Retirement tool
Residential aged care cost estimator
Daily fees and accommodation cost.
Estimates the cost of permanent residential aged care: the basic daily fee, the means-tested Hotelling and Non-Clinical Care contributions, and the accommodation payment as a lump sum RAD, a daily DAP or a combination.
Costs are projected over an expected stay so families see the full financial shape of the decision, not just the headline room price.
What you see on screen
In the app this chart is live: every assumption is on screen, editable, and the projection moves as you change it.
Key inputs
- The resident's assets and income for the means test
- The room price and how it will be paid (RAD, DAP or mix)
- Expected length of stay
- The family home's treatment and any protected person
What it reports
- Each daily fee and contribution, per day and per year
- The means-test working behind the contributions
- Total projected cost over the expected stay
- The cashflow difference between paying RAD versus DAP
Insights it surfaces
Alongside the numbers, the tool writes plain-language findings you can carry straight into the conversation. Example wording, from sample figures:
Total care costs are projected at $87,400 in year one: $23,800 in basic fees, $27,600 in means-tested contributions and $36,000 of DAP on the unpaid room price.
Paying the full $550,000 RAD reduces annual outgoings by $36,000 but locks the capital away from the means test conversation.
Worth knowing
Aged care means testing interacts with the Age Pension and the family home in ways that are easy to get wrong. Treat this as the modelling behind advice, not a substitute for it.
Every tool, every time
Rates and thresholds come from the verified Australian rate set for the selected financial year. Every run can be saved as a scenario against the client, exported as a client-ready PDF or an Excel workbook with live formulas, and carried into an SOA or ROA. A methodology and audit PDF documents the calculation, and every output carries the compliance block.