The twice-yearly Age Pension indexation is due to increase 20 September. This Age Pension increase is much higher than the one that was awarded in March this year ($19.60 for singles and $29.40 for couples).
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.
What is a retirement bonus?
The topic of retirement ‘bonuses’ comes up a lot. It’s one that can also cause a great deal of confusion, which probably comes back to the use of the term ‘bonus’. Receiving a bonus at work usually means you’ve done something extra so you get a reward. That’s not how it works with super fund ‘bonuses’ though. Today we have a short explainer on the way these bonuses actually work.
A user’s guide to the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS)
Using home equity as a retirement income seems to be the last well kept secret. But that, too, is changing as more industry commentators scrutinise the home wealth access products on the market and conclude that they do have their place in retirement funding. This is why home equity became quite a talking point a few weeks ago, after the Actuaries Institute pressed for stronger encouragement for such loans. You may recall our coverage of this report, which drew lots of robust debate in our comments section.
The comments tended to fall into one of three camps:
I will never, never, never do this,
I might do this, under certain circumstances, or
Why not? I’m prepared to take a look.
Today we focus on the government’s Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS) as it is this form of home equity access that is showing the most rapid uptake. The other two main types of equity access are:
Reverse mortgages which are offered by a range of private lenders. The loan is repaid when the property is sold or when the borrower passes away.
OR
Home reversion schemes again offered by private lenders, where a portion of the equity in the home is either sold for a lump sum (or regular payments). The lender has an agreement for a share in the future sale of the property.