Thread: Pension Age may move to 70

Yep, I could take my super now, but I'm 5 years off qualifying for the age pension, and not ready to stop working. Hopefully Abbott and Hockey won't change that.
They're already getting killed in the opinion polls over raising the pension to 70, so maybe they'll get the message and drop the idea, since as proposed it would not take effect for some time and would make no difference to the current budgetary position.
Personally, I would rather that compulsory super contributions were raised to 15%, as the real problem is people don't have enough money in super to retire on yet, so the more that is saved the sooner that problem will be reduced.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

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... Personally, I would rather that compulsory super contributions were raised to 15%, as the real problem is people don't have enough money in super to retire on yet, so the more that is saved the sooner that problem will be reduced.

Yes 15% would be a good idea, but perhaps it should come off the employee's salary as a pre-tax deduction rather than being a further impost on the employer. After all we are losing jobs, particularly manufacturing jobs, in this country because of the costs associated with employing workers. The last thing we want to do is export all manufacturing sacrificed on the alter of superannuation guarantee.

A lot of us already sacrifice to our super and perhaps the mandatory "sacrifice" could be set at half the employer contribution under the super guarantee?

I was always under the impression us baby boomers could retire at 65. Seems born 52 to 54 retire at 65 1/2, 54 to 56 at 66, 56 to 58 at 67. When was this changed and by whom?

You can retire anytime you can afford to do it. What you are talking about is eligibility for the Aged Pension, it was moved to 67 years by Gillard. Now Hockey is moving it to 70 (in 2035).

The increments for the Gillard changes are: ( http://www.humanservices.gov.au/cust...nk/age-pension )

Date of birth Qualifying age at

• 1 July 1952 to 31 December 1953 65 years and 6 months
• 1 January 1954 to 30 June 1955 66 years
• 1 July 1955 to 31 December 1956 66 years and 6 months
• From 1 January 1957 67 years

The preservation age when you can get your super has been discussed above.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Yes 15% would be a good idea, but perhaps it should come off the employee's salary as a pre-tax deduction rather than being a further impost on the employer. After all we are losing jobs, particularly manufacturing jobs, in this country because of the costs associated with employing workers. The last thing we want to do is export all manufacturing sacrificed on the alter of superannuation guarantee.

A lot of us already sacrifice to our super and perhaps the mandatory "sacrifice" could be set at half the employer contribution under the super guarantee?

In the past the rises in super contributions were traded off against forgone wage rises, so people saved super instead of spending wage rises. That's a good way to do it, I think.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

In the past the rises in super contributions were traded off against forgone wage rises, so people saved super instead of spending wage rises. That's a good way to do it, I think.

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Hi Mick

It is a good way, and many people will neither miss the pre-tax sacrifice nor do they realise how much difference it will make over a lifetime of working, or even in the few years til retirement for us oldies.

However the trade off was sometimes the way but not necessarily the rule IRL. Under the Gillard Govt. the Super Guarantee is set to rise incrementally from 9% to 12% across all workers in the whole of Australia. The NSW Govt passed laws to restrict State Public Servants to maximum 2.5%p.a. salary rises offset against productivity increases AND they intended to include the Fed Govt. mandatory increase in the Super Guarantee within the 2.5% still linked to the productivity gains. IIRC it was rejected by the NSW Industrial tribunal (NSW Pub Servants are outside the federal Fair Work Commission.)

we were working things out with our financial planner to get minimum draw on the pension and take all the entitlements but there might not be much left in that area.

we will be reallocating a lot of assets so no stinking politician can get their grubby ****scratchers on it.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

we were working things out with our financial planner to get minimum draw on the pension and take all the entitlements but there might not be much left in that area.

we will be reallocating a lot of assets so no stinking politician can get their grubby ****scratchers on it.

See this is the problem, actively seeking to get as much from the government as possible, it's a safety net, not an entitlement to retire on

Most people that paid tax, end up positive in returns from the government by the time they day, simply taking more from the kitty than they contribute