A widowed gentleman with no children had moved into a high quality care home because he no longer wanted to live on his own. He was ‘self-funding’ fees of over £4,000 a month and was concerned that he might run out of funds during his lifetime and be forced to move to a home of the local authority’s choosing which may not provide all the comforts he was currently enjoying.
Like many of those we help as part of our Later Life Financial Solutions, Mr H came to us for an entirely different reason: to discuss his annual tax return. As he was in his late 50s, the conversation turned to his plans for retirement – an area he had put on hold because it had become simply ‘too complicated to deal with’.
We received a call from a lady in her 70s who had discovered her husband had been receiving letters from HM Revenue & Customs for some time but he had not been opening them. He had been a Chartered Accountant in his working life, but he was now suffering the early signs of dementia and was no longer able to manage their financial affairs easily. His wife had never had to deal with the family’s finances and was living in a state of high anxiety about the mounting paperwork.
An elderly couple were referred to us by their son. They lived in a large and potentially valuable house. Like many in later life, they were ‘asset rich and cash poor’ and finding it increasingly difficult to get by. The house was in need of some repairs and they were also in need of home help, but were unlikely to have this funded by the local authority. They were adamant that they did not wish to move from the property and none of their family were able to support them financially.
We were approached by the family of an elderly, widowed lady who had moved into a residential home 3 years previously after developing various care needs. She was bed bound, doubly incontinent and unable to feed herself. At the time, she had been informed by the local authority and primary care trust that, while she qualified for a Registered Nursing Care Contribution of £108.70 per week towards her care fees, she was liable for all other costs – which amounted to over £3,000 a month.
