‘Handball it off’: Why advisers should be working with external experts

With a number of changes to the Aged Care Act set to take effect from 1 July, independent financial adviser Nathan Fradley said that, for those not regularly operating in the aged care space, they need to consider either upskilling or referring out.

As a specialist in aged care advice, Fradley suggested that, while not strictly necessary, gaining accreditation through a provider, such as Aged Care Steps, is a valuable step to enhancing understanding in this space.

“But, if you’re not going to do it regularly, when this kind of work comes along, the residential care side at least, build some connections with advisers that do. Handball it off. Create that great experience for your client,” Fradley said on The ifa Show.

While he said that advisers should still make an effort to understand the aged care space, Fradley also recommended bringing in external providers, such as Aged Care Ready or Mercer Care, to ensure the client is getting the best possible care and advice.

“You don’t have to be the expert in what care they need, but if you can get someone to help you ascertain what care they do need, what’s available privately, what’s available with the subsidy, then you can help the financial aspect about the funding of that care,” he said.

“You can have conversations with them about, do they move in with the kids, do a granny flat arrangement, do they downsize and go into a retirement village to free up money to spend more on private care?

“If residential care is not a thing now, when? What are the triggers and how are we going to put an eye to funding it? And that’s what planning is all about. It’s the preparation.”

Although navigating the changes to the aged care system will likely be a challenge, Fradley said that they also put the onus back on the individual and there is “huge opportunity” for advisers to assist their clients through the process.

“It’s the same thing we do with estate planning, the same thing we do with many other areas where we work with external professionals in the same way. How do you fund it? That’s where we come in and help – unless you’ve got the skills to start diving into some of it,” he said.

“But even then, placement services and all that kind of stuff, that’s not a financial adviser’s game. That’s where you work with externals.”

This position, Fradley explained, is an extension of his belief that advisers should be specialising and niching their client type in order to improve outcomes for clients.

“I’m a massive believer in working with the people you want to work with, in niching. And I’m not talking about, I only do SMSFs. It’s working with the kinds of clients, the kinds of people that you get along with, that you love helping. So, yeah, I’m a big advocate of specialisation with varying degrees,” he said.

“You can be a generalist, but still niche. I think that means that you are better placed to help the people that you help regularly because you know them intrinsically.

“And those that you don’t work with regularly, you’re not scrambling around to do 90 per cent of a job, you’re sending it to someone who can do 110 per cent of the job.”

To hear more from Nathan Fradley, tune in here.