Hi, I’m Michael.

For more than a decade, I worked in Corporate America. Then my son was diagnosed with autism, and the questions I was asking about my own family changed.

I went looking for answers. Most of what I found was either clinical research or an appeal for donations. Very little of it was written for a family actually living it. So I built the resource I was looking for, The Autism Voyage®, where I share our family’s real experiences alongside practical writing on caregiving, special needs planning, and long-term care planning.

Planning that has to work in a room you’re not in.

Summa Planning Group is the other half of that work. I help families and business owners plan for the responsibilities they carry, so those responsibilities can be met even if they are no longer able to meet them personally.

I bring formal training in business continuity planning and the lived experience of a parent to every conversation. And I believe caring for the people who depend on us is both a responsibility and a calling.

I don’t start with a product. I start with what you’re responsible for, and which of those risks should be reduced, retained, self-funded, or transferred.

Sometimes the answer is insurance. Sometimes it’s an attorney, and I’ll point you to one. Sometimes it’s confirming that what you already have is working. And sometimes it’s just mapping out what comes next, because you’re not ready yet and that’s fine.

Either way, you’ll know where you stand before anyone talks about buying anything.

Most of the people I work with are carrying something that would be hard to hand off:

• Parents raising a child who will need support long after they’re gone.
• Households caring for aging parents and children at the same time.
• Business owners with employees, partners and payroll depending on them.

Depending on the situation, that work may include income protection, life insurance to fund a special needs trust, long-term care planning, fixed annuities, and business continuity planning, coordinated with the attorney, CPA and other professionals already involved.