by James Coyle | Jan 10, 2023 | Centrelink Age Pension
PART TWO Your home, your retirement:1 January changes to deeming and downsizing Last week we covered the new 1 January rules for downsizing and super.This week we are looking at the way downsizing is treated within the Centrelink means test.This is a very...
by James Coyle | Jan 10, 2023 | Centrelink Age Pension
An easy win We don’t know what we don’t know. And this can seem really unfair if we miss out on something purely because we had no idea it was available.This can happen if Centrelink counts your land as an asset, but there is the possibility that it should be exempt....
by James Coyle | Jan 10, 2023 | Centrelink Age Pension
Is the Age Pension fair? Do the rules work for you? What seems fair to one person may seem the opposite to someone else. So when the national government is the major source of retirement income for those aged over 66 there are often varying perceptions of how...
by James Coyle | Dec 23, 2022 | Planning for Retirement
Your home, your retirement: Making the numbers work The family home is the largest asset most people have in retirement. About 80% of retirees live in their own home and have access to the equity. Policymakers are reacting to this pool of wealth by making such access...
by James Coyle | Dec 23, 2022 | Centrelink Age Pension
Energy Rebates update: How they will be applied? Two weeks ago we reported on the new Energy Rebates for retirees. At the time, they had yet to pass both houses of Parliament, but this has now happened. Whilst we loved being thanked for this information by Chris (who...
by James Coyle | Dec 22, 2022 | Planning for Retirement
Ages and stage of retirement: What do you need to do and when? The question we posed to our team was: “How are you thinking about or planning for retirement?’ We also said, ‘There is no right or wrong response and some of you might not be thinking about it at all...
by James Coyle | Dec 22, 2022 | Retirement Income
Deborah Ralston wears a lot of different hats. She also has a string of titles; Chair Household Capital Advisory Board, member of Board of Guardians for the Future Fund, Professorial Fellow at Monash University. And luckily for Retirement Essentials, a non-executive...
by James Coyle | Dec 22, 2022 | Investing
Or should you just DIY? Trust is a quality that can take years to establish. And about a minute to lose. We see this in action at the moment with the recent arrest in the Bahamas of the Cryptocurrency billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried. And the related dive in the value...
by James Coyle | Dec 22, 2022 | Investing
Quiz: Are you money smart? Or do you fail this basic test? There is often a discrepancy between our actual behaviours or skills – and how good we think we are. Back in the early 70s there was an American survey on magazine readership. The results showed heavy...
by James Coyle | Dec 22, 2022 | Centrelink Age Pension
How we’ve helped in 2022: Reassurance, income and health prioritised At this time of the year our thoughts often turn to giving. So this week we asked our frontline team – Nicole, Sharon and Steven – if they would take time out to share how they believe they have...
