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Age Discrimination

by | October 8, 2021 | Planning for Retirement | 25 Comments

Recently we surveyed some of our readers to better understand the reasons why people retire. Many reasons were expected such as when they could afford to retire, health concerns,or job loss.  What we didn’t expect was the number of people that mentioned ageism, or...
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Why do people retire?

by | October 4, 2021 | Planning for Retirement | 9 Comments

There are about 3.9m retirees in Australia today so it’s not surprising that their reasons for retiring are many and varied.  Some retire through choice and others find they have retirement forced upon them. We hear lots of reasons when we are helping our...
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A younger partner?

by | September 23, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card | 55 Comments

Over the last few weeks we have received lots of comments and questions from customers wondering how their partner’s age and working arrangements can affect their entitlements. So this week we are going to answer some of those questions. I am 67 and retired but my...
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Age Pension Rates and Thresholds

by | September 20, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card | 0 Comments

The new age pension rates came into effect on Monday 20th September.  Nearly 4 million Australians get some support from the age pension so the increase to their fortnightly pension payments will be very welcome.  The new rates are shown below.   Centrelink...
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Big increase to pension rates

by | September 13, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension | 0 Comments

Age Pensioners will enjoy the biggest increase to pension rates in 7 years. Nearly 2.6 million Australians are on the age pension so this 1.4% to rates increase will be very welcome.  Last September there was no increase at all for the first time in 24 years so this...
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Your advice needs – This is what you told us

by | August 31, 2021 | Planning for Retirement | 22 Comments

We recently asked you to tell us more about the sort of help and advice you would like to receive.  Well this is what you told us. How much will I need? Nearly 39% of people ranked “How much will I need” highest among the financial issues on their mind. People...
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Making your investments contribute to your “retirement salary”

by | August 31, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension, Planning for Retirement, Retirement Income | 10 Comments

We had a big response to our last article on how your investments interact with the Age Pension. That discussed how they can combine to deliver your retirement income.  Our readers have identified investing in super and other investments as one of the areas where...
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Combining your investments with the Age Pension

by | August 20, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension, Planning for Retirement, Retirement Income | 44 Comments

Last week we talked about the role of the Age Pension as the foundation of most Australians’ retirement plans - even for those who are not eligible when they first retire. But most people would like a higher income in retirement than the Age Pension provides. ...
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Renovating your income in retirement

by | August 16, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension, Planning for Retirement | 20 Comments

Improving your income in retirement is a bit like renovating a home.  You may have  a home already but it's not everything you want it to be.  So you start work to build something better.  Just like with a renovation there will be a number of steps to go through...
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Annual Message from the Chair

by | August 9, 2021 | Centrelink Age Pension, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Retirement Income | 15 Comments

Thanks for your interest in Retirement Essentials. It’s been a challenging year, hasn’t it? With Covid 19 lingering and varying and forcing us into short or prolonged lockdowns.  I’m sure it’s brought its difficulties for you, just as it has for me here in...
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