YOUR FINANCIAL JOURNEY
Aged Care Financial Tips & Advice.
Aged Care Financial Tips & Advice
How do I fund aged care for my parents and possibly myself?
My parents are looking likely to go into aged care and with our family medical history, there is a chance I may also need to go into aged care. How can I ensure I can support them and myself in future years?
A meeting with our advisers has identified:
- What are the costs involved in aged care?
- Are there any Centrelink benefits available to my family?
- There seem to be several components of charges including a means tested fee, can you help me understand how that will apply to me?
- How would I meet these costs and charges given my current asset base? What are my likely funding options?
- What if I can’t make financial decisions because of reduced capacity? Is there a plan I can put in place today to deal with that?
- How do my finances look relative to my needs?
Following our meeting to identify exactly what is important now and in the future for our client, the following is now clear:
- The fees and charges associated with aged care.
- Options available to pay for these various fees and charges.
- Financial position relating to the current Centrelink rules and entitlements.
- Confidence that she can legally appoint a person to make decisions on her behalf should she become incapacitated.
- Clarity around her ability to fund aged care, should she need to.
Overall, our team helped provide confidence that future planning and understanding of the financial needs and support options available can ensure peace of mind for retirement and any aged care needs for all within the family.
I need to organise aged care funding for one of my parents…
I have a parent who requires aged care, how do I go about funding this and what support is available to my family? A Locumsgroup meeting will help provide clarity around questions including:
- Does my parents' family home need to be sold to fund aged care? I’d rather avoid this as my father is happy at home.
- Can you help me understand exactly what costs are involved?
- Is Centrelink assistance available, how do I understand the financial tests for this?
- What if they both require aged care down the track? Do I need to consider that in all of this?
- What is a bond? Does this get returned and can we afford it?
After a detailed discussion, we have been able to reassure our client and provide clarity around the following:
- The option of retaining the family home vs a downsize alternative.
- The fundamentals regarding aged care costs and how this relates to their specific financial position.
- Explanation of Centrelink entitlements will be assessed and how the Means Tested Fees will be applied and calculated.
- A plan should the other parent need to go into aged care in the future.
- Understanding around the bond, a plan for the payment and how that bond can be used.
- Clarity around parent’s lifestyle funding through to life expectancy, and the ongoing costs of aged care.
