When disaster strikes, the emotional and financial toll can be overwhelming. For retirees, losing a home - whether due to fire, flood, or another catastrophe - could be one of the most significant challenges of their lifetime. Once the immediate needs of...
The reporting during last week’s Federal Budget that deeming rates would be frozen for another year from 1 July 2025 was a welcome one for many retirees. It was also on Retirement Essentials adviser, Nicole Bell’s wishlist when we published our preferred...
What Centrelink knows or doesn’t There’s a lot of confusion about what Centrelink knows, what it updates automatically, and what you need to report yourself. Many people assume Centrelink has direct access to their tax records, bank accounts, and...
The wait is over with the details of Treasurer, Jim Chalmers’, fourth Federal Budget now revealed. Before sharing the highlights, let’s recap the Retirement Essentials team’s wishlist to see how many measures actually came to pass. Retirement Essentials...
How will these affect you? Last week we confirmed the 20 March Age Pension rate increase of $4.60 (singles) and $7.00 (couples combined) for 20 March. This week we are pleased to confirm that all Retirement Essentials calculators have been updated with the...
Here’s what you’ll get The twice-yearly Age Pension increase is due to land on 20 March 2025. We reported in mid-February our predictions for singles and couples, and we’re pleased to say our predictions were correct within a few cents. The table below shows...
Why the unfreezing of deeming rates in 2025 matters. Using deeming rates is the way Centrelink calculates the income you earn from your financial asset, regardless of whether you receive that income or not. In May 2020, the then Morrison Government froze...
Maria and Carlos’s dilemma How will an inheritance affect your Age Pension entitlements? Many Retirement Essentials readers ask this question. As life expectancy increases, it’s not unusual for people to receive an inheritance much later in life—often when...
At the time of writing we still don’t know when the Federal Election will be held, except that it will be before the end of May. This means that we still expect a Federal Budget to be delivered on 25 March. Even if an election is called, it is likely we will...