Client Stories
Take a look at some of our clients' personal journeys navigating the age pension system
Undrawn Line of Credit
Fiona’s Story: Resolving Age Pension Issues with Undrawn Lines of Credit
There are around 34,000 people employed by Services Australia. Some of the 34,000 are highly trained individuals with a lot of experience. Many of the frontline staff, the ones who take the phone calls or who are behind the front counter when you walk in are not which means that it is not uncommon for them to get it wrong. In this case, they got it very wrong.
Company Loan
Mary’s Story: How Private Company Loans Can Affect Your Age Pension Application
Loans are an assessable asset unless they are unrecoverable. Often loans are made to a controlled private company or controlled private trust. If such a loan is putting you over the assets test your options are to have the loan repaid, forgive the loan or wind up the entity making the debt unrecoverable. All of these options have tax implications as well as means test implications. So make sure you check with your accountant first.
Timing is everything!
The "Double-Counting" Trap: Why Karen’s Home Deposit Cost Her a Pension Cut
Can moving your own money actually make you 'richer' in the eyes of Centrelink? For Karen, the answer was a frustrating 'yes.' By withdrawing funds for a home deposit at the wrong time of year, she ended up being assessed on the same money twice—losing part of her pension in the process. Read on to see how a little bit of pre-planning could have prevented this costly administrative nightmare.