Volume 8 Edition 2 Financial Care Services Newsletter

Online at :Permalink: https://financialcareservices.com.au/vol-8-ed-2/

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

Volume 8 Edition 2 – 28 February 2018

Aged Care financing changed in 2014 please use the new terminology

July 2014 was the starting date for a new style of cost sharing for Commonwealth subsidized aged care. The new style of cost sharing came with a new set of labels for aged care charges. The Commonwealth regulator is asking that all aged care participants use the correct terminology please.

New residents now agree to Accommodation Room Prices and pay Refundable Accommodation Deposits. New residents with limited resources are “Low Means Residents”. Only seniors who entered permanent care before July 2014 have “Bonds” or “Supported Resident” status.

An explanation of the new correct terminology is available.

Call Christine at Financial Care Services for help regarding your family member’s entry to residential aged care. Christine understands the current system of residential aged care Prices, fees and charges. She can illustrate the actual cost of having your family member in care.
Call Christine on 03 9808 0338 to arrange an appointment.

Financial Care Services your specialist aged care financial adviser

Financing residential aged care is complex; if you sell the former home to pay a Refundable Accommodation Deposit, the aged care resident’s Age Pension or ISS from DVA, might be reduced but if you lease the house the ongoing Pension plus the rent might not be enough to cover the daily fees.

Christine can help you understand the level of aged care accommodation price that your family member can afford. In practice, the accommodation price does not always reflect the quality of the place and the care offered. Specialist aged care financial advice before committing to an aged care place can save you money and later stress. Call Christine now on 03 98080338 to start your aged care advice.

Independent aged care financial advice services

Financial Care Services is an independent financial advisory service specialising in retirees of modest means and aged care entrants. Our core values of working with clients in their lifetime financial planning supports claiming DVA and Centrelink entitlements. Financial Care Services charges fees based on the work involved in advising you about pensions and aged care financial solutions.

Christine at Financial Care Services understands both the DVA and Centrelink Pensions systems and the Commonwealth aged care fee arrangements.
A consultation with Financial Care Services helps you understand your potential retirement living and aged care costs together with the DVA and Centrelink implications of rearranging your assets or selling the former home.

Call Christine on 03 9808 0338 to make an appointment for a consultation.

Financial Care Services does not base fees on the value of your assets nor do we accept any commissions or payments from other service providers. Christine also helps clients complete the Centrelink paperwork for aged care entry. She can read the Resident Agreement with you to help you understand your aged care commitments.

Why an Age Pension

Australia has an Age Pension ensure that all citizens have the financial resources for at least a frugal standard of living when they are “too old” to earn enough to live on. Thus the Age Pension is provided by the Australian taxpayer for people who would otherwise be really poor; homeless and without adequate food.

Australian social security provides a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens. The Age Pension is a means tested social security benefit for long term Australian permanent residents who have few other resources. We do not earn an Age Pension entitlement by paying our taxes during our working lives. Superannuation is our taxpayer assisted reward for our years of work and contributions to the community coffers.

Age Pension Age

Age Pension Age – the community expectation of when you are “too old” to earn enough for your most basic needs. Your Age Pension Age is the minimum age that you could be eligible for an Age Pension.

When the Age Pension was introduced early last century, men were lucky to live to attain the Age Pension Age of 65 years. Back then the Age Pension provided a minimal income for their twilight years. The original system allowed for women to start an Age Pension at 60 years. The different Age Pension Ages for men and women would have allowed for both members of a typical married couple to start an Age Pension as soon as the husband retired on his sixty fifth birthday. Remember that back then before homes had any “whitegoods”, most wives worked within the home.

Widows and other single women could be eligible for the Age Pension at the female Age Pension Age of sixty years. These women often carried the double load of housekeeping for elderly parents and earning a wage to pay their own living costs. Even in the 1950’s women, both homemakers and employed women, did lots of physical work of scrubbing, sweeping and laundry. Even office work involved manual typewriters and comptometers together with the carbon papers and messy duplicators.

The Age Pension Age for women increased gradually in response to general improvements in community health and the move towards equality. The first increase in the Age Pension Age for women applied from July 1995. Regular increases in the Age Pension Age for females of six months every two years moved the Age Pension Age up by five years.

