Hi everyone,
It seems to me that the sooner I run mum's capital down to £21,500 the better. Now, what constitutes "capital"? Cos we purchased a care plan for £55,000 so I wonder if that count as "capital", in which case she will never go below the £21,500 limit cos it produces an income for life, currently £1,200 a month rising by 5% per annum.
I can easily deplete her current capital of about £70,000. She owes me about £20,000 for a start for the first 8 months care home fees (cos we hadn't got the bank accounts sorted), and for clothes, shoes, bedding, teeth (£800, now lost), hearing aid, etc. I can stop "treating" her to a daily paper, a bottle of sherry, she can spend more than £5 on birthday presents for me, hubby and grand-daughters (£50 each at least), and she wants to treat us to the holiday of a lifetime to visit her neice in New Zealand. And being an Accountant, I can charge professional fees for managing her money - which I say has been a nightmare even for an Accountant, don't know how the rest of you manage!
Hmm, £100 an hour (I must say I don't work as an Accountant, am a Uni lecturer, but the charging rate there is £80 an hour - not what I get paid!). And it take up a good 4 hours a week, £20,000 a year. Yep, won't take long before there is none of mum's money left, it will all be in my bank account, and she will be back into the social services system with care and protection. Seems okay to me.
And while I am on the subject, I am planning to spend my own capital (or give it away to my daughters) so that when my time comes to need help, I will get it.
I am very bitter about all this. I don't mind paying, it is the fact that mum isn't given the emotional and administrative support from social services that everyone else gets.
Anyway, nearly midnight. Need to do a letter to the Care Home, and find an exercise for Contract Costing!
Love to all
Margaret