Benefits with immigration to Australia

[Bruce]

There's no "better "fund. We have money in our "own" private fund, but we are being robbed blind by compulsory '"audit" fees. These fees take out more than the fund earns.

 

If we stopped paying, I guess we would be visited by men with guns.

 

 

[octave]

There's no "better "fund. We have money in our "own" private fund, but we are being robbed blind by compulsory '"audit" fees. These fees take out more than the fund earns.If we stopped paying, I guess we would be visited by men with guns.

Your super find must be pretty poor. Mine earned 9.85% still over 9% after deducted fees, happy to post my statement.

 

 

[Bruce]

I believe you Octave. My circumstances were different on account of buying a farm and using super money as part payment. This would be fine except for the annual compulsory audit. The paddock concerned does nothing much, and the whole thing comes down to daylight robbery by those with a government ticket to rip us off.

 

Of course, this rip-off is " for our own safety ".

 

I've had it up to here with rip-off merchants who say they are "protecting " us somehow. They are no better morally than the Chicago protection Mafia. The protection they sell is to stop their own thugs attacking you.

 

 

[spacesailor]

"Space, I reckon the age pension is ok unless you are paying rent."

 

AND Council rates, Insurance (House & contents) water, gas, electricity.

 

And

 

Last weeks Pills (medications 1 week) $70.even subsidised at $6.50, each.(when over 100 They'r free, dollars or meds.?)

 

Parking Under a Parking sign $85, .Whats an arrow over the sign mean,? money to the council . .

 

NO FLYING Money. boo,hooboo,hoo, sob, sob.

 

spacesailor[ATTACH]50190._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[spacesailor]

AND

 

Don't forget this & any Government can, like NZ, stop stop superannuation any time they want YOUR money !.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[octave]

ANDDon't forget this & any Government can, like NZ, stop stop superannuation any time they want YOUR money !.

 

spacesailor

 

Total Bullshit. Please provide me with one documented case.

 

 

[spacesailor]

LOOK IT UP !.

 

Muldoom told the employer's Not to deduct super., Which at the time "Broke the Law", & no-one was prosecuted.

 

spacesailor.

 

 

[Bruce]

What a strange country when owning and operating a car is seen as a basic necessity. My grandparents never had a car their entire lives.

 

But I have to say that I personally regard a car as a necessity, even if it is very expensive.

 

Could I get by without one? Yes I could, especially with the electric bike, but I don't want to try it.

 

How much does the car cost? My guess is $100 a week.

 

 

[Bruce]

I just googled up total costs for owning and running a car. The answer is 300 to 400 a week. More than I thought.

 

 

[octave]

I just googled up total costs for owning and running a car. The answer is 300 to 400 a week. More than I thought.

That must surely be estimating everything on the high side. Cars are things I always do economically. The newest car I have ever owned is 10 years. I only insure 3rd party property. If I crash it or it gets stolen i have enough cash go replace it. Serviced twice a year. I am in no way doubting the 300 to 400 a week but like most things there are plenty of ways to economise.

 

 

[Bruce]

Yes, I operate like that too Octave. I'm about the last of the guys I know who still does his own servicing. So the $100 a week might be closer for us than the 300 to 400 a week.

 

But I reckon we are unfashionable old guys. Cheapskate too in my case at least... I can horrify the wife by asking for the cheapest bottle of red in a restaurant.

 

 

[willedoo]

A mate of mine is on a disability pension. A few days ago, he was notified that his payment is reduced to $50 per fortnight because Centrelink re valued his property and he now exceeds the asset limit by another $150,000. Problem is, he's still disabled and can't work. He's going to appeal the decision, so it will be interesting to see the outcome. It's ironic that he voted for the government who only two months later took away his disability pension.

 

Brings to mind the famous Harry S. Truman quote - " How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you figure out who's hitting you.".

 

We have to pay for those tax cuts one way or the other.

