When clients ask for referrals to healthcare professionals, financial advisors can face a difficult choice: say no and disappoint the client, or make a referral without knowing enough about the provider — creating potential risk for the client, their plan and the advisor.
Clients are often caregivers for aging parents or planning for healthcare needs in retirement. But unlike referrals for CPAs or estate planning attorneys, advisors generally aren't as well-equipped to provide trusted referrals from a network of healthcare providers. To help fill that gap, Denver-based aging-care platform bQuest built a network of vetted service providers as a resource for advisors. Founded in 2022, the company launched nationally to the wealth management industry last year.
Lauren Clough, CEO and co-founder, said advisors often turn to internet searches or their own networks when clients ask for healthcare referrals, without knowing enough about the providers before recommending.
"They provide a referral, not really knowing much about this provider, so there's a lot of risk there, and there's a lot of risk, too, in the financial plan," said Lauren Clough, CEO and co-founder. The risk can extend beyond the referral itself because advisors who don't understand clients' later-life desires and potential care expenses may not build the strongest financial plan for them, she said.
Healthcare and long-term care costs during retirement are often higher than expected. Retirees' average lifetime healthcare costs were projected to be 7.5% higher for 65-year-olds retiring this year, a larger increase than the 5% and 4% spikes in 2025 and 2024, respectively, according to Fidelity.
"Clients are coming to their advisors today, asking for help, not because they think necessarily their advisor has all the tools or the resources, but they don't know where else to turn," Clough said. One example would be helping a client find a geriatric care manager. Being able to share contact information for a trusted provider often results in positive word of mouth for the advisor, she added.
However, if caregiving is needed for one spouse in a couple who are both clients, or for a client's aging parent, and advisors have the knowledge or connections to make referrals, that support can build rapport and strengthen client relationships.
"It's a really big opportunity for advisors to really be the hero in these challenging situations, which then leads to retention, organic growth, intergenerational connectivity, all the things that advisors are looking to really achieve these days," Clough said.
Frank McAleer, vitality planning consultant at Key Financial and former senior vice president of wealth planning at Raymond James, built longevity resource networks for advisors and found client engagement rates of 20% to 25% among advisors using the networks, according to
Longevity planning is the next step after retirement planning, according to the report. It goes beyond asking whether money will last to asking what the money will need to support during a longer life.
Longer lives mean more healthcare expenses
As Americans are living longer overall, there are more years when unexpected and costly health issues can arise, potentially adding costs and throwing a wrench into retirement and estate planning.
Nearly nine in 10 retirees, 87%, reported being concerned about unexpectedly high healthcare costs, according to Schroders'
Clients who won't have family support, for reasons including not having children or having children who live far away, will need professional support, which will be costlier, Clough said.
"Lifespan has extended by 30 years over the last century. It's accelerated significantly in history, but health span hasn't kept up at the same level," Clough said. "So we're living longer lives, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we're healthy that entire time, and so that's where these care expenses come in."
