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Could you finally pursue your teenage dream? Age pension and rent assistance payrise coming

So many times in our lives we choose the ‘sensible’ path. But retirement can be different. For the first time in your life, you can spend your time doing things that you don’t rely on for income.

Bec Wilson

Sep 7, 2023

This week in our epic retirement newsletter we have:

Article - Could you finally pursue your teenage dream?
From Bec’s Desk this week
Article - A significant rise to the age pension and rent assistance
SMH/Age article - The real costs of a longer, healthier retirement

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Could you finally pursue your teenage dream?

So many times in our lives we choose the ‘sensible’ path. We become accountants, rather than artists, musicians or authors to secure a good reliable income. We go to the gym or for a walk instead of joining a theatre club or choir and performing in our spare time. We come home and do the laundry and chores on weekends, instead of spending time at an animal shelter on a Saturday or a Sunday. Those activities don’t pay the income that keeps a roof over our heads in the middle years of life easily, and they don’t keep the wheels turning at home, so many people can’t or don’t prioritise them.

But retirement can be different. For the first time in your life, you can spend some or all of your time doing things that you don’t rely on for an income. Things you’ve always wanted to do but your ‘sensibility’ has got the better of you on before now. So what’s stopping you becoming an artist, a writer or a musician now?

Retirement is the first time in most people’s lives when they get to live off an income that isn’t generated from things they ‘do’ every day. Instead they find themselves living off a combination of age pension, superannuation and investment income. And that leaves them in a position, for the first time since their youth, to pursue things to do with their time that they find real fulfilment in.

The one thing you’ve really got on your side is the lack of pressure to turn this activity into a career, or an income that keeps your parents from telling you to ‘get a real job’ like they did all those decades ago. And, when you pursue them you can do it for the complete and utter joy, not ambitious commercial goals, bringing a different level of creative or curious freedom to your involvement that others in pre-retirement quite often cannot afford.

I asked our Epic Retirement Facebook Community if there was something they always wanted to do but never did because it didn’t pay the salary they needed earlier in life? 28% of people said they wanted to write a book, 21% said they wanted to travel, 13% wanted to build and tend a garden, 11% said they wanted to care for animals, and 8% wanted to do a masters degree or PhD. And that was just some of the answers.

If these things are on your “I wish I did” list, what’s stopping you from putting them on the “I could give it a try” list in retirement?

The key becomes - you have to start. And starting is hard, particularly if you’re out of practise.

No one is going to pick you, and invite you to write a book. So you will need to reason out your book idea, work through the self-publishing process and turn it into a project. And it could be one heck of a fulfilling project. Jim, one of the people I interviewed for How to Have an Epic Retirement, wrote a book about his family history and published it just weeks before his parents died, bringing both him and them great joy.

In the same way, no-one is going to reach out to you from an animal shelter or community garden and invite you for a visit - unless you ask how you can get involved. But with one phonecall you could find out, and organise your first visit.

And the local theatre troupe certainly won’t come knocking on your door to invite you to audition. But you could call them to ask when they are next auditioning for a show, or if they need a stage-hand.

So the question I have for you is “what would you like to try?” Can you finally live out a childhood or teenage dream? It’s your retirement. Make it epic.

From Bec’s Desk this week

Wowsers! How to Have an Epic Retirement sold out in Amazon and Booktopia more than a week ago now, and have remained out of stock while we waited for the reprint to arrive in the warehouse. And this morning it finally does!

For an author on the bestseller list, selling out online presents a bit of a (first world) problem - because it was more difficult for everyone to buy the book and keep it on the bestseller list. I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to stay there this week!

But, thankfully, you found copies to buy. The weekly national book sales statistics were in yesterday and we are AGAIN the #1 bestselling self improvement book by an Australian author - now for the fifth week in a row! That’s crazy! Thank you again for another week of enthusiasm and support.

If you haven’t bought yourself a copy yet, Booktopia still has a 30% discount deal on it, at the time of writing.

This week I’ve been hard at work on the BRAND NEW PODCAST I can’t tell you about yet - but hold your breath and watch this space. It is nearly ready for you to know more.

And, in every spare minute I’m working on the official course for How to Have an Epic Retirement. That’s a big job! (Register your interest for when it’s released).

As you already know I write a weekly column for the Nine Newspapers, which I include on this newsletter below. (You can read all my articles here).

I’ve also started writing a monthly column for National Senior’s Australia, an advocacy organisation I have heaps of respect for. This month I wrote about one of the greatest legacies I believe our seniors can leave is to help build financial confidence in younger generations. It’s called ‘Families and Money - the stuff we don’t talk about much’ - (You can read it here).

