Peace of Mind When Facing Challenges of Aged Care

Background

A long-standing client of AAG referred a family to our services as they were experiencing a challenging time in their lives: their parent required aged care as a result of a medical condition. The children were struggling to navigate an unfamiliar financial situation, compounded by feelings of emotion and significant stress. Misinformation in the media around financial advisory had made the family hesitant to engage a third party, but due to their friend’s positive recommendation they came to AAG for assistance.

Fortunately for the children, their parent had been proactive when planning for this stage of life and had already granted them Enduring Power of Attorney. While this legal agreement was a helpful starting point, the family lacked understanding of what was required to transition their parent into aged care including navigating Centrelink and being familiar with aged care industry regulations and processes.

Their parent also owns a diversified portfolio of property, shares, term deposits and cash, which required expert financial management.

The family were feeling overwhelmed with the multitude of rules, regulations and paperwork and could not make sense of their next steps.

AAG in Action

After meeting with AAG and talking through the various factors at play, an action plan was formed and following this the family felt confident that they would be expertly supported throughout the process. Our action plan included the following steps

1. Completing and submitting complex Centrelink aged care forms;
2. Selecting the optimal aged care fees package based on their parent’s specific needs;
3. Constructing a detailed cash flow budget identifying income streams available and expenses for the next 12 months. This provided the children with a full picture of their parent’s financial world – including anticipated aged care expenses – and how they would be funded from various sources of income from their investments;
4. Dealing with all medical bills and private health insurance claims;
5. Consolidating bank accounts from multiple institutions into one account in their parent’s name, ensuring both children held equal signing authority;
6. Dealings with various property managers including confirmation of all lease details, income and expenses, and arranging for everything to be transacted through the new bank account;
7. Transferring the mailing address for their parent’s bills over to AAG, with all bills managed and paid by our team on their behalf;
8. Setting up a share broking account, with all shares consolidated into one portfolio to make it easier to track dividends, share purchases and sales. This has also made it easier for completing tax returns at the end of the year;
9. Handling every component of their parent’s tax affairs including ongoing quarterly tax instalments, the end of year tax return and reviewing the tax effectiveness of the way things are being handled; and
10. Provision of a comprehensive monthly report showing all income and expenses, and updated asset and liability values where available.

Result

Before engaging AAG, the primary concerns for the family included the time required to handle the financial affairs of their parent, the complexities involved, and the need to look after their parent’s medical and emotional wellbeing – all while keeping up with their own families and busy day-to-day lives. There was also significant stress around affordability and the impact their situation would have on their sibling relationship: what if one was in a better position to financially support their parent, while the other sibling didn’t have the capacity to do so?

By engaging the expertise of our caring and professional team, our clients can sleep at night knowing the best possible care arrangements are in place. The plan that AAG tailored, executed and now oversees has been seamless. The benefits for our clients include

• A full and clear picture of their financial position;
• Being able to focus on their own families and jobs in the knowledge that AAG is expertly overviewing their parent’s financial affairs, including tax considerations and subsequent paperwork;
• Peace of mind in knowing that their parent’s best interests are in mind, with AAG managing all cash flow and ensuring aged all care and medical expenses will be met; and
• Reassurance that their parent will not be a financial burden, which may have otherwise impacted their relationship with each other and their own personal families.

Our journey with our new clients is continuing, with AAG’s Real Estate team getting set to manage their investment property portfolio – bringing all aspects of their financial matters under the AAG roof ensuring simplicity and ease of management.

Are you considering aged care requirements for yourself or a family member? We can help – contact the AAG team today on (08) 9227 6300 or email clientservices@ww2.austasiagroup.com to learn how we can make the process as stress-free as possible for you and your family.