Yes, referring to a single, as I took pensioners to mean all pensioners not couples. His quote here
welfare vs frugal
- Thread starter kathryn d
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Yes, referring to a single, as I took pensioners to mean all pensioners not couples. His quote here
It depends on your personal situation as to the monetary benefits of access to part pension versus self funding + seniors card.
There are far more monetary benefits from being a pensioner than a senior cards holder. This is especially in the area of cost of medications.
http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/pensioner-concession-card/benefits
As one basic example, if you are very healthy and do not need access to several grand of medications each month, then the pensioner's concession card may not be that useful to you.
Also the pensioner's concession card is also very useful in financing nursing home care. Self funded retirees have to pay much more. However, if you never require nursing home, then it is irrelevant.
Ultimately, it comes down to individual situation. Obviously if you a self funded retiree generating 200k passive income per year in retirement, don't worry about pensions. However, if your passive income is not that great, then concentrate on how to max out your welfare payments. There are many retirement financial planners who will help with these scenarios. As has been previously mentioned, you need to deal with your investible assets five years prior to pension age to qualify.
I presume the 1% figure is of all adult Aussies?? A person nearing retirement is far more likely to have more assets than a younger person so it is not correct to assume (from only 1% have over a million) that 99% of Australians will qualify for a part pension.
The 1% is across all ages.
It means that most Australians will qualify for a part pension once they reach the qualifying age.
No, it means that currently most people qualify for a part pension. Current retirees have not had years of super contributions that future generations will have.
I wont be old enough for a pension for 25-30 years - I'm guessing qualifying will be much harder by then.
Very true, so therein lies the incentive to invest and accumulate wealth in the off chance that the goal posts change over time as inevitably they will.
I do agree with china's basic premise of people being entitled to a part pension who ought not to be due to the large accumulation of wealth in their PPOR (intentional or otherwise). They already have a large CGT free house, pay $2 for medication that costs $30 for everyone else, in addition to other benefits. Something has to change this policy in the next 20 years otherwise the Federal government will go bankrupt. Will any political party do it? I doubt it but we shall see incremental changes hopefully.
It seems we are back to discussing retirement incomes.
While on the subject of pension discounts, we took my Mum to the movies this afternoon. It cost hubby and I $16:50 each and Mum got in for $1. A Gold Card is not just for any old pensioner. To be granted it you have to be an ex-serviceman or woman who served overseas (plus any other criteria) or their widow.
I have sat through several heated discussions with her friends and neighbours about the ways of obtaining the Holy Grail of concession cards. Have you heard them scheming about how to manipulate the situation (I mean apply using new evidence) so they can get free health in a private hospital with all the best private surgeons ad infinitum. How my mother qualifies is beyond me, my father died in his 80s so he certainly didn't die due to active service during World War II. She can prove that his heart condition was caused by a virus he caught in New Guinea. He died from falling out of bed and hitting his head, nothing to do with his heart.
Some of you are too young to know how hard our elders worked in their prime - through the Depression, the wars etc, to give us the prosperity this country currently enjoys and enjoyed 30 or so years ago when the pension age was actually lowered for a time. Those who served in Vietnam are coming up very close to the current pension age and I think all of our ex-servicemen and women deserve to be looked after in their twilight years. SO too all the oldies because they did, well, contribute.
For as long as I have been aware of current events (my father trained me from the age of 6) the aged pension has been an expectation among the oldies because that is exactly what it was marketed as. Reward for working hard and making the country what it is today.
I know this suggestion will not be well received.
How can we make it so that the only people who can receive any form of pension or part-pension in their old age would have had to contribute something in the way of income taxes (not just tobacco and fuel excises) and super contributions. That might provide some sort of incentive for the physically capable long-term unemployed to get off their bums and get off welfare. Imagine the howling and brick-throwing from Rent-a-Mob Inc.
While on the subject of pension discounts, we took my Mum to the movies this afternoon. It cost hubby and I $16:50 each and Mum got in for $1. A Gold Card is not just for any old pensioner. To be granted it you have to be an ex-serviceman or woman who served overseas (plus any other criteria) or their widow.
I have sat through several heated discussions with her friends and neighbours about the ways of obtaining the Holy Grail of concession cards. Have you heard them scheming about how to manipulate the situation (I mean apply using new evidence) so they can get free health in a private hospital with all the best private surgeons ad infinitum. How my mother qualifies is beyond me, my father died in his 80s so he certainly didn't die due to active service during World War II. She can prove that his heart condition was caused by a virus he caught in New Guinea. He died from falling out of bed and hitting his head, nothing to do with his heart.
Some of you are too young to know how hard our elders worked in their prime - through the Depression, the wars etc, to give us the prosperity this country currently enjoys and enjoyed 30 or so years ago when the pension age was actually lowered for a time. Those who served in Vietnam are coming up very close to the current pension age and I think all of our ex-servicemen and women deserve to be looked after in their twilight years. SO too all the oldies because they did, well, contribute.
For as long as I have been aware of current events (my father trained me from the age of 6) the aged pension has been an expectation among the oldies because that is exactly what it was marketed as. Reward for working hard and making the country what it is today.
I know this suggestion will not be well received.
How can we make it so that the only people who can receive any form of pension or part-pension in their old age would have had to contribute something in the way of income taxes (not just tobacco and fuel excises) and super contributions. That might provide some sort of incentive for the physically capable long-term unemployed to get off their bums and get off welfare. Imagine the howling and brick-throwing from Rent-a-Mob Inc.
The Department of Veteran's Affair Gold Card is indeed the holy grail of concession cards. Free medical care under any specialist in any hospital. Never one cent needed to be spent. Home help, transport, free movies and much, much more.
However, no amount of manipulation can get a Gold Card. DVA Gold is only given under very strict conditions to veterans and their spouses, who have served overseas in active combat conditions. This means that they have put their lives on the line for this country. They and their spouse deserved to be looked after by the rest of us who have stayed at home in comfort and safety.
The Gold Card is a very different scenario to the aged pension where you will still qualify if you have contributed zilch to this country from age 0 to 65.
Did you guys watch Les miserables or the hobbit?
Quartet
No China, not today. We are oldies, getting close to retirement age ourselves. We took Mum to see Quartet. She must have told me 50 times in the past week that she wants to see it. Us 50somethings loved it as much as everyone else in the audience.
It was funny when the movie ended. Half the audience just sat there. I then realised they had to get their hips and ankles moving again before they could stand up and walk outside.
Billy Connolly played Billy Connolly. As a G rated movie, the f word only came out twice. Once by BC and later by Maggie Smith - The Duchess from Downton Abbey for those of you too young to have watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
I'll see Les Mis next month after I get my $7:50 January online tickets from Event Cinemas. Shall I post the link here for the rest of you?
No China, not today. We are oldies, getting close to retirement age ourselves. We took Mum to see Quartet. She must have told me 50 times in the past week that she wants to see it. Us 50somethings loved it as much as everyone else in the audience.
It was funny when the movie ended. Half the audience just sat there. I then realised they had to get their hips and ankles moving again before they could stand up and walk outside.
Billy Connolly played Billy Connolly. As a G rated movie, the f word only came out twice. Once by BC and later by Maggie Smith - The Duchess from Downton Abbey for those of you too young to have watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
I'll see Les Mis next month after I get my $7:50 January online tickets from Event Cinemas. Shall I post the link here for the rest of you?
Based on your review, I think I will take my mom to see quartet.
Yes, please post the link.
I often find it surprising that as soon as the movie ends, people tend to just jump up and run away. Me, I like to read the end credits and the names of the actors/actresses that I have just watched.
I think you will enjoy Les Mis. I have been finding youtube videos with les mis lyrics so that I can sing along.
Since I started accompanying my mother to all these ex-Navy and War Widow's functions over the last year, I get to witness the sometimes quite vicious arguments between those whose husbands served overseas and those whose husbands only served in Australia.
Hey, we all want the perks. When i joined the RSL as a social member her neighbour asked me if I wanted to go upstairs to learn how to play the pokies.
"No", I said, "where do I put my name down on the Nursing Home waiting list?"
I have been told that as my father's daughter I will qualify for a NH placement. No, I didnt follow through with my statement.
I work with a gentleman who is a retired Australian Opera singer. Last time I saw him before the movie Les Miserables was released I asked him about the new movie. From the trailers he has seen, he said it looks to be very well done.
You wont be able to watch the credits from Quartet, my friend. At the same time they show you pictures of the professional musicians in the movie and the roles they played when they were younger. You will be too busy watching that side of the screen.
I know a few doctors but ALL the serious wealth I see is from business; 30 yo multimillionaire team mate of my son who owns a highly successful marketing company, to a builder friend who owns millions in property and just 3 -4M on the PPOR alone, on top of the 'chain' of childcare centers he built and runs (his is a truly amazing story - achieved all in a very short space of time on an low professional income and supporting a family of 6).
Only 1 is a doctor but it's from having owned a large shopping center and other CP's for many years now (son is a 'celebrity' doctor
).
Doctoring probably helped him get there faster, but this guy would have without a doubt achieved much of what he has regardless.
Come to think of it these people have something else in common apart from being business minded, and that's being Greek.
Only 1 is a doctor but it's from having owned a large shopping center and other CP's for many years now (son is a 'celebrity' doctor
).Doctoring probably helped him get there faster, but this guy would have without a doubt achieved much of what he has regardless.
Come to think of it these people have something else in common apart from being business minded, and that's being Greek
.I know a few doctors but ALL the serious wealth I see is from business; 30 yo multimillionaire team mate of my son who owns a highly successful marketing company, to a builder friend who owns millions in property and just 3 -4M on the PPOR alone, on top of the 'chain' of childcare centers he built and runs (his is a truly amazing story - achieved all in a very short space of time on an low professional income and supporting a family of 6).
Only 1 is a doctor but it's from having owned a large shopping center and other CP's for many years now (son is a 'celebrity' doctor
Doctoring probably helped him get there faster, but this guy would have without a doubt achieved much of what he has regardless.
Come to think of it these people have something else in common apart from being business minded, and that's being Greek
The path to great wealth usually involves harnessing the capital of others and /or the labour of others to generate income. This is what most great businesses are about. An individual worker be she a doctor, lawyer, plumber or rocket scientist will find it impossible to crack the BRW 200.
There are two BIG problems with a doctor lifestyle :
1) The amount of debt/borrowings for medical tuition acquired over a 6-12 yearly period is phenomenal. We're talking in the range of $300,000 (yes the price of a house). So after you graduate, you owe the education system alot of money even before you start working.
2) A doctor (by himself and not involved in business) does not have the ability to decouple his job from his time ie he has to be present doing his job to make an income. Hence the excess overtime and on-call duties... My god-sister is an anesthetist who works in a hospital, and yes while her income is above average, she is still paying her tuition fees and she still is on-call working very long hours at ridiculous times. So if she doesn't show up to work at 2am to work, she won't be paid...
This is why business, whether it be property-related or otherwise is the truest path to wealth...
[Please note I have several family friends in the medical profession that can attest to these observations]
While your comments are appreciated, we split this topic off from this thread a while back- and ended up closing the resulting thread.
No more comments on this topic please. There was enough time on the other thread to say everything which had to be said.
Back on topic now.