Read the book and want to send me your thought? Have you got a question you want answered (remembering I cannot give you personal financial advice!)? Send it in to me, simply by filling out this form - or email me at bec@epicretirement.com.au. I love to hear from you.

Got a comment to leave on the stories or the newsletter - pop on over to the site and leave it for me. Don’t forget to ❤️ the post while you are there!

A significant rise to the age pension and rent assistance

It’s been a week filled with good news. The more than 2.6 million retirees who rely on the age pension can now see another lift in their income from September 20, and for those eligible for rent assistance there is a significant boost too. And, if you are just outside the limits for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card now, you should double check, because the limits have been given a boost, indexing for inflation.

In a welcome announcement, the Australian government has unveiled increases to income support payments and pensions, providing much-needed financial relief to millions of Australians. These adjustments, set to take effect on September 20, come as part of the government's commitment to addressing the rising cost of living. The move follows the introduction of a comprehensive $14.6 billion cost of living package earlier this year.

Here are the key changes that will be implemented from September 20 that affect retirees:

Recipients of the age pension will receive an increase to the single pension rate of $32.70 to $1096.70 per fortnight, and for couples combined, the rate will increase by $49.40 to $1653.40. These figures include Pension Supplement and Energy Supplement. And the net effect could be more than $2500 in the hip pocket for some couples.

In addition to this, income support recipients who are renting will enjoy an increase in the maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance. Single people will see the maximum rate rise by $27.60 to $184.80 per fortnight and couples will see the maximum rate increase by $32.34 to $217.28 per fortnight.

And finally, the income Limits for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card recipients will also be indexed, increasing by $5400 to $95,400 per annum for singles and by $8640 to $152,640 per annum for couples combined.

Other supplementary payments, including Telephone Allowance and Utilities Allowance, will also be indexed. Full article here.

If you are looking for concessions to help with the cost of living be sure to download our Epic Retirement Seniors Concessions Guide here.

The real cost of a longer, healthier retirement

This article was first published on 2nd and 3rd September 2023, in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WA Today, in both print and digital.

I have to admit being a little obsessed by the opportunity to live longer lives, and the need to live healthier as we do so. So, I dug deep into The Intergenerational Report 2023 this week to see how the government is projecting life expectancy to change for people who make it to the age of 65 over the rest of their lifetime.

Of course my obsession lies partly in trying to calculate how much money people really need to live out an epic retirement, and how we can better plan for, and expectation manage our goals of living a longer life.

They’re also pretty selfish. I want to live longer, and healthier for my years ahead than the generations before me.

So, what did I discover? I think the government are presenting the ‘safe’ and statistically correct picture of our ageing population, as you would expect. In fact, I believe the Intergenerational Report could be an exciting understatement for longevity in the decades ahead of us and today’s middle-agers and younger generations might live longer than the government charts can show.

And if they do, they’d want to get far more proactive about their health because you will pay if you don’t.

The good news is, our country can afford us to live longer, finally, thanks to the growth and advancement of superannuation, something we could not have said 20 years ago.

My conclusion, you should bet on living longer than the government thinks you will, and you should start looking after your health better now. Investing in your health now might just be the wisest long-term financial decision you can make.

Let me dive into why. The government statistics projected to 2062/63 in the Intergenerational report look conservative to many experienced actuaries around the country. That’s because they are based on historical statistical analysis which doesn’t factor in any rapid advancements in science or modern medicine.

I have to say, I don’t believe that we won’t see some major health breakthroughs in the next forty years.

The current life expectancy for men who reach the age of 65 is 85, and for women it is 87.7. This new edition of The Intergenerational Report projects that over the next 40 years, that number will rise by 4.7 years for men and 3.5 years for women, to predict an average life length of 89.7 for men and 91.2 for women.

Above is only part of the article - You can see the whole article here.

Order your copy now - buy the paperback, audiobook or ebook

If you haven’t ordered your copy of How to Have an Epic Retirement already, here’s how you can.

It is the ultimate guidebook for modern retirees.

How to Have an Epic Retirement guides readers through the way the systems of retirement work, and is packed with tips, insights and guidance that spans six pillars of an epic retirement. It is designed to help you learn the valuable lessons that modern retirees wish someone had shared with them before they kicked off the changes and stages of life that come after retirement.

Booktopia has new stock arriving today in their warehouse. You can buy it 30% off here.

You can also get it on Amazon and Audible here.

Or, you should find it wherever books are sold - see the stockists here.

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I’m about to start a stream of micro-lessons about retirement on Instagram and Facebook, so depending on which is your favourite, please, come along and be a part of the conversations.

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