Progressive Financial Solutions

We are excited to announce that Joe Formica, CFP has been shortlisted as a 2024 finalist for the National Aged Care Steps Aged Care Adviser of the Year Award. Joe, who has been providing Aged Care advice for over 20 years, believes that aged care advice is both deeply involved and highly rewarding. Joe brings passion, empathy, and patience when supporting clients through the emotional journey of entering a loved one into Aged Care. We would like to thank our clients for their ongoing support, and we look forward to working with you for many years to come. 

Great morning presenting and discussing our Aged Care services at a Networking breakfast at Aeralife Northpoint. With representatives from various Aged Care providers across Melbourne present, we discussed our unique and differentiated Aged Care offerring to our clients and the value of engaging in a specialist advisor while their loved ones’ reside in Aged Care. This included: ✅ Getting the right strategy and structure in place to fund for care and the importance of having this continually reviewed. ✅ Preserving their loved one’s assets while residing in care ✅ Initial and ongoing Centrelink updates to ensure their entitlements and fees reflect their current financial position ✅ The importance of liaising with the facility to ensure that we both have the residents best interest at heart ✅ How advice extends beyond the passing of a loved one. #AgedCare #financialplanning #financialadvice #LaterLifePlanning #Care

Aged Care Reforms - A Summary Last week, the government released the details of its proposed fee structure for aged care. The changes will take effect on 1 July 2025, with existing Aged Care residents and Home Care participants unaffected. The proposed legislation is believed to pass, as the opposition supports the fee structure. Why is the Government Doing this? To reduce the pressure on aged care on the budget by making wealthier retirees pay more for their aged care needs and to minimise the wait time for in-home care, which currently has a waitlist of 68,000 people. Residential Care - Accommodation Payment Changes 1 - Maximum Accommodation Price – The amount that can be charged without approval will increase from $550k to $750k a room 2 - Retention Amount – Facilities will retain 2% p.a. (for up to 5 years) of lump sum accommodation payment 3 - Daily Accommodation Payments and Daily Accommodation Contributions – will increase with indexation twice yearly. Residential Care - Ongoing Care Fee Changes 1 - Basic Daily Care Fee – will remain at 85 per cent of the Age Pension 2 - Means Tested Care Fee – will be renamed the ‘Non-Clinical care’ fee. The Non-Clinical Care Fee will be paid by those with more than $503,000 in assets or about $131,000 in income (or a combination). The maximum Non-Clinical Care Fee will be $101.16 per day and paid only for the first 4 years of care. This could equate to $36,923 pa with a maximum lifetime cap of $130,000 over four years, 3 - Hotelling Supplement of up to $12.55 per day will now be paid by residents with more than $238k in assets, $95,400 in income or a combination of both. 4 - No Changes to the assessment of the Family Home In-Home Care 1 - 8 levels of support (as compared to 4 now) 2 - Government Funding of up to $78,000 pa (as compared to $60,000 maximum now) 3 - There will be 3 categories of service Clinical Care (Nursing), Independence Support and Everyday Living Support. While Clinical care is funded by the government, independence and everyday living support will require residents to fund some of the costs.