Symponia has launched a digital advice site, Club Symponia, to help people navigate the long-term care (LTC) market.
The trade body for later-life financial advisers unveiled the new proposition to members at Symponia's National Conference in London last week.
The website provides information for elderly care funding options for both ‘self-funders' and people hoping to gain funding from the Local Authority.
Janet Davies, joint founder and managing director of the Symponia family of companies says: "We aim to serve the huge, but largely untapped market of people who desperately need information, but who are not yet at the stage of committing to an adviser relationship - although direct relationships are certainly encouraged when the time is right for the client family concerned."
It is a free resource to all, although Club Symponia guests can upgrade their membership by paying £14.40 per annum; a lifetime, one-off membership is also available for £24. Subscribers then become a ‘Prestige Club Member'.
Prestige Member benefits include the ability to take part in forum discussions and interact with families.
People will also have access to a panel of experts with guidance available on topics including Local Authority funding and benefits, legal matters, care homes and downsizing.
Members can then decide whether to take the relationship offline using the privacy of email, or by locating their local Symponia member.
Davies added: "Longer term, we hope to dispel many of the myths and negative associations that people have about care homes - or any of the other challenges that we will all inevitably face in later life. Our ambition is to remove the fear and stigma of old age, full stop.
"Forewarned is forearmed and being able to gather all the facts and options available will help to reduce the fear factor. Over time, the Club Symponia community will grow to include all the various and wide-ranging financial facets of modern life."
