One of the major mistakes that people make is assuming that because their financial situation is simple how hard can this be.

However, there are some people that really don’t need our help, usually the extremely rich or the extremely poor.

I had a woman call me once, who was a very intelligent woman, who had done a great deal of research on aged care for her parents, asked me what we do & how we charge, & she advised that her parents situation was simple they both needed care, they only had their home & $50K in the bank “how hard can this be” she advised she understood RAD’s & DAP’s & Means Tested Fees, & therefore didn’t need our help- No problems. Two years later called me asking why her parents had lost their pensions ($45,000pa at the time). I asked her how she went about funding her parents Accommodation. I explained the error she had made in paying for their Accommodation & her reply was “but I thought……”.

The problem was, she did a great deal of research about the fees in aged care, but she didn’t do enough, she also needed to research how the pension was affected. There is a great deal more that is NOT available on Government websites, than IS on the Government websites.

It is more about the application of the rules, not just knowing what the rules are, ie what are the traps & pitfalls to all aspects of someone’s financial situation not just the fees.

Sometimes it is the simplest financial situation that ends up being the most complex, especially when there are couples, & one of them is a Supported resident, whereas their financial situation is simple, the rules are very complex.