Retiring soon? It’s time to start thinking about these six things
This is my Sunday column which features in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald Money section.
The retirement clock is ticking in 2023 for an awful lot of Aussies. If you’re among the 500,000 Australians thinking of retiring in the next five years, it’s time to seize control of these six things that will help you make the most of it.Understand your pension eligibility: Age pension thresholds shifted quite significantly on 1 July 2023, giving those eligible for the pension a bit of a pay rise and making more Australians eligible, with the pension qualification age moving from 66.5 to 67.
Sixty-two per cent of Australians aged over 67 get some form of pension right now, so it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. And it’s not just the pension payment you want to explore, the Pension Concession Card (PCC) offered to people who qualify for even just $1 of pension income a fortnight can be incredibly helpful in keeping your cost of living down.
If you aren’t eligible for the PCC, take the time to understand the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, which is only subject to the income test at much higher thresholds than the pension.
Maximise the use of your superannuation concessions: Superannuation can seem dull to Australians whose retirement still seems a long way off. But once it arrives, those concessions become some of your best friends, so if you don’t understand them, it’s time to.
(There’s plenty more to this article - read on here)
This article featured in both print and digital editions of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Brisbane Times Money sections on Sunday 9th July.