It’s not binary
As we start on this series about planning for aged care, it is really important for you to understand that this is not a binary decision. Many clients tell me “my family knows what I want” and that would be the case if this was a binary choice between aging at home, and moving into aged care. It is not, it is actually so much more complex than that.
The decisions around aging and aged care are complex for a few reasons including -
Aging and loss of mental capacity is not predictable, it is not a straight line, it unfolds differently;
Loss of mental capacity is not just about ability to make decisions for yourself, but also ability to deal with things like applying for government services online, help doesn’t just start when a person is incompetent, it starts much earlier;
Aging and loss of physical capacity is not predictable, and won’t necessarily happen at the same rate as mental capacity declines; and
Loss of physical capacity can be quite sudden, a broken hip for instance can result in a sudden change in needs.
I could talk about so many other reasons but, let’s just look at the above issues. Depending on how each of these four issues plays out you will need different things at different stages, and it isn’t as simple as a total loss of capacity, or having 100% independence at any of these stages. Any attempt to reduce the possibilities to a set of categories is flawed from the start, as the categories will also be too simple, but in order to start planning and making some decisions it is necessary to start looking at some different categories of decision making.
For the next few weeks on Instagram I am going to be working through a variety of decisions that you would need to make, or be aware of, if downsizing is one of the possible outcomes in your aged care plan. As with everything on the above graph, there are a lot of little decisions that go into the big choice to downsize, and it is a difficult thing to do quickly.
If you would like to follow along as we discuss downsizing as an option then you should definitely be following on Instagram @janis.d.c and you should also make sure that you have joined the email list.
To come back to the original point of this article, the choices around aged care are not binary. They are complicated, they may change over time, and everyone may not agree on the best answer for you.
Timing issue
If the decision was binary then you could put it off “until you get there”. It is not binary. It is complicated. There are no absolutes, and you need to be willing to create a plan that allows for a range of possible issues and solutions. Each of the solutions takes time, and that is one of the main things we will be working through in this series on aged care is the types of decisions that need to be made, and the time that it takes to make those decisions.
It is not simple. This is why I don’t do simple documents. If you prepare a Power of Attorney with me you will also prepare other documents, documents that help you to consider the choices available to you now, while you have time and emotional energy, and documents that help you and your loved ones to make decisions later.
I know that this all seems like a lot, and I want to assure you that we would be working through it together. Also, my documents ask you questions in a way that steps you through the process.
Okay, I am ready to get started
If you are ready to get started on preparing your documents then you can head over to this page about Powers of Attorney to check out the price, and book in your initial consultation.
If you aren’t ready to get started yet then you could join the email list or follow me on social media while you think about it.