Women born before July 1935 had an Age Pension Age of sixty years. The first women impacted by the increase in the female Age Pension Age were those born in July 1935. The last women to have earlier access to the Age Pension earlier than men were the women born in 1948. These women had an Age Pension Age of 64 years 6 months. Women born after 1948 have the same Age Pension Age as men.

In January 2014 ‘equality’ was achieved with an Age Pension Age of 65 years for both men and women.

As a community we are healthier for longer thereby extending the period that we are fit to work for a living. Hence the Age Pension Age is rising

Men and women born before July 1952 could apply for an Age Pension at age 65 years. But for people born in the second half of 1952 or in anytime in 1953, the Age Pension Age will be 65 years and 6 months.

In practice, no seniors attained their Age Pension Age in the period July to December 2017. But in January 2018, the seniors born in July 1952 reached their Age Pension Age of 65 years and 6 months and could apply for the Age Pension.

The next increase in Age Pension Age is for seniors born in 1954 and the first half of 1955. For this group of birthdays, the Age Pension Age will be sixty six years.

Two more increases in the Age Pension Age have already been legislated. For seniors born in the period July 1955 to December 1956, the Age Pension Age will be 66 years and 6 months. People born after 1956 can expect an Age Pension Age of at least 67 years.

Further increases in Age Pension Age

The general health of the community is still improving. We are living longer and staying fit enough to work for much longer than our grandparents could. Therefore as a community, we are deferring our retirement a little. The Commonwealth parliament could legislate for more small increases in the Australian Age Pension Age.

The Age Pension Age might continue to increase to 70 years for today’s youth. Other economically advanced countries are considering raising their minimum age for an equivalent social security pension to reflect increases in life expectancies. Some European countries have already legislated for moving the minimum age for state retirement benefits to age 68 years.

But what if I cannot keep on working until my Age Pension Age

If you find yourself out of work before Age Pension Age you might be eligible for a NewStart Allowance from Centrelink. NewStart recipients must engage in Centrelink approved work related activities. For example, as a senior you could apply for jobs, work part time or as a causal. Some older NewStart recipients could participate in voluntary services in their community. Every fortnight NewStart recipients must tell Centrelink what they have earned and what they have been doing workwise.

The NewStart Income Test starts to reduce your payment rate once your income reaches $104 per fortnight. But overall you could be better off taking any available casual work and receiving a lower NewStart payment.

NewStart has a liquid assets test. Your NewStart Allowance could be deferred if are single and have at least $5,500 of money available immediately.
Your NewStart payments could also be deferred if you were paid a lump sum in respect of accrued annual leave or long service leave.
If your health is impacting your working ability you could ask for a ‘sickness’ exemption from job seeking for your NewStart Allowance.

If you are really incapacitated for working fifteen hours per week at minimum pay rates then you could apply for the Disability Support Pension, “DSP”. Centrelink assess your capacity for work based on a points system. DSP is paid at the same rates and subject to the same means testing as the Age Pension. Read more about DSP

But if you are ‘legally blind’ then you can have the full rate of DSP or Age Pension without any financial means testing. Read more about claiming the Centrelink Blind Pension.

Estimating your potential Age Pension rate

The full rate of Age Pension allows for a very modest standard of living if you own your own home. You would not get the full rate of Age Pension if you have other assets or income. To estimate how much Age Pension you could get you need to apply the Asset Test and the Income Test to your personal situation.

You could use the Centrelink Pension Estimator provided that you understood the income and asset definitions.

The less stressful option is to arrange a Short ‘personal financial factual information’ Consultation with Christine at Financial Care Services. Christine is experienced with Centrelink Pension Applications and the many Centrelink financial means tests.

Financial Care Services offers Short Consultations for ‘personal financial factual information’ to help you check your financial position against the means tests for an Age Pension or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.

You can start the by emailing for the Financial Care Services Financial Services Guide and Age Pension Data form.
The fee for a Short Consultation 45 minutes in person or by telephone and/or email for ‘personal financial factual information’ is $99.

Christine could also assist you with collating your personal data, estimating how much Pension or Carer Payment you could expect to receive and completing the Centrelink forms for you to sign. Normal hourly rate consultation fees apply for assistance with personal data collation, completing Centrelink forms and attendance at a Centrelink office with you.

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.

To arrange an appointment for further confidential, independent and professional advice about DVA, Centrelink, lifestyle or financial issues please contact Christine Hopper 03 9808 0338.

_______________________________

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)

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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.