Yahoo Finance Boomers' Centrelink whinge after $1m lottery win: 'Pure greed'
They want to know if they could have avoided this, but Aussies were floored the older couple was complaining.
A Baby Boomer couple has attracted criticism after complaining their lottery win kicked them off the pension. The couple - aged 73 and 67 - are retired and have been using Centrelink payments to support themselves.
In a submission to the Sydney Morning Herald, they revealed they put the $1 million prize into a basic interest-bearing savings account. It'll sit there until they decide to buy a new property or renovate their existing one.
"The windfall has stopped our pension completely until we spend the money, which is all good and well. But could we have prevented the pension loss in any way?" the couple asked.
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Sydney Morning Herald columnist Noel Whittaker told them they should thank their lucky stars they're in this situation.
"The full age pension for a couple is $43,732 a year – you could have a far better lifestyle living off capital instead of relying on welfare," he wrote.
While the asset cut-off for a couple receiving a part pension is $1,031,000, Whittaker urged the couple against spending their lottery win just to get back on the Centrelink payment as every $100,000 spent increases the pension by just $7,800 a year.
"It would take 12 years to get your money back," he added.
'Pure greed' or 'deserving'? Question divides Australians
Some Australians were not impressed by the couple's complaint.
"Just pure greed. That's all," said one social media user.
"Some people are never satisfied. If they want to keep their pensions so desperately perhaps they could give the money to a charity for the homeless," wrote another.
A third added: "Wow some sense of entitlement… won the lotto and still wants more… that’s why taxes are so high in Australia."
But some were sympathetic.
"If they spent all their life working hard and paying taxes … they deserve their pension. What’s wrong with that?" commented one Aussie.
"The pension he spent 50 years paying tax towards? I’d want it too," wrote another.
How does the Age Pension work?
To receive the age pension, you need to be 67 years old and have been an Australian resident for 10 years in total, with at least five years of no break in your residence.
You also need to pass an income test and an asset test. The thresholds for these tests recently went up on July 1 to keep pace with inflation.
This increase allows older Australians to earn more and have more assets before their Age Pension payments are affected. It also means some people may be able to qualify for the age pension who hadn’t previously, while some who were on part-pensions could be eligible to move to the full amount.
How does the Age Pension work?
To receive the age pension, you need to be 67 years old and have been an Australian resident for 10 years in total, with at least five years of no break in your residence.
You also need to pass an income test and an asset test. The thresholds for these tests recently went up on July 1 to keep pace with inflation.
This increase allows older Australians to earn more and have more assets before their Age Pension payments are affected.
It also means some people may be able to qualify for the age pension who hadn’t previously, while some who were on part-pensions could be eligible to move to the full amount.
Income test
Single pensioners will now be able to earn $212 a fortnight and still be eligible for the full single pension, while couples can bring in up to $372 every two weeks and still get the full amount.
Once this threshold is exceeded, your pension amount decreases by 50 cents for every dollar over $212 and $372 respectively.
The maximum amount you can earn before your pension is cut off completely will now be $2,444.60 per fortnight for singles and $3,737.60 for couples.
Asset test
Here's the amount pensioners can have before their pension is impacted:
Single homeowners: Assets of up to $314,000
Singles non-homeowners: Assets of up to $566,000
Couple who owns a home: Combined assets of $470,000
Couples who don't own a home: Combined assets of $722,000
The numbers are a bit different for part-pensioners:
Single homeowner: Assets of up to $686,250
Single who does not own a home: Assets of up to $938,250
Couple who owns a home: Combined assets of $1,031,000
Couples who don't own a home: Combined assets of $1,283,000
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