Waning Mental Capacity - Empathetic Strategies

Sandra D. Adams Related Seminars and Products

Sandra D. Adams, CFP®, is a Partner and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional at Center for Financial Planning, Inc.®.

Having joined The Center team in 1996, Sandy has more than 20 years of financial planning industry experience. She was nationally recognized by Forbes as a Top Woman Wealth Advisor Best-in-State in 2023 for the fourth consecutive year, and recognized on Forbes’ 2022 Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list.

Sandy specializes in Elder Care Financial Planning and is a frequent speaker on related topics with the Michigan Association of CPAs, Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology (WSU IOG), SOAR (Society for Active Retirees), AICPA (Association of International Certified Professional Accountants) and other public and professional groups. In addition to making frequent contributions to The Center’s “Money Centered” blog, she serves as a trusted source for national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Research Magazine, and Retirement Daily. She regularly contributes to the Journal for Financial Planning and Practical Compliance and Risk Management. She is also an instructor for the Schoolcraft College Continuing Education program on topics related to Long Life Planning and Following a Fiduciary Standard.

Sandy enjoys working with clients and their families to create customized and actionable financial plans that can be easily implemented with the assistance of a professional partner. She’s worked with generations of families—older adults, their children, and grandchildren—and is specially trained to work with those going through the death of a spouse, divorce, job loss, and other stressful life transitions.

Along with volunteering for the WSU IOG, Alzheimer’s Association, and other local nonprofits, Sandy enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Peter A. Lichtenberg Related Seminars and Products

Peter A. Lichtenberg, Ph.D., ABPP is the Director of The Institute of Gerontology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute. He is also a Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and his Master’s and doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University. After his internship he completed a post doctoral fellowship in geriatric neuropsychology at the University of Virginia Medical School where he also became a faculty member. A clinician and researcher throughout his career Dr. Lichtenberg has made contributions to the practice of psychology across a variety of areas including in long term care, in medical rehabilitation with those suffering from late life depression, and age-related dementias.. He is particularly interested in the area of intersection between financial capacity and financial exploitation; finding ways to balance autonomy and protection for older adults. His work in this area led him to be a contributor to the 2008 Assessment of Diminished Capacity of Older Adults: A Handbook for Psychologists published jointly by the American Bar and American Psychological Associations. In 2013 he published the first nationally representative study on predictors of older adult scam victims. He recently completed the creation of the Lichtenberg Financial Decision Making Rating Scale, a tool to be used to assess major financial decisions and/or transactions of older adults.