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Home Care Package Information

This article provides useful Home Care Package information. It also has our unique “Wealth Savings Calculator”. The calculator will help you determine if getting financial advice will be of financial benefit.

Home Care Packages (HCP) are the main way that older Australians can access affordable care services for help in their home. HCPs are designed for those with more complex care needs that go beyond what the Commonwealth Home Support Program can provide.

HCP can be an option if you need a coordinated approach to the delivery of your help at your home – perhaps because you need help with many everyday tasks, or the care you need is more complex or intensive.

The Aged Care Act 1997 is the main legislation that covers government-funded Home Care Packages. The government’s My Aged Care department should be your first contact point. Their website has lots of helpful information on HCP and HCP providers.

Information on the steps to follow for getting a Home Care Package.

While the process of getting a HCP can be time-consuming and stressful, the actual steps are not difficult:

1. Contact My Aged Care.
2. Get an ACAT assessment (ACAS in Victoria).
3. Apply for a HCP
4. When notified that your HCP funding has been approved, find an accredited HCP provider.
5. Advise the govt. that you have selected a HCP provider and will accept the HCP.

6. Develop a care package program and budget with your HCP provider.

Level 1 and 2 packages usually take a month or more to be approved. Levels 3 and 4 packages can take up to 2 years! Don’t put off starting the HCP process in the belief that when you need it, it will be approved in a few weeks.

Information on the available Home Care Packages.

There are 4 home care package levels:

• Level I provides for basic care needs with about 5 hours of help per fortnight. The package value is currently about $8,500 pa.
• Level 2 provides for low-level care needs with about 9 hours of help per fortnight. The package value is currently about $15,000 pa.
• Level 3 provides for intermediate care needs with about 19 hours of help per fortnight. The package value is currently about $33,000 pa.

• Level 4provides for high level care needs with about 29 hours of help per fortnight. The package value is about $51,000 pa.

Word of mouth opinions on HCP providers can be useful. However, your care needs and financial situation might not be identical to the person giving an opinion. Therefore, you should research HCP providers before making your choice.

What is your current financial situation?

If you are applying for or already have a HCP, now would be a good time to consider your financial situation. Many people choose the Do-It-Yourself option (DIY) at this time. They simply keep doing whatever they’ve been doing financially. But there are good news/bad news elements to this.

The good news is that almost anyone can complete the HCP steps. The bad news is that there are critical elements which often gets put in the too hard basket – the financial elements.

The bad news is that doing the entire HCP process yourself almost certainly guarantees a lesser financial result when compared with including financial advice from a specialist in this field.

Use our Wealth Savings Calculator to get an estimate of how much wealth our advice could save you.

The calculator compares the yearly wealth results of your DIY scenario with the results of our advice scenario.

Here are the calculator’s assumed details used in both scenarios:

• Relationship = Single.
• Investment Risk = You do not want to take any investment risks.
• Bank wealth earning rate average = 1.00% pa.
• Future investing = You will keep all remaining wealth in the bank.

To use the calculator, simply make two selections and that is it!

If your calculated wealth savings is an amount that is meaningful to you, you should take one more step – contact us. We’ll answer questions about us as well as your question about Home Care Package. We’ll also gather information to prepare a more exact and a more detailed report.

Your report will include not just the values shown in this table, but also other calculations plus other helpful non-calculation information (for example, starting pension, a breakdown of starting care fees).

Your report won’t cost you anything except some time on the phone. It will be emailed to you within 48 hours of you providing the info needed for your report.

The report will show you the value that our financial advice will add to your DIY scenario. We’ll do a follow-up call to explain the report contents and answer any further questions. At that time, we’ll quote you a price for our advice. The price will depend on the complexity of your situation and the time it will take us if you want to proceed. You’ll then be in a position to decide if our advice is value for money.

You will be under no obligation to get financial advice from us.

The bottom line is that our free help service will result in you being able to make aged care decisions from a more informed point of view.

