Understand your Age Pension entitlement.
Personal financial advice that considers how the Age Pension fits with your super, your investments, and your overall retirement strategy. We help you understand the rules and your options.
Age Pension strategy, integrated with your wider plan.
The Age Pension is administered by Services Australia and calculated through the assets test and income test under social security law. For many retirees, it forms part of their retirement income, but navigating eligibility, reporting, and how the rules interact with super, property, and investments can be complex.
As part of a personal advice engagement, we can model your entitlement under the current rules, discuss how structural decisions around your super, investments, and assets may affect your entitlement, and help you understand how the Age Pension fits with the rest of your retirement income. Any recommendations are provided in a written Statement of Advice with our fees disclosed upfront.
Eligibility & entitlement modelling
We’ll model your likely Age Pension entitlement under current rules, based on information you provide about your assets, income, and circumstances. Entitlement depends on current legislation and your reported situation.
Structural optimisation
Account types, super phase (accumulation versus pension), deeming rules, gifting rules, and granny flat arrangements can all interact with Age Pension rules. We’ll discuss what may apply to your situation.
Application & appeals
We can help you understand the application process, what documents you’ll need, and common reporting issues. Services Australia also offers a free Financial Information Service (FIS) that provides general information to the public.
Ongoing reviews & reporting
Your situation changes. So do the rules. Our ongoing service includes periodic review of how your structure and reporting align with your entitlement, as part of an ongoing advice relationship.
Age Pension rates and tests, explained.
As of March 2026, the full Age Pension pays approximately $1,810 per fortnight for couples combined and $1,200 per fortnight for singles (including pension and energy supplements). Rates are indexed in March and September each year. Current rates are published on the Services Australia website.
Eligibility is determined by two tests: the assets test and the income test. Whichever produces the lower pension applies. Each test has its own thresholds, cut-offs, and rules around how different types of assets and income are treated. These thresholds are also indexed periodically.
How your super and investments are structured, how income is classified, and how you report to Services Australia all affect how the tests apply to your situation. Personal advice can help you understand what specifically applies in your case.
Common circumstances where Age Pension advice helps.
Every situation is different. These are some of the more common circumstances where people find a personal advice engagement useful.
You're 60–66 and approaching eligibility
The period before Age Pension eligibility is when many of the structural decisions are made. Understanding how super structure, investments, and reporting will interact with the tests can help you make informed choices ahead of applying.
Common ages: 60-67
You're on the pension and want a review
Already-receiving situations sometimes benefit from reviewing how assets, income, and reporting are structured to make sure they align with current rules, particularly after significant changes (to rules or to your situation) since the initial application.
Common ages: 67+
You've had a major asset change
Selling the home, receiving an inheritance, or another significant asset event can change how the Age Pension rules apply to you, including special rules around home sale proceeds where certain conditions apply. Understanding these before you act can help you make informed decisions.
Trigger: Sale, gift, inheritance
Three steps to the pension you're entitled to.
Take the quiz
Answer a few questions about your assets, age, and circumstances. We’ll give you an instant indication of whether you’re likely entitled to a pension and how much.
Free strategy call
15 minutes with Jordan to map your situation. She’ll match you with Scott or Phil for a deeper Centrelink and pension strategy session.
Your Centrelink plan
A clear written strategy for what to claim, how to structure your assets, an estimate of what you could receive.Optional ongoing support for reporting and reviews.
Pension and Centrelink questions, answered straight.
The information below is general in nature and based on current rules at the time of writing. It doesn’t take into account your personal circumstances.
What's the qualifying age for the Age Pension?
67 for everyone born on or after 1 January 1957, which is virtually all Australians currently approaching retirement. You can apply up to 13 weeks before your 67th birthday, and you should, late applications aren’t backdated.
Can I get the pension if I have $500K in super?
Quite possibly. A single homeowner with $500K in assessable assets is above the full pension threshold of $321,500 but well below the $722,000 cut-off, you’d likely receive a meaningful part pension. For couples, the cut-off is around $1,085,000. Most people qualify for more pension than they think.
How much does the full pension actually pay?
From March 2026, the full Age Pension pays $1,200.90 per fortnight for singles (about $31,200/year) and $1,810.40 per fortnight for couples combined (about $47,000/year), including pension and energy supplements. Rates are indexed twice a year.
What are the deeming rates and how do they affect me?
Centrelink doesn’t use your actual investment returns, they use a deemed rate. From March 2026, the lower rate is 1.25% on the first $64,200 for singles ($106,200 for couples), and 3.25% above that. This catches a lot of people off guard, because your reported income for the income test isn’t what you actually earn.
Can I work part-time and still get the pension?
Yes, and you should know about the Work Bonus. The first $300/fortnight of employment income per person is exempt from the income test entirely. Beyond that, your pension reduces by 50 cents per dollar earned. You’re almost always financially better off working part-time, even with the pension reduction.
What happens if I sell my home?
There’s a special 24-month window after selling your home where the proceeds get partial protection from the assets test, but only if you’re planning to buy or build another principal residence. Get this wrong and you can lose pension entitlement immediately. Get it right and you can preserve full pension while reorganising your housing.
How much can I gift without affecting my pension?
$10,000 per financial year, with a $30,000 cap over any 5-year period. Anything above this is treated as a deprived asset for 5 years, meaning Centrelink still counts it as yours when calculating your pension. This catches a lot of people who give large gifts to children or grandchildren without understanding the implications.
What if I'm denied or my pension gets reduced?
Most denials and reductions can be appealed if you act quickly, usually within 13 weeks. Many are simply because of incorrect reporting or assets being incorrectly classified. We help review what’s been assessed, identify errors, and lodge appeals where there’s a legitimate basis.
Find out what you're actually entitled to.
15 minutes. Free. We’ll give you a clear sense of your Age Pension entitlement and whether structural changes could meaningfully increase it.