Terminal illness and financial planning: the critical conversation most people avoid

Most financial plans are built on hope – hope for long lives and long retirements, that children will grow up and become independent, that there will be enough time for investments to compound, businesses to mature, and difficult decisions to resolve themselves gradually.

A terminal diagnosis shatters that assumption in a single moment.

What once stretched across decades suddenly collapses into months, sometimes weeks. Planning designed for growth must be reshaped for transfer. Structures built for a future self must now protect the people who will be left behind.

When we imagine the end of life, we picture conversations, reconciliation, and reflection with loved ones and friends. We imagine time to prepare loved ones emotionally, but often people tell no one.

Very few imagine the administrative consequences of death: frozen bank accounts, delayed pay-outs, outdated wills, offshore assets stuck in foreign legal processes, and families searching for information.

Most of this is preventable, but only if one critical conversation happens early enough. Not with an attorney, an executor, or with family, but with your financial adviser.

Yet advisers are often only informed after the funeral, when the opportunity has already passed. Grief is inevitable, but financial disorder is not.

When time collapses

Every financial plan rests on the assumption that there will be time.

Time for markets to recover, to review beneficiaries, to update a will, and to restructure offshore assets “when things settle down”.

A terminal diagnosis removes that time. The planning horizon contracts. Long-term strategies must deliver short-term certainty and assets intended to support the retiree now need to support a surviving spouse. Structures designed for tax efficiency over decades must now prioritise liquidity and access.

Many people overestimate how ‘sorted’ their affairs really are.

Having a will, life cover and investments do not guarantee a smooth outcome. A terminal diagnosis is not only a medical event. It is a financial pivot point, and when that is missed, the consequences fall on those left behind.

Why do people stay silent

The reluctance to tell a financial adviser is deeply human as they do not want pity or they want to protect their families from fear. They might need time to process the diagnosis or believe their affairs are already in order and that there will be time to deal with the details later.

But silence is costly. A will could be outdated and beneficiaries no longer reflect reality. Retirement funds remain locked in structures that delay payouts. Offshore assets could have foreign probate and straightforward policies are contested. Families encounter the most difficult and emotional period of their lives without the financial certainty they need.

What can be done in time

There is a belief that meaningful financial planning is not possible once a terminal diagnosis is delivered. The opposite is often true, and the remaining time can be a powerful planning window.

An experienced adviser can simplify structures, redirect asset flows, secure liquidity, remove unnecessary delays, and significantly reduce post-death administrative burden. The difference between telling an adviser too early or too late can be the difference between an orderly estate and years of frustration.

The window may be narrow, but it is not ineffective and urgency often brings clarity.

A real example of what early disclosure makes possible

‘Mark’ was 58 when he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Doctors spoke in months, not years.

He told very few people. He was private and determined not to be defined by his illness. But he made one call that mattered. He contacted his financial adviser. The conversation was brief and difficult, but it gave his adviser the time to help.

Within weeks, Mark’s financial affairs were restructured - not for retirement, but for his family’s security.

1. Discretionary assets that would have been frozen in the estate were transferred into his wife’s name, ensuring immediate access and avoiding unnecessary delays.
2. His retirement annuity was converted into a living annuity with nominated beneficiaries, reducing the risk of lengthy trustee processes.
3. An outdated will was rewritten to reflect his current family structure.
4. Offshore cash that would have been subject to foreign probate was moved into a legacy structure designed for swift transfer.
5. Life policies were pre-verified to avoid later disputes.
6. Crucially, sufficient liquidity was secured so that his wife would not be cash-constrained in the weeks following his death.

Seven weeks later, Mark passed away.

Funds were available to his wife within days. There were no disputes, no forced asset sales and no frantic searches for documentation. The estate administration progressed smoothly, and the offshore assets were transferred exactly as intended.

Later, his wife reflected on that period with quiet clarity: ‘He left me money, but the real gift was the absence of chaos.’

The final act of care

Financial planning is often framed as something for the future. At the end of life, it becomes something else entirely; it becomes an act of protection.

It is not about returns or performance. It is about order, dignity, and sparing loved ones’ unnecessary hardship at a time when they are least able to cope with complexity.

Telling a financial adviser about a terminal diagnosis is not surrender. It is not administrative housekeeping. It is a deliberate decision to lead, even at the most difficult moment.

You may choose not to tell many people, and that is entirely your right. But do not let your adviser be the last to know.

* Bradfield is the wealth manager at Alexforbes.

PERSONAL FINANCE