The Age Pension age isn’t changing, despite what some online articles claim. (Source: Getty)
The Australian government has confirmed there are no plans at the moment to change the age when Aussies can access the Age Pension. Fake news sites sporadically spread misinformation around essential retirement information as a means to generate cheap ad revenue.
An article published this week pulled in plenty of interest, probably due to the headline warning that Aussies should say “goodbye to retirement at 67”. But a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services (DSS) told Yahoo Finance that there’s absolutely no truth to this.
“The government has no plans to change the Age Pension age,” they said.
The online news article kicked off by saying the age pension change had been “officially announced for everyone”.
But if a reader went past the headline, it claimed there is “talk of a new pension age in Australia”, even though there hasn’t been any chatter from the government about adjusting the retirement age from the current 67 mark.
The article added that changes were being not only discussed in Australia, but also Canada, the UK and the US.
While it didn’t elaborate on what those alterations could be, it urged people to be wary of how it might impact them if the pension age did go up.
These fake claims proliferate online from time to time despite there being very little, to zero truth contained in them.
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The DSS reiterated that, at the moment, the pension age is 67, however “you may apply up to 13 weeks earlier”.
Services Australia is in charge of administering the pension payment and eligibility details can be found here.
While there is no official directive from the government about the pension age, it could be increased in the coming years if there is a broader shift in people delaying their retirement.
A Macquarie University study predicted the age to access the pension will increase to 68 by 2030, then again to 69 by 2036 and then 70 years old by 2050.
“Although any policy changes related to age pension eligibility would inevitably be unpopular, gradual change is expected to be better tolerated than a sudden jump,” the university said.
“The need for change is underpinned by important demographic changes.
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“This includes a growing proportion of the population expecting to receive a government-funded pension compared to a shrinking taxpayer base, while Australians are also living longer and generally experiencing better health as they age.”
KPMG analysis last year found the average age of retirement in Australia for men is 66.2 years and 64.8 years for women.
But there is no official rule around when a person is meant to retire, and they have to weigh up a lot of factors when making this decision.
Some might choose to work well into their 60s and even in their 70s to pay off their mortgages and other debts, keep their minds moving, retain a sense of purpose, or to squirrel away a bit more money into their superannuation.
National Seniors Australia found money was the top reason 60 per cent of pensioners and 46 per cent of non-pensioners decided to return to work.
“Many are going back to work because of those positive job experiences but there are a number of them [who are] struggling and, in particular, those that are renting,” National Seniors CEO Chris Grice told Yahoo Finance.
“They are going back to work for a couple of days in order to try and supplement their income to help them meet the rising costs.”
If a person aged 60 or over retires from their job and plans not work, they can access their superannuation nest egg.
Once they hit 65, they can access their super even if they are still working.
There are very limited circumstances when a person can access their super before those ages, however they are usually only for a last resort to pay for certain emergency costs.
The ATO will unlock a person’s nest egg early to help them deal with severe financial hardship as well as compassionate reasons like medical treatment or funeral costs.
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