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James Coyle
James has over 35 years experience in financial services with particular expertise in two of the key components of retirement finance - Superannuation and the Age Pension. He is passionate about providing the guidance and support that can help older Australians enjoy their best possible retirement. He lives in regional Victoria surrounded by dogs and chooks.
When does the new amount for the work bonus take effect from.
Hi David. We are waiting for the legislation to go through. At this stage it looks like December
Nobody (including Centrelink) has been able to tell me how a Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSC) pension, (which is a Defined benefit, thus having no set value) is determined for the Assets test. I assume that the older I get, the less ‘value’ is attributed to the pension, and therefore I may well qualify for an Age Pension.
Can you advise please?
Hi Angus, with regards to Defined Benefits, Centrelink assess these solely as income similar to the way they assess employment income if you are working. The value is assessed based on how much you receive because as you said there is no set balance being drawn from. This means that the only reason the ‘value’ would be reduced (from Centrelink’s perspective) is if the amount you receive goes down, your age has no bearing.
Can you tell me what is included in the assets required to be included in the total assets of a couple.
Thanks
Hi Grace. All assets with the exception of the family home are included in the assets test. this includes investment assets such as shares and property, cars, caravans and personal assets such as jewelry, white goods etc. Personal assets such as cars, white goods etc should however be valued at garage sale value to , not at replacement cost. This article gives an example
Hi,
We have a couple of questions you could help us with please.
My wife and I have been retired for 10 years – we recently sold our home and deposited the money received in the bank. We are currently living in rental accommodation whilst we look around for another property.
We lodged our change of circumstances with Centrelink and our age pension was reduced accordingly. Our understanding at the time was that we received 12 months grace to find another home before our pension was penalised, however, it was reduced due to deeming of the additional cash in the bank. Is there any benefit of the 12 months grace ?
We have since found out that we qualify for rental assistance.
If after the 12 months period we decide to carry on renting, rather than purchase another home – should we expect any further reduction in our pensions ?
Thanking you for your assistance and regards,
Glyn Church.
Hi Glyn, the benefit of the 12 months is that without the exemption to your assets your pension would likely be reduced more significantly, potentially even cancelled depending on the amount you received from the sale because the increase in your assets is generally far higher then the increase to your income from the deeming. This means that should you choose to continue renting and not buy/build, then when the 12 months expires you will likely see a further reduction to your pension.