Volume 7 Edition 12 Financial Care Services Newsletter

Online at :Permalink: https://financialcareservices.com.au/newsletters/vol-7-ed-12/

Financial Care Services Newsletter by Christine Hopper
Independent aged care, retirement lifestyle and financial advice for seniors

Volume 7 Edition 12 – 22 December 2017

Christmas Greetings

As 2017 draws to a close the team at Financial Care Services thank you for your support in 2017.

We wish you all a very blessed Christmas and a happy and healthy 2018.

May this holiday season be a joyous and safe celebration for you and your family.

We look forward to working with you in 2018 to use your assets to finance an enjoyable retirement.

Read our festive season tips for maintaining good health and productive family relationships.

Financial Care Services ideas for surviving the festive season

Tips to to keep your family out of hospital emergency rooms

Tidy the house before the family arrive especially look for
• Medicine in bottles just ready to be sampled
• Pills in containers on the kitchen bench looking very like lollies
• Spare sleeping pills and painkillers in the bedside table draws, check the spare bedroom also
• Bleach, detergent and other bottles of cleaning liquids at floor level

Now look in the garage for mower fuels and other poisons.

Check the decorations and the electricity cables to them. Just one misstep could get your elders a fractured hip, a long hospital stay and direct entry to residential aged care.

Drink lots of water. Yes, that plain cheap clean tap water.
Plain water may be boring but the alternative of dehydration could get you beyond the hospital emergency rooms into a public ward for a few days attached to a drip.

Drinking water not more alcohol, could help maintain your balance. Just avoiding a minor trip could save your dignity and your longer term independence.

Keep the seniors cool and well rested. Prolonged standing and/or long walks in the heat can increase your risk of stroke and thus a speedy entry to residential aged care.

Watch those beautiful lighted candles and all of their little admirers. Extinguish the flames totally if no responsible adult is staying focused on the candles. Keep the matches out of reach of all junior pyro technicians.

Confine the cat to its enclosure or sleeping room. The feline does not need to sample the prawns or the cream before lunch. A kitten could climb to the star and entertain your guests with a swaying tree. For real chaos, kitty’s weight might be enough topple the tree on to the lighted candles or even the whole lunch table.

The canines could all rest well away from the seniors. Dogs can be distressed by the noise of fireworks in the neighbourhood or the minor surprise sounds of celebrations. A sudden fast response from a canine could knock down a senior or small child, requiring a prompt first aider response.

Review the personal support and accommodation needs of all seniors.

If your elders appear more fragile or more stressed than last summer, start applying for additional support. An ACAS Assessment early in 2018 could generate an entitlement to a ‘Help to Stay at Home’ package. A little practical help might allow them to stay safe and secure at home for another year.

Access to Respite Care in an aged care facility could also be available. The Respite Care allowance could be held in reserve for when the younger generation are away on holiday or otherwise unavailable to help.

The ACAS assessment process could reveal that the seniors are not coping well at home; they might just be good at covering up their frailty.
Memory problems and declining decision making skills make living alone more hazardous.

Ask Christine at Financial Care Services for financial advice about aged care entry before selecting a placement.
The aged care marketing team might gloss over the full costs of good accommodation and any Additional Charges when selling you the benefits of their facility.

Remember that Melbourne has more aged care beds available than frail seniors wanting immediate entry to permanent residential aged care. Other States have more balanced numbers of vacant beds and potential aged care residents.

Take active steps to minimise family friction and overall legal fees

Appoint a person that you trust as your Enduring Power of Attorney now while you are young and fit. The alternative is to have VCAT appoint a relative or the Public Trustee, as your financial administrator when you are incapable of making sound decisions.

Update your Will and tell your family where to find your Will.

Does your Will allow for your home to be sold to pay for residential aged care? Problems arise if selling your home substantially reduces someone’s share of your estate. The ‘loser’ might want the home retained despite the aged care cash flow challenges.

If your assets are not to be divided equally between all of your children then include a note as to why you chose another allocation. Please remember to review your Will if you dispose of a specified asset or gift a substantial amount.

Finally enjoy the company of your family

Building good relationships now could ease the tensions in family discussions about residential aged care.

Holiday opening

Financial Care Services will not be ‘closing for the holidays’; we are just not taking calls on Christmas Day.
Our telephone message and email accounts will be checked regularly because we understand that seniors have challenges all through the year.
Our aim is to call you back on the next business day if we do miss your call.
Christine will be available for consultations with seniors and families during January.

You are welcome to contact Financial Care Services for help with financing any seniors in transition.
If you would like further confidential, independent and professional advice about DVA, Centrelink, lifestyle or financial advice, please contact Christine Hopper (03) 9808 0338.

Your feedback please

Satisfied clients are our greatest ‘advertisement’. Our clients regularly provide wonderful verbal reviews, but we also welcome written reviews and if you would like to share your thoughts, please visit our Reviews page. Please tell us and other families how Christine at Financial Care Services helped you through the challenges of aged care entry.

Other seniors want to know that you were guided through the wonders of Centrelink Pensions and retirement village or aged care entry.

_______________________________

Financial Care Services

Christine Hopper
Financial Care Services Pty Ltd
Independent aged care, lifestyle and financial advice for seniors in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Australian Financial Services Licence Number
299570 (check this at www.search.asic.gov.au/fsr/flb.html)
Authorised Representative Number 252529 (check this at www.search.asic.gov.au/fsr/far.html)

Telephone – call +61 3 9808 0338
Email – contact info@financialcareservices.com.au
Address – mail to 172 Warrigal Road, Camberwell Victoria 3124
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Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter is of a general nature only and does not constitute “financial advice”. You should obtain your own personal financial advice before investing any money or moving in to any retirement village, lifestyle community or aged care facility. Financial Care Services is licensed to provide financial advice to individual clients based on their personal situations.

All eligibility for Commonwealth benefits will be determined by Centrelink or DVA, based on your personal position as documented and the legislation and Regulations in force at that time.