Aged care is financial.
But it’s never just financial.
The moment a parent starts to need more help, most families discover the same uncomfortable truth: the decisions are deeply personal, fiercely complicated, and almost completely intertwined with money.
How do you fund care without selling the family home if you don’t have to? What does a move into residential aged care actually cost — and what does the government cover? What happens to the pension, the assets, the estate?
And underneath all of it: how do you make sure the people you love are protected, dignified, and heard?
Auxilliam brings together aged care financial advice, Centrelink and DVA strategy, estate planning, and family wealth transition under one roof — with one advisor who knows your family’s full picture and stays with you through every stage of the journey.
Wherever you are in the journey,
there’s a conversation worth having.
Before anything has changed
You’re thinking ahead. Your parents are still independent, still capable, still themselves. But you’ve seen what happens to other families and you want to be ready. Starting early gives you time to talk, understand your options and prepare before decisions become urgent.
Something has just shifted
A fall. A diagnosis. A moment that made everything suddenly real. The decisions feel overwhelming and you’re not sure where to start. We help you understand what’s available, what it costs, and how to make the right choices for your family without sacrificing everything to do it.
You’re already in the system
Your parent is in care, or heading there, and the financial complexity is mounting. Aged care fees, asset assessments, means testing, estate implications — it’s a lot to navigate. We help you understand the options available and consider what may be appropriate for you and your family.
WHY AUXILLIAM?
Aged care decisions are rarely just about one part of your financial life.
They can involve financial advice, accounting, legal matters, Centrelink and other professional considerations. Auxilliam helps bring the financial picture together and, where appropriate, works alongside your existing professional advisers.
With 35 years of experience working with individuals, families and companies across insurance, investments, superannuation, estate planning, downsizing and aged care advice, Karen Vickers brings a broad understanding of the financial considerations that can arise at different stages of life. She built Auxilliam to bring this experience together with a more focused approach to aged care and family planning.
Our Services
We work with families at every stage
of the aged care journey.
Whether you’re planning ahead, facing a sudden change, or already deep in the system, we can help you understand
your options, protect what matters, and make decisions you feel confident in.
Aged Care Financial Planning
Understanding the real cost of aged care and how to fund it without sacrificing more than you need to, is one of the most valuable conversations a family can have.
We help you navigate residential aged care fees, the Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD), means testing, and the ongoing daily fee structure, so you know exactly what you’re paying, why, and what’s negotiable.
Centrelink & DVA Strategy
Aged care and the pension interact in ways that catch most families completely off guard.
The decisions you make about funding aged care can affect pension entitlements, asset assessments, and long-term income.
We make sure those decisions are made with full information, so you can identify and consider the strategies and options available to you.
Estate Planning & Family Wealth Transition
Aged care has estate implications that most families don’t think about until it’s too late.
From the structure of assets to the timing of decisions, we help you understand how financial decisions may affect the wishes you have for your family, working alongside your legal advisers where appropriate.
Powers of Attorney & Advance Care Planning
Anna had none of these. That’s why her story unfolded the way it did.
Enduring powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, and advance care directives are not just legal documents, they are the instruments that protect your autonomy when you can no longer speak for yourself.
We help families understand what they need, and why it can’t wait.
In-Home Care
Planning
For many families, the right answer isn’t residential care, at least not yet.
Home care packages, support services and care coordination can keep people living independently for longer.
We help you understand what’s available, how to access it, and how to fund it properly.
Not sure what you need? That’s exactly what
the first conversation is for.
Our Core Values
When was the last time you had a proper conversation with your parent, one that wasn’t about a form, a fee, or a phone call you’d been putting off?
If you’re reading this, chances are it’s been a while. Not because you don’t care. Because the system has turned you into a case manager instead of a son or a daughter. That’s the problem we exist to fix and these are the three things we refuse to compromise on while we do it.
Respectful
If your parent could sit in on every meeting we have about their future, would they feel like a person, or a file number?
Every plan we build starts with that question. Your parent spent a lifetime building what they have. It’s never just about the money. It’s about the person, their choices and their dignity. We help you understand and manage the financial considerations while keeping their wishes at the centre of the decisions being made.
Supportive
Who’s been carrying this for you so far? If the answer is “no one” and how long can you keep doing that alone?
You shouldn’t have to become an expert in aged care policy overnight just because your family needed you to be. We step into the parts you don’t have the time, distance, or headspace for the paperwork, the follow-ups, the 9am-to-5pm phone queues, so you get to go back to just being family.
