How does extra work affect your age pension entitlements?

Age care, to paraphrase a quote, sounds like another country. Most of us try hard not to think about it - let alone consider whether we will be able to afford it. But the need to know how aged care works and what is available is very real. And this was brought home...

Risk tolerance in investing is a measure of how much of a loss someone is willing to accept.  Someone with a high risk tolerance would accept the chance of higher losses to pursue better returns. 

Centrelink uses deeming rates to determine how much you earn. These earnings are added to any other income streams and this total is used to assess your age pension eligibility and the rate you will be paid. The reason a ‘deeming rate’ is used is because...

A new bill has been introduced to the House of Representatives to curtail the use of Cashless Debit Cards (CDCs) for older Australians. The intention of giving welfare recipients this card was to prevent them from spending on substances which are harmful, with 80% of...

At any given time about 65% of Australian retirees are receiving either a full or part age Pension. But pension entitlements tend to vary depending upon your age and life stage.

Just under 450,000 Australians enter retirement every year. About four in 10 of these will start off as self-funded. But depending upon the rate at which they draw down their superannuation and other savings, about half of those who start out self-funded, will sooner or later qualify for at least a small pension entitlement.

The younger you are the easier it can be to cope with financial setbacks. That’s because there is usually a ‘tomorrow’ in sight when you can work harder, earn more, put things back in place. Things change when you start planning for retirement and leave full time work. Suddenly you become aware that your nest egg will need to be very carefully managed so that it lasts the distance,

Some people have made a lot of money from investing in crypto currency and as a result some of us might suffer from ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) when we hear stories of overnight fortunes being made. But this is when FONK (‘Fear of Not Knowing’) is even more useful.   The only way to judge whether a financial product or service is appropriate for you is to fully understand what it is, how it works, whether it is legal, supported by the regulator and a strong fit with your existing financial strategy.

Why do retirees care?     There were few surprises last week when the Reserve Bank decided for the 12th time in a row to leave the official cash rate at 0.10% But what exactly is the cash rate? And more importantly, what does this mean for retirees? The...

The September quarter Consumer Price Index (CPI) was released last week. 

This index measures movements of prices in key categories of consumer spending on a quarterly and annual basis. The September 2021 CPI rose 0.8% for the quarter and 3.0% year-on-year (YOY).