What is later life planning?
Thanks to advances in medicine, many of us are living longer, healthier lives. Our increased life expectancy has many benefits. We have more time to spend with our loved ones and explore our hobbies, but it also makes later life planning even more important.
It is likely in our later years we’ll require some form of care, whether this is care in the home or residential care such as a nursing home or retirement village. This care can be expensive and if you haven’t planned for this cost, it can be an extremely stressful time for you and your family.
At Francis Clark Financial Planning, we can help reduce the stress by building a financial strategy that ensures your future needs and wellbeing are planned for.
What does later life financial planning involve?
Later life planning is all about preparation. Our financial planners use a variety of methods to help you plan for later life:
Lifetime cash flow planning
Lifetime financial forecasting (also known as cash flow planning) will project your existing assets and income together with your current and future expenditure and liabilities.
This helps to give you a clear idea of your financial situation so you can understand if you’re saving enough towards your retirement including potential care fees in later life and how much you should be aiming to save. All too often the cost of long term care has not been planned for when people consider their retirement plans.
How to pay for long-term care
Our financial planners can help you plan for the possibility of needing long-term care in the future.
By understanding the potential costs associated with long-term care and building it into your financial forecast, we can work out if you are on track to meet your retirement goals, whilst planning for the cost of long term care. If you’re not, our financial planners will help evaluate what changes can be made to help you achieve your goals and maintain your quality of life.
This can involve looking at investment planning to make sure you have sufficient savings to fund your care, personal protection to make sure there is sufficient money to pay for a loved one’s care and more so that you are fully informed on how you can prepare for the future.
What is a care needs annuity?
To help cap the total cost of care fees, a care needs annuity may be purchased. This will provide a regular income in exchange for an upfront investment. This regular income can be used towards long-term care so that you don’t have to go through unnecessary turmoil trying to find the money in future.
There are different types of annuities and our financial planners will be able to advise you on the details to help you decide if it is the best route for you.
What other sources of funding are available?
In your later life, there are many protections and obligations put in place by your local government, the NHS and the State to make sure you are receiving high-quality care.
Our financial planners will help you understand the obligations the authorities have towards you and how these can be properly utilised to plan for later life. We can adjust your financial plans to dovetail any financial support you may receive from outside sources.
What if I need support with later life planning for a family member?
It can be an incredibly difficult time when a family member unexpectedly needs care. We can work with families and legal teams to provide strategies for those who need immediate care.
Contact Francis Clark Financial Planning about later life planning
If you have more questions about how you could benefit from later life planning, or you’re ready to take those first steps, a member of the Francis Clark Financial Planning team will be more than happy to talk. You can contact us on weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm on 0800 832 1785 or email us at [email protected] anytime.
We can meet with you in person or online. We can come to your home or place of work or you are welcome to visit us at one of our offices across the South West of England. Visit our contact page to find out more about our offices and where we’re located.
