Created by Annalee Kruger and Bob Mauterstock, CFP®, co-founders of Plan4Life, LLC, the Elder Planning Specialist Program is a first-of-its-kind, 10-week online program designed to prepare serious financial advisers to meet the needs of their older clients. Research has shown that the fastest-growing age group is made up of those people 85 and older. In the past, these people were overlooked in the planning process.  But now advisers have discovered that planning does not end when clients reach retirement age. Clients’ needs can continue for another twenty or thirty years!

Delivered in a cohort format, the Elder Planning Specialist program utilizes experts in several important fields to present meaningful video programs that cover such areas as legal planning, long-term care planning, end-of-life planning, and running a family meeting. Each week participants will have an opportunity to have a live discussion about that week's topic often moderated by the expert themselves. Weekly quizzes and a final exam will measure each individual’s progress. At the end of the course, participants will feel confident that they can create an Elderplan® designed specifically for each of their own clients.

The weekly schedule includes the following:

• Week 1: Understanding the Aging Process and the Caregiver's Role
• Week 2: Diversity and Aging and Insights into Retirees 85 and Older
• Week 3: Legal Issues of Aging
• Week 4: Increasing Approaches to Planning for Extended or Long-term Care
• Week 5: Social Security and Medicare Planning
• Week 6: Diminished Capacity, Elder Abuse, End-of-Life Plans
• Week 7: Structuring and Conducting the Family Meeting / Ethical Will / Legacy Letter
• Week 8: Developing a Marketing Plan
• Weeks 9: Building an Elder Planning Team
• Week 10: Creating and Presenting Your Elder Plan

The program qualifies for 10 CFP® CE credits and is available to FPA members for $1,195 and nonmembers for $1,495. Participants receive a certificate of completion showing their specialized elder planning training.

Week 1 will begin on September 11, 2023. 

1. Describe the aging nation crisis
2. Summarize the "bumpiness" of the aging process
3. List the elements of a comprehensive aging plan
4. Identify caregiver burnout
5. List solutions to family caregiving burnout.
6. List the reasons why seniors thrive when they move into a retirement or care community.
7. Describe a caregiver's role
8. Explain why an aging plan is critical

• On-demand webinars
• Live discussion webinars
  • Every Thursday at 1:00 PM MT
  • recordings will be available
• Exams
• Discussion prompts
• Supplemental Reading

Presenters will be available via email throughout each week.

Anna Rappaport - Anna Rappaport Consulting

Bob Mauterstock - Plan4Life, LLC

Annalee Kruger - Plan4Life, LLC

Bob Powell - Retirement Daily

Harry Margolis - Margolis & Bloom

Carroll Golden - C. Golden Consulting, LLC 

Paul Malley - Aging with Dignity

Marcia Mantrell - Mantell Retirement Consulting, Inc.