The aged care planning process and considerations
Deciding to move into an aged care home is often a challenging and emotional decision for the entire family.
There are a number of important steps to consider when you or a loved one are looking to move into an aged care facility. As well as finding an available room in a facility that suits your needs, there are many other important discussions you’ll need to have and decisions you’ll need to make.
The good news is, your Pinnacle adviser is able to help guide you through the entry process, and to help you make sure all these important decisions are understood and addressed at the right time. That way, you and your family can focus on the most important thing – settling into your new home.
What to expect from your adviser
Your Pinnacle adviser can help guide you through the formal steps required to enter a Government-subsidised care facility, to help ensure you get the care you need when you need it. They can also make sure you’re getting the advice you need from other professionals (such as a lawyer or accountant) where required.
Your adviser will work with you to help you:
- understand how the aged care system works
- navigate the assessment and placement process
- understand the costs of your care, and your payment options
- understand the implications of selling your family home
- determine the impact on your social security payments and benefits
- review your estate planning needs, and
- employ the best strategies to help reduce the cost of aged care.
Implementing your aged care plan
There are two separate roles your Pinnacle adviser performs to help ensure your plan is implemented and works:
Facilitation
Your Pinnacle adviser can liaise with, brief and coordinate:
- your family
- an aged care specialist for placement into a facility
- your chosen aged care facility, and
- if required, your accountant and solicitor for taxation and legal advice.
Your adviser can project manage the creation and implementation of your plan to ensure each party is working with the right information to help meet your aged care and estate planning objectives.
Financial advice
Your adviser will:
- develop personal recommendations and present and explain the advice strategies that they recommend based on what you want to achieve
- where instructed to do so, implement the advice strategy they recommend to help maximise your financial position, and
- monitor your circumstances and review the initial strategy when circumstances change.
To help you understand what’s involved in the complex aged care journey, we have broken it down into these simple steps:
Aged care can be daunting and a complex area. Your Pinnacle adviser can help guide you in the right direction.
Source: MLC
