by Kaye Fallick | Sep 19, 2024 | Planning for Retirement
Last week the long awaited changes to the Aged Care sector were released. You could be forgiven for being confused, with headlines in Money magazine stating that ‘Pensioners pay more’ while the Australian Financial Review reported ‘Aged care taps rich retirees’. ...
by Kaye Fallick | Sep 12, 2024 | Retirement Spending
Is this really happening? The other night I saw an ABC TV report by business reporter, Daniel Ziffer. I normally find Mr Ziffer’s work to be both informative and interesting. So when he spoke of a ‘generational divide’ in Australia’s spending habits, I was all ears....
by James Coyle | Sep 12, 2024 | Retirement Income
Noel to the rescue Few people understand retirement income as well as Noel Whitaker. Today we are examining the pros and cons of Lifetime Income Streams (LIS) and Noel has helped us out with some Q&A on these relatively new products. But first, some background....
by James Coyle | Sep 12, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
Understanding Age Pension increases and……do they cover the cost of living? A couple of weeks ago we reported on the September 20 Age Pension increases. This is one of two increases that occur each year with the next one scheduled for March 20 2025. ...
by James Coyle | Sep 11, 2024 | Superannuation
Super often gets bad press. That might be from media pundits who expect rolled gold returns year in and year out despite market ups and downs. Or it could come from account holders themselves who find the need to understand the extensive rules very challenging. That’s...
by James Coyle | Sep 10, 2024 | Retirement Spending
The current economic climate has been described by many as a ‘crisis’. Whether rising prices and interest rates do indeed constitute a crisis is arguable. But it’s fair to say that most Australians are very concerned about the rapidly escalating costs of fuel, food,...
by James Coyle | Sep 10, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
One in five of the people we see still have a mortgage on their home. Many of them also have money in the bank, super or some other investments. For part pensioners this can sometimes be costly. This is because most part pensioners, and those that aren’t eligible for...
by James Coyle | Sep 10, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
When it comes to retirement, entitlements is a term we hear a lot, but it can also be misunderstood. Many people believe that retirement entitlements are confined to government benefits, specifically the Age Pension the associated Pension Concession Card. But there...
by James Coyle | Sep 10, 2024 | Centrelink Age Pension
Simple sums that share the rules The Retirement Essentials advice team is currently handling a lot of questions about Age Pension eligibility and the gifting of money or possessions to family members. At one level, the rules are fairly straightforward. But it is the...
by James Coyle | Sep 5, 2024 | Investing
The problems with cash: Are you missing out? One of the biggest mistakes in retirement income is to think that you don’t have enough to ‘worry about’. So you do nothing. It’s ironic, as those who say this are also likely to report that running out of money is their...
