Matthew Lloyd and Alex Berlee sit down with host Sarah Leslie for the launch episode of Ensombl’s new Aged Care Conversation series, a podcast built for financial advisers and families grappling with a fast-changing aged care system.
The episode covers what’s changed under recent reforms, how home and residential care funding now works (packages, co-contributions, RADs, respite), and why the old approach of handing families a brochure and hoping for the best no longer meets what they need.
Listen on Ensombl or watch on YouTube.
What the episode covers
Sarah, Matthew and Alex work through the three shifts advisers and families now have to plan for:
- A more complex funding mix. Home Care Packages, Support at Home, means-tested care fees, RADs and DAPs, and the pension impact of each. Families rarely see how these fit together until someone maps it out.
- Higher up-front costs and tougher trade-offs. Reforms have raised what many families contribute. Selling the family home, keeping it, or renting it out each carry different Centrelink, tax and cash-flow consequences.
- The case for starting early. Aged care rarely announces itself. Families who plan while a parent still has capacity get better outcomes than families who plan mid-crisis.
The episode is CPD-accredited for advisers (0.75 hours across Client Care & Practice, Technical Competence, and Regulatory Compliance & Consumer Protection).
Why AGS added aged care as a dedicated service
Aged care sits at the intersection of financial planning, tax, Centrelink, estate planning and property. That mix is precisely why AGS added it as a specialist service. Clients kept asking, and a generalist answer was leaving families short of the clear guidance they needed.
Our aged care work now runs alongside our financial planning, accounting and estate planning teams, so a family isn’t chased between three firms while a decision needs making this week. It is delivered through our stake in Zenith Aged Care, which brings deep specialist expertise on the residential-care side.
What clients can expect
An aged care conversation with AGS covers:
- Fees and funding. Home Care Package levels, Support at Home caps, means-tested amounts, RAD versus DAP, and the total cost picture over three, five and ten years.
- The family home. Sell, keep or rent, and how each option flows through to pension entitlement, RAD payment and the estate.
- Centrelink and pension impact. How care fees interact with asset and income tests, and where deeming rules bite.
- Coordination across the family. Powers of attorney, gifting rules, and how to keep siblings aligned when big decisions land on the table.
- A written plan to act on. A summary the family can share with the care provider, Centrelink and the estate lawyer.
The goal is a clear plan a family can act on, not a stack of options they still have to sort through.
Listen, watch or start a conversation
Ensombl subscribers can hear the episode on the Ensombl podcast feed or watch it on YouTube.
If aged care is on your family’s horizon, whether for a parent, a partner or your own future planning, book a free initial discussion or read more about our aged care service.