Free planning for cancer patients and caregivers

Doing financial planning work for cancer patients is “not for the faint of heart,” said James Thompson, a certified financial planner with The Village Bank in Auburndale, Mass.

Many of the patients have severe financial problems, and some, inevitably, will die just as an adviser is making progress on a plan.

Mr. Thompson should know. As chairman of the Financial Planning Association’s Massachusetts chapter, he has spearheaded the organization’s Pro Bono Financial Coaching Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Since the program began in 2007, 55 advisers have provided free financial planning services to more than 114 cancer patients and their caregivers.

The collaboration between the FPA and Dana-Farber was hailed as “the first of its kind” by Deborah Hoffman, the coordinator of the program and associate director of Dana-Farber’s Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Center for Patients and Families.

Obtaining financial planning services “can be out of the question for patients who are already maxed out [on their assets],” she said.

To help them, the FPA is working to “remove barriers to financial-planning assistance and help our patients to better manage their financial situations while they are battling cancer,” Ms. Hoffman said.

Fittingly, Mr. Thompson; Rick Fingerman, president of Financial Planning Solutions Inc. in Newton, Mass.; Kristin Pena, executive director of the FPA of Massachusetts, and the state association won the Community Leadership Awards’ Volunteer Team Award for their efforts.

“I think the FPA is uniquely equipped to help people who are in severe life distress,” Mr. Thompson said.

The biggest problem that cancer patients face is debt, according to Mr. Fingerman.

“[Dana-Farber] wasn’t geared up to help patients with serious problems like bankruptcy, credit counseling and estate planning, and that’s where the planners come in,” he said. “Financial coaching for patients can last for one session or be continuing.”

FPA volunteers help patients to find bankruptcy attorneys and determine whether life insurance policies can be paid out before death.

They also help clients apply for subsidized housing when they can no longer work full time, assist with complex Social Security disability paperwork and negotiate with mortgage lenders to make sure that clients don’t face foreclosure on their homes.

About 40 financial planners in the state are volunteering in the program, but the FPA hopes to add another 25 by the end of the year, said Mr. Fingerman, who serves as a liaison between the FPA and the cancer institute.

“We’re trying to match up the patients and coaches,” he said.

Finding more volunteers won’t be a problem, Mr. Fingerman said.

“A lot of advisers know someone who has been touched by cancer,” he said. “They have a family member with cancer or they themselves have cancer; they will answer the call.”