Noel Whittaker's Blog
By Noel Whittaker
A fundamental principle is to take advice before you undertake any significant financial transactions. Recently, I was told about a widow who decided to move in with her son and his wife in what could loosely be called a “granny flat” arrangement. There was nothing to be built – she handed over $400,000 to her …
Australia’s love affair with residential real estate appears to be going through a rocky patch. Just two years ago we were being treated to salacious headlines such as “Nice earners, no sweat” with the body copy screaming that our home was making us over $700 a day tax-free. The acronym that was all the rage …
Expect the “retirees tax” to receive plenty of publicity as the federal election draws near. I have written about it extensively, but as a reader points out there is one group who will suffer badly. Mary is 70, a widow, and who has had no superannuation. Apart from her home, $50,000 in the bank, and …
The Pension Loans Scheme (PLS) for retirees will be useful in certain circumstances. But, as a reader has just pointed out, it is not available to everybody. He has chosen to retire to a manufactured home which is situated on leasehold land. Because the land is leasehold, he has no title to the property, and …
This week brings good news for pensioners. On 20 March 2019, the maximum total pension rate for single pensioners will increase to $926.20 a fortnight or $24,081.20 a year. The maximum rate for pensioner couples combined will increase to $1,396.20 a fortnight or $36,301.20 a year. For cash strapped pensioners, some small casual work could …