James Coyle

Affording that big trip and maintaining your income

by James Coyle | Centrelink Age Pension, Customer Stories

Anh and Kim had a dilemma. They consider themselves lucky as they have worked and saved hard to now have more than $1 million in assets and they own their home. They are both over 67 so can qualify for the Age Pension – except they don’t! Their combined assets are $1,053,500. They don’t earn any income, but they fail the assets test as the cut off point for a part-age Pension for a home owning couple is currently $1,012,500. They are exactly $41,000 over this limit. This means that they are close to getting a fortnightly pension pay cheque – but not close enough. But if they spend the money over the limit – say $42,000 – are they worse off? They would love to have a special family trip to Antarctica – a lifetime memory with the grand kids – and think about $15,000 in renovations will make their home much more suitable to their new life stage of retirement. So should they spend this money. Or should they hold back for a rainy day? That’s the question they posed in a recent maximising your entitlements consultation.

Your retirement health: Where do you sit?

by James Coyle | Retirement Advice

The most useful takeout we have from our many surveys is that no retirement is ever ‘set and forget’. Many retirees are very content and feel financially secure. Others may not feel quite so positive. It’s important to remember that sometimes it’s the small changes that reap the greatest rewards.

In our first question we checked on five key aspects of a satisfying retirement and found our members rank themselves very highly on three statements and slightly lower on another two

The highest ranking was those who have activities, hobbies and interests that they enjoy doing, closely followed by those who consider themselves to be mentally healthy. Having good social connections and relationships came in third.

I don’t need a will – and other estate planning myths

by James Coyle | Retirement Advice

Many of us procrastinate when confronted with difficult tasks. At Retirement Essentials we see it often with people delaying applying for the Age Pension as they can’t face dealing with Centrelink. Another common area of procrastination is preparing a will. It is difficult because we have to confront the possibility of our demise and also because we might have to make awkward decisions about who gets what. Children, partners, parents, siblings, friends and charities are all among the possible beneficiaries

There are also a host of myths about wills that lead to people putting it off or getting it wrong. Today we are going to bust five of the most common myths.