We do not require face-to-face meetings in order to provide you with AWESOME tele help or personal financial advice. Therefore, it doesn’t matter where you live in Australia. We encourage you to take the next step and contact us for your free report. Contact details are available in the “Contact us” section of this website or via the calculator results.

Retirement Villages, Lifestyle Villages, and Land Lease Communities Information

This article provides useful information about Retirement Villages, Lifestyle Villages, and Land Lease Communities. In this article, they will collectively be called “Villages”.

This article also has our unique “Wealth Savings Calculator”. The calculator will help you determine if getting financial advice will be of financial benefit.

These Villages are a popular form of retirement living throughout Australia. They offer many positives, including the chance to downsize, make new friends, and to be part of a positive, active retirement environment.

Retirement villages are governed by retirement villages legislation. For example, in Queensland, the retirement villages legislation includes the Retirement Villages Act 1999.

Lifestyle villages and Land Lease Communities are usually governed by the same legislation that applies to mobile home and caravan park residents – legislation that is more closely aligned with a tenancy agreement.

The steps to follow to get into a Village are not difficult:

1. Find a suitable Village and choose a home unit or dwelling.
2. Decide how to pay for the costs.
3. Sign a resident agreement.

4. Move in.

These Villages can have complex arrangements. You should be very clear on what type of village you are considering.

You should also be very clear on the entry amount you pay to live there, the on-going fees, the exit entitlement when you leave, and also when you will get your exit entitlement. You may have to pay on-going costs for a period of time after you exit the village. These details must be provided to you before you sign an agreement to reside in the village.

Village staff will help you understand information for both the village and the specific dwelling that you have chosen.

If you are considering a move into one of these villages, now would be a good time to consider your financial situation.

If moving into one of these villages, there may be implications for your aged pension entitlement or Home Care Package fees.

Consideration should also be given to possible future events such as the need to move into aged care.  For example, how would you pay the aged care accommodation cost? What about the on-going aged care fees. What if you have a partner who will stay in your village residence? What will this mean financially?

At times like this, it is tempting to choose the Do-It-Yourself option (DIY) and simply keep doing whatever has been done financially.

But there are good news/bad news elements to this.

The good news is that anyone can complete the step to move into one of these villages.

The bad news is that doing this yourself almost certainly guarantees a lesser financial result when compared with including financial advice from a specialist in this field.

Use our calculator to get an estimate of how much wealth we could save you.

Our calculator compares the yearly wealth results of your DIY scenario with the results of our advice scenario.

Our wealth savings calculator has been designed to limit the amount of information you must enter. This makes the calculator quicker and simpler to use. With fewer information inputs, the results will be a good wealth savings estimate. If you would like more accurate calculations, simply contact us as explained later in this information.

• Relationship = Single.

• Investment Risk = You do not want to take any investment risks.
• Bank wealth earning rate average = 1.00% pa.
• Future investing = You will keep all remaining wealth in the bank.
• Care Fees = Nil.

To use the calculator, simply make three selections and that is it!

If your calculated wealth savings is an amount that is meaningful to you, you should take one more step and contact us. We’ll answer questions about us as well as your financial advice related questions about these villages. We’ll also gather information to prepare a more exact and a more detailed report.

Your report will include not just the values shown in this table, but also other calculations (for example, starting pension, a breakdown of any home care package fees), and plus other helpful non-calculation information

Your report won’t cost you anything except some time on the phone. It will be emailed to you within 48 hours of you providing the info needed for your report.

The report will show you the value that our financial advice will add to your DIY scenario. We’ll do a follow-up call to explain the report contents and answer any further questions. At that time, we’ll quote you a price for our advice. The price will depend on the complexity of your situation and the time it will take us if you want to proceed. You’ll then be in a position to decide if our advice is value for money.

You will be under no obligation to get financial advice from us.

The bottom line is that our free help service will result in you being able to make village choice decisions from a more informed point of view.

We do not require face-to-face meetings in order to provide you with AWESOME tele help or personal financial advice. Therefore, it doesn’t matter where you live in Australia. We encourage you to take the next step and contact us for your free report. Contact details are available in the “Contact us” section of this website or via the calculator results when they are displayed.