Australian Old Age Pension

davita

After visiting friends in Oz last week I was surprised that the Australian OAP is means tested against income. I get a UK OAP as I contributed from age 18 until 65 and complain because it isn't inflation indexed but, when I learned that Oz reduces OAP according to other income, I was feeling better. How does that work for Australians...is it OK to contribute the same but get a different return?

ronb

The OAP in oz is seen as a safety net to rescue those who have not managed to fund retirement thru superannuation. So you only give to poor people, hence the means test.

gtrken

Which thanks to various idiotic political parties and greedy superannuation fund managers being in power over the last decade or so the poor is probably about 95% of the population.

davita

gtrken wroteWhich thanks to various idiotic political parties and greedy superannuation fund managers being in power over the last decade or so the poor is probably about 95% of the population.

But wouldn't that mean that most would actually get an OAP....I got the impression that the threshold was so low that most didn't get a full OAP.

gtrken

davita wroteBut wouldn't that mean that most would actually get an OAP....I got the impression that the threshold was so low that most didn't get a full OAP.

Your PPOR does not count towards your assets hence why a lot of pension aged people in OZ have big expensive houses. FULL Age Pension: A single home-owner can hold $253,750 in assets before having the FULL Age Pension entitlement reduced, while a home-owning couple can hold $380,500 in assets before having the FULL Age Pension entitlement reduced. If you have assets more than that it starts to decrease. There are a LOT of Aussies due to the GFC, low interest rates etc etc who would be lucky to have that amount of assets. Me thinks the Aust Govt is going to have to continue to tighten the rules as there will be too many drawing money from too few. Looks like I will be looking AGAIN at retiring in Indonesia eventually.. Cheers Ken