Planning beyond your retirement

Early planning can take away a lot of the stress and uncertainty that can arise when considering aged care at home or at residential aged care facility. Know what your options are The first option that probably comes to mind is a residential aged care facility. These facilities provide accommodation and care depending on your personal needs. Care can range from personal care, such as help with showering and dressing, together with occasional nursing care to continuous nursing care for those with a greater degree of frailty. What you may not realise, however, is that there are also Home Care Packages that provide access to services that can help you to stay at home for as long as possible. Support services may include cleaning, meal preparation and transport for shopping or appointments. Start planning early There are a number of reasons why you should plan ahead and well before the need for aged care is imminent. For example: in many cases, the need to move into residential care can be sudden due to a serious illness or injury (eg a stroke, heart attack, or fall), or another unexpected event it’s not uncommon to find there are significant waitlists for residential care, particularly at the more popular facilities, and regardless of whether home or residential aged care is required, if you wait until the last minute to speak to a financial adviser, you may not be able to minimise the fees you may have to pay and/or maximise the social security benefits you may receive. Visit local facilities Whether you currently need residential aged care or not, ideally you should plan to visit a range of facilities in your chosen area as soon as possible and, you may prefer to do this with family members. Becoming familiar with the alternatives can enable you and your family to have meaningful conversations regarding your options and make more informed lifestyle and financial decisions. Importantly, with assistance from a financial adviser, you can: determine whether care in your preferred facility is affordable, and potentially start restructuring your assets to improve your financial position. Assess affordability A range of fees may be payable when accessing care services. One of the key payments when moving into residential care is the accommodation payment. This payment: is subject to certain limits can be paid as a lump sum, in regular instalments, or a combination of a lump sum and regular instalments, and is published on the facilities website and at myagedcare.gov.au for potential residents to consider. The published amount will vary between facilities and, as a general rule, it will be higher for newer places because of the money recently outlaid on building or improving the accommodation, and for facilities in more affluent suburbs. It’s therefore important to ensure you will have sufficient assets to pay the accommodation payment required to secure yourself a spot in your facility of choice when the time comes, as well as cover the ongoing aged care fees and your living expenses. Understand the trade-off There are a range of strategies that can be used to reduce aged care fees. However, caution needs to be exercised to ensure you have enough money to afford the care you’d want. A financial adviser can help you to address this complex issue. They can also assist in many other ways. This includes helping to address your estate planning needs, in conjunction with your lawyer. Source: NAB [caption id="attachment_3457" align="alignleft" width="241"] Emma Brooke Financial Advisor[/caption] Before making an investment decision, a person needs to consider (with or without the advice or assistance of an adviser) whether this information is appropriate to their needs, objectives and circumstances. Any tax estimates provided in this publication are intended as a guide only and are based on our general understanding of taxation laws.They are not intended to be a substitute for specialised taxation advice or a complete assessment of your liabilities, obligations or claim entitlements that arise, or could arise, under taxation law, and we recommend you consult with a registered tax agent. This information is based on our interpretation of relevant superannuation, social security and taxation laws as at 20 March 2015. This information is general information only. You should consider the appropriateness of this information with regards to your objectives, financial situation and needs. GTC Financial Services Pty Ltd ABN 94 010 624 914 atf GTC Financial Services Trust ABN 69 596 897 575 is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Infocus Securities Australia Pty Ltd ABN 47 097 797 049 AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 236523

Planning beyond your retirement

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