Advocates
If something went wrong tomorrow, would anyone be standing there to catch it?
We would. We don’t hand you a report and disappear. We’re here to support you through the decisions and practical steps involved, providing guidance and staying involved as circumstances change so important details don’t fall through the cracks.
Years Financial Experience
Years Specialising in Aged Care Advice
Families Supported
About Karen Vickers
Karen Vickers is a specialist in aged care financial planning, Centrelink and DVA strategy, estate planning and family wealth transition.
She spent years watching families navigate one of the most complex, expensive and emotionally draining systems in Australia — usually without the right advice, often too late, and almost always alone.
Auxilliam is her answer to that.
Karen brings together everything that usually sits with four different professionals who never talk to each other. She sees the full picture. She stays with families through every stage of the journey. And she starts the conversation long before crisis arrives — because that’s where the real work happens.
She is joined in the practice by her daughter Maddison — bringing a new generation of knowledge and care to a practice built on deeply personal foundations.
Who We Help
You don’t have to be in crisis to need this
conversation.
Planning ahead gives you time to talk, understand their options and prepare before decisions become urgent.
Adult children managing a parent’s care
You’re juggling your own life, your own family, your career — and now this. You’re trying to make good decisions for your parent while navigating a system that feels designed to be confusing. You don’t want to get it wrong, but you’re not sure who to trust or where to start.
We give you clarity, a plan, and someone in your corner.
Older Australians planning their own future
You’ve worked hard. You’ve built something. And you are not willing to hand control of your life to a system — or to anyone else — without a fight. You want to make your own decisions, on your own terms, while you still can.
We help you build the plan that protects that.
Families living overseas
Your parents are in Australia. You are not. The guilt, the distance, the helplessness when something goes wrong — we understand it. And we can be the trusted advisor on the ground in Australia, making sure your family has what they need even when you can’t be there yourself.
Couples navigating care together
When one partner needs more care than the other, the financial and emotional complexity multiplies quickly. What happens to the healthy partner’s pension? The family home? The assets? We help couples and families work through these questions together — with honesty, care and a plan that works for everyone.
Our Process
Our CARE Approach to Aged Care Planning
In fact, the families who benefit most from working with us are the ones who come before the crisis. But wherever you are, we can help.
Certainty
Understand your parent’s care needs, your family’s goals, and your financial position.
Assess
Model different aged care and payment options so you can see the costs and impacts in advance.
Recommend
Present the available options, the costs involved, and what different choices could mean for you and your family.
Execute
Handle paperwork, Centrelink, providers, and support you step by step through the journey.
Some questions you may be asking
Who does Auxilliam help?
Auxilliam supports families, seniors, and professionals navigating aged care or retirement transitions, providing guidance, clarity, and practical advice tailored to each unique situation.
What services does Auxilliam offer?
Auxilliam provides financial advice that may include aged care and retirement planning, funding considerations, Centrelink and government benefit considerations, superannuation, investments, insurance, cash flow and other financial strategies, subject to the applicable authorisations.
How can Auxilliam help with aged care costs?
Auxilliam helps you understand accommodation fees, daily care charges, means-tested costs and other financial considerations associated with aged care. We can help you consider available options and understand what different choices could mean for you and your family.
Can Auxilliam assist with government benefits?
Yes. Auxilliam can help you understand Centrelink, My Aged Care and relevant government benefits, including the Age Pension and other available entitlements, and consider how these may relate to your circumstances.
What makes Auxilliam different from other financial planners?
Auxilliam takes a focused approach to aged care financial advice, bringing together financial considerations, aged care planning and family circumstances. Where appropriate, Auxilliam works alongside existing professional advisers or refers you to appropriately qualified professionals.
Scope of Service
Scope of Services
Auxilliam provides financial advice as a Corporate Authorised Representative of ARC Wealth Pty Ltd, Australian Financial Services Licence No. 243270.
Our advice may include retirement and aged care planning, Centrelink considerations, superannuation, investments, insurance, cash flow and other financial strategies, subject to the authorisations applicable to your adviser.
Where specialist legal, taxation, accounting, medical or other professional advice is required, we may work alongside your existing advisers or refer you to appropriately qualified professionals.
Further information about our financial services, fees, remuneration and complaints process is available in the Auxilliam Financial Services Guide.
Client Reviews
Here’s some family feedback
