Moving to a retirement village or aged care facility can  have a positive effect on your health and improve your retirement lifestyle.

Selling your home to move to accommodation that’s easier to maintain and suits your circumstances can be a good lifestyle choice.   It can give you money to invest in your retirement and provide you with more income for your future.

The decision to sell your home can be challenging, and there are usually many financial, practical and emotional factors to consider.  It is important to have the right information when considering whether or not to sell your home, and advice from a Financial Adviser can assist you to make the most of your opportunities so you’ll be comfortable later in life?

What are the accommodations options available to you during your more senior years?

There is a common misconception that retirement villages are the same as residential aged care facilities (sometimes also referred to as nursing homes). This stems from the belief that they both accommodate the elderly who require a high level of personal assistance and care. This is not the case.

From the outside, retirement villages and residential aged care facilities/nursing homes can look similar in that they both can accommodate older people, have communal facilities, and are generally located on large landscaped grounds.

But retirement villages and nursing homes are designed for different stages of life, and different people.

Retirement village residents live independently in residential, multi-unit complexes designed for people aged 55 years or older with a range of health, leisure and support services.

Residential aged care facilities offer residents supported living for those people who need daily personal assistance and cannot live alone.

Palliative care is specialised care and support provided for the terminally ill, their carers and their families, especially that provided by an organised (public or private) health service.

Some aged care facilities may be able to provide such specialised health-care services, whereas others may not, thereby requiring that the elderly person be moved to a more appropriate facility. Please inquire before signing any contracts with your provider, if this is a major (longer term) consideration for you.

Since 2005, Palliative Care Australia has been working to implement the Guidelines for a Palliative Approach in Residential Aged Care. These Guidelines were first launched by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing in 2004 and approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council in December 2005.

You may wish to ask further questions of your provider regarding their adherence to these Guidelines, if this is appropriate to your circumstances.

For more information, see the Australian Government – Dept of Health website and the Caresearch website.

Please use our Business Directory Search facility to find ‘Financial Planners‘, or ‘Property Valuers‘  in your local area.

Families are often overwhelmed by the enormous task of assisting family members to move from the family home into a Retirement Village or Residential Aged Care Facility.  This is especially applicable for those family members who live long distances away, or whose commitments leave them with little time to assist with such work.

Seniors Relocation Services are businesses that will manage your move from start to finish to ensure a smooth transition.  They provide a wide range of services including the initial planning stage, preparing the home for sale or rental, the sorting, packing and unpacking, through to cancelling utilities and relocating the family pet.

For further information, please see the section on Removals and Storage on our website for further information.

Please use our Business Directory Search facility to find ‘Seniors Relocation Services‘ and ‘Removals and Storage‘ providers in your local area.