the gfc wiped out many of the self funded retirees, people who had never sought welfare relief ever in their lifetime are now reliant on the age pension
I have a couple of clients who I have helped, sorted out their finances, and now they are collecting the pension
they are not eligible for much under the income test, as most are property investors, with a good mix of property, cash and shares they are eligible under the assets test now, due to the lower values applied to their assets, since the gfc
these are people who did not have very much in a superfund, nor a smsf, or have allocated pensions etc
they saved and invested their after tax dollars, to provide for retirement.... what we did with a couple of them, was take the cash from deposits and pay it off their PPOR, ie their own home loan... so for example rather than have $200,000 on deposit, and currently worried about a greek type situation, of the govnut stealing their money.... nor are they concerned about the govnut stealing some of their nest egg in super I suggested if they have a home loan, to dump some of the money in there, and so it is removed from the total assets an example of $100,000 applied this way gives them $150 pf in pension.... plus, as it is a voluntary amount, it can be withdrawn at any time, or if needed for an emergency other older clients have been advised to get renewed valuations applied to their assets, to review their situation in the past they were way outside the asset limits, but some have revised the value down by half apparently a CL staffer told my client recently, they have had a huge number of oldies suddenly applying for the age pension under similar circumstances of course when the economy picks up again after they get rid of this current mob, many of these people may not be eligible, unless they rearrange their affairs to comply again horses for courses I would never ever consider a reverse mortgage, but then again some oldies see it as the only answer
