Integrating Wealth Management and Concierge Medicine
Wealth management is the umbrella term for investment management and wealth planning. It can be understood as a process that optimizes a person’s or family’s financial life. Concierge medicine is a retainer arrangement between a primary care physician and a patient, helping to ensure patients receive high-quality healthcare.
For successful business owners, these two sets of expertise are regularly integrated. Thoughtfully combining the two was pioneered by the super-rich and their family offices.
How the super-rich approach concierge medicine
If a person is worth billions or even tens of millions, they can pay out of pocket for concierge medicine and cutting-edge diagnostics and treatments. However, in some cases, various wealth management strategies can be employed to mitigate the costs.
According to Daniel Carlin, founder and CEO of WorldClinic, “As high-quality concierge medicine can many times help extend the health span of family members, it’s usually a wise decision for these people to modify their financial and legal plans. Some possible considerations include ensuring someone doesn’t run out of money because they live past 100. Another increasingly likely issue is the timing of the transfer of ownership and control of family businesses. Then there’s the matter of paying for state-of-the-art medical care if needed.”
For those lacking a single-family office, multi-family offices are increasingly delivering a range of integrated solutions, including wealth management and concierge medicine. Many societal, business, and family implications exist for an extended and productive life. Consequently, some foremost professionals work with successful families to ensure their financial and legal world is in order and benefit from high-quality concierge medicine.
Common concierge medicine scenarios
Several different personal financial scenarios deal with high-quality concierge medicine. In each of these scenarios, various wealth management solutions might be applicable. Consider a wealthy family worth more than $20 million. The complication is that the money is tied up in their family business. Now, a family member requires state-of-the-art treatments only available in a foreign country. And, if the treatments go well, there will be substantial rehabilitation costs. Preparing for such a situation because of genomic testing can be instrumental in preserving the family business and ensuring the loved one gets the best medical care possible. Many wealth management solutions can be used in this scenario, such as sophisticated risk management solutions to address healthcare.
Another scenario is where family members can run out of money due to longer, healthy, and active lives. With medical costs likely to continue to rise and age, working against many people requires the funds to ensure a long-lived life. A potential solution is to manage financial assets in a way that considers much longer lifespans. One way is by providing the gains on their investment portfolios that are entirely tax-free.
These and other wealth management solutions can address the current and financial needs, wants, and preferences of concierge medical patients. Another implication of longer lifespans is that people must rethink their estate plans.
Among affluent families, a critical question is, ’When does the next generation get to control the assets they are intended to have?’ If the successful business owners, thanks to medical advances, are living past 100, when do the inheritors take control of the family business? Is it in their 70s? 80s? 90s? Not thinking through the possibilities and being proactive makes potentially disastrous family confrontations possible.
For wealthy individuals and families, the issue is not necessarily outliving their money. There are potential—pretty much—unprecedented wealth transfer considerations arising from seriously extended lifespans. Controlling wealth until death or close to it is fairly common among many self-made millionaires. However, this thinking can lead to poor estate plans, especially when the people involved live a long time. Transferring assets before death may solve problems such as family disputes and lawsuits and strangely disappearing wealth.
