When an older person needs aged care, decisions are often made quickly.
Families may be stressed and worried, and the financial choices involved can have long-term consequences that are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to undo.
Yet many Australians are navigating aged care with incomplete, confusing, or simply wrong information.
Decisions may look deceptively simple
Australia's aged care system is complex. Fees, contributions, pensions, the family home, estate planning and cashflow are all interconnected.
On the surface, it can feel like you're choosing between a few payment options or financial decisions. In reality, small decisions can affect:
- How much you pay for care over time
- Whether you keep or sell the family home
- Pension entitlements
- The financial security of a spouse
- What's ultimately left as an inheritance for the family.
These are some of the biggest financial decisions many people will ever make, and they may be forced to make them during a crisis. Paying for help at this time is crucial.
Information isn't the same as advice
Many families rely on information from government agencies, aged care providers, placement services, or other well-meaning services. These people mean well. But information is not the same as advice. And not everyone has the expertise to help you.
Information tells you how the system works. Advice looks at your actual situation (your income, your home, your objectives) and helps you to decide what makes sense for you. Advice also looks beyond the immediate issues to consider your whole situation and how this may change over time.
The problem is that the line between the two can become blurred. Families may not realise when guidance has crossed into advice, or that the person providing it may not be licensed or accountable for the outcome.
The risk of unlicensed aged care advice
Unlicensed aged care advice may sound confident and reassuring, but it comes with real risks. Unlike licensed advisers, unregulated providers aren't required to:
- Act in your best interests
- Hold professional qualifications specific to financial advice
- Carry professional indemnity insurance
- Belong to an external complaints authority, or
- Be accountable for the advice they give.
If something goes wrong, the consequences can be serious and you may have nowhere to turn. We've worked with families who have:
- Sold the family home unnecessarily
- Paid higher aged care fees than required
- Missed out on Centrelink entitlements
- Locked themselves into poor long-term outcomes
- Had to untangle decisions made in a rush
- Created legal disputes within the family.
These mistakes are rarely obvious at the start and may only become clear months or years later.
What licensed aged care advisers do differently.
Licensed aged care advisers operate under an Australian Financial Services Licence. That matters because it brings important consumer protections with it.
A licensed adviser must:
- Act in your best interests
- Meet strict education and professional standards
- Hold insurance that protects you if something goes wrong
- Belong to an independent complaints scheme to help you resolve issues
- Be accountable for the advice they provide.
Importantly, licensed advisers are required to consider how aged care decisions interact with pensions, tax, estate planning, cash flow and future care needs.
It's the bigger picture that is so important.
Having an experienced adviser in your corner means you're not navigating the system alone. Professional advice does cost money. But what you're paying for is someone who can steer you calmly through the complexities when you're overwhelmed and help you avoid expensive mistakes.
Need help with aged care decisions?
If you're feeling overwhelmed, unsure, or worried about getting it wrong, you don't have to navigate aged care alone.
We offer licensed and specialist aged care advice, to help you make the right choices. If you'd like to talk through your situation or understand your next steps, please call our office today on 08 8223 6880 to arrange a time to discuss your situation or book an appointment on our website at: www.agedcarefinancialspecialist.com.au.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Denise Kipling (ARN 235861) is an Authorised Representative of Financial Success SA Pty Ltd (ACN 105 603 058) ATF the Financial Success Trust ABN 68 114 614 838 t/as Financial Success specialising in Aged Care Financial Advice is a Corporate Authorised Representative No 235520 of InterPrac Financial Planning Pty Ltd AFSL 246638 ABN 14 076 093 680. The advice contained in this document is of a general nature and has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on the advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs; obtain a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) relating to that product and consider the contents of the PDS and seek financial advice. No responsibility is taken for persons acting on the information within this document. Persons doing so, do at their own risk.