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Vol. 80, No. 4, July 2026

FEATURED ARTICLES

Early Aging and Cerebral Palsy: Implications for Financial Planning
Lewis B. Hershey, PhD, MA
Although cerebral palsy (CP) is not a degenerative disease, many people with CP experience physical decline due to limited mobility, lack of access, and/or ability to engage in healthy exercise routines. This leads to a condition known as early aging, whereby people with CP experience physical decline common in aging much sooner than those without CP. This has financial implications as well as health implications. Financial planners for clients with CP must anticipate how and when the financial costs of aging are accelerated for clients with CP, and what wealth-management strategies are appropriate to provide for their ongoing financial needs.

A Probability-Based Framework for Life Insurance Evaluation
James P. Karthaus, MA, CFP, CLU, ChFC
Chia-Li Chien, PhD, CFP, PMP
Chet R. Bennetts, PhD, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CLF, RICP
Zipporah Evania, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CASL, RICP, CAP, WMCP
Traditional life insurance evaluations rely on deterministic illustrations with fixed assumptions, failing to capture long-term risks over multi-decade durations. This article introduces the Insurance Portfolio Risk Optimization (I-PRO) framework, a probability-based approach integrating longevity variability, return distributions, funding adequacy, and timing risk. Applied to guaranteed and variable universal life policies, I-PRO reveals that traditional risk assumptions can be materially incomplete. Ultimately, the framework aligns insurance decisions with established probabilistic retirement and investment planning, offering advisors a structured method to assess policy sustainability under real-world conditions.

Medicaid Compliant Annuities: Middle-Class Lifeline and Wealth Gap Solution
Scott M. Engstrom, JD
The middle-class faces a crisis: assets exceed Medicaid eligibility thresholds but cannot sustain institutional care costs. The Medicaid Compliant Annuity (MCA) offers a vital structural solution where few exist. This article examines the regulatory framework governing primary MCA use cases—the married couple "community spouse" strategy and the individual "gift and annuity" strategy—alongside the demographic and economic forces driving its necessity. It also addresses the regulatory landscape following recent legislative changes. Concluding with practical guidance for financial planners, the article normatively defends the MCA as fulfilling long-term Medicaid’s foundational purpose: ensuring care for those in need without causing further impoverishment.

DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s View
Why Premium Finance Transactions Collapse and What Brokers Can Learn From Litigation
Jonathan M. Deer
Peyman Cohan
Premium financing for high-net-worth clients frequently fails, sparking a steady rise in litigation due to systemic flaws rather than policy performance. Disputes typically stem from volatile loan mechanics, including short-term maturities, variable interest rates, and unexpected collateral calls that restrict client liquidity. Furthermore, optimistic policy illustrations and unrealistic lifelong exit strategies create false expectations. Legal claims usually target how advisors framed these transactions, focusing on minimized risks and selective explanations. To mitigate liability and protect clients, brokers must adopt conservative assumptions, communicate transparently, and ensure structures are grounded in realistic loan and market conditions.

Estate Planning
When the Tide Goes Out: Using Tax Stability as a Strategic Planning Catalyst
Mark R. Parthemer, JD, AEP, ACTEC Fellow
Stability in the planning environment is not a reason to stand down. It is a condition that makes disciplined, purposeful work possible in ways it has not been for years. Advisors who treat this moment as an invitation to deepen client relationships, sharpen planning strategies, and address the governance and stewardship questions that urgency has long deferred will find that the value they deliver—and the differentiation they earn—is lasting. The window is open. The obligation is clear.

Financial Gerontology
How the Sandwich Generation is Reshaping the Financial Planning Conversation for Advisors and Clients
Sherri Snelling, MAG
Among the 63 million family caregivers in the U.S., almost one-third are known as the sandwich generation, defined as those who care simultaneously for children and older family members, including parents and grandparents. Almost half of these caregivers are providing financial support for two generations, and many of the costs associated with care-giving were not planned for with financial advisors. The sandwich generation is changing workplace policies, housing trends, and more. It is also forcing financial advisors to evolve, shifting their focus from isolated goals, like retirement or college tuition, toward holistic wealth management viewed through the lens of family planning.

In the Client’s Best Interest
Golden Rule Standards for Life and Annuity Sales
Richard M. Weber, MBA, CLU, AEP (Distinguished)
Gerard J. Vanderzanden, CLU, ChFC, CLTC
Most professional insurance agents consider themselves customer-focused and genuinely believe they work in the client’s best interest. These are great goals, but the devil is in the details. Fiduciary duties include "client best interest," yet the term "fiduciary" is problematic because it implies liability and sets too-high expectations. The Golden Rule Standards are more attainable and easier to communicate. In that regard, this article is intended to be shared with clients by practitioners to provide clarity and intention, and to serve as a roadmap for a lifelong professional collaboration between producer and client.

Social Security Planning
Overpayments and Recovery
Bruce D. Schobel, FSA, MAAA, CLU, CEBS
Since the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) arrived, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has embarked on a campaign to stop inappropriate Social Security benefit payments and to recover any overpayments already made. Unfortunately, the effort has swung in the direction of declaring even legitimate benefits to be erroneous and aggressively clawing those benefits back. Financial advisors across the country are being asked by their clients to advise or assist in dealing with SSA on these matters.