 

 

 

[octave]

A mate of mine is on a disability pension. A few days ago, he was notified that his payment is reduced to $50 per fortnight because Centrelink re valued his property and he now exceeds the asset limit by another $150,000. Problem is, he's still disabled and can't work. He's going to appeal the decision, so it will be interesting to see the outcome. It's ironic that he voted for the government who only two months later took away his disability pension.

Brings to mind the famous Harry S. Truman quote - " How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you figure out who's hitting you.".

 

We have to pay for those tax cuts one way or the other.

 

If his property is his house then I think he has been given dodgy information. Principal home and 2 hectares surrounding are exempt from assets test

 

Disability Support Pension - Assets - Australian Government Department of Human Services

 

Assets we don’t assess

 

There are some assets we don't assess. We call these exempt assets.

 

Exempt assets include:

 

• your principal home and surrounding land up to 2 hectares on the same title
   
  
• some properties larger than 2 hectares on the same title - read more about rural customers and primary producers
   
  
• your principal home, if you vacate it for up to 12 months
   
  
• granny flat rights where you pay more than the extra allowable amount
   
  
• principal home sale proceeds you’ll use to buy another home within 12 months - we deem the exempted amount and include it in the income test
   
  
• any property or money left to you in an estate, which you can’t get for up to 12 months
   
  
• accommodation bonds paid on entry to a residential aged care facility
   
  
• some income streams depending on when you purchased them
   
  
• Australian superannuation investments from which a pension is not being paid - this exemption is valid until you reach Age Pension age
   
  
• a cemetery plot and a prepaid funeral, or up to 2 funeral bonds, that cost no more than the allowable limit
   
  
• aids for people with disability
   
  
• money from the National Disability Insurance Scheme for people with disability
   
  
• a Special Disability Trust, if it meets certain requirements
   
  

 

 

[willedoo]

Thanks Octave; I'm well versed in that as I have more than 2 hectares. The mate in question owns half of a property more than that 2 hectare limit. He lives on the property but it's the portion exceeding the two hectares that bumps his assets up.

 

Centrelink valuations can be dodgy and are well worth appealing if they seem unrealistic. They often use contract valuers who wouldn't know if their arse was on fire. I've had personal experience of that - not with my arse being on fire, but with dealing with one of those twits contracted by Centrelink. His valuation wasn't adverse to my situation but in phone conversations, I was quite astounded by his lack of basic knowledge on the subject.

 

It can be a bit unfair. Someone who has a rural residential block they've lived on most of their lives can receive a pittance % of the pension due to the size of the block, while their neighbour can have a ten million dollar house on less than two hectares and receive a full pension if his other assets do not exceed the limit.

 

Where I live, so far, it hasn't been a problem because of the type of district it is. If you have a larger property, they value the total property. Then they estimate the value of your house and two hectares. The difference between the two is deemed a non exempt asset. Because I live in a high growth/demand area, a two hectare block is worth just as much as a ten hectare block, so the difference is minimal. Where the mate on the disability pension lives, there is a much bigger differential between a two hectare block and a bigger one, so he is effected a lot more than I am.

 

Once you exceed the asset limit, your pension is reduced by $3 a fortnight for every $1,000 the limit is exceeded. So if you are $100,000 over the limit, you lose $300 per fortnight. If you live in a city and your non residence assets don't exceed the limit, you can receive a full pension. If you live outside of town on a few acres you can be forced to sell your property you've lived on all your life so you can get a pension.

 

Here's a hypothetical situation: You can have the arse out of your pants and be living on breadcrumbs, and so are forced to sell up and downsize so you can receive a full pension and feed yourself. Let's just say that over all the years you've lived there, property values have increased by great numbers. You can sell that property (more than 2 hectares) for 10 million dollars, then buy a ten million dollar house on less than 2 hectares and receive a full pension and live a bit better. Only hypothetical of course, as most people with 10 million dollars would buy a cheaper property and live as a self funded retiree on the balance. And be free of Centrelink to boot.

 

 

[octave]

Thanks Octave; I'm well versed in that as I have more than 2 hectares. The mate in question owns half of a property more than that 2 hectare limit. He lives on the property but it's the portion exceeding the two hectares that bumps his assets up.

