About Jake Birnberg
Jake was graduated with a finance degree from UC Berkeley. His career spanned retirement planning, investment banking and business banking at firms such as Dean Witter, Shearson Lehman, and Wells Fargo. He now focuses on helping individuals obtain benefits from the VA and does retirement planning, Medi-Cal planning, and estate planning. With over 20 years of solid financial experience and training, he can help people in almost any situation.
When Jake's mother become ill with dementia in 2001, he became her conservator and co-guardian so he knows personally how challenging the transition to long-term-care environments such as in-home care, assisted living, and nursing homes can be. He is passionate about easing the burden with respect to the financial matters involved. "This was the hardest challenge I ever faced. At first when mom stopped paying her utility bills, I simply paid them for her. A little while later she stopped paying her mortgage, insisting it was already paid off when there were seven years left. I finally became conservator and co-guardian for her during the last five years of her life.
"Watching her health and ability to recognize us deteriorate was painful. Her income was mostly based on her investments and was insufficient to pay for her health-care needs. As we withdrew from her savings and sold off investments, her income dwindled and the withdrawals increased in what became a vicious cycle that was depleting her estate. While there was nothing I could do about her health, I was intent on finding strategies to help her maintain an ability to pay for the care she needed." Now he is grateful to be able to help others in similar circumstances get the care they need while protecting the estates they worked a lifetime to create be utilized according to their needs and wishes..