A Beginner’s Guide to Estate Planning and Aged Care

Many modern Australian families are experiencing increasing complexity, making strategic estate planning more critical than ever. Australians are also living longer than ever before, so aged care planning has grown in importance too. A customised estate plan should be based on your wants and goals, as well as your family’s unique situation.

The best plan considers everything essential and focuses on the needs of you and your family members. While general strategists can help develop a customised plan, you may want to consult a professional to make sure you have covered everything of importance. If you want to learn more about this, we’ve got just the article for you.

Estate Planning and Aged Care

Focus on Wealth Management

One strategy for tackling your estate planning is to put all of your financial assets under one financial manager to achieve your goals. Not only does this reduce fees from managing multiple accounts and make it simple for you to manage during your life, but it also makes it simple for your executor to manage the distribution of your assets upon your death. The financial advisers at Central Coast Financial Planning Group utilise the best of today’s wealth management tools to set goals and track your investments.

Protect Your Assets

Since life is unpredictable, it is crucial to plan for protecting your income and assets. It’s not possible to exactly predict what your financial future will hold, but there are many strategies you can use to reduce your risk. For example, the way you structure your investments and your retirement savings can significantly reduce your risk, help you achieve your goals, and help you continue to maintain the standard of living to which you’ve become accustomed.

The other element of this is personal insurance. A customised combination of insurance, including Life, Total and Permanent Disability (TPD), Trauma (or Critical Illness), and Income Protection can minimise the financial impact on you (and your family) if ever a claim should be made.

Minimise Your Tax Burden

Estate planning is key to minimising the taxes your beneficiaries will pay upon your death. While there are many effective strategies for minimising taxes, building an estate plan based on a trust is most effective. A trust allows you to protect your assets in case of bankruptcy or divorce and provide for dependent children. It also ensures that your children will get your assets if your surviving spouse agrees to remarry.

The second strategy is to seek legal advice from a solicitor specialising in estate planning. The costs and benefits of an estate plan can vary widely from person to person, so it’s important to get personalised advice – just like your financial plan. Otherwise, your estate could see tax disadvantages with substantial capital losses.

Make Your Aged Care Wishes Known

There may come a time when you are no longer able to care for yourself at home. Unfortunately, this can commonly be due to a serious illness or injury in your later years. In situations where you can no longer make decisions for yourself, your family or next of kin will typically be responsible for making decisions about your aged care. To help them in this situation, it is best to express your wishes in a care directive.

Your solicitor can assist you with an Advance Health Care Directive should you become incapacitated or otherwise unable to make medical choices for yourself. Your medical treatment options and how your body is treated might be specified in the event of an accident. An Advance Care Directive will make it easier for your loved ones and health staff if they need to make decisions for you.

Alternatively, if you have a close family member or friend who you trust to make these decisions for you, they can be appointed as your Enduring Guardian.

It’s important to note that these instructions will not only apply in your golden years but from the time your Will becomes valid.

Plan For Future… and Your Family

We hope this article proves to be helpful when it comes to making estate planning and aged care easier for you. While it may seem rather daunting, it’s not something that you won’t be able to accomplish as long as you know what you’re doing. Be sure to keep everything we’ve discussed here in mind to make the most informed decisions regarding your long-term finances.

Central Coast Financial Planning Group provides quality services for estate planning and aged care. We understand the different needs of our clients, so our solutions will ensure that you’ll live a hassle-free retirement while making the most out of your circumstances.

Call us or book online to secure your first meeting with our advice team today!

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author; they are not reflective or indicative of RI Advice Group’s position and are not to be attributed to RI Advice Group. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the author. This information (including taxation) is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances or needs. Do not act until you seek professional advice. Newcastle Financial Planning Group, Central Coast Financial Planning Group, Sydney Wealth Advisers, Coastal Advice Port Macquarie and Coastal Advice Ballina Byron are subsidiaries of Coastal Advice Group Pty Ltd which is a Corporate Authorised Representative of RI Advice Group Pty Ltd, ABN 23 001 774 125 AFSL 238429.