and employee benefits.
“It is important that financial advisors not think we are telling them to be doctors for their clients,” Lloyd said. “We are telling them to help clients develop smart strategies. A financial advisor can be a hero to the client” by giving the client good advice in a time of crisis.