For many you will not even be considering whether or not you can receive the age pension as it may still be a few years away, however qualifying for just a dollar of age pension can entitle you to a health care card which is invaluable. Also there are discounts on tons of everyday expenses such as Rates and registrations.
Whilst you may think you definitely wont qualify, there are measures that can be taken to put you in the best position. We have a number of financial advisors we work with who have met with some of our clients already who thought they would be self funded and not eligible – however by reorganising finances they became eligible and now receive quite a few thousand dollars more a year.
It is important to plan this, it is no use trying to do something about it when you have already reached age pension.
Here is some information regarding the age pension:
Age of eligibility
- Men born before 01/07/52 age 65
- Women born 01/07/1947 – 31/12/1948 age 64.5
- Both sexes born 01/07/1952 – 31/12/1953 age 65.5
- Both sexes born 01/01/1954 – 30/06/1955 age 66
- Both sexes born 01/07/1955 – 31/12/1956 age 66.5
- Both sexes born 01/01/1957 and later age 67
You must be an Australian Resident who has resided in Australia for a continuous period of at least 10 years or has resided in Australia for a total of over 10 years of which at least five years was continuous.
Income test
Visit the centrelink website for income test thresholds.
Income that counts towards the test are:
- All investments – the ATO deems you are value from these (we had a client whose investments were negative but because he held them in a trust he did not qualify, together with his advisor they were moved into his own name and he then qualified. We have also had other situations where this worked in reverse.)
- Income from Rental properties, farms, private companies, trusts, partnerships, salary and wages, fees and royalties, compensation payments, foreign pensions, salary sacrifice contributions, leave payments and ETPs.
Asset test
Assets included are all investments, rental properties, farms, companies, trusts, partnerships, home contents, holiday home, cars, caravans, boats, antiques, stamp collections, jewellery and life insurance.
There is a lot more involved than just ticking some boxes against the above. For a few hours of your time it is worth contacting a adviser for a free consultation and asking the question.