A good financial advisor for aging parents helps with two things: getting the legal authority in place while your parent can still sign, and building a plan to pay for care. Care is the big number. In 2025 the national median was $74,400 a year for assisted living and $129,575 for a private nursing home room. Fee-only planners charge a median $2,000 for a one-time plan that covers these questions.
Your parent is the client
When an adult child calls an advisor about a parent, the parent is usually the one whose money, wishes and signature count. A good advisor meets your parent, ideally with you there, and gets written permission before discussing their finances with you. If your parent can no longer decide, the advisor works with whoever holds legal authority.
This protects everyone. It also helps with brothers and sisters, who often disagree about money. An advisor who answers to your parent, not to one child, can explain a plan to the whole family without taking sides.
Get the authority in place first
Most of the cost and stress of a parent’s decline comes from not having these documents when they’re needed:
- A durable financial power of attorney, so someone can pay bills, deal with banks and manage investments if your parent can’t.
- A healthcare proxy and advance directive, which name who makes medical decisions and record your parent’s wishes.
- A current will, and a revocable trust if the estate plan calls for one. A trust can let a successor trustee manage the assets without a court.
Without them, the family may have to ask a court to appoint a guardian or conservator, which is slower, costs more and is public. The CFPB publishes free guides for each role: agents under a power of attorney, trustees, court-appointed guardians and government fiduciaries.
Social Security works differently. A power of attorney, even a durable one, can’t be used to negotiate Social Security payments. To manage a parent’s benefits, you apply to Social Security to be their representative payee. Veterans’ benefits have a similar fiduciary process run by the VA. An advisor should flag both early.
What care costs
The CareScout survey, gathered from July to November 2025, put the national median for a non-medical caregiver at home at $35 an hour, assisted living at $6,200 a month, and a nursing home at $315 a day for a semi-private room or $355 for a private one. Prices in your area can be far higher or lower, so a good advisor uses local quotes, not national medians.
Who pays
- Medicare doesn’t. Medicare says it doesn’t pay for long-term care, meaning the non-medical help with daily living that most of it is.
- Medicaid can, if your parent qualifies. Eligibility depends on income and assets and the rules vary by state. Federal law looks back 60 months at gifts and other transfers made for less than their value, and transfers in that window can delay coverage. Giving money to children shortly before care is needed can backfire.
- Your parent’s own money pays for most care before Medicaid: savings, retirement accounts, the home, a pension, and any long-term care insurance already in place.
An advisor’s job is to show how long the money lasts at local prices, and which accounts to draw from first so the tax bill stays low. Withdrawals from a traditional IRA count as income, so the order matters.
What the situation demands of an advisor
A care funding plan, in years. How many years of care your parent can pay for at home, in assisted living or in a nursing home, and what happens to a surviving spouse’s income if one parent needs care first.
Coordination with an elder law attorney. Medicaid planning and the documents above are legal work. A good advisor knows when to bring one in and works alongside them, rather than giving legal advice.
A full inventory. Every account, policy, pension, debt and recurring bill, written down in one place, with the logins and contacts the family will need.
Simpler accounts. Fewer accounts, automatic bill pay and payments made straight to the account are easier to watch, and they make fraud easier to spot.
Your own plan, too. Adult children who cut back their work to give care, or who pay some of the bills, take a hit to their own savings. An advisor should look at your finances as well as your parent’s, or tell you plainly that you need your own plan.
Questions to ask an advisor
| Ask | A good answer includes |
|---|---|
| Who is your client, and how will you keep me informed? | Your parent is the client, with written permission to include you |
| How long would my parent’s money pay for care? | Years of care at local prices for each type of care |
| Which accounts should pay for care first? | An order based on taxes, not just which account is biggest |
| When should we talk to an elder law attorney? | A clear point at which they’d bring one in |
| How are you paid, in dollars a year? | One figure, and no commissions on annuities or insurance |
Older adults are often sold annuities and insurance products that pay the seller a commission. A fee-only advisor is paid only by the client, which matters even more when the client is vulnerable. See our questions to ask a financial advisor for the rest.
What it costs
Fee-only planners who publish prices charge a median $2,000 for a one-time plan (middle half $845 to $3,600), $300 an hour, or $4,500 a year for ongoing planning. A one-time plan often fits: the care funding plan, the documents checklist and the order of withdrawals, done once and revisited when care needs change. Hourly help suits a single question, such as whether a parent can afford to move to assisted living.
If an advisor already manages your parent’s investments for a percentage of assets, the median is 1% a year. That fee keeps running while the money is being spent on care, so ask whether a flat fee would cost less as the balance falls. Our guide to how much a financial advisor costs compares the ways advisors charge.
How to find one
In the public graph, look at advisors for retirees for your parent’s plan, and advisors for multi-generational families if you want one advisor who sees both generations. The estate planning and family wealth transfer specialties cover the documents and the handoff. For local services such as in-home help, transportation and meals, the federal Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116) connects families with agencies near their parent.
Every record shows how the advisor is paid and what they focus on. Bring your parent to the first meeting if you can, and choose the advisor who talks to them, not past them.