Centrelink valuations can be dodgy and are well worth appealing if they seem unrealistic. They often use contract valuers who wouldn't know if their arse was on fire. I've had personal experience of that - not with my arse being on fire, but with dealing with one of those twits contracted by Centrelink. His valuation wasn't adverse to my situation but in phone conversations, I was quite astounded by his lack of basic knowledge on the subject.

 

It can be a bit unfair. Someone who has a rural residential block they've lived on most of their lives can receive a pittance % of the pension due to the size of the block, while their neighbour can have a ten million dollar house on less than two hectares and receive a full pension if his other assets do not exceed the limit.

 

Where I live, so far, it hasn't been a problem because of the type of district it is. If you have a larger property, they value the total property. Then they estimate the value of your house and two hectares. The difference between the two is deemed a non exempt asset. Because I live in a high growth/demand area, a two hectare block is worth just as much as a ten hectare block, so the difference is minimal. Where the mate on the disability pension lives, there is a much bigger differential between a two hectare block and a bigger one, so he is effected a lot more than I am.

 

Once you exceed the asset limit, your pension is reduced by $3 a fortnight for every $1,000 the limit is exceeded. So if you are $100,000 over the limit, you lose $300 per fortnight. If you live in a city and your non residence assets don't exceed the limit, you can receive a full pension. If you live outside of town on a few acres you can be forced to sell your property you've lived on all your life so you can get a pension.

 

Here's a hypothetical situation: You can have the arse out of your pants and be living on breadcrumbs, and so are forced to sell up and downsize so you can receive a full pension and feed yourself. Let's just say that over all the years you've lived there, property values have increased by great numbers. You can sell that property (more than 2 hectares) for 10 million dollars, then buy a ten million dollar house on less than 2 hectares and receive a full pension and live a bit better. Only hypothetical of course, as most people with 10 million dollars would buy a cheaper property and live as a self funded retiree on the balance. And be free of Centrelink to boot.

 

Yes, I am quite familiar with the 2-hectare rule having sold our 22-hectare property a couple of years ago. I think that often on the face of it, these rules can seem (and indeed often are) arbitrary. We were pretty fearful as people told us we would be up for tens of thousands of dollars. In the end, we spent a lot of time reading and researching and found that it was not so bad after all. We were told by non-experts that we must pay large sums of money to get a valuation that the tax department would accept but in actual fact as far as the tax department goes you can assess it yourself as long as you can show you have used commonly accepted practice. We ended paying a couple of thousand an thus far no nasty please explain letters, I think they have another 3 years in which to challenge it if they disagree but we are pretty confident it conforms to the law.

 

Don't get me wrong I am not defending Centrelink I am just saying that often things that seem outrageous on the surface when examined closely are perhaps reasonable given the tax take. I am just dealing with my aged parents and delving in the financial aspect of an aged care home. The reality is that the taxpayer does not want to pay the whole of a person's aged care expenses. My parents are far from wealthy but hey do own their own home and it seems fair enough to me that they are asked to contribute to the cost of their care.

 

I do sympathise with the plight of the person who owns more than 2 hectares. By the way, as far as the tax department valuation goes it can be any 2 hectares within the block and not necessarily in one portion. On my property, I chose 2 one acre portions, one which took in the entire river bank and one that cleverly went around the house, water tanks and other high-value assets leaving the taxable portion which was of a lower value.

 

 

[willedoo]

Thanks Octave. I knew you could designate the boundary lines of the two hectares but didn't know it could be split into portions. That makes it easy if there are sheds and infrastructure a distance away from the house. I'll probably be going through all that CGT stuff next year if my property sells.

 

A friend of mine has been in a nursing home for a year now. For his room & board + care he paid a deposit of around $400,000 which supposedly goes back to his estate when he passes on. On top of that, they take 80% of his pension to cover costs. It leaves him with enough cash to supplement the diet a bit. It's a good facility; his only regular complaint is the food which he describes as "rather moist and uninteresting". But I guess the reality is that the caterers have to cook soft food for the oldest and most infirm, and it wouldn't be practical or economic to try and cater for different categories of resident.

