Retirement lifestyle
Centrelink entitlements along with Aged Care is generally means tested, the rules are genuinely complicated, and the system does not volunteer what you might be entitled to. Many people receive less than they could, or assume they qualify for nothing and never check.
Is this you?
If more than one of these lands, it is worth a conversation. None of them are unusual, and all of them are fixable.
Eligibility depends on age, residency and two separate means tests. Most people cannot tell from the outside whether they qualify, and the only way to know is to run the numbers.
This is the most expensive assumption in the system. Part pensions are common, and the thresholds are higher than most people expect, particularly for couples and for homeowners.
Entitlements move as your assets and income move. Changes need to be reported, and a review can also work in your favour when asset values fall.
The claim process is long, document-heavy and unforgiving of small errors. Plenty of eligible people simply give up partway through.
What we actually do
No open-ended retainer and no vague scope. You know what you are getting and what it costs before we begin.
Age, residency and both means tests assessed against your actual position, so you know whether you qualify and for roughly how much before you invest time in a claim.
We run both the income and assets tests and show which one determines your rate, because that tells you which changes would actually make a difference and which would not.
We help assemble the documentation, complete the forms correctly and follow the claim through, which materially reduces the back-and-forth.
Entitlements are reviewed as your position changes. Where the Age Pension is not payable we check other entitlements, including the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, which is not assets tested.
Worth understanding
Not a sales pitch: the handful of things that genuinely change the outcome, including the ones that are expensive to discover late.
Your entitlement is calculated under the income test and again under the assets test, and the one producing the lower payment is the one that applies. This is why generic advice is unreliable: a change that helps under one test can be irrelevant under the other, and knowing which test is currently binding for you is the whole starting point.
Rather than using what your money actually earns, the income test applies an assumed rate of return to your financial investments. That has a counter-intuitive consequence: chasing a higher return on your savings does not necessarily reduce your pension, because the assessment is not based on the actual return. It is one of the most misunderstood parts of the system.
Above the threshold, every additional dollar of assessable assets reduces your fortnightly payment by a set amount. Because the reduction is proportional rather than a cliff, decisions about how assets are held and when they are spent can meaningfully change your entitlement. These decisions are much easier to make before a claim than to unwind afterwards.
Qualifying for even a minimal part payment brings the Pensioner Concession Card with it, and the concessions attached to that card (pharmaceutical, medical, energy, rates, transport) are often worth considerably more annually than the payment itself. It is usually worth establishing eligibility even when the pension amount looks negligible.
Common questions
General information only, and not personal advice. What applies to you depends on your circumstances.
Age Pension age is 67 for anyone born on or after 1 January 1957, which now covers everyone approaching it. You also need to meet Australian residency requirements, generally including a minimum period of residence. Reaching the age is only the entry point; payment then depends on the income and assets tests.
Get started
Tell us where you are with centrelink & age pension and what you would like to sort out. If we can help, we will explain exactly how and what it costs.
