At 62 years of age, both your clients Betty and her husband Daniel live in their own home (worth $900,000) owned jointly. They jointly own the investment house worth about $550,000, but they have a combined home loan mortgages totalling $640,000.

As they would like to retire in a few years, and they do not know where they will be living when retired, they are unsure whether they should live in the investment house (Qld) before selling it, or should they remain in their current home in NSW to maximise their pension benefit.

They currently have a combined superannuation of $170,000. They earn about $50,000 each working about four days per week. They keep tossing up whether to sell both houses and buy something else or stagger selling the houses but would like to not miss out on any entitlements as both of them have worked long and hard for 45 years up to now. 

 

Questions:

How many years until they are eligible for age pension?                           

How will the age pension be affected if they remain in their NSW home in which they are living?

How much pension will they receive at age pension age if they sell their NSW home and clear all debt and have, say, $300,000 left over plus $200,000 in super at that time, and they are both not working? Explain using the available facts.

How will the age pension be affected if they continue to work past age pension age earning $50,000 each?