 

 

[octave]

Thanks Octave. I knew you could designate the boundary lines of the two hectares but didn't know it could be split into portions. That makes it easy if there are sheds and infrastructure a distance away from the house. I'll probably be going through all that CGT stuff next year if my property sells.

Good luck with it. Turned out not too bad for us but I won't say it was simple. It is hard enough learning information you are interested in but even harder when the subject matter is boring and detailed.

 

 

[willedoo]

Good luck with it. Turned out not too bad for us but I won't say it was simple. It is hard enough learning information you are interested in but even harder when the subject matter is boring and detailed.

Well, I'll be trying to lower it as much as I can. With capital gain tax, selling agent fees, moving costs and stamp duty and other costs to buy the next home, if the homework isn't done right, it's easy to go backwards.

 

 

[octave]

Well, I'll be trying to lower it as much as I can. With capital gain tax, selling agent fees, moving costs and stamp duty and other costs to buy the next home, if the homework isn't done right, it's easy to go backwards.

I understand that for sure, we downsized so my wife could retire and I am semi-retired which is the position we are now in (highly recommended). We wanted to cram as much as we could into super and luckily it has worked out well, not wealthy by any means but comfortable and as idle as I want to be.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I was surprised by the need to pay CGT on all but 2 Ha of our property. But when the accountant tallied up 25 years of council rates and so on it was not too bad.

 

 

[willedoo]

Good point, I'd forgotten about rates in rough calculations; probably more than $30,000 over the years. Another thing to factor is the selling agents fee which escaped my original guesstimate.

 

I think from memory, all write offs come off the top, eg: total sale value minus costs, expenses, inflation indexing etc.. Then it's that figure minus value of house & 2 hectares, divided by two = capital gain.

 

 

[octave]

Good point, I'd forgotten about rates in rough calculations; probably more than $30,000 over the years. Another thing to factor is the selling agents fee which escaped my original guesstimate.

I think from memory, all write offs come off the top, eg: total sale value minus costs, expenses, inflation indexing etc.. Then it's that figure minus value of house & 2 hectares, divided by two = capital gain.

I think in our case we actually couldn't claim rates because our property was not income producing but your situation may well be different. Here is a link to a tax ruling. I have forgotten the details of exactly what we did but I do remember reading this document at some time.

 

Legal Database

 

I don't know whether it has any application to your situation or not but perhaps worth a read.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

What a strange country when owning and operating a car is seen as a basic necessity. My grandparents never had a car their entire lives.But I have to say that I personally regard a car as a necessity, even if it is very expensive.

 

Could I get by without one? Yes I could, especially with the electric bike, but I don't want to try it.

 

How much does the car cost? My guess is $100 a week.

A young couple in Osaka told us they need a car for their business, but have to pay $100 per week for the right to park it in the street.

 

 

[spacesailor]

With a daughter & two grand-daughters in the Dubbo in area, it would take almost a Month to Walk to their house for the barbeque , Australia. is far to big to Not use a car

 

"Malcolm Brown, now in his 60s, had more than 40 years in journalism before entering retirement recently during restructuring at the Sydney Morning Herald.

So what to do now with all this unanticipated idle time?

Why not walk from Sydney to Dubbo, the city where Malcolm began his long career in the newspaper game at the Dubbo Liberal?

 

" With his 13th walking day almost behind him, Mr Brown has coped well physically and with the intense heat. ''I'm surprised by my fitness, actually. I thought at 65 years I might wear out somewhere along the way,'' he said, sipping an ice-cold beer at the Mitchell Inn.

The former Fairfax Media journalist has broken his Sydney to Dubbo walk into 30-kilometre blocks, with Wednesday's leg the shortest at 22 kilometres.

SEE he Needs a car. LoL

AND I'm on my second day of NOT using a walking stick.

spacesailor