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When Maureen and Jeremy had their first child, they discovered that baby Charlie had an extra chromosome: he was born with Down syndrome. During the first year of Charlie’s life, Maureen and her husband juggled work, home life, and regular sessions with a physical therapist, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, and a play therapist for Charlie.

“I was a wreck,” Maureen says. “I was trying to pretend nothing had changed in my life, constantly racing from home, where most sessions take place, to the office, then out again so I could make it home in time for our babysitters to have lives of their own and dinners with their families. It was constant chaos.”

Financial strain was a constant source of stress for the couple, who had come from different financial backgrounds. Maureen was raised in a blue-collar family; her father was a police officer who took on overtime and extra work to make ends meet. Jeremy grew up in a family in which saving money was taught early.

“We never used a financial planner because I never learned about that, growing up,” says Maureen. “We didn’t operate that way.”

When they married, Maureen had a mountain of student loan debt acquired from post-graduate work; Jeremy was his own boss and had built up a nest egg, which they leaned on once they had Charlie.

Babies Emma and Liam were born in the next few years, and Maureen and Jeremy didn’t have much time to think or plan. After Emma was born, Maureen left her full-time job at Lowe’s corporate and devoted her time to taking care of the family.

“The mental exhaustion of parenting leads to buying things I wouldn’t have if I had planned ahead,” says Maureen. “I wish I had been more organized, and that’s something I’m still working on.”

Maureen and Jeremy, as parents of a child with Down syndrome, have to plan ahead much further, because they don’t know if Charlie will be able to take care of himself down the line.

“It’s an extra layer of worry because there is a longer future to plan for,” says Maureen. “Most parents operate under the assumption that their children will grow up and move out; we don’t know what will happen.”

The parents of three want to teach their children the value of money and how to save it, and they recently signed up for a Dave Ramsey course on financial management. Ultimately, they want to pay off their debt and set up all of the kids for their futures. For Charlie, Maureen says that the Able Act, signed into law in 2014, will help them a great deal. The Able Act amends Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986 to create tax-free savings accounts for individuals with disabilities.

“We don’t want to spend too much time looking back,” says Maureen. “The truth is that there are no guarantees, and we’re just doing the best we can. We want to put our family in a better position to secure our future.”

 

 

 

Smith Wealth Advisors