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Time to plan

The holiday season is a distant memory and it’s time to consider the year ahead and your longer-term plans for the future.

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Senior couple planning with the help of a financial planner

February is a great time to get organised. If you are retired, or approaching retirement, as well as planning for things you enjoy, like travel or hobby projects, it’s important to consider long-term plans about your health, finance, lifestyle and what type of support you might need in the future.

Planning ahead

Planning ahead and writing down your wishes and goals means they’re much more likely to be realised. Communicating your plans with your family and/or trusted friend(s) can help to reduce future stress and conflict. If you need assistance with preventing or resolving family conflict around planning for the future (including medical, health, financial and living arrangements), contact Relationships Australia.

Tracey, in her story about her father’s diagnosis of dementia, stresses the importance of planning ahead and having conversations early with senior family members.

“What’s important is to have conversations early. Conversations about care and support, conversations about what they want for the future. Conversations about legal and financial planning and where they want to live. You need to be prepared to advocate for your parents.

Having a conversation with your parents may seem hard, or even disrespectful or inappropriate. But I now know, it’s a lot harder not having a conversation and flying blind, guessing and potentially making some irreversible mistakes, resulting in regrets and self-doubt.”

In our senior years, there is a lot to plan for. This article covers some points including planning to optimise your health, planning lifestyle and care considerations, and planning legal and financial affairs. More detailed information is available on Australian Government websites including the Positive Ageing website and the MyGov Retirement Planning website.

Plan to keep your brain healthy

Keep physically active to stay in shape, improve your mood and boost your brain health. People who exercise regularly are less likely to experience heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity, all of which are risk factors for dementia. Research studies show that physical activity in early, mid and later life is associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Keep socially active to boost your mood and your brain health. Weekly community group engagement, weekly interaction with family and friends, living with others and not feeling lonely are associated with slower cognitive decline.

Challenge your brain to reduce the risk of dementia. Plan to keep engaged with a range of stimulating activities such as education classes, using a computer, writing letters or journals, and active mental activities like playing games, cards or chess and doing crosswords and other puzzles. Remember to increase the difficulty of games to keep your brain sharp!

Health and lifestyle planning

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to talk and think about:

An advance care plan or directive: You can develop an Advance Care Plan or directive regardless of your age or health status. This informs people of what healthcare you’d like or don’t want in case you are unable to make such decisions in the future.
Where you want to live in the future. Whether you want to remain living in your home or moving to a smaller, more accessible home, retirement village or aged care home.
My Aged Care for people 65 years and over. You can find information via their website: My Aged Care or phone 1800 200 422.
The different types of dementia services and support available if needed.

Legal and financial planning

Power of Attorney: If you haven’t done so already, it’s never too early to appoint a trusted person or people to assist or manage your financial and legal affairs if you become incapacitated.
Enduring Guardian: It’s also time to appoint someone to be your Enduring Guardian or Medical Power of Attorney to make accommodation, healthcare, lifestyle and medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to make your own decisions.
Ensure you have a up-to-date Will. This document gives instructions for how your estate should be distributed after you die.
The Australian Government MoneySmart website has information on financial planning in retirement and how to make your money last longer.
You can also visit the MyGov Retirement Planning website for information and advice regarding superannuation.

For more information

For more information for carers of people living with dementia consider the section on Making plans and decisions on the Forward with Dementia website.
Visit the Forward with Dementia website for information on planning for emergencies or natural disasters.
For people with dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment, Dementia Australia has comprehensive information about planning for the future.