Noel Whittaker's Blog As we move towards a federal election you can bet that retirees will be a major focus for all political parties. After all, they are the fastest growing group in the country and most of them have plenty of time on their hands to voice their opinions.
But the system is complex, and many people find it hard to work their way through the labyrinth of regulations. As a result, they may fail to qualify for a pension, lose their pension, or receive less than they would if they took advice.
The age pension is a major source of income for most Australian retirees. A bonus is that eligibility for a part pension gives them access to most of the pension’s fringe benefits, including the prized Pensioner Concession Card, even if their age pension is only minuscule.
Eligibility is tested under both an income and an assets test, and the one that produces the least pension is the one used. There is age pension calculator and a deeming calculator on my website www.noelwhittaker.com.au
Most wealthier pensioners are asset tested, yet I keep receiving emails from them asking if it’s okay to earn some more money. Of course it is –the income test is not relevant if you are asset tested. A couple with assets of $800,000, receiving a pension of $136.80 a fortnight each, could have assessable income of $68,000 a year including their deemed income, and employment income, without affecting their pension because they would still be asset tested.
Your own home is not assessable, but your furniture fittings and vehicles are assets tested. Many pensioners fall into the trap of valuing them at replacement value. This could cost them heavily because every $10,000 of excess assets reduces the pension by $780 a year. Make sure these assets are valued at garage sale value, not replacement value. This puts a value of $5000 on most people’s furniture.
There is no penalty for spending money on holidays, living expenses and renovating the family home. But don’t do this just to increase your pension. Think about it, if you spend $100,000 renovating your home your pension may increase by just $7800 a year – but it would take almost 13 years of the increased pension to get the $100,000 back. Of course, the benefit of money spent should be taken into account too – money on improving your house, or travelling could have huge benefits for you. The main thing is not to spend money with the sole purpose of getting a bigger age pension.
Each year on 20 March and 20 September Centrelink values your market linked investments, such as shares and managed investments, based on the latest unit prices held by them. These investments are also revalued when you advise of a change to your investment portfolio or when you request a revaluation of your shares and managed investments. If the value of your investments has fallen, there may be an increase in your payment – if the value of your investments has increased, then your payment may go down.
The rules are in favour of pensioners. If the value of your portfolio arises because of market movements you are not required to advise Centrelink of the change – it will happen automatically at the next six monthly revaluation. However, if your portfolio falls you have the ability to notify Centrelink immediately.
You can reduce your assets by giving money away but seek advice. The Centrelink rules only allow gifts of $10,000 in a financial year with a maximum of $30,000 over five years. Using these rules you could gift away $10,000 before June 30th and $10,000 just after it, and so reduce assessable assets by $20,000.
Next week I will explain some of the areas where people fall into traps.