SNFSi’s Pooled Special Needs Trust Report 2020: Poised for Growth is now available and includes detailed information about this industry and opportunity.
The Special Needs Financial Services InstituteTM (SNFSiTM) was formed in 2020 to increase the availability and use of financial products and solutions by people with disabilities, estimated at 13% of the population, or more than forty (40) million people.
Connecting Pooled Special Needs Trusts (PSNTs), currently distributed primarily directly to consumers and by specialist attorneys and social service providers, to more people and organizations who need these products is a crucial step in achieving that goal.
While PSNT’s are a financial product, they do not presently meaningfully engage with the financial advice and planning industry, which includes an estimated 300,000 professional financial advisors, nor with the broader financial services ecosystem.
The opacity, perceived complexity, and costs of PSNTs have historically been a significant obstacle to their broader distribution and full utilization. Consumers and the professionals who advise them are used to having complete information about their providers, and today, that is a requirement for doing business.
This disconnection is a missed opportunity for people with disabilities, pooled trust administrators, firms that provide services to pooled trust administrators, and advice providers.
SNFSi’s proprietary database includes more than 110 Pooled Special Needs Trust administrators. These providers steward, at a minimum, $3 billion in beneficiary trust assets based on our estimates, a fraction of the market opportunity. Each provider is evaluated based on five criteria and their associated metrics, including financial sustainability, governance and leadership, beneficiary fees, client service, and social responsibility and impact.
SNFSi is a positive disruptor and accelerator, providing necessary transparency to support growth and build awareness, delivering targeted services to help providers achieve scale and cost effectiveness, and connecting providers to the people and organizations who need these products.