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Retirees' handy bonus - Eureka Report article 
Retirees’ handy bonusPORTFOLIO POINT: The work bonus detailed in the budget adds to the government’s theme of flexibility for retirees.
One of the most overlooked announcements from the 2011 budget was the “work bonus”, which gives retirees the option of boosting their retirement savings by $6500 each year before their pensions are affected. This initiative – which was admittedly confirmed beforehand – is part of an increasingly flexible retirement landscape. Treasurer Wayne Swan introduced this in his budget speech saying, “For seniors, our work bonus now allows an extra $125 a week of earned income before their pensions are affected.” This effectively encourages an age pensioner to do some part-time work by granting increased capacity to earn some income without it affecting their pension. It also fits nicely into a bigger theme of retirement planning where retirees can blend a mix of superannuation, work and the age pension to fund their lifestyle.
The other initiatives that combine to deliver this more flexible retirement situation include:
The benefit of this strategy is that for an average income earner, they are likely to be able to significantly reduce the amount of tax that they pay. In addition to these benefits, changes to the assets test for the age pension – available to those over 65 – deliver additional flexibility. The details of the changes are as follows:
Under the current age pension test rules, they will receive $211.50 a fortnight in age pension – or about $5500 a year. If they are drawing on their superannuation assets at a rate of about 5% a year, or $40,000 a year, this couple will receive tax-free income of $40,000 from their self-managed super fund and an additional $5500 from the age pension to have a total of $45,500 a year – tax-free – to fund their retirement. This brings us to the changes coming up from July this year – the ability to earn an extra $125 a week without it impacting on their part age pension. An important aspect of this work bonus scheme is that if the extra income is not earned in any fortnight, the capacity to earn income is carried forward and can be earned in the future without affecting the age pension. What this means that if a person earns up to $6500 in any period during a year – whether that is $125 every week or $6500 over six weeks – it will be excluded from the age pension assets test. Looking at the scenario above – a retired couple with $800,000 of superannuation assets, giving them a $40,000 superannuation income stream and $5500 of the government age pension – one member of the couple can do some part-time work to earn another $6500 without any impact on their pension situation (In reality, they can do more work that this – the $6500 a year illustrates the basic work bonus level). Their income situation is now:
The breakthrough development was the transition to retirement income streams, which allowed people to tax-effectively build assets leading up to their retirement. This was followed by a significant increase in the assets test for the age pension – where a couple who own their own home can now have almost $1 million in assets and still receive some part age pension in retirement. The work bonus scheme is the final piece of the puzzle. |