{"id":154277,"date":"2025-09-19T11:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/154277\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T11:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:57:07","slug":"retirement-income-rises-tomorrow-as-pension-boost-takes-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/154277\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement income rises tomorrow as pension boost takes effect!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The age pension<\/a> will rise tomorrow, giving singles in retirement an extra $29.70\u00a0per fortnight, and couples an extra $22.40 per person. <\/p>\n

The boost to retirement<\/a> incomes is a result of indexation changes<\/a>, which occur twice per year in March and September. <\/p>\n

The adjustments will raise the full pension, including both supplements, to $1,178.70 per fortnight for singles.<\/p>\n

Couples will now receive $888.50 per partner, or $1,777 combined, per fortnight. <\/p>\n

The extra funds will certainly come in handy after Australia’s peak retirement budgeting body revealed retirement costs have gone up.<\/p>\n

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) runs the Retirement Standard<\/a>,\u00a0a budgeting tool for our golden years.<\/p>\n

ASFA has just revised its annual retirement costs estimate. <\/p>\n

What does retirement cost per year? <\/p>\n

ASFA says a comfortable retirement now costs $75,319 for couples and $53,289 for singles<\/a>, assuming debt-free home ownership.<\/p>\n

A modest retirement lifestyle costs $49,992 annually for couples and $34,522 for singles who own their own homes.<\/p>\n

For renters, retirement is much more expensive.<\/p>\n

ASFA only recently began publishing a budgeting guide for the growing cohort of Australians who rent their homes in retirement.<\/p>\n

The revised estimate for a modest retirement for renters is $66,269 annually for couples and $49,044 for singles.<\/p>\n

From tomorrow, the age pension will be $46,202 per annum for couples and $30,646 per annum for singles.<\/p>\n

As you can see, there’s a shortfall between the costs of retirement and what the pension covers. <\/p>\n

So, retirees need some income from investments or work to make up the difference. <\/p>\n

ASFA recommends couples aim for $690,000 in superannuation<\/a> and singles $595,000 by age 67 to achieve a comfortable retirement. <\/p>\n

ASFA says only $100,000 in super for both couples and singles is enough to fund a modest retirement. <\/p>\n

There’s a big difference in the amount of superannuation required because people who can afford a comfortable retirement lifestyle tend to own assets or earn income that are above the pension thresholds. Therefore, they typically only qualify for a part-pension. <\/p>\n

Pensioners on a modest lifestyle tend to have fewer assets or earn less, and therefore they tend to qualify for the full pension amount. <\/p>\n

Australians become eligible for the pension when they reach their ‘retirement age<\/a>‘. <\/p>\n

If you were born on or after 1 January 1957, that’s 67 years of age. <\/p>\n

The pension is subject to assets and income tests. <\/p>\n

If you own or earn too much, you may only qualify for a part-pension, or no pension at all.<\/p>\n

How much can you have in retirement assets and still get a pension from tomorrow? <\/p>\n

The value of assets you can own in retirement while still qualifying for the pension will also lift tomorrow. <\/p>\n

Single homeowners can own $321,500 in assets (unchanged) and non-homeowners can own $579,500 in assets (unchanged) and get the full pension.<\/p>\n

To qualify for a part-pension, single homeowners cannot own more than $714,500 in assets outside their primary residence, and non-homeowners cannot own more than $972,500.<\/p>\n

Couples who own their homes can have $481,500 in assets (unchanged) and non-homeowners can have $739,500 in assets (unchanged) and still get the full pension.<\/p>\n

For a part-pension, couple homeowners cannot own more than $1,074,000 in assets outside their family home, and non-homeowners cannot own more than $1,332,000.<\/p>\n

How much can you earn and still get the pension? <\/p>\n

Singles can earn $218 per fortnight (unchanged) and couples $380 combined per fortnight (unchanged) and qualify for the full pension.<\/p>\n

For a part-pension, the new cut-off point for singles will be $2,575.40 per fortnight, and for couples, it will be $3,934 per fortnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The age pension will rise tomorrow, giving singles in retirement an extra $29.70\u00a0per fortnight, and couples an extra…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,6166,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-154277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-editors-choice","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}