If you are someone heading towards retirement, you may want to look into ways to maximize your Age Pension payments. Here are some of the tips which you may find helpful :
Piggybank/Unsplash. Updating the value of your personal assets on their market value can make a significant impact on your fortnightly pension.
Do not overestimate personal assets
Personal assets are anything that you use at home, jewelry, gadgets, cars or caravans. When you are applying for Age Pension, the Centrelink requires that you provide them with the market value of these assets. What that means is that at what cost your personal asset would sell if you held a yard sale or put it up on eBay? When you estimate your personal assets this way, the value falls significantly. Doing online research on the selling price of your personal assets will tell you their exact worth. Overestimating the value of your personal assets can cause a negative impact on your fortnightly pension significantly.
Update asset values on a regular basis:
Your personal assets depreciate in value overtime. The most impact of depreciation is made on cars, and they can lose value immensely in the first few years of purchase.
It is not Centrelink’s job to keep up with the depreciating value of your personal assets. You must revise the value of your assets regularly and update them annually, so that your pension can increase as the value of your assets decrease.
Avery Evans/Unsplash. Paying back your debts can help save amount on interest charges.
Pay your debts:
Your loans are not offset against your assets for testing means. So it makes most sense to pay off your credit card debt or personal loans. Reducing your total amount of debt can also help you save some amount on interest charges.
Part ways with assessable assets :
Being smart with your assets can help increase your pension significantly. If you, for instance, spend money on maintaining and repairing your home, it will increase the value of your property while it can reduce other assets, specifically cash holdings. This also changes your pension eligibility.
Spending money on your house also helps you save on potential house upkeep expenses. This also makes your house better suited for senior living.
Olivia Bollen/Unsplash. Gifting is an effective way to reduce assessable assets.
Make use of gifts:
It goes without saying that every ceny matters when it comes to saving for a retirement fund. So how does gifting away money make sense?
Gifting away money to adult children in financing their house, or paying for a grandchild’s college tuition can reduce assessable assets, which means an increase in your Age Pension payments.
