by the Retirement Essentials Team | Nov 21, 2024 | Retirement Income
Retirement Essentials congratulates the Australian Government on its 20 November announcement that it will take action to reform the retirement phase of superannuation to deliver a better retirement for all Australians. Such reforms are 100% aligned with Retirement...
by Amanda Hardy Lai | Nov 21, 2024 | Planning for Retirement
Alice’s move to a better place For many retirees, home is where they want to be – to be part of a community, to stay connected to friends and family, and to enjoy their independence. If you’re thinking about what the options are for you to continue...
by Kaye Fallick | Nov 21, 2024 | Retirement Spending
The ‘bucketing’ method of money management has been around for decades. But it shot to prominence when self-proclaimed ‘barefoot millionaire’ Scott Pape wrote about how easy it was, by using buckets, to get on top of your spending. But ‘financial bucketing’ is far...
by James Coyle | Nov 21, 2024 | Customer Stories, Superannuation
Q. Help, I’m 76 and want to contribute more to my super, but I’ve been told I can’t! This was the cry for help we received from Albert last week. He had just won $45,000 in a lottery and doesn’t want to spend it. Instead, he would like to put it into his super. A...
by the Retirement Essentials Team | Nov 18, 2024 | Retirement Advice
The right advice at the right time can be invaluable. Sometimes it is just a little help to solve a nagging problem. Other times, it’s just to confirm your decisions. Or it might be to unlock and explain the myriad of rules that apply, and the...
by Ryley Brito | Nov 15, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
The income test forms a major part of your likelihood of receiving an Age Pension. That’s well-known and the thresholds are quite clear. Which income is included and which is excluded can be more complex, which is why we covered this topic in some detail in recent...
by James Coyle | Nov 14, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
There is a very common mistake that adviser, Sharon Sheehan, has noticed. So many members are confused by the term ‘superannuation account’. Recent research from AMP confirms that 70 % of older Australians don’t know what an Account-Based Pension is. Given that this...
by Amanda Hardy Lai | Nov 8, 2024 | Retirement Income
At 69, Bill was working part time, earning around $46,000, while managing two debts: a $30,000 loan due in five years, and an $80,000 loan over 12 years. What Bill didn’t realise is that he was eligible for $14,000 per year in Age Pension support whilst...
by Kaye Fallick | Nov 8, 2024 | Planning for Retirement
It’s generally agreed that retirement is not a ‘set and forget’ proposition. On the one hand this can sound as though we need to continually monitor our situation. But the flipside of this is that it is literally never too late to change our settings and improve our...
by James Coyle | Nov 8, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
In mid-October we reported on the second part of the Means Test – how Centrelink assesses income. In this update we explained how the income test works, what is ‘earned’ income and what is deemed. We then asked you to share any aspects of the income test that might...
