Investment advice for Residential Home Fees.

Biggles

sloughflint wrote: »

I found them quite unhelpful in this respect unwilling to provide ballpark figures due to being individualised (ie based on medical facts on individuals).

Their website gives a few examples.

But the actual quotes will, as you say, rely on the medical condition of the person concerned, and the three insurance firms involved seem to treat the very same condition very differently when it comes to their price. It's not all all unknown for the highest firm to price the same person at twice the premium of the lowest firm.

I guess that makes NHFA wary when it comes to ballpark figures.

Bess09

sloughflint wrote: »

Bess09, I hope you keep this thread updated with your findings as you learn. It would be very useful for people in a similar position to yourself.

Thankyou Biggles, I will. Bess.

Bess09

Just updating in case anyone's interested:
Have an appointment with my mother's HSBC bank next week, as EdInvestor mentioned that they now deal with Care Home Annuities. Have found details of another IFA to speak to. Will be a while I think before info comes back, but I'll let you know.
I found out that not all of the 15 residents in the home are self funding, so taking the number that are from the number that have arranged POA, this could explain why no one there has a CHA?

Bess09

In case anyone's interested I thought I would tell you what I have done. I have just bought an annuity for £89,000 and now have to decide what to do with the rest of the money. I have received advice from the IFA I had to use to buy the annuity and will probably follow one of the suggestions he makes. The IFA's fee for arranging the annuity is £3,500, he is being paid on commission, by the annuity company, but of course my mother is paying indirectly. This I think is a pity, that the annuities can only be bought through an IFA and not directly. Rather a closed shop I think.

One option I was given by her bank is to invest the rest is in equities. The fee for that is 5% to set it up and another 1.9%pa to administer the fund. So just to join that club will cost another £3,500. That's £7,000 of Mum's money gone in fees already, before the admin costs. It's just as well she doesn't know what is going on, she would be appalled.

If anyone has any ideas for investing about £70,000 I'd be very pleased to read what might be suggested. We can add another £ 12,000 to that next year but don't want to tie it up for very long.

dunstonh

The IFA's fee for arranging the annuity is £3,500, he is being paid on commission, by the annuity company, but of course my mother is paying indirectly. This I think is a pity, that the annuities can only be bought through an IFA and not directly. Rather a closed shop I think.

The commission is high, although its a more specialist area and that typically results in higher costs. However, you shouldnt think that going direct is cheaper. Those annuity providers that sell direct to public keep the commission for themselves that would have been paid to the IFA. So, it would be no cheaper. Indeed, it could be more expensive as many IFAs negotiate better terms or can haggle companies up in price which you wouldnt get if you went direct.

One option I was given by her bank is to invest the rest is in equities.

Why is she using a bank? Banks are expensive and limited in the advice they can give.

If anyone has any ideas for investing about £70,000 I'd be very pleased to read what might be suggested. We can add another £ 12,000 to that next year but don't want to tie it up for very long.

see an independent and go fee basis. It should be cheaper (as it probably would have been on the annuity as well).

Jake'sGran

Bess09 wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies, I really appreciate them. There's plenty for me to think about. I'll find an IFA or two and see what they recommend. It's difficult to know who to trust as I'm so new to all this. I've been looking after my mother's finances for years, since the dementia developed and she stopped bothering, but apart from investing in high rate deposit accounts and ISA's, I've never had to deal with really large sums before.
As I see it my duties are firstly; to provide a comfortable home and the best care I can for my mother for the rest of her life. And secondly, to maximise the rest so that when the time comes, I can fulfill the terms of her Will and her wishes. I'm really surprised that no other resident in the home where she lives is using a care home annuity to fund their costs and it made me wonder, being such a novice, if there was something not good about them that I am unaware of?

There was a good programme on ITV last night at 8pm about this subject. The main point being made seemed to be that many people in care homes are eligible for NHS funding but are not getting it. The most knowledgeable person on the programme was a solicitor who'd fought a case for an old gent who had been in care a long time. She won back all the money he'd paid. You may be able to find out more by visiting the ITV site. I would suggest you make an appointment with a solicitor who is very familiar with this subject - before you see an IFA or buy Premium Bonds which are a poor investment now.

Bess09

Jake'sGran,

I've looked and can't find the programme you mention I'm afraid. Cheetah's Kingdom was on ITV at 8pm. I have searched all the other ITV channels at all times and can't find it. Can you remember exactly when and where it was please?

Many thanks,

Bess.

Bess09

Thanks Dunstonh, for your message, it makes me feel better. My IFA seems good, is very efficient and I am sure that I can trust him. Coincidentally, after I had contacted him (after reading about the kind of qualifications an IFA needed to have to undertake care home annuity work on this site,) I found that he is the friend of a close friend of mine and had helped her with her finances after her husband died suddenly.
It's all so new, dealing with this for Mum. The shock of what happened to her and the sudden practicalities of what I had to deal with on her behalf was enormous and surprised me. I went through an unexpected type of grieving for the person she used to be. If she had died I would have been much better prepared and known what to expect.

Things are much, much better now. Although I can no longer care for her at home as her dementia is too bad now, she is so well cared for in a small home near me and I and my family see her often. Two of us can take her out which we all enjoy and I have found the kindness of strangers touching in these situations. I have had a proper wheelchair friendly path laid up our garden and had grab rails put in the loo for her so we manage quite well when she does come home. Her dementia leaves her happier than she has been for years because she has no worries, she has forgotten them all and she had plenty, mostly imagined, being a worrier all her life. She has reached a kind of 'safe harbour' now, which is good for all of us.

Bess.

mike88

I wish I would have seen your post earlier as I would have directed you to the Over 50's Savings Board on this site where Residential Home financial issues are regularly discussed as are the hoops for getting the NHS to pay or at least contribute towards the fees.

I have been down this route myself and managed initially to get a contribution from the NHS and eventually got them to fund totally my mother's care.

Now you have bought an Annuity there is not much point in going over old ground but in terms of depositing the balance I opted for long term safe saving in Building Society/Bank accounts using search sites such as Moneysupermarket.com. remembering always to ensure the amount deposited falls within the FSCS limit.

As it is technically your mother's money and you are required to operate in her best interests I would not gamble with stockmarket related financial products nor take any further advice from an IFA.

Jake'sGran

Bess09 wrote: »

Jake'sGran,

I've looked and can't find the programme you mention I'm afraid. Cheetah's Kingdom was on ITV at 8pm. I have searched all the other ITV channels at all times and can't find it. Can you remember exactly when and where it was please?

Many thanks,

Bess.

I am sorry Bess. Some of my marbles are missing these days. I will go take a look and, if necessary, will email the programme maker. Hope I have not got this wrong but the point of the program was how much care a person needed. Some old folks cannot do anything like washing, dressing and feeding themselves due to their frailty and ill health
and there is some kind of points system/assessment level. Hope to report back today