Super performance tests: pick the right fund and hold on to your hat!
4 July 2022
Picking the right super fund is not that easy, especially when the economy is not doing great. Help of sorts is at hand.
Here’s how Govt can raise the pension and have plenty of money to spare
1 July 2022
Raising the pension increases the popularity of any Government. Why don't they?
How to have heart failure but not a heart attack
29 June 2022
Heart trouble takes many forms. Not all forms are fatal. Many can be managed.
Why on earth isn’t dental covered by my Home Care Package?
27 June 2022
A Home Care Package can fund just about anything you could need in your old age, except dental care. Why is it so, and is it fair?
Deeming rate freeze start and other 1 July changes
24 June 2022
The start of the new financial year on 1 July brings new rules and changes. Here's a run-down.
Land tax dead, stamp duty lives
22 June 2022
Economists become very excited at the mention of land tax replacing property stamp duty, but the biggest state in the Federation has now all but buried its property tax scheme.
What’s in the NSW Budget 2022 for you
21 June 2022
A run-down of NSW Budget 2022 measures that may affect older Australian directly.
All you need to know about the Government’s reverse mortgage
19 June 2022
It used to be called the Pension Loans Scheme and was very small. Now that it's bigger and not just pensioners but also billionaires can access it, it's been re-badged as the Home Equity Release Scheme. It's still a reverse mortgage though, and it behaves like any other reverse mortgage.
When will the minimum wage rise affect pension indexation?
17 June 2022
Indexation of the pension on the basis of wage growth? It might happen but don’t hold your breath! It really depends on whether or not at some point wages will start to rise faster than inflation.
How does public dental care actually (not) work?
15 June 2022
About 20 per cent of Australians, or 5 million people, are eligible for public dentistry in Australia. Even though only a fraction of that number actually uses public dentistry, the waiting lists are long and a movable feast. And the system invites you to cheat.
Why you shouldn’t care about getting dementia
13 June 2022
The two certainties in life are death and taxes, not dementia, and the chance of not getting it remains greater than getting it. Here's why you should ignore the issue- after reading this article, that is.
Rate hike mess: pensioners call for monthly inflation tracking, pension indexation
10 June 2022
Inept inflation tracking, lagging pension indexation, governments of all persuasions have failed to do the right thing by pensioners.
Pension, term deposits: what does June’s rate hike mean for them?
8 June 2022
The Reserve Bank has increased the cash rate by half a per cent. Is this news good, bad or indifferent for what happens with the pension and term deposit rates?
Is it legal to refuse legal tender?
6 June 2022
Is cash really no longer king? Is it legal for a business to say 'no' to your cash? Or your credit card, for that matter?
Are you too paying four times the super fees and charges in retirement?
3 June 2022
Once you retire and start drawing on your super, you no longer pay tax, but the fund keeps charging you fees, higher fees than you were paying while you were still working.
Can you protect yourself from rising energy bills?
1 June 2022
How many times have you opened your energy bill only to get a nasty shock? There is help in some states beyond the usual energy rebates, but getting that help can be a hard slog.
Now for a dental scheme with Medicare teeth!
30 May 2022
Why does our comprehensive health insurance scheme Medicare exclude oral health? Too expensive? Too difficult?
No end-of-life dignity guarantee but euthanasia now legal in all six states
27 May 2022
Voluntary assisted dying is so often viewed as a way to keep control of one’s life right to the end, but voluntary assisted dying schemes in Australia are designed for a different purpose.
Will the new Labor Government raise the pension?
25 May 2022
Indexation will ensure the pension's purchasing power is maintained but is there a prospect of more?
Election 2022 makes major reform do-able
23 May 2022
With The Greens holding the balance of power in the Senate, and the Labor Party forming government, real, meaningful change in the areas of health, aged care and housing is now a